( 22 ) 
sluiuld see the first complete survey of tlie Islaiul, 
a period which may be shortened or lcnf,'thened 
accordinc; to tlic staff employed. This period 
would be further lenf^'theiied if, as I think would 
be desirable, part of the energies of the Depart- 
ment were, for the lirst few years, devoted to 
a general and purely preliminary examination of 
the Island as a whole, apart from the more de- 
tailed survey contemplated in the estimate above. 
The time "required for the completion of the 
first survey would therefore be about 15 years 
if a staff of tiiree men, the minimum number 
with which continuous work could bo maintained, 
were employed, 
MAINTHNANCI3 NECESSARY Al'TEIl COMPr,E'I'ION 
OF FIE ST SUEVEY. 
The work would not be finished at the end of 
this period, as the most thorough survey can never 
be perfect, and it is certain that during the pro- 
gress of the survey many new facts will croj) up, 
consequent on the extension of mining operations 
and of discoveries wliich must always be made by 
persons independent of the jjrofessional survey. 
The local resident has many opportunities which 
the geological surveyor, in his passage through 
the country, has not, and in this way new dis- 
coveries wi;l be made which will necessitate re- 
vision or re-survey. Consequently, it will be 
desirable, even after the first survey is complete, 
to maintain a staff, which need not necessarily 
be of the full strength maintained during the 
survey, for purposes of revision. 
•■ NECESSITY OF CONTINUITY I)i THE SURVEY. 
'.From this it will be seen that tiie amount of 
work to be done is quite sufficient to justify 
the establisliment of a permanent (Geological sur- 
vey, but all tlie advantages will be lost unless 
it is conducted as a systematic survey and not as 
a^^Lepartment for reporting on real or imnginary 
iviineral deposits. Unless it is understood iliat 
the work of the survey is to be systematic and 
its object a complete examination of the island, 
ib - would be better not to establish a Geological 
Survey at all. This principle being accepted, all 
diversions of members of the survey to visit or ex- 
amine isolated mines or sites of proposed mines is 
most strongly to be deprecated, as tlie interruption 
to the progress of the survey is serious and the 
advantage to ))e gained as a rule but small. Such • 
diversions are especially to be deprecated in the 
case of lands in the position of, or proposed to be 
leased to mining syndicates or companies; whatever 
disclaimers may be made by the Government, the 
fact of such special examination is sure to be re- 
presented, formally or informally, as an implied 
Government guarantee, and in the case of failure 
of the venture the Government, though not liable, 
will be exposed to unnecessary obloquy. 
SURVEY SHOULD BE BY AREASj NOT MINERALS. 
Equally to be deprecated are special investiga- 
tions of )iarticular minerals, e.g., plumbago or 
mica. iSucli liuiilation of the scope of the survey 
is most apt to result in bad or imperfect work. By 
this I must not be understood to imply that no 
regard is to be paid to the economic applications or 
probable economic result of the survey. In ar- 
ranging the programme of work from year to 
year the known or suspected economic resources 
of the district whose examination is decided on will 
naturally be taken into consideration and, among 
the tracts whose investigation will be taken up, 
])recedence will naturally be given to those in which 
plumbago is known to be abundant and which are 
most accessible to tlie outlets of trade. These in- 
vestigations sliould, however, be by areas and not 
by miiierais ; tliat is to say, the inslrucioiis 
should be to .survey acertain definite area, in v. 'iich 
minerals of economic value are or are not known to 
exist, but not to examine or search for occurrences of 
a specified mineral, siicli as plumbago, in that area. 
Attention would, of course, be paid to the eco- 
nomic resources, and the iiistiuctions might in- 
culcate a special atteutiou to jjlumbago; but there 
.should be nothing which could be interpreted as 
an order or justification for neglect of other parts 
of the area than those in wliich it was found. 
This procedure is advisable even on purely 
peciniiary grounds, for not only might the neglect- 
ed portions of the aiea contain other unnoticed 
minerals of value, but it may well be that in 
them the key to the mode of occurrence of 
the jjlumbago may be found, which will lead 
to an extension of the area over which the 
mineral is workcj. From the point of view of 
the general progress of the survey this proce- 
dure is oven ni jre desirable, as a partial exami- 
nation of an area only means that, when the 
survey comes to be completed, much work will 
have to be done again, and, when made in in- 
stalments in this manner, imperfections and dis- 
crepancies in rhe final survey are almost inevitable. 
NECESSITY OF TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 
It musi also be borne in mind that a Geolo- 
gical Survey is very much hampered by the ab- 
sence of a trustworthy topographical map. For 
this reason the geological survey should, as a 
rule, and in the absence of any special reasons 
to the contrary, be confined to those regions of 
which good maps are available ; in making a de- 
parture from this rule it must be remembered 
that any examinations of areas of which there is 
no proper map can only be regarded as jaelimi- 
nary, and that they will certainly have to be 
re-surveyed as soon as proper maps are available. 
Precedence should consequently be given, in eon- 
ducting the topographical survey, to those areas 
of which geological surveys are most urgently re- 
quire',', and it would be desirable that the Geo- 
logical Survey should be consulted when the pro- 
gramme or work for the Topographical >Survey 
is annually arranged. 
ADVISABILITY OF COMBINING OTHER FUNCTIONS 
WITH THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY : 
(i.) MINERAL STATISTICS. 
Though there is, as I have indicated, s.ifficienfc 
justification for the establishment of a Geological 
Survey on the customary lines iu Ceylon, the 
Department would be a small one, and it might 
with advantage be required to take up duties 
which iu larger and more specialised Administra- 
tions are usually separated from it. Foremost 
among these are those coiinecteil with the col- 
lection and publication of mineral statistic.*, a 
work which can only be carried out by the 
assistance of the officers in charge of the revenue 
and administration of the Colony, as far as the 
collection of the facts of production, and inception 
or abandonment of individual undertakings, are 
concerned. The collation of tliese statistics and 
the publication of an annual Iteview of the mineral 
production of the Colony inigb.t with advantage be 
allotted to the Geological Survey. 
(ii.) MUSEUM. 
Closely connected with this is the establishmen 
of a Geological Museum more especially of tU 
