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TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



XII.-IRRIGATION IN VICTORIA. 



Recently comparisons have been 

 drawn between the progress of irrigation 

 in India and in Australia, very much 

 to the detriment of the latter. For in- 

 stance, the great Chenab Canal, the 

 largest in India, waters some two mil- 

 lion acres of hitherto barren country, 

 :and provides for an immigrant colony 

 of over 800,000 souls. The vast Triple 

 Canal project irrigates an equal area, 

 and many other schemes are working, or 

 are about to be started, throughout the 

 fvhole country. Altogether British en- 

 terprise has spent over ;£^40,ooo,ooo on 

 irrigation in India. The undertakings 

 there are paying well, too, and have 

 provided a livelihood for more people 

 than there are in the whole of Australia ! 

 Compared with India's huge efforts, 

 little would appear to have been done 

 here. In New South Wales the only 

 big irrigation scheme is that of the 

 Murrumbidgee, which is planned to 

 water 200,000 acres of first-class, and 

 360,000 acres of second-class land. In 

 Victoria, irrigation has recently been 

 brought under the control of the State 

 Rivers and Water Supply Commission, 

 which has done much to co-ordinate 

 plans and develop irrigable areas. Al- 

 together Victoria has spent about 

 ;£"5,ooo,ooo on irrigation schemes, and 

 has only 215,333 acres under irrigated 

 culture. 



SETTLERS AND WATER. 

 -No real comparison can possibly be 

 made between the two countries. Indian 

 irrigation provided land for a practi- 

 cally starving peasantry, to whom an 

 .acre or two of well-watered, even poor, 

 soil, meant affluence. The settlers were 

 waiting to pour into the opened up 

 areas the moment they were available. 

 Here the whole case is entirely different. 

 No doubt the Water Supply Commission 

 could at very short notice bring many 

 thousands of acres under irrigation, but 

 until the areas now available are all 

 taken up what is the use of throwing 

 •open more? In India the problem is to 



provide water for clamouring settlers, 

 here it is to provide settlers for clamour- 

 ing acres. Mr. Elwood Mead, than 

 whom there is no more able irrigation 

 expert, instead of concentrating his 

 energies solely on bringing water to the 

 land, has to devote most of his time to 

 findmg and looking after settlers. That 

 he and his associates have been so suc- 

 cessful during the last year or two 

 speaks volumes for their energy and 

 administrative ability. 



THE CASH VALUE OF A CITIZEN. 



Obviously to take up small areas for 

 intensive cultivation does not appeal 

 greatly to the Australian who thinks in 

 square miles, but it is just what the 

 British and European farmer likes and 

 what, after instruction, he is eminently 

 suited for. It would speedily pay the 

 State to bring out settlers, set them up 

 with stock, and not demand rent for a 

 couple of years, were it not for human 

 nature. Experience has proved over 

 and over again that the spoon-fed 

 settler is generally a failure. It is in- 

 teresting to remember, though, that each 

 and every inhabitant in Australia has 

 an average tax-paying value of ^^"13 lOs. 

 /d. a }'ear, £g os. 8d. of this going to 

 the State, and £^ 9s. 11 d. to the Com- 

 monwealth. 



A WEEDING OUT PROCESS. 

 Irrigation settlement in Australia is 

 still very largely in the experimental 

 stage. Many men took up land without 

 having the most elementary knowledge 

 of irrigation farming. They neither 

 knew the right crops to grow nor the 

 right way to use the water. It is not 

 surprising that some of these have failed 

 and abandoned their land in despair. 

 The officials of the Water Commission 

 direct, advise and help settlers. They 

 send full reports to headquarters, and, 

 acting on this information, the Commis- 

 sioners are able to decide where credit 

 can be allowed, and where it is obviously 

 useless to permit a settler to get further 



