74 On the Botany WatersJied. 



this reservoir the water would come free of cost — that every 

 shower of rain would contribute something to it — that during 

 the longest drought there would be some contributions to it — • 

 that the artificial conduit to Sydney would not exceed at most 

 10 miles iu length and would pass through several populous 

 suburbs — and that the whole might be rendered available in a 

 comparatively short period, and without imposing any excessive 

 financial burden on the citizens of Sydney. If there is any force 

 in the considerations I have urged, it will follow that before 

 adopting the Uj)per J^epean scheme as recommended by the 

 Commission, the Grovernment should at least re-consider the 

 whole question, and it is under the conviction that such a re- 

 consideration is demanded in the interests of the city that I have 

 ventured to dispute the conclusion come to by the members of 

 the Commission, for whom both personally and professionally I 

 entertain a cordial regard, and who I am sure will be the last to 

 resent any fair investigation of the fruits of their laborious 

 inquiry. - . 



Art. III. — 0?i the Boiam Watershed, hy Edward Bell, Esq., 

 M. Inst. G.E. 



[Read before the Society, September 14tb, 1870.] 



Ik submitting the following remarks to the Eoyal Society of 

 New South Wales upon a subject of such great importance to 

 the inhabitants of Sydney and the adjacent suburban boroughs, 

 I would state that I have endeavoured to be as brief as possible, 

 and to confine mysehf to facts (as far as practicable) which have 

 come under my own observation while engaged in the construction 

 of the several works which have been carried out under my 

 direction during the last fourteen years for the Municipal 

 Council of Sydney for improving the supply of water to this 

 city. It is necessary, in the first place, that I should give an 

 outline of the general features of the Lachlan, Botany, and 

 Long Swamps, all of which are so closely connected that it is 

 difficult to define exactly their separate boundaries. I will, 

 therefore, for the purposes of this paper, call these gathering 

 grounds collectively the "Botany Water Shed" or "Basin." 



