PROBLEMS OF THE ARTESIAN WATER SUPPLY OF AUSTRALIA. 125 



bores have bottomed in that rock, there is no other instance 

 on record in which a flow was obtained after the granite 

 was penetrated. For this reason it might have been 

 expected that the statement as to the source of the Oxton 

 Downs water would be received with very great caution, 

 until it had been placed beyond all doubt, or at least until 

 other similar occurrences had been met with. This bore is 

 a private one, and was put down under the superintendence 

 of Mr. Hugh Moor, at that time (January 1891) Manager 

 of the Manfred Downs Station. The Queensland records 

 show that the bore was not visited by a Government official 

 until nearly six years after its completion. It was then 

 inspected by Mr. J. A. Griffiths, who was in charge of the 

 Hydraulic Survey of the Northern Division of Queensland, 

 under Mr. J. B. Henderson, Hydraulic Engineer for the 

 State. Mr. Griffiths' report, which is dated 30th November, 

 1896, states— 



"A small flow was met with in the sandstone at 700 feet, a 

 little more at 900 feet in the granite, and the main flow, estimated 

 at 120,000 gallons per diem, issued from a fault or crack in the 

 granite at 1,060 feet." 



As Mr. Griffiths obtained this information from Mr. Hugh 

 Moor, I wrote to that gentleman and asked him what 

 evidence he had of the crack or fault. He has been 

 courteous enough to send the following reply: — 



"The only evidence I can give you as to the water being struck 

 there in a fault is from the borer's description, which as far as I 

 can remember was as follows. I know they had been drilling for 

 some weeks on granite, making very slow progress, when all at 

 once the drill dropped six or eight feet according to their report, 

 at a depth, if I remember right, of about 1,020 feet. Water 

 shortly began to increase in flow after this drop, and they went 

 on a few feet more, I forget how many, in fairly soft drilling, and 

 then came on hard again, when I knocked them oil" During the 

 time they were following this crack (as we called it) down, a 



