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THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
The Minister for Mines has chosen to
make a reply to some observations con-
tained in "The Mercury" of Wednes-
day. Mr. James has gone so far as to
assert that we have made "misleading
statements." Frankly, we do not like
this kind of thing coming from a Min-
ister of the Crown. We are aware that
Mr. Janies, besides the work attaching
to the other Departments of wh.ich he is
political head, has been called upon to
give up many hours in Cabinet meet-
ings considering the projected reply to
the Prime Minister regarding the
grant to Tasmania, and therefore has,
in all probability, given a hasty au-
thorisation to a statement prepared for
him.' Unfortunately, it might seem
that he acted in much the same way
when he was making his statement in
Parliament about the intentions of the '
Government in the conduct of the geo-
logical survey, about which this gentle
bickering revolves. Had the Minister
had time or inclination to give close
attention to the statement which, under
his name and his authority, appeared
in "The Mercury" of yesterday, we
are inclined to believe that he might/
have hesitated before committing .him-
self. We stated that Dr. Woolnough,
the eminent geologist, recommended
that the line from #the West Coast
through the Rosebery and Mount Mur-
chison . districts should come first,
"whatever else might be omitted."' Mr.
James, or the official who uses his
megaphone, caught us out quite clever-
ly, since Dr. Woolnough did not use
the word "first." But he mentioned
three lines of survey, one East and
West in the Northern district, another
through the West Coast, as we have
stated, and the third, a connecting line
between the two, which, of course, can-
not be undertaken until the others are
finished. Therefore, for practical pur-
poses, the Minister and his officers had
two separate lines, ultimately to be con-
nected, one, along the North Coast, and
the other from West to East, as men-
tioned from the West Coast. Since
Dr. Woolnough could have had in his
mind only those two, and since he said
quite definitely that the latter should
be done, no matter what might be omit-
ted, we must suppose that he put it
first, and no casuistry of the Minister
or of his officers can change the fact.
It is true that, when the deputation
of authorised surveyors waited on the
Minister to give him some information
about the problems involved, one of the
official advisers of the Minister ven-
tured upon, not the opinion, but the
statement, that Dr. Woolnough's quali-
fications as a geologist are academic
rather than practical, the obvious infer-
ence being that his recommendations
might be safely ignored in favour of
those of the officers of the Mines De-
partment of Tasmania. We need but
mention that Dr. Woolnough is Geo-
logical adviser to the Federal Govern-
ment, and a scientist of world-wide
reputation, and let the public, and per-
haps the Minister, make judgment. As
regards the topographical survey
which is being undertaken on the
NortH-West Coast, the Minister him-
self sow admits tren: me topographical
survey, so far as it may be considered
necessary, must be done by an experi-
enced surveyor, which is precisely what
we have said. But as. we are writing,
we have before us an elaborate state-
ment from the Director of Mines,
which we publish to-day, and which
will probably do more to make the Min-
ister realise where he is moving ^han
anything we might have said in criti-
cism. Mr. Mcintosh Reid lays 'out
a programme which will eventually
absorb probably at least a quarter of
a million pounds. It is a noble am-
bition, and one which should appeal
strongly to a Treasurer with a sur-
plus of a few. hundreds of thousands
which he finds difficulty in spending.
Without going into the details of this
dazzling project, we are arrested at
once by the statement that the geologi-
cal survey docs not necessarily connote
any connection with the* discovery and
development of mineral fields. We
had thought that that was the first in-
tention, and apparently Dr. Wool-
nough, who is regarded with lofty
superiority by officers of the Tasman-
ian Department of Mines, had the same
idea, that the woik should be under-
taken primarily to assist prospecting.
So, apparently, had the Chairman and
members of the D. and M. Commission.
What Parliament thought we have no
means of knowing, but perhaps some
information of value will be obtained
when the House of Assembly next
meets. For years past it has been sug-
gested that something in the nature of
an organised survey should be under-
taken for the purpose of connecting up
the knowledge contained in various
bulletins issued by the geological sec-
tion of the Department of Mines, and
to work with the fairly accurate charts
already in existence of the West Coast
mineral areas. But the piogramme
set out by the Director of Mines, a pro-
gramme in which mining is classified,
ti use a sporting phrase, as "also
ran," staggers the imagination of all,
unless perhaps his Minister.
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