The report dated 31st August, 1901, was the last to supply the very full information customarily given annually by the department. There was almost universal drought and difficulty. In some parts of the State, however, the drought had broken, so that needful works could be again pushed on. But this was by no means the end of the great drought of 1898-1903, and the appendices and valuable maps which added so greatly to the permanent value of the reports of the department were discontinued, and only a brief report was presented. This is much to be regretted, but retrenchment was enforced by revenue shrinkages and the dislocation temporarily caused by federal union. Happily, however, the information has since been carefully collected, and is now available to complete this sketch of the work done and results achieved since the year 1883, when the department was created under Mr. Henderson's direction. In the 1901 report the success of the Adavale bore is recorded, the depth being 3,398 ft., with a flow of 990,890 gallons per day, and at a total cost of L5,369. The striking of a supply of water in the Dalby bore to the amount of 46,470 gallons an hour at a depth of 1,841 ft. is also mentioned in this report. This success is interesting on account of the site being the furthest easterly where artesian water has been found. The report for 1902 was cut down to the minimum limit. It was prepared while the country was in the grip of the worst drought ever known, and yet private enterprise was active as ever in bore-sinking, no less than thirty-six flowing wells having been completed during the year. The total number in the State was thus brought up to 563, yielding 375,000,000 gallons a day, the average flow per bore being 666,231 gallons. ADDITIONAL FLOWING BORES IN 1903. The report for 1903 was brief. During the year the number of flowing bores had increased by thirteen, and the aggregate flow by 10,000,000 gallons. The average flow was 669,279 gallons, or 3,048 gallons increase upon the flow for the preceding year. This in the face of the diminution of the flow in many bores cannot be considered unsatisfactory. The entire cost of well-boring in the State to 1903 is set down at L1,463,326, including abortive bores, and heavy sums for carriage of boring plant in the earlier days. It is mentioned in this report that the Whitewood bore, Bimerah, yielding only 70,000 gallons a day, at 5,045 ft., is still the deepest in Queensland. The shallowest is given as at Manfred Downs, at 10 ft., yielding 2,000 gallons a day; and the hottest water at Elderslie No. 2, where from a depth of 4,523 ft. emerge more than 11/2 million gallons per diem at a temperature only 10 degrees below boiling point. The greatest static pressure is at the Thargomindah bore, where it is nearly 240 lb. to the square inch. LATER INFORMATION.