C— GEOLOGY. 85 



knowledge, or of interest, or of both. Companies that exploit and develop 

 their own discoveries, for example, gold or tin, do not usually take any 

 active interest in, for instance, copper or lead. The development of such 

 deposits to the metal-production stage involves a procedure entirely foreign 

 to their activities and practice, and so their energies are directed solely to 

 the metals which can be exploited more quickly and less expensively than 

 those requiring smelting. 



Further, the records of much of the work done by small mining com- 

 panies and independent prospectors are not carefully recorded. Usually 

 their operations are continued for only comparatively short times, and 

 when discontinued there is often little to show for all the energy, time and 

 money expended upon them. 



In cases, however, where prospecting parties are under the direction of 

 keen, capable geologists, interested in the numerous aspects of geology, 

 and allowed by their principals to publish records of their observations, 

 there is no doubt that much of interest and value to pure and economic 

 geology will be the result, as has been shown recently in Northern Rhodesia. 

 Such observers and the assistance rendered to Geology by them will be 

 welcomed by Colonial Geological Surveys. 



Moreover, is the argument valid that a permanent Geological Survey is 

 unnecessary because there are in the country large numbers of prospecting 

 and mining parties at work ? Can it be said justifiably that an Agricultural 

 Department is unnecessary in a country the natives of which are agricultur- 

 ists and able to produce many products of the soil that are required for 

 their food supply and possibly available for export ? No, else why the 

 establishment of such departments, and the great importance attached, 

 and deservedly so, to their efforts ? They are there to assist the natives 

 to add to their list of products ; to show them the best means to combat 

 diseases of plants ; to increase their production ; to introduce improved 

 methods of culture, and generally to raise their status as agriculturists. 

 Why then should not the same principle and policy be applied to search 

 for the rock, mineral and fuel wealth of the country, and if found, and of 

 economic value, then to assist in its development ? It seems but reasonable 

 to concede the truth of this, and that being done it is time enough to 

 consider the suspension or abandonment of the operations of such a survey 

 if and when it has proved that the country does not possess such wealth. 

 But there should be no time limit set to the proof or otherwise of this 

 result. A country difficult to examine because of its natural features 

 cannot be certainly expected to yield its mineral secrets, or confess its 

 paucity of mineral deposits in the course of a few months, or even years 

 of effort. Let it be borne steadfastly in mind that spectacular discoveries 

 of valuable mineral deposits are not the only benefits that a geological 

 survey can bestow upon a country, however important they may be, and 

 however valuable may be their contributions to the revenue and prosperity 

 of the country. There are many other ways in which such a survey can 

 be of benefit to it, indirectly and directly. It has already been shown 

 how this can be done in connection with the extension of railways and 

 roads ; the development of hydro-electric power ; the discovery and supply 

 of water for pipe-borne supplies for large centres of population ; the 

 construction of dams, wells and tanks for the scattered population of 

 Hcasonally arid districts, and for the permanent and travelling stock ; the 



