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river having a volume of 2,663| cub. ft. receiving another river 

 having a volume of 596| cub. ft., and yet about 50 milea 

 lower down in its course its volume is only 2,411 cub. ft., being 

 850 cubic feet less than it was above. It needs no very profound 

 reasoning to arrive at the conclusion that such a sensible loss (rather 

 more than one-fourth of tbe gross volume) cannot be accounted for by 

 the ordinary process of soakage or evaporation ; and the inference to be 

 drawn is exceedingly strong that there exists natural features, which 

 favour the theory that the waters seek an underground absorbent or 

 outlet for the missing volume. It is no strange thing in Australia that 

 in certain places, where beds of limestone exist, there are caverns and 

 subterraneous watercourses, but, singular as these appear, and real in 

 fact, they do not satisfy the question of what becomes of the rain which 

 annually falls on the inland slopes of this Continent, the large portion of 

 which does not reach the ocean by ordinary river channels. 



The knowledge that so large a part of the interior of Australia is 

 tertiary, resting at its edges on older strata, except in one instance where 

 .it touches the Southern Ocean, gives some clue to the formation of a 

 theory which may account for the disappearance of the waters, and, I 

 believe, will ultimately be proved to be the storage reservoir where ia 

 conserved the rain and river waters which other theories fail to account 

 for. There is one thing certain, which, if it be granted, that vast 

 volumes of water disappear from our river systems they cannot pass to 

 the sea by way of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern 

 Territory, or Western Australia, owing to the land being edged round 

 with primative impervious rocks, and the possibility of escape at the 

 only visible outlet — namely, the south-east part of South Australia is 

 very improbable owing to the want of all evidence of such outflow in the 

 Southern Ocean, which skirts our shores. 



Consequent on the deductions made from the above line of reasoning 

 and known facts, I feel confident that in and below our central tertiaries 

 there exists abundant supplies of water if sought for with a reasonable 

 degree of care and skill. 



It is quite possible that there may be one or two mistakes or failures 

 at the outset, but that should not deter us from following up the question 

 t» a successful issue. And once establish the existence of these water 

 supplies in unlimited quantities at reasonable cost the future of this 

 country is assured as one that must take the lead in wealth and pros- 

 perity, and possibly the central state of a federated Australia. 



