feY THOMAS PARKEtl, F.G.S. 35 



weak or corroded casing pipes. I know one district in 

 Western Queensland where galvanised wrought iron pipes 

 have been so corroded by the surface soil contents that 

 the pipes have become worthless by corrosion within two 

 years. Where the casing pipes of artesian wells have 

 suffered by corrosion the shock of closing down the valve 

 at the surface will easily cause the rupture of the casing, 

 and bring about the diminished flow of the wells already 

 described. It would appear, then, that the practice of 

 valving down adopted to prevent waste of artesian water is 

 more likely to have a contrary effect, and rather cause a 

 diminished flow at the surface, and bring about a real 

 waste of the water underground. It may here be asked. 

 What is a waste of the water of a flowing artesian well ? 

 Evidently the opinion in some quarters hitherto has been 

 this, that by allowing the unrestricted flow of the bores 

 to the surface much of the water is wasted. Hence the 

 decision to restrict the flow. But I think if the facts and 

 arguments I have presented were taken into account, and 

 fuller inquiry made, it would be found that this unrestricted 

 flow of existing bores is not a waste of the water, although 

 at the first glance it may appear so ; also that valving 

 down existing bores does not conserve the underground 

 supply. It should be remembered that the closing down of 

 a bore and stopping the flow, even if it could be done without 

 a water ram shock and consequent damage to the bore, 

 does not necessarily conserve the water. All the time the 

 bore is closed the opening at the ocean end of the under- 

 ground stream is there. The water into which the bore 

 has originally pierced is not a closed reservoir, but a flow- 

 ing stream, though moving slowly, hence no water is being 

 actually conserved whilst the bore is closed at the surface, 

 for the stream below is passing the locality of the bore all 

 the time. The water, as before, is flowing down the incline 

 between two watertight strata, which form a kind of water 

 pipe, but one, however, which is open at the lower end. 

 When it is considered what a very large amount of money 

 has been expended on artesian wells in this 8tate, and that 

 the maintenance of that water supjily in the arid western 

 areas is of vital public importance, the question of the di- 

 minishing flow of the well should be thoroughly investigated. 



