24 president's address. 



regular beaten tracks (sheep-pads), which, trending in all direc- 

 tions, usually lead down into the watercourses, forming regular 

 gutters. There the accumulated water is still further retained in 

 the clay-pans, because the fine clay and sediment, carried in the 

 water, settles and forms a skin or coating on the bottom. 



This is corroborated by Mr. W. E. Abbott,* who says, "The dif- 

 ference between stocked country and that which has never been 

 stocked, is apparent even after a few years; the surface becomes 

 firmer, and water runs where it never ran before." This makes a 

 great difference in the quantity of surface-water that runs into 

 rivers and swamps, and very soon rivers run with half the amount 

 of rain that they did previously. 



Stockowners were soon confronted with the important problem 

 of the conservation of water for their stock during the summer 

 months, and the further inland they moved out, the more serious 

 the question of water became. The first method adopted was the 

 formation of dams across the creeks, constructing embankments 

 of earth when the creeks were low, and backing up the water, with 

 a bywash on the side. These dams, however, were constantly break- 

 ing away with the sudden floods, so common in the interior, and 

 necessitated constant watching and repairing. 



The next step was the digging out of deep excavations with slop- 

 ing sides, usually on the edge of some swamp or water-course, and 

 the surrounding area cut with gutters leading into the excavation. 

 These were known as tanks. Private owners soon found the value 

 of this impounded water, and, in 1869, the Government of New 

 South Wales saw their advantages, and started similar watering 

 places at intervals along the main stock-routes; these were after- 

 wards known as Government Tanks. The sum of £5,000 was voted 

 for the construction of watering places between Booligal and Wil- 

 cannia under the supervision of the Roads Department, and these 

 were found to be so valuable that similar excavations were carried 

 out in other places; so that between 1882 and 1883, the sum of 

 £103,000 was expended by the Government. These Government 



* "Water-Supply in the Interior of New South Wales," Journ. Proc. 

 Roy. Soe. N. S. Wales, xviii., 1884. p. 85. 



