286 H. S. Summers : 



The proposal was to build a weir about 100 feet in lieifrht, 

 and this meant that an embankment over half a .mile in length 

 must be built along a neck of land lying between Back Creek 

 and an alluvial flat on the main river. Tlae borings and shafts 

 along this line showed that in places bedrock Vas not met 

 with till a depth of over seventy feet had been reached, the 

 material passed tkrough being a conglomerate consisting of peb- 

 bles set in fine clay, with some gravel in parts, and the conclu- 

 sion arrived at was that the river had formerly flowed where this 

 bank now stands, and it was considered that the soakage through 

 the river gravels from the reservoir into Back Creek would cause 

 so great a loss of water that the amount eenserved would not be 

 sufficient to repay the large initial expense, and further con- 

 siderable doubt was expressed as to the strength of this ridge, 

 and it Avas feared that the soakage through this bank might cause 

 a break-a.way, with disastrous results to the inhabitants of the 

 country lower down the river. 



Nothing further was done in the matter until in 1907 the 

 Beiialla Water Trust again brought it under the notice of the 

 Minister for Water Supply, who visited the locality and had a 

 fresh report prepared. 



I visited the locality Avith Mr. S. Jeffrey, the Shire Engineer 

 for Benalla, and found that the conglomerate referred to above 

 was of considerable area, and had many of the characteristics 

 of a glacial deposit. Unfortunately the exposures are poor, and 

 it is difficult to determine absolutely vvhether this deposit is of 

 glacial origin or not ; but there is sulHoiejit evidence to show that 

 it Avould be a great mistake to condemn the scheme until the 

 origin of the conglomerate has been fully worked out. A fresh 

 shaft should be sunk, and the material examined critically by a 

 geologist. 



II. — Physiography of the Akea. 



The valley of the Broken Kiver about Xillahcootie forms the 

 division line between rlie Strathliosaie Kanges and the Mount 

 Samaria and Tolmie Highlands. At the proposed Aveir site the 

 A'alloy is fairly narrow, and the river bed is gorge-like, but higher 

 up wide open alluvial flats exist, forming a splendid storage area 

 for immense quantities of Avater. 



