468 W. A. DIXON. 
ous, and would make no difference in the area that could be 
irrigated. Probably half the water would have to be stored, and 
the reservoirs would require, for the irrigation of 25,000 acres, a 
capacity of 6,806,250,000 gallons, or one hundred and twenty-one 
million cubic yards. ‘This is a work of some magnitude and with © 
ditches and other capital work would cost at least £5,000,000, or 
£200 per acre, the interest on which alone would come to £2 6s. 8d. 
per ton on the hay. 
In Mr. Boultbee’s report on artesian bores published in the 
beginning of 1892, the flow of water is stated to be 10,750,000 
gallons per day, but these figures are misleadingly large when 
used in connection with irrigation, when the water has to be 
measured in inches of depth on the surface. Put into this form 
it would be twenty-four inches per annum on 7,230 acres or the 
rainfall on twelve and one-third square miles on the catchment 
area, or nearly one-third of supply available. 
I would be glad to find that the results are better, but they are 
those derivable from the information available and can only be 
increased by enlarging the catchment or the rainfall. As I said 
in the discussion on Prof. David’s paper a month ago, we must be 
sure of our supply. It seems folly to build castles in the air at 
present, and to dream as some people seem to do of cultivating 
millions of acres and settling hundreds of thousands of agriculturists 
on the soil. 
