The Irrigation Question. 377 



him to a slight extent, has had a most disastrous effect in abnor- 

 mally raising the cost of living. And what is worse, these protective 

 duties have in many instances induced the less industrious and less 

 progressive class of farmer to cultivate less of their lands because 

 the increased price of the produce has yielded them the income 

 which satisfied their wants. 



The serious falling-ofif in the agricultural produce of the Colony 

 may not be altogether due to this cause, but from the many instances 

 reported of less land being under cultivation it is not unfair to come 

 to the conclusion that it has a great deal to do with it. 



It may. therefore, justly be urged that the construction of roads 

 and railways should go hand in hand with irrigation works which will 

 help to make the railways pay, and which may ultimately not only 

 provide food-stuffs for the }jeople of this Colony, and so make it 

 self-supporting, but ma\ even open up a trade with other countries in 

 articles which are now imported in large quantities. 



And, further, the subject of irrigation should be treated in a 

 broad and generous spirit, and .so long as there is a reasonable 

 prospect of the iieople generally benefiting by this policy, the question, 

 whether a scheme is likely to pav interest in one or two years on 

 capital expended should never be raised nor should it influence a 

 •decision. 



The subject of irrigation mav be broadly divided into two main 

 sections : — 



1. The collection and preser\ation or storage of water. 



2. The utilization of the water to the best advantage after it has 

 been stored. 



With regard tO' the first, it is ncjt to the credit of the Legislature 

 that so little has yet been done in that direction. One of the most 

 important features in connection therewith is the knowledge of the 

 amount of water available at a given point, and to obtain this the 

 very first requirement is a complete hydrographic survey of the 

 Colony. 



It is true that a commencement was made as earlv as i860, when 

 Government established the Meteorological Commission — the labours 

 of which have resulted in furnishing a number of useful data. The 

 Commission has placed a large number of rain gauges in different 

 parts of the Colony, and has arranged for readings to be taken and 

 recorded. These results are published year by year in a report to 

 Parliament. 



The funds placed at the disposal of the Commission are quite 

 inadequate, however, for the purpose, and the rain gauges far too 

 few in number to furnish an\ thing but very general data. With one 

 rain gauge to perhaps one hundred or several hundred square miles 

 sufficient information of a reliable nature cannot be obtained, more 

 particularly when it is considered that there may be plains adjoining 

 mountain ranges rising to 3,000 and 4,000 feet, with the rain gauge 

 placed — not at a point where a fair average fall might be registered, 

 but in a place where the unpaid observer can conveniently get to it. 



