188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



States Survey, if we compare the fragmentary information we pos- 

 sess in reference to the economic resources of this Province with such 

 complete and practical publications as the annual i-eport of the Min- 

 eral Statistics of the State of Michigan, a convenient, portable volume 

 full of intormation and profusely illustrated with actual sections of 

 the mines, we cannot but sigh for the good time coining. As a new 

 comer desirous of informing myself as to the geology of the Province 

 in which I reside I look, anomalous as it may seem, to the publica- 

 tions of our neighbors having reference to the formations of the adja- 

 cent states for instruction, for on this side it is not to be found. 

 British soil may be separated politically from that of the United 

 States, but the Archean and Silurian rocks are older than the Dec- 

 laration of Independence, and the laws by which they are governed 

 do not recognize the boundary. 



In view of the undeveloped mineral wealth of the country and the 

 necessity for securing information and preventing the loss of that 

 which is often obtained at great cost to individuals or communities, 

 how important it is that records should be preserved ! On tliis point 

 abundant testimony was afforded by men of science and experts of 

 the highest standing in their evidence before a select committee of 

 the House of Commons at Ottawa in 1884. 



Dr. George M. Dawson, D.S., A.E.S.M., F.G.S., one of the Assis- 

 tant Directors said : "The difficulty in the way is, that the mines of 

 the various provinces are under the control of the provinces them- 

 selves, and, consequently, in some provinces there are departments 

 of mines, ISTova Scotia and British Columbia, I think, are the only 

 two, and those departments collect for their own j)rovinces all the 

 mineral statistics, probably as fully as necessary, and they have the 

 authority to do so. In the other provinces, there is no authority to 

 collect statistics, and if they are collected by the Geological Survey, 

 they must be collected as a matter of favor from' the owners of mines, 

 and that takes a good deal of trouble, and in some cases actual per- 

 sonal visits, as it is not possible to accept a report without some su- 

 pervision." 



Dr. Robert Bell, C.E., M.D., LL.D., one of the Assistant Direc- 

 toi'S, stated that an attempt was made in 1870 to collect statistics by 

 means of a circular addressed to mine owners or managei-s, accom- 

 panied by a blank schedule to be filled up. When the survey aban- 



