344 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 
iiowever, we can conceive of the temporary diminution or cessation of 
the flow of some, at least, of our artesian wells. The amount of 
water contributed to the water-bearing strata of the Lower Cretaceous 
formation everv wet season by such rivers as the Darling is so great, 
arid consequently the amount of leakage into the sea is so great, that 
the quantity abstracted by the artesian wells, large as it is, and even 
if it were ten times greater, is insignificant by comparison. Finally, 
as the leakage into the sea is so vast, and is entirely beyond human 
-control, the draught on our underground supply made by artesian 
wells is not worth controlling. I make no apology for the fact that 
my views on this important question are not those which I held twelve 
months ago. My colleague, Mr. Maitland, and I went out into the 
field with the object of laying a foundation of facts for the guidance 
of ourselves and others who may wish to rest their theories on solid 
ground. It is for others to judge whether we have succeeded. 
8.— NOTE ON THE CRETACEOUS ROCKS IN THE NORTH- 
WESTERN PORTION OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
By EDWARD F, PITTMAN , A.R.S.M., Government Geologist , New South Wales . 
During a recent trip I made a geological examination of a con- 
siderable area of Netv South Wales lying to the west of the Paroo 
River, and bounded by the Queensland boundary on the north, and a 
line joining Wilcannia and Broken ITill on the south. The distance 
travelled in a buggy was about L,150 miles, and the route followed 
was from Broken liill in a northerly and north-easterly direction to 
TTrisieo, near Wanaariug ; thence westerly to Milparinka ; thence 
northwards via Mount Poole to Olive Downs and Warri Warri, on 
the Queensland border ; thence southwards via Mount Browne to 
Mount Arrowsmiili \ thence in a generally south-eastern direction to 
Wilcannia ; and thence westwards to Broken Hill. 
Previous examinations of portions of this country have been made 
by Mr. Geological Surveyor H. Y. L. Brown (now Government 
Geologist of South Australia), in 1881 (vide 44 Albert Gold Field — 
Artesian Water,” Legislative Assembly paper, 1881) ; by Mr. C. S. 
Wilkinson, late Government Geologist of New South Wales, in 
1884, and again in 1887 (vide Ann. Rept. Dept of Mines for 1884, 
pp. 14(5-7, Report on Silver-bearing Lodes of the Barrier Ranges, 
.Legislative Assembly paper, 1884, and Ann. Rept. Dept, of 
Mines, 1887, pp. 187-139) ; by Mr. Geological Surveyor Wm. 
Anderson (now of the Geological Survey of India), in 1891 (vide 
Ann. Rept. Dept, of Mines and Agriculture, 189], p. 254); and, 
lastly, by Mr. Geological Surveyor J. B. Jaquet, in 1892 (Ann. 
Rept. Dept, of Alines and Agriculture, 1892, pp. 137-145). Briefly 
summarised, their reports are to the effect that this territory consists 
of several areas of Palaeozoic rocks, intruded by dykes of granite, 
diorite, &c., and containing deposits of such metals as gold, silver, 
copper, and tin, flanked or surrounded by Cretaceous or water-bearing 
sediments, covered in places by drifts, clays, and sands of Pleistocene 
&nd recent origin. 
