50 W. H. WARREN. 
Those who have given even a moderate amount of thought to 
this subject have not failed to see that the British law of riparian 
rights completely blocks the path of irrigation enterprise. In 
England, questions relating to irrigation are practically unknown ; 
but river conservancy for purposes of navigation, drainage, and 
reclamation, is a matter of great public moment, and for the 
determination of questions relating to even these matters the 
cumbrous law referred to is an expensive failure. France has a 
larger extent of land under irrigation, subject to suitable laws 
and regulations ; but irrespective of this, it would probably be 
no exaggeration to state that in regard to its laws for and 
method of dealing with river conservancy it is half-a-century 
ahead of England. 
Among European countries, the conditions of Spain are probably 
nearer than any other to those of the western districts of New 
South Wales. In both cases the rainfall is light, the climate in 
summer hot and dry, and the discharge of the rivers more or less 
uncertain. Irrigation in Spain has for many centuries been 
regarded as a matter of the first importance, and the laws 
bearing on it have been framed with such care and comprehen- 
siveness, that they were in a large measure adopted as the best 
model for dealing with the great irrigation systems in India. 
In New South Wales we have the successful legislation of 
Spain, Italy, France, and India, to guide us, and the ancient - 
bungling of England, and the recent bungling of America, to act 
as warnings. ‘There are doubtless differences of opinion as to 
points of detail, but it is very generally admitted that the State 
should be regarded as the owner of all great natural supplies of 
water, and that it should so administer these supplies as to make 
them of most benefit to the public. As the law stands, every 
dam on every river and creek in the Colony exists on sufferance 
only, and the same remark applies to the numerous pumping 
engines which enterprising settlers are using for irrigation purposes 
on every important river, and also on some creeks in the western 
districts. When any landowner or lessee of land thinks, or pro- 
