54 . AtfNIYEKSATlY ADDRESS. 



of which so long ago as 20th December, 1872, our Parliament 

 was made aware, in a letter of 19th October, 1872, from the 

 Surveyor General, who, in reference to my humble endeavours, 

 did me the kindly honor of thus recording his opinion : — " These 

 labours appear to embrace an examination of all the principal 

 geological features of the Colony, made at different times through- 

 out the period of his residence, and if the work be as complete 

 as I have every reason to believe it to be, it could not be replaced 

 by a geological survey costing less than £10,000 or £15,000." 



Since that time my map has been nearly completed, and would 

 have fully been, except for causes beyond my control. But 

 should this map be that mentioned by the correspondent of the 

 Argus, I can only say it has not yet passed out of my hands. 



In thus speaking of the past, and of the endeavours of my 

 Southern friends to display the Greology of all Australia and 

 Tasmania on one sheet, I neither wish to detract from their use- 

 fulness nor to overrate my own. I am nnder no egotistical 

 influence, though I am compelled to speak in the first person and 

 of myself ; and I do so now, because it is the most fitting occa- 

 sion for so doing. I have no donbt the Victorian map will be 

 prettily got np and filled with valuable matter. But so far as 

 this Colony is concerned, it cannot be authorized on the personal 

 Jcnotvledge of the compiler, and will be formed from individual 

 interpretations of writings, as well as surveys, which may require 

 revisal. It would have been more agreeable to me to have con- 

 sented to the request made to me in an influential quarter, and 

 have forwarded a copy of my work to Melbourne ; but I could 

 not do this, because if I had I could not expect a gentleman, 

 however long known to me as a correspondent and professed 

 friend, who regards my views as to the relative age of a large 

 part of our territory to be erroneous, and who openly ignores the 

 evidence offered even by Victorian surveyors, who have con- 

 firmed those views, to do otherwise than substitute his own con- 

 jectures for those he asserts he has not seen " a particle of 

 evidence" to confirm. Common prudence dictated that it would 



