MITIGATION OF FLOODS IN THE HUNTER RIVER. 117 



c. Stock. — I desire to emphasise the damage caused by 

 the trampling of horses and cattle, and by the nibbling and 

 eating out of all vegetation in drought seasons such as the 

 present. Let each landowner have his special crossing 

 places for cattle, such places to be so arranged and pre- 

 pared that the minimum damage of banks may be secured. 

 See page 119. 



IX. Remedial and Preventive Measures. 



a. Control of Ringbarking (see page 112.) 



b. Fencing. — Let me insist upon the judicious fencing of 

 banks to protect their edges from stock and other traffic. 

 I look upon this as one of the most important factors in 

 preventing the erosion of the banks of the Hunter. 



c. Embankments. — At present, owners of houses and 

 shops and farmers are put to an increasing expense in pro- 

 tecting their properties by means of stone, pile and paling 

 embankments, but in many cases the methods they are 

 adopting are those of Mrs. Partington sweeping back the 

 ocean, for the floods get at the back of their fortifications, 

 and the last stage is worse than the first. In many cases 

 the owners have large areas of additional land and do not 

 bother about the problems concerned in the erosion of river 

 banks. The probability is that if a man had only 40 acres 

 and he lost 10 by a washaway, he would become alarmed, 

 while a large landowner might treat the matter with com- 

 parative indifference. 



What we see in West Maitland, — houses perched on 

 crumbling banks and left more or less stranded, — we see 

 on a smaller scale, e.g., at Murrurundi on the Page River 

 and in many other towns and villages on smaller creeks. 

 If the welfare of West Maitland were alone at stake, then 

 it might be worth while to resume the town and to sell the 

 site for farms. Of course no other place is so seriously 

 affected by the floods, but it would be inequitable to tax 



