Embankment above Prince's Bridge. 17 



same area was altogether a mistake, and that the compara- 

 tive heights to which the River Yarra had risen at distances 

 from the City, where it was uninfluenced by either the Falls 

 or Prince's Bridge gave unmistakable proofs that such 

 heavier rainfall could not have been over an area of the 

 water-shed of the Yarra equal to that which occurred in 

 1863. To verify the statement of the Commissioner I was 

 referred to you, Mr. President, and was also informed that 

 the matter would be brought forward in the House of 

 Assembly. If it were so, I have seen no account of it ; but 

 I am credibly informed that since the embankment was 

 erected, the Commissioner has referred the subject to a 

 board of engineers to report upon the probable effect of 

 the embankment on floods ; that the said board had sent in 

 a report, in which the embankment as placed was con- 

 demned, and which further recommended that a considerable 

 portion of it at both ends should be removed. 



It, therefore, appears that the primary objections I urged 

 against its construction have now, after it has been made, 

 been endorsed by a board of engineers. This recommenda- 

 tion comes too late to save the waste of public money ; but 

 if the difficulty be grappled with at once, it is not too late 

 to avert the consequence of its presence. 



When we take into consideration that the immediate 

 cause of floods is the checking by any means, natural or 

 artificial, the free flow of the water into the basin which 

 receives it, whether such basin be river lake or sea, we 

 cannot help coming to the conclusion that Prince's Bridge 

 is one of the artificial barriers that prevent the free 

 escape of the flood-waters of the Upper Yarra, and that the 

 reef upon which it is founded is a natural barrier, the 

 retarding influence of which is not at present so much felt 

 on account of the reef at the Falls being higher than that 

 at the bridge. 



My only object in cautioning the Minister of Lands and 

 Agriculture before its construction, and bringing the matter 

 before this Society now when it exists, is simply to pre- 

 vent as far as possible the danger to property, if not 

 human life, by giving timely warning, and by bringing 

 public opinion to bear upon the question, and to insist upon 

 the embankment being wholly or partially removed with 

 the least possible delay. 



