Geology in EduGcition and Practical Life. 449 



structure as in more superficial deposits, but accurate induction 

 is rendered increasingly difficult by the paucity of exposures and 

 the small number of facts available owing to the great expense 

 of deep boring. How precious, then, becomes every scrap of 

 information obtained from sinkings and borings, not only where 

 success is met with, but where it is not ; and how little sliort of 

 criminal is it that there should be the probability that much of 

 this information is being and will be irretrievably lost ! 



Mr. Harmer pointed out in a paper to this Section in 1895 that 

 under present conditions there was an automatic check on all 

 explorations of this kind. The only person who can carry it out 

 is the landowner. If he fails he loses his money and does not 

 even secure the sympathy of his neighbours. If he succeeds his 

 Beighbours stand to gain as much as he does without sharing in the 

 expense. The successful explorer naturally conceals the information 

 he has acquired, because he has had to pay so heavily for it that he 

 cannot afford to put his neighbours in as good a position as himself 

 and make them his rivals as well ; while the unsuccessful man is 

 only too glad to forget as soon as possible all about his unfortunate 

 venture. And yet in work of this kind failure is second only to 

 success in the value of the information it gives as to the under- 

 ground structure which it is so necessary to have if deep mining is- 

 to become a real addition to the resources of the country. 



Systematic and detailed exploration, guided by scientific principles, 

 and advancing from the known to the unknown, ought to be our 

 next move forward : a method of exploration which shall benefit 

 the nation as well as the individual, a careful record of everything 

 done, a body of men who shall interpret and map the facts as they 

 are acquired and draw conclusions with regard to structure and 

 position from them — in short, a Geological Survey which shall do 

 as much for Hypogean geology as existing surveys have done for 

 Epigean geology, is now our crying need. Unless something of 

 this sort is done, and done in a systematic and masterful manner, 

 we run a great risk of frittering away the most important of our 

 national resources left to us, of destroying confidence, of wasting 

 time and money at a most precious and critical period of our history, 

 and of slipping downhill at a time when our equipment and resources 

 are ready to enable us to stride forward. 



Even supposing the scheme outlined by Mr. Harmer cannot be 

 carried out in its complete form, a great deal will be done if mining 

 engineers can receive a sufficient geological training to enable them 

 to realise the significance of these underground problems, so that 

 they can recognise when any exploration they are carrying out 

 inside their own area is likely to be of far-reaching geological and 

 economic significance outside the immediate district in which they 

 are personally and immediately concerned. 



Turning to our colonies, it is true that in many of them much 

 is being done by competent surveys to attain a knowledge of mineral 

 resources, but this work should be pushed forward more rapidly, 

 with greater strength and larger staffs, and above all it should not 



DECADE IV. VOL. X. NO. X. 29 



