SECTION C— GEOLOGY. 



THE UTILITY OF GEOLOGICAL 



SURVEYS TO COLONIES 



AND PROTECTORATES OF THE 



BRITISH EMPIRE. 



ADDRESS BY 



SIR ALBERT E. KITSON, C.M.G., C.B.E. 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



The importance and value of a geological survey to a country have long 

 been recognised by all progressive nations tbat desire to utilise the mineral 

 resources with which Nature has endowed them. But though such value 

 is fully appreciated and freely acknowledged by all thoughtful, observant 

 people, the nation as a whole has no understanding of it, and no definite 

 views on the matter. 



The rapid advance of science, and the application of the wonders of 

 science to industry, in practically all divisions of the activities of mankind, 

 are incontrovertible facts, and no nation or community under present-day 

 conditions can afford to neglect to utilise all the assistance that science can 

 give towards increase in production and reduction in cost of the fruits of 

 the industries upon which that nation is mainly or largely dependent for 

 its existence and advancement. 



Where the question of cost is not an insuperable barrier to its establish- 

 ment, a geological survey is formed. As regards our Empire, not only the 

 United Kingdom, but the British Dominions — India, Canada, Newfound- 

 land, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa — long since established 

 such surveys and recognised their value. All these surveys have done most 

 valuable work in the determination of the nature, not only of the pure 

 geology of their countries, but also of the economic geology, in the form of 

 mineral deposits, of the precious metals, base metals, non-metallic minerals 

 and rocks, gem-stones, coal, gas, oil, and underground water-supplies. The 

 direction and personnel of the Geological Surveys, the maps and reports 

 published, the information and assistance given to general industry, pro- 

 specting and mining, are recognised to be of the highest order, and to have 

 benefited these countries immeasurably more than is yet realised by them. 



In his Presidential Address before this Section of the British Association 

 at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1916, Professor W. S. Boulton said — ' We have 

 ceased to hear rumours of Treasury misgivings as to whether the Geological 

 Survey can justify, on financial grounds, its continued existence. When 

 we call to mind the untold wealth of information and fact in the published 

 maps, sections and memoirs, the enormous value of such knowledge to 

 mining, civil engineering, agriculture, and education, and indirectly to 

 the development of the mineral resources of the whole Empire, and then 



