incumbent stratified rocks, as well as the alluvial deposits of the 
valleys and the blown sands along the coast. The geological 
map thus becomes of considerable value to those scientific culti- 
vators of the soil who are capable of using and interpreting it 
with knowledge and with judgment ; it, of course, makes no 
pretensions to defining the actual distribution of the soils, though 
it does represent what is immediately beneath them. In this 
way it affords a good basis upon which a map showing the dis- 
tribution of the various classes of soils occurring in the district 
may be founded, though, of course, it is well-known that soil 
maps alone give but a very imperfect idea of the capabilities of 
land. 
Attention has been merely drawn to this particular map be 
cause it affords an illustration of a class of work the Department 
has been carrying out, which when properly interpreted may be 
made of value to the agricultural industry, for the aid it affords 
in the direction of appraising the value of land, even though it 
was constructed for a totally different purpose. 
In addition to the investigations carried out in connection 
with surface geology, the exploration of what may be called the 
subterranean geology of the State has been, perhaps unconsciously, 
recognised by the Government as being of scientific and practical 
importance, as may be seen by the policy adopted in connection 
with the use of its boring plants. 
There are three distinct objects for which the boring plants 
have been usefully and actively employed as a direct aid to the 
development of the States' natural resources: — 
(1) The search for artesian water in pastoral and other 
districts, and subterranean supplies elsewhere ; 
(2) Proving the coal and oil-bearing formations ; and 
(3) Testing the metalliferous deposits. 
Many investigations are materially assisted by, and are to a 
large extent dependent upon, the results of such boring as has 
been carried out, when interpreted in the light of the local geo- 
logical conditions, hence a good deal of woik has been canied 
out by the Survey in connection therewith. 
In addition to the duty of fixing the sites in which many of 
the Government or State-aided bores are put down, the geological 
work in connection with the boring consists in collecting as many 
records and cores as possible of all the bores put down in the 
State, and examining such of the cores as are available and inter- 
preting the information they give in such a way as will render 
them of value to the public, etc., when embodied in the official 
reports. 
In respect to pretty well all boring done by or with the 
assistance of the public funds, a fairly complete set of the cores 
now forms part of the Departmental Reference Collection ; whilst 
