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widest sense the geological structure, mineral wealth, and past 
life of Western Australia in its relation to geological science in 
general. 
Publications of the Survey. 
The results obtained by the Geological Survey are made 
available to the general public in a useful, practical and creditable 
style in three distinct forms, viz., Annual Reports, Bulletins, and 
Maps. 
The Annual Reports, which are presented every year to 
Parliament, contain a brief statement of the work of the depart- 
ment for the period by which each is covered, and in addition a 
good deal of miscellaneous information which it is deemed desir- 
able should be issued in advance of the more detailed reports. 
Up to the present time fourteen annual Parliamentary documents 
have been presented. These, in addition to the usual administra- 
tive details, will be found to contain 58 reports on auriferous 
deposits in goldfields : 10 on copper and lead deposits, 7 on the 
tinfields, 3 on the iron ores of the State, 10 on coal and oil, 3 on 
phosphates, 12 on other miscellaneous mineral occurrences, 8 
reports prepared under the provisions of the Mining Acts, 10 on 
general geological subjects, 1 on petrography, 1 on palaeontology, 
2 on mining technology, and 23 on subterranean water supply. 
It was very soon found that a good deal of the value attaching 
to special reports upon the economic aspects of geology was dis- 
counted by delay in publication, which must necessarily happen 
when detailed descriptions are included in the report presented 
annually to Parliament, and it was ultimately determined in 
1899 that when reports and maps upon any special subject or 
district were prepared, they should be printed in a convenient 
form, styled Bulletins, and made available for distribution to the 
public as soon as they could possibly be issued from the Govern- 
ment Printing Office. 
These separate reports or Bulletins, which number forty, deal 
with a great variety of subjects, as may be noticed by an inspection 
of the published catalogue and table of contents. Of the Bulletins 
already published, one is a Bibliography of the Geology of the 
State, three contain valuable palaeontological contributions to 
Western Australian Geology, three deal with Artesian Water 
Supplies, three on such general questions as the Mineral Wealth 
of the State, the Occurrence and Distribution of the Base Metals, 
Minerals of Economic Value (really a valuable hand-book for 
prospectors and others on Commercial Mineralogy), and a stati- 
stical account of the Mineral Production of the State ; two refer 
solely to general geology, whilst twenty-eight give more or less 
detailed accounts of the geological structure, ore occurrences, 
and future mining prospects of pretty nearly every field in 
Western Australia. 
Of the Geological, Mining and Topographical maps, there 
