618 president's address — section h. 



we have this information all that is done has no safer basis than 

 individual judgment or opinion. If those who direct development 

 guess right, the country is fortunate, but such guesses are rare and 

 should not be risked. To secure the facts there should be an early 

 and comprehensive investigation of both artesian and surface 

 water supplies to determine their origin and extent and the manner 

 in which they should be controlled and used. This should be carried 

 out under the direction of the Commonwealth Government, or, 

 if this is not feasible, by concerted action of the States. 



Among the questions with which this investigation would deal 

 are the source, the extent, and the probable permanency of the 

 underground water supplies. In Queensland alone the wells which tap 

 this underground reservoir have a total length of over 310 miles, 

 and have cost over £2,000,000" They are the sole or principal 

 reliance for domestic supphes for a large number of towns, and 

 for the watering of millions of live stock ; to a limited extent 

 they are used for irrigation, and in two or three instances provide 

 power to operate electric light works and flour mills. These bores 

 in Queensland are found in an area of over 376,000 square miles. 

 This is an area about equal in size to the United Kingdom and 

 France, and the only reason why it will not support as many 

 people as the combined population of these countries is that it has 

 an inadequate water supply. The industries of this present scanty 

 population are chiefly wheat-growing and the raising of cattle 

 and sheep. To provide water for this the underground reservoir 

 has been tapped by nearly 2,000 bores. The exact number is not 

 known, because there is no official record in Queensland of the 

 private bores. The drain on this reservoir for the limited popu- 

 lation is enormous. Professor Gregory in his work, " The Dead 

 Heart of Australia," estimates that in 1903 the wells of New South 

 Wales discharged about 22,000,000 cubic feet a day and those of 

 ■Queensland 63,000,000 cubic feet. Since that time the number 

 of wells and the total discharge have largely increased. The 1910 

 report of the Hydraulic Engineer of Queensland gives 39 weUs, 

 out of the 1585 recorded, as having discharges varying from 

 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 gallons a day. Much of this is wasted, 

 the prevailing practice being to allow all the water forced to the 

 surface to escape. In many cases the water flows for miles month 

 after month before it sinks into the soil or is taken up by the air. 

 All told the volume wasted is many times the volume used. 



Austraha needs to consider whether it is wise or prudent to 

 permit this enormous waste to continue. The water which is lost 

 in evaporation and seepage does no good ; in fact, the salts which 

 it leaves in the soil do harm. May not this wasted water be needed 

 in the not distant future ? Discussion shows widely varying views. 

 Mr. J. B. Henderson, the Hydraulic Engineer of Queensland, has 

 for many years urged putting valves on bores and regulating the 

 discharge to actual needs ; but he has been a voice crying in the 

 wilderness. The pastoralists, who have most at stake, have as 

 .a class opposed all regulation or any laws looking to a conservation 



