182 TANKS AND WELLS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
under which irrigation will have to be carried out in this country, 
and under which it has been carried out in other countries, to 
enable us to take a practical view of the question as a whole; 
enough to protect us from being carried away by the mad enthu- 
siasm which pictures the whole of the dry country converted into 
a garden of Eden, and, at the same time, protect us from the 
baneful workings of those who handle our rainfall and evapora- 
tion as weapons of attack with which to rout those who earnestly 
desire to see this country benefited by a wise use of those blessings 
we have too long neglected. For the present we must wait, wait 
patiently but not without hope, for the first steps to be made to 
carry out the necessary surveys in connection with, at least, one of 
our rivers, and to obtain other necessary data on which to frame 
some tangible, practical scheme. 
Discussion. 
‘aining as engineers to take up the subject are turning their 
attention to it. Before making any reply to what has been said 
views, I should like to take this opportunity of saying 
than I Suppose, and that the rive i h impervious 
Z rs run in suc 
clay that they can lose but very little by percolation. This - 
is no answer to what I have said—in fact it rather strengthe?? 
™Y Position. The bulk of the rainfall on the Darling is wha 
