406 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION E. 



other hand, there is scarcely one of these rivers which cannot be 

 conserved, and its waters utilised with great benefit to the 

 country. The scanty rainfall in the western districts, the rich- 

 ness of the alluvial plains thi'ough which the rivers flow, the 

 uniformity of these plains, and the fact that the land frequently 

 slopes away from the rivers, are all conditions highly favourable 

 to a system of conservation and distribution of the waters. 

 Where a system of navigation can be carried out in conjunction 

 with irrigation, by all means let us have both. But if one of 

 these metliods of utilising the western rivers has to be sacrificed, 

 there can be no doubt that that one should be navigation. In a 

 report on the subject of Irrigation in Riverina, which I presented 

 to the Royal Commission on the Conservation of Water, I 

 pointed ovit that on a moderate estimate, the net selling value of 

 the available supply of water in the Murrumbidgee and Murray 

 is £312,000 per annum. This estimate is based on the rate at 

 which water was then supplied in the Goulburn Valley in Vic- 

 toria ; but if the rates be taken according to what a very large 

 number of landowners state they would be willing to pay, the 

 selling value of the available supply in these two rivers alone is 

 .£540,000 per annum. Among others of our western rivers 

 which can easily be utilised are the Dai^ling, the Lachlan, the 

 Macquai'ie, and the Gwyder. In fact our western rivers gene- 

 rally ai'e remai'kably adapted for distribution and utilisation ; 

 and, though their waters would irrigate only a small proportion 

 of the total area of the western plains, still that small proportion 

 would have an enormous effect in mitigating the losses caused by 

 droughts. It is well known that the losses which the western 

 pastoralists and land holders generally suffer in one period of 

 drought, would far exceed the cost of a complete system of water 

 conservation for the Avhole colony. But for those who suffer 

 ■such losses there is special application in the remark of the 

 American writer, that to-day's dinner subtends a greater visual 

 angle than yesterday's revolution. It is satisfactory, however, 

 to know that the number of those who appreciate the importance 

 of water conservation and irrigation, is increasing rapidly in this 

 colony, which is not surprising when the examples of California 

 and of the neighbouring colony of Victoria are considered. It 

 does not require the gift of prophecy to forsee, that on the adop- 

 tion of extensive and well-considered projects for water conserva- 

 tion and irrigation, depend in a very large measure the future 

 progress and prosperity of this colony. 



