120 E. F. PITTMA.N. 



have been sunk in the neighbourhood of Toovvoomba and 

 over the Downs generally, the average depth at which the 

 water is struck being about 100 feet from the surface. It 

 will be understood then that this water-supply occurs at an 

 altitude of nearly 2,000 feet above sea-level, and that it lies 

 above the outcrop of the porous beds of the artesian basin. 

 If zinc really occurred in this water, therefore, it could by 

 no possibility have been derived from the artesian beds. 

 But it is extremely doubtful whether there is any zinc in 

 the Toowoomba well water in its natural state. Each of 

 the wells is fitted with a pump which raises the water into 

 a galvaoised-iron tank alongside, and in most cases the 

 pipe through which the water is conveyed to the tank is 

 also constructed of galvanised iron. Mr. Henderson, the 

 Government Analyst of Queensland, has forwarded me a 

 communication from the Town Clerk of Toowoomba, enclos- 

 ing extracts from a press copy of a letter, dated August 

 18th, 1897, forwarding a number of samples of water for 

 analysis; referring to sample No. 3, from the Government 

 Pound Paddock, (which is the one in which the zinc was 

 found); the extract reads, "This bore has a galvanised tube 

 left in since completion six iveelss ago, and has not been 

 baled out since/'' The presence of zinc in the water can 

 therefore be easily understood. 



Salinity of Artesian Water as compared with Mine 

 Water.— While the quality of the saline constituents of the 

 artesian water cannot be taken as proof of its plutonic 

 origin, the quantity of salts in solution must assuredly be 

 regarded as an argument strongly opposed to Professor 

 Gregory's contention. It has already been stated that the 

 porous water-bearing sandstones of the Triassic Coal 

 Measures consist of quartz sand with a rather felspathic 

 cementing material, and it is therefore to be expected that 

 water percolating through these beds would not carry such 



