194 Editorial Notes. 



Following a deputation to the Board of Trade from the Joint 

 Industrial Council for the Tin-mining Industry of the United 

 Kingdom, the Government delegated to the Imperial Mineral 

 Eesources Bureau the duty of making a preliminary inquiry into the 

 position of the industry, which is, as is well known, in a parlous 

 condition owing to the high cost of labour and material, without 

 a corresponding increase in the price obtained for the main product 

 of the mines, namely black tin or cassiterite. A committee was 

 formed to undertake the work, Sir Lionel Phillips being appointed 

 Chairman, and Dr. F. H. Hatch and Mr. W. Forster Brown, on 

 behalf of this Committee, have recently visited the principal mines 

 in the Camborne-Redruth area as well as those near St. Just and 

 St. Agnes. At their request they were supplied with full data 

 relating to the operation of the mines in the years 1912-18 inclusive. 

 "We understand that the report of the Committee, after approval by 

 the Bureau, has been placed in tho hands of the Government, and 

 will be considered as soon as possible. 



■» * -A' * * 



The lecture recently given by Professor Edgeworth David before the 

 Geological Society gave food for a considerable amount of reflection 

 on the importance of geology in warfare and the extraordinary 

 inability of our military authorities to appreciate this importance. 

 It was, however, fully realized b)" the Germans, who had a geologist 

 for every 20 kilometres, as against one geologist for the whole of the 

 British western front. This responsible post was held by Captain 

 W. B. R. King, of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. On 

 occasion Professor David also assisted with advice on geological 

 matters, especially with regard to water supply, but as a rule no 

 geologist was consulted until borings in unsuitable places had failed 

 to find water, thus wasting time, labour, and money. Expert 

 geologists were also urgently needed to advise with regard to 

 tunnelling and mining operations; owing to ignorance of the position 

 and depth of the water-table tunnels were frequently drowned out. 

 A water-table map of most of the western front was eventually 

 constructed, but it was impossible for the small staff to deal 

 adequately with this and many other matters, such as prospecting 

 for road-metal and other necessary supplies. Although many 

 geologists were actually serving in the Army in various capacities 

 on the western front, Headquarters did not seem to think that their 

 services could be usefully employed ; some of the Engineers high in 

 authority did, however, realize the value of geology and would have 

 liked more help, as is made manifest in a paper entitled "The Work 

 of the Miner on the Western Front", read by Major H. Standish 

 Ball before the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy on April 10, 

 and published in the Bulletin of the Institution for last month. 

 This contains some brief but highly appreciative remarks on the 

 geological work of Professor David and others. The general con- 

 clusion to be drawn is. that professional geologists ought to be 

 permanently attached to all armies. 



# * ' # # * 



