356 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



The system of drainage on the eastern coast is not very exten- 

 sive, and the watershed is of considerable elevation, and not far 

 distant from the coast, consequently the rivers are short, and, 

 owing to the rapidity of the descent, the alluvial lands are very 

 extensive and rich, and owing to its many advantages will always 

 be the most productive and most populous portion of Australia. 



The Murray River system is most important and most exten- 

 sive. This is one of the principal drainage systems of the conti- 

 nent, and will no doubt be largely utilised in the future for 

 irrigation. It drains a fertile territory, has a temperate climate, 

 and must therefore always be an important producing district of 

 Australia. 



The system of drainage into Lake Eyre is one of the most 

 extraordinary, as this lake receives the drainage of an immense 

 area, and has at present no outlet, though no doubt at one time 

 there must have been an outlet by Lake Torrens to the sea at 

 Port Augusta. 



The large area colored yellow on the map has no river system, 

 and no drainage into the sea, as between Cape Arid and Port 

 Lincoln, a distance of nearly 1000 miles, there is not even a 

 rivxilet running into the sea. The rainfall over this immense area 

 is absorbed in the ground, or forms short watercourses leading into 

 depressions. This is caused by the low elevation of the interior, 

 the absence of any extensive mountain ranges, and the limited and 

 uncertain rainfall of the interior forming marshes which are 

 invariably salt. 



A careful study of these different drainage systems I have 

 referred to, and of the rainfall throughout the continent, will, I 

 think, show that there is generally no lack of water if means 

 were devised for conserving it, and that immense areas now alto- 

 gether unutilised can be made productive by the judicious expen- 

 diture upon waterworks of a permanent character. 



The present divisions of Australia cannot but be a subject of 

 great interest well worthy of consideration, and in dealing with 

 the question it is necessary that we should ascertain by what rule 

 or method the existing boundaries were determined upon. I fear 

 we must admit that the method pursued was a haphazard cne, 

 arrived at without any knowledge or regard for the natural fea- 

 tures or the climates of the different territories. 



The boundaries were, as a rule, certain lines of latitude and 

 longitude, and as Australia has progressed these lines have been 

 made to divide the people of one colony from another. The 

 question naturally arises whether it is reasonable that these divi- 

 sions can or should be maintained in the future. 



Take, for instance, the Murray River, which divides New South 

 Wales from Victoria. On either side we find the same people, 

 the same language, the same religion, the same occupations, and 

 the same interests. Are these people likely to be content to live 



