Br. J. W. Evans — Presidential Address. 513 



a little geological knowledge and common intelligence to predict 

 within narrow limits the depths at which it would he possihle to find 

 water at any point within the area under consideration. 



"When measures such as I have suggested have been adopted for 

 rendering the publications of the Geological Survey easily com- 

 prehensible to the general public, it should be the policy of the 

 Government to obtain for them the widest circulation, so that the 

 information they contain should be generally known, a consummation 

 not only desirable for its own sake as tending to increase the general 

 interest in geology, but because it would be an important factor in 

 developing the industries of the country. 



During the "War publications containing desirable information were 

 circulated widely and gratuitously by the authorities to all public 

 bodies concerned, and there seems no reason why the information 

 laboriously gathered by the Geological Survey in the national 

 interests and paid for out of the public funds should not now receive 

 the same treatment. All Municipalities, District Councils, public 

 libraries, colleges and schools, both secondary and elementary, 

 should receive free copies of the Geological Survey publications 

 dealing with the area where they are situated or with those 

 immediately adjoining it. 



When a new publication is issued the same measures should be 

 taken to make it known locally as a private firm would employ ; 

 copies should be sent to the local press, which should be assisted to 

 give an interesting and intelligible account of its contents, with 

 a selection from the illustrations. There should also be a standing 

 notice in the Publishers'' Circular of the Survey publications, so 

 that local booksellers may know where to apply for them. I am 

 told that at the present they are sometimes completely ignorant on 

 the subject. 



Every facility should, of course, be afforded to the public to make 

 use of the Survey publications. They should not only be on sale at 

 the post offices in the areas to which they relate, but it should also 

 be possible to borrow folding mounted copies of the maps as well as 

 bound copies of the explanations and memoirs, on making a deposit 

 equal to their value. When they were no longer required, the 

 amount of the deposit, less a small charge for use, would be repaid 

 on their return to the same or any other post office and the pro- 

 duction of the receipt for cancellation. It would thus be possible, 

 when traversing any part of the country, to consult in succession all 

 the Geological Survey publications of the districts passed through. 

 This system would also enable the permanent residents to refer to 

 the more expensive hand-coloured maps, including the 6-inch 

 manuscript maps, at a comparatively small cost. 



The preparation and printing of the explanations of the Survey 

 maps, and the increase in the numbers printed of other publications, 

 would obviously involve additional expenditure. This would be 

 to some extent set off by increased sales; but even if there were 

 a net loss on the balance, it would be worth while if it enabled the 

 fullest advantage to be taken of the expenditure incurred in any 



DECADE VI. — VOL. VI. — NO. XI. 33 



