IRRIGATION WORK IN CALIFORNIA. XCIX. 
Strathfield, Parramatta and Penrith with a branch to 
Liverpool is quite practicable as an engineering enterprise, 
and has the following advantages in respect of the irrigation 
problem. The total equipment of transmission lines, 
pumps, motors, transforming devices, and so on, could 
probably be installed, and put to work at a cost not 
exceeding £100,000. There would certainly be a return 
on the Capital Expenditure, because there would be a sale 
of electricity for lighting, power, and industrial purposes, 
in townships traversed by transmission lines. 
The difficulties and delays in obtaining the best results 
from irrigated land, which must always be expected under 
new conditions of soil and climate, would be of small 
consequence, because the enterprise would not be absolutely 
dependent on these results for earning revenue. It would 
not be necessary to sink large sums of money in works 
which would be of no value if the scheme proved 
unsuccessful, a large portion of the cost would be incurred 
in electrical apparatus which could be used in connection 
with other works, should the irrigation prove unsuccessful. 
If successful, it would be the means of educating farmers 
to irrigate, and to practice what is known as intense 
cultivation. A skilled class of men would thus arise in 
readiness to turn to account waters conserved in dams and 
distributed by ditches. Such works cost great sums of 
money; they depend entirely on the irrigator for their 
success or failure. It is not necessary to build a large 
power house for the production of electricity for trans- 
mission, two of these already exist in Sydney, from either 
of which, power could be transmitted during certain 
periods of every 24 hours. 
To anyone who travels in Kurope or America, the 
immense progress which is being made in the application 
of electricity to all kinds of old industries and to the 
