384 H. G. McKINNEY. 
THE PROGRESS AND POSITION OF IRRIGATION IN 
NEW SOUTH WALES. 
By H. G. McKInney, M.E., M. Inst. C.E., 
Chief Engineer for Water Conservation. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, December 6, 1893. | 
It is not generally realised that notwithstanding the remarkable 
succession of good seasons which this Colony has enjoyed since 
1888, irrigation is being more widely adopted every year, and its 
benefits are becoming better understood. The wet seasons have 
in a number of cases, led to a diminution of the irrigated areas in 
the Eastern and Central Divisions in recent years, but the number 
of irrigation plants has increased, and there are strong indications 
of a more rapid increase in the near future. The importance of 
developing the export trade is beginning to be generally under- 
stood, and as a natural consequence every means of increasing 
the productiveness of the land is receiving increased attention. 
Irrigation is, however, still in its infancy here, so that it is not 
necessary to go far back in tracing its development. 
fo) fo} 
When, as a visitor from India, I first travelled over the plains 
in the southern and south-western districts, about seventeen and 
a half years ago, the miserable appearance of the herbage where 
any was to be seen, and the numerous skeletons of sheep and 
cattle to be seen in all directions, showed much better than any 
words could do, the necessity for providing means for sustaining 
the live stock in dry years. When I ventured to suggest to some 
enterprising and successful pastoralists, that it would be well worth 
while to try irrigation of fodder crops at suitable places in their 
runs, these pastoralists, with all the assurance of superior know- 
ledge informed me that such a suggestion coming from an Anglo- 
Indian who did not understand the conditions of labour in 
Australia was not surprising ; but that in reality it was absurd 
to entertain the idea of carrying on irrigation with profit in these 
