WATER CONSERVATION, IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE IN N.S.W. 241 



Drainage not demanded for the Lachlan and Macquarie Marshes. 

 — It would appear that even the highest floods in the Lachlan are 

 regarded as beneficial, as no question of necessity for drainage or 

 of flood prevention has been raised. This may be partly due to 

 the number of lakes and large depressions into which much of the 

 surplus water flows, and which constitute valuable local reservoirs. 

 On the Macquarie there are occasional losses from excessive flood- 

 ing, but these losses appear to be trifling compared to the benefits 

 arising from ordinary floods, so that here also the question of 

 constructing drainage works has never been seriously raised. 



Weirs on the Lachlan and Macquarie. — Weirs have been con- 

 structed by the Government on both the Lachlan and the Mac- 

 quarie for the diversion of water into the back country. The 

 Willandra Weir on the former river was completed in 1890, and 

 was, so far as is known, the first cribwork weir constructed on any 

 river in this State. In the case of both these rivers the channels 

 which are served by the weirs are many hundreds of miles in 

 length. The great benefit conferred on the back country by these 

 works is beyond question; but here as elsewhere in the manage- 

 ment of such works the interests of the lower holders have to be 

 kept clearly in view. In the management of rivers and in the 

 distribution of their waters, many difficult and intricate questions 

 as regards water rights have to be dealt with, so that the most 

 vigilant administration has to be maintained in order to hold the 

 scales evenly. 



Works for diversion of the Gwydir River. — Works for the diver- 

 sion of part of the waters of the Gwydir River into the Morrnin 

 and Thalaba Creeks were proposed some years ago and have recently 

 been undertaken. In view of the iact that there is an admitted 

 surplus of water on the flats of the lower part of the Gwydir, 

 these works are less likely to give rise to misunderstanding than 

 the corresponding works on the Lachlan and the Macquarie. 



The Namoi as compared with other western rivers. — The Namoi 

 occupies an intermediate position between the Murrumbidgee and 

 the last three rivers referred to. Its channel is fairly maintained to 



P— Dec. 4, 1901. 



