The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-07 00:00:00

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

011 t LAN D.)
l; turn to an Order of the Houourable the House of
Commons, dated April 22, 1845, for a Copy "of the
Correspondence between the Lords Cotu?nissioners of
the Treasury and the Conitnissioners of Woeds and
to the Geologivnl Survey of Ireland,
and the Trea,ur Minute Ve rcupon."

COPY OF TREASUiIY ituNcTE. DATED DEC. 27, 1844.
Sr llon,•rt Peel states to the Bard that various re
presetA,tions Imve been addres•ied to him as to the im-
poriatico 01 effeAually prosecuting and completing
gaols stir%eyoi Grant Brit ain and Ireland, for which
sums hav, bt,en fforn time to ,iine voted in the Ordnance
es,-imates, in cor:n• xion with the trigonometrical survey
in progress umler that department.
That upon e )mminiication with persons the most dis-
ci !T,,tiished for their geological knowledge on the one
hand, and with the Master-General of the Ordnance on
the other, he is confirmed in the opinion that a geolo-
gic,,l survey has no direct connexion with the survey
conducted by that board ; and that although among the
en ~,inver officers employed upon the latter many may be
found who, from having given attention to geological
subjects, may be qualified for its execution, yet that
upon the e.-hole, considering the inc:mvenience to which
the union of the two surveys has in some instances
given rise, it appears more advisable that the conduct of
it •-houbi Ip• withdrawn from the military department,
it'll that it should be separately conducted under the
direction of persons who have made this branch of
science more particularly their study ; and Sir Robert
Peel further deems it advantageous that it should be
brought into direct connexion with the Museum of
Economic Geology, for which sums have been latterly
voted by Parliament, and the extension of which is an
object of general interest and importance.
My Lords agree in the view which Sir Robert Peel
has taken of this subject; and think it expedient that a
separate estimate should be prepared and submitted to
Pariiament, of the total sum required for the geological
survey of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the sum
which it may be annually advisable to allot to this

object.
As my Lords deem it advisable to connect this survey
with the museum of economic geology, it will be neces-
sary to add to the estimate such sum as may be neces-
sary to provide an adequate building in London and in
Dublin respectively, calculated at once to afford facility
for inspection by the public, which the present building
does not offer, and ready means of information to those
engaged in scientific pursuits.
Censidering that the Museum in London has been
from its foundation under the direction of the Commis-
sioners of Woods and Forests, my Lords deem it ad-
visable that all matters relating to the geological survey
should in future be committed to the superintendence of
the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests, under
the c,introl of this Board.
Write, therefore, to the First Commissioner of Woods
stud Forests, acquainting him with his views of my
Lords; and request that, if his Lordship has no objec-
tion to undertake these duties, he would submit to my
Lords his opinion as to the persons by whom it would
be advisable that the survey should be conducted : as to
the expense that it may be necessary annually to incur
in the prosecution of it ; and as to the sum required for
the est iblishment at,d maintenance of the museum in
London and in Dublin, to which my Lords have already
adverted.

LETTER FROM C. E. TREVELYAN, ESQ., TO TEE EARL OF

LINCOLN.

Treasury Chambers. Jan. 1. 1845.
My Lord,—The Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's
Treasury having considered the importance of effec-
tually prosecuting and completing a geological survey
of tire:lt Britain and Ireland, I have it in command to
transmit h-rewith, for your int;)rmation, a copy of their
b.rdships' minute of the 27th ultimo, containing their
views upon this subject ; and I am to request, that if
rdship has no objection to undertake the duties
-et-- in ou wilt submit to this board your opi-
as to the p,rs,m, by wh-in it would be advisable
~at she aitrVvy sii.uld be conducted ; as to the expense
it may he necessary annually to incur in the prose-
um: it; awl 'is to the sum required for the estab-
.!,an,nt nmintenance of the museum in London and
to wn my Lords have adverted in their said
,ave. &e.,
(S•gued)

:V!)1.1

C. E. TREVELYAN.

LEVIER FROM THE EARL OF LINCOLN TO THE LORDS
COMMISsIONERS OF HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY.
Office ot. 8c,%, January 13, 1845.
t.0,14:-1 have had the honour of receiving, by a
itom Mr. Trr,velyan, bearing date the
you:- minote
.of the 27th ult., con-
,,;)oaL ort,oa,tion your Lordships' views in
;-or,ea to die future proseentian of the geological sur-
voy .4 Great Britain and Ireland, in connexion with the
te,ns`',,r of certain duties of dir-etion and control which
your L0r1,1,4,s are of °pinny, should in future be com-
mittal to the chief Cininissioner of this Board, and
tell h: apl.:l;,..tion and exteosion of the results of
hat urvty to porposes for which, in London, under
oar Lordships,' sanction, an institution is already
stabli,hed and put in charge with this department.
I bog Lave to assure your Loidships in reply, not
of my willit•gness, but of my earnest desire to
arty our Cie intentions of her Mijesty's Government
in this matter, to the beat of my ability; and having
d this, I will proceod at once, in obedience to your
and aq far as my necessarily limited
know] dge i,f d,lails will permit, to point out the mode
->y which I thifd: those intentions may be best effected.
The gt,o!ogical survey of Great Britain, as your
Lordships are aware, originated in the 'ear 1832, in an
offer of Sir IL De la Beebe to supply the data for
vologically certain sheets o!- the ordnance
map of Engand, compiling p iris of Cornwall, Somer-
se-, coal Dors, t. and the whole of the county of Devon.
A sum of 310/. iu aid of this service (Sir H. De la
Beche conttitiroing the remaining awl thi, greater pot--
Cori of the exp-nse) was charged against the survey of
Great B•it,in in that year; and subsequently, the Kw,
vey has been extended, under his direction, over other
portions of ti-,e country.
The geological survey of the counties of Cornwall,
Devon, Somer: et, Gloucester, Monmouth, Glamorgan,
Cann irthen, Pembroke, with portions of Wilts, Dorset,
Worcesttr, Brecon, and Cardig.lll, are finished, and are
either finished or are ready for publication. The re-
mailaler of South Waha, with the northern portion of
the pi-ineipality, and some of the adjoining English
counties, nay be stated as at pr.:-seot under examination,
parts of thee only being completed.
From a return with which I have been favoured by
the Master General and Board of Ordnance, it appears
that six persons, civilians, are employed under Sir H.
De la Beetle, as his iissistants upon the survey; that up
to the 31st of March, 1844 (including, from 1835 t,
1839, the service of an Ordnance surveyor, chiefly
directed to the correction of the preexisting maps for
purposes), the cost hag,. in the who'e,
amounted to rather more than 11,0001. ; and ant the
sum set apart for it in the Ordnance estimates for the
current Parliamentary year is 1,9501., wh ch is appro-
priated a- follows, viz.:—
To the Director £soo
ii neu of travelliog expenses

£6OO

To assist snt geologists :-
1)..e. at 3001

300

0, at 2001.
Thre.,, at 1501. • 450
- 1,150
To contingencies 2OO

£1,950
For the application of these monies, however, there
appears to have been no specific parliamentary authority;
nor, except in casual statements and discussions upon
the esti nates of which they form a portion, do I find
any no: ice 4.f this- service in 'Parliament, and certainly
none at all commensurate with its claims upon the public
attentii n.

The time, however, it appears to me, is now arrived at
which the geol,gical survey should take its proper posi-
tion in the estimati s annually submitted to Parliament
by your Lordships' board, accompanied by a report of its
progress within the previous year. and or the portion re-
maining to be accomplished. Your Lordships will, I
feel assured, concur with me in opinion, that indepen-
dently of the expediency of such a practice on Parliamen-
tary gn,unds, publicity supplies an encouragement to zeal
where zeal exists, and a stimulus where it is wanting ;

and that the practical importance of the principle is—in
no instance more manifest than where, in connexion with
the acceptance of great individual responsibilities, the
qu.s'iun is one of giving or withholding public money.
I feel the less hesitation in submitting these observa-
tions to your Lordships on the present occasion, inas-
much as, with the facilities afforded by my position for
becoming informed of the real progress of the geological
survey, I can testify that no want of either zeal or dili-
gence can be imputed to the parties concerned in its pro-
secution.

Its advances, however, from the inadequacy of its re-
sources, have hitherto been slow and unsatisfactory :
and I should recommend that a vote of at least 4,000/.
should he taken in the ensuing and in every future year
until the undertaking is completed.
Having consulted Sir H. De la Beche as to the period
within which the survey of great Britain could be brought
to a close, with the additional assistance I have sugges-
ted, he assures me that with an annual vote of 4,000/.
its present rate of progress would be considerably more
than doubled ; and that the whole would be brought to
a conclusion within 12, or at the furthest 14 years from
the present time.
It appears to me highly desirable that the entire sur-
vey should, if possible, be the work of one and the same
supervision ; but with the sum hitherto set apart fer its
prosecution it is inconsistent witii the ordinary proba-
bilities of human lire that Sir IL De la Beche, or in-
deed any geotogist of equal maturity and experience
~Ith himself in the higher requisites for such a service,
should live to witness the termination of his labours.

The amount, therefore. which I have recommended is
as small ::s 1 think ci.nsistent with the completion of the
survey con.i•lntiv with the attainmtnt of an object to
I cannot hop attaching ve y great importance ;
Out if your Lord,hips' views should differ from my own
on this point, I would then only urge that the sum to be
now submitted to Parliament should in future sessions
be a:iher,d to, inasmuch as any ditninution would neces-
sitJte the dismissal of men who had been trained to the
service, and whose plat, r, it would involve a loss both of
mowy and time to supply.
It afforos tne great pleasure to find that! your Lord-
shit, ,re disposed to give increased elli,iencY to the
ii t utu of Ecou mute U.-olotry in 14ondon—an
urn to the condition of whien, but fit difficulties which
I tr,,s. are now removed, I should Itive long since fel tit
v duty to dra, your LordshipNs attention.
mus,,ipii itt Cra'g's court was founded in the yeex
1835, lu connexion with the geological survey of Grei-A

Y..ur L .I.,lships will lid a statement of the earli,
circumstances of its progress, is a letter addressed to te1,40