858 president's address. 



been most ably described by Mr. Abbott, P.M.. in the Journal 

 of the Eoyal Society of New South Wales, Vol. 14, p. 281, 1880, 

 and nearly all of them partake clearly of the artesian character. 

 These wells are usually sunk on or near to, the slope of a hill, 

 over the spot where a natural spring is seen to exist, and the 

 shaft, on touching water at a depth of less than a hundred feet, 

 derives, from strata of sand or gravel, a supply very abundant, 

 indeed greatly in excess of that in any of the wells in the Albert 

 district, as described by Mr. Wilkinson. Mr. Abbott suggests 

 many improvements, at a tenth of the cost, on the present method 

 of shaft-sinking, to the propriety of which I assent, but beg to 

 add that, in all probability, a second and distinct supply could, 

 if required, be had by passing a much smaller pipe down the 

 larger one until the cretaceous deposit was reached. 



I will now read a few brief extracts taken from Mr. Abbott's 

 interesting details, in order to show the enormous underground 

 supply of excellent water to be had on demand: — "Beyond 

 Bando head station, and situated on the side of the same range 

 of mountains, there are two remarkable springs called Tambar. 

 These springs are about 100 yards apart, four miles from the 

 plain, and elevated above it somewhere over 200 feet. In one 

 the water is contained in a deep cup-like cavity in an otherwise 

 dry and stony-looking spot, and flows across the main road from 

 Boggabri to Coolah. The outflow from this spring varies con- 

 siderably with the state of the weather. On bright sunny days 

 the flow is only about 120 gallons per hour ; and on a dull, cloudy 

 day (although no rain may be falling) the outflow sometimes 

 reaches 400 gallons per hour. The second spring is situated 

 about 40 feet lower than the one just described, and the outflow 

 averages 1200 gallons per hour. I carefully examined the range 

 and could not discover the existence of any sufficient catchment 

 from which these springs might derive their supply. My 

 observations lead mo to the belief that the fountain-head is 

 situated many miles from whero the springs break forth. Upon 



