CO129-329 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [7-12] — Page 505

2

502

4.

As 1 formerly pointed out (37), consider-

-able areas are covered with deposits containing a large per-

-centage of shells. When a specimen from one of these areas is

stirred up in water, and the water containing suspended matter

is allowed to run off, the residue is found to have about half

the bulk of the original specimen. The residue in turn becomes

halved when it is treated with acid, and the liquid is strained

off. The part eliminated was shelts, and the part finally re-

-maining is quartz.

5.

From the foregoing it is apparent that

there are forces at work causing some shoaling. In my former report 1 proceeded to treat the evidence adduced for immoderate

shoaling as if it might be considered reliable. This was not

done, however, without giving the whole of the information on which the report was based, and pointing out defects in the surveys (15), expressing doubts about zeros (21, 22, So.), and urging the necessity for better information ›(42).

6.

So little satisfied was I with the re-

-suits of my investigations that in forwarding my report I wrote in a covering minute that "the result will scarcely be consider-

ft -ed satisfactory, after all; and you will doubtless think the "report longer than the information given by it warrants. But as "it has taken a great deal of trouble to get the information-to- "-gether, I think it best to put every step of the investigation

."on record, so that those who come after me may know what they

"might profitably look for, and what they need not look for, *elsewhere". And later, when it was proposed to publish the re-

-port as a Sessional Faper, I demurred in the following terms:- "1 submit that this report is better suited for departmental

"reference than for anything else. To give it a fair chance it "would have to be accompanied by copies of the charts; and the "expense of reproducing them would not be warranted, seeing that

SO

{