Items of Interest July 22, 1916 Issue

Items of Interest

At a recent meeting of the Geological Society in Johannesburg, South Africa, a number of diamonds which had been obtained from the Simmer Deep mine were exhibited. Referring to these stones, the president of the society said that diamonds had now been found in the conglomerates of the Witwatersrand system in the Klerksdorp district, in the central rand, in the Germiston area, and on the East rand. When it was considered that for every stone recovered thousands were destroyed in motor-boxes, and that only one group of conglomerates—the Main Reef zone—had been extensively exploded, it became apparent that vast numbers of diamonds must be locked up in the Upper Witwatersrand beds. The stones that had hitherto been found all presented sufficient identity of feature—their color was invariably green—to Warrant the assumption that they had been derived from the same source. Investigations indicated that this source lay to the northwest, and that the diamonds had been brought to their present resting-place through the agency, at some remote period of the earth's history, of a great river, which it was hoped future investigations would disclose.

A congressional measure, which is a compromise agreed upon by conference committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, carries a Federal appropriation of $75,000,000 to be expended, with a like amount to be raised by the various states within a period of five years. This money is to be expended upon arterial roads selected by the highway authorities of the forty-eight states, subject to the approval of the secretary of the department of agriculture. The bill requires the maintenance of the roads after construction by the states, under penalty of a discontinuance of further Federal funds. The Federal distribution is to be made on a basis of area, population, and rural delivery and star routes. The largest amount of Government money will go to Texas, whose apportionment is $4,515,-750. New York is next with $3,877,500, Pennsylvania third with $3,585,750, and Illinois fourth with $3,432,000.

A supplement to the bill gives an additional $10,000,000, to be expended at the rate of $1,000,000 a year on roads within or adjacent to Federal forest reserves, the money to be repaid ultimately out of the sale of timber and from other sources of revenue. The western states were particularly interested in this phase of the question and successfully contended that the national Government should protect and develop its own property.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Items of Interest

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access