14 Reclamation of Batman's Swamp, 



be required to work, its maintenance, as a motive power, 

 would be comparatively small. Steam could be got up in 

 about two hours, and whenever the barometer indicated a 

 heavy fall of rain, the fires could be lighted, and the engine 

 be in effective working order as soon as the waters could 

 accumulate and render its assistance necessary; but this 

 would only be required in the event of not having sufficient 

 wind. 



The limited height the water would require to be raised, 

 seldom or ever exceeding three feet, would allow an engine 

 of 30-horse power to discharge water, with an average lift of 

 18 inches, to the amount of 95,000,000 gallons per day, and 

 this without allowing for any variation of tide. If to this we 

 add the work that could be performed by the windmills in 

 question, and also the quantity of water discharged by gravi- 

 tation, it may fairly be presumed, that under even extraordi- 

 nary circumstances, that the swamp would be kept as dry, if 

 not more so, than other low-lying lands under successful 

 cultivation. 



The cost of erecting machinery for the purpose I have indi- 

 cated would not exceed the sum before-named (£5,000) for 

 raising the embankment, making a total of £10,000 for the 

 reclamation of, say, 1000 acres of ground, and this adjacent 

 to and partly within the bounds ofthemetropolisof this colony. 



This would amount to £10 an acre on the ground thus 

 reclaimed, and it may be well here to inquire what induce- 

 ments are held out for this expenditure ? There are many, 

 apart from its cultivation, and yet necessarily connected 

 therewith. 



In the report of the Local Board of Health for the city of 

 Melbourne, for the year ending December 31st, 1857, it is 

 stated that — 



" The position of the present manure depot, and the possi- 

 bility of its removal to a more isolated locality, have been 

 subjects of serious consideration with the City Council, by 

 whom a committee was appointed to deal with them, but the 

 difficulties have been found so great, as to prevent any action 

 being taken in the matter. The committee have under con- 

 sideration a scheme for laying a pipe track from the depot, 

 for carrying off the drainage so as to prevent noxious exhala- 

 tions therefrom, but the expediency or otherwise of putting 

 the plan into operation, of course depends on whether or not 

 any alteration can be advantageously made in the site of the 

 depot." 



