president's address. 21 



methods of extraction and of treatment should be practised. 

 How far do — can — our Schools of Mines experiment with refrac- 

 tory ores 1 The policy of our Australian Governments has been 

 to give up the whole of our mineral resources to private exploi- 

 tation. This is not the place to discuss or criticise this policy. 

 But the scientific man may consider its bearing on the develop- 

 ment of the country, which we have seen must be eventually the 

 development of the land-industries. Looking upon our minerals 

 as a generous capital, we may ask, is it being expended, as would 

 seem natural, in the development of the country ? It may be 

 replied that we have used it to attract population, to establish 

 manufactures, to help to support our railway systems, to build 

 mining towns and communications with them, to pay wages to a 

 large army of miners, and indirectly to necessitate a great pro- 

 duction of animal and vegetable food for the sustenance of the 

 large numbers concerned in the mining industries. Perhaps this 

 reply is sufficient. Will it be eventually considered sufficient 1 

 We must content ouselves here with having put the question. 



Water. — There is one substance which the geologist classifies 

 as a mineral, however, which is on a different footing. That is 

 water. Our climatic conditions being mainly regulated by large 

 world-conditions we may look upon our rainfall as practically 

 constant for a certain cycle of years, though it may be, in accord- 

 ance with some general law, slowly decreasing. Our fresh water 

 then, unlike our coal, is perennially renewed, whether it be dis- 

 persed in the soil and rocks or collected in our rivers or our artesian 

 supplies. We need it for our towns and cities, and for natural 

 or artificial irrigation of our soils. In New South Wales its 

 uses for navigation purposes are very limited. Australia is not 

 a land of canals. But what a prodigious problem we are 

 confronted with : How to procure and to maintain a permanent 

 supply of water for our rapidly increasing towns, and for our as 

 rapidly increasing agricultural and pastoral industries 1 



The metropolitan water supply has been recently a scalding, if 

 it is too Irish to call it a burning, question. It may perhaps be 

 useful to glance at the views forced upon the British Govern- 



