IRRIGATION IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. 



223 



The result was a valuable report upon 

 which was based a comprehensive measure, 

 called the irrigation act, 1886. This 

 provides that any district, upon applica- 

 tion to the executive government, giving 

 plans and full particulars of the proposed 

 scheme of irrigation and water supply, 

 including cost, maintenance, probable 

 revenue and necessary rating power, may 

 be constituted an irrigation trust, pro- 

 vided that the opposition to the scheme in 

 the proposed district is not greater than a 

 specified minority, and provided that the 

 minister and chief engineer of water 

 supply report favorably on it. The 

 government having approved of the ap- 

 plication the scheme has then to be laid 

 before parliament with all documents, etc. , 

 relating thereto, for its sanction. A 

 specially authorized loan is then granted 

 to the trust from a fund specially set 

 apart for the purpose to enable the neces- 

 sary works to be carried out. A small rate 

 of interest is charged and a sinking fund 

 provided to extinguish the loan. It is also 

 enacted that certain portions of a scheme 

 may be denominated "national" works 

 and paid for solely by the state; or 

 "joint" works, payment being made by 

 both state and trust; or "trust" works, 

 for which the trust alone is responsible. 



The trusts are managed by commis- 

 sioners elected by ballot of the ratepayers 

 in each district, who have full financial 

 control and responsibility in connection 

 with the undertaking, and who appoint 

 the necessary officers for carrying out the 

 works and controlling the supply of water. 



Great facilities were thus afforded to 

 districts in which the rainfall was deficient 

 of obtaining an adequate supply of water. 

 The value of this boon was soon recognized, 

 no less than thirty trust districts having 

 been formed since the passing of the act, 

 comprising a ratable area of 2,700,000 

 acres, to which advances have been made 

 by the state to the extent of 974,000 or 

 about $4,870,000. The total sum auth- 

 orized by parliament to be lent to the 

 trusts is 1,364,000 ($6,820,000). In 

 addition the State has expended the sum 

 of 799,000 ($3,995,000) on national 

 works, thus the total amount advanced 

 to and spent on the behalf of irrigation 

 trusts is 2,163,000 ($10,815,000). 



AREA IRRIGATED. 



All the acreage mentioned as conferred 



in the first district is not irrigated al- 

 though ratable. Some of the schemes 

 have been allowed to lapse and several are 

 merely commenced. There remains, how- 

 ever, fully 1,300,000 acres which may be 

 brought under irrigated culture when all 

 the schemes are in full working order. 

 The annual returns to end of 1895 given 

 by the department of water supply show 

 that 76,600 acres have been watered dur- 

 ing the past year. Of this total, 30,000 

 acres consisted merely of grass, 20,000 

 acres of cereals, and not more than 2,900 

 acres of vines and fruit trees; the balance 

 being made up of lucern, vegetables, 

 flax, maize, tobacco, etc. This leads to 

 the conclusion that the expenditure has 

 been much in advance of present require- 

 ments. That this is so is also shown by 

 the fact that the returns to the state in 

 the shape of interest for money lent is 

 greatly in arrears, the sum outstanding 

 exceeding 160,000 ($800,000). 



In many cases the trusts saw no more 

 than the advantages likely to accrue to 

 their districts through possessing a suffi- 

 cient water supply, and did not consider 

 seriously enough the large liability they 

 assumed for the repayment of principal 

 and interest of the loans they had re- 

 ceived from the government, or if they 

 did understand the position they probably 

 relied upon the leniency of their creditors 

 to postpone the day of reckoning until it 

 was quite convenient for them to pay up. 

 Further, at the outset few knew anything 

 of irrigation in a practical way, and es- 

 pecially were they ignorant of the large 

 expenditure necessary to bring land into a 

 fit state to be irrigated. When it is con- 

 sidered that most of the land included in 

 the trust districts is held in blocks of at 

 least 320 acres, it will be seen how large 

 an amount would be received before any 

 considerable area could be utilized for 

 " intensive irrigated culture." The result 

 has been that the available water has not 

 been made use of to anything like the ex- 

 tent contemplated when the schemes were 

 first proposed. The situation, indeed, 

 had become so serious in 1894 that a 

 royal commission was appointed to in- 

 vestigate the affairs of the various trusts, 

 and make recommendations for this ameli- 

 oration. This body has not yet completed 

 its report. 



The methods of rating are not yet uni- 

 form; in some trusts each acre is rated 



