THE EXPEDITION TO PRESERVATION INLET.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21267, 23 February 1931, Page 8

THE EXPEDITION TO PRESERVATION INLET.

TO THE EDITOR Sir,— Since interest has been aroused regarding the economic significance of discoveries made at Preservation Inlet by a party of geologists which recently visited there, and of which I was a member, a statement is desirable. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the age of the slates as _ far as may be determined by graptolites, fossils that are commonly used at Bendigo and elsewhere in Victoria to zone the auriferous beds. Large collections of these were made at Preservation Inlet for detailed study, and it was on account of my knowledge of them that I was invited to join the expedition. Slates of the same age as those that contained the gold-bear-ing reefs at Bendigo were found, but, apart from the importance of this discovery, it by no means follows that similar rich reefs to those at Bendigo exist at Preservation Inlet in beds of the same age. Many factors other than age are involved, and no investigation of the lodes such as would be necessary to reach conclusions as to their economic value was made by our party. This brief statement is made to correct any misleading reports that may be current. —I am, etc., Robert A. Keble, Palaeontologist to the National Museum, Melbourne.