XII. H. G. McKINNEY. 



sentatives from all the States in which irrigation is prac- 

 ticed were present. A point which was abundantly evident 

 from the proceedings of this Congress was that not only- 

 had the Government given no assistance in the construction 

 of irrigation works, but that the neglect to pass suitable 

 legislation had seriously impeded irrigation enterprise. In 

 1885, Mr. Deakin when referring to the works which had 

 then been carried out, wrote as follows : — " They have ' 

 been constructed outside the law, extra legally, if not 

 illegally. Even now only two States and one Territory have 

 attempted to deal legislatively with any of the problems 

 raised, and it is not claimed that in more than one of these 

 has anything substantial been achieved." The legal 

 position of the owners of extensive irrigation works in 

 Western America was, in fact, as unsatisfactory as that 

 of the owners of dams and pumps on the rivers and creeks 

 of New South Wales before the passing of the Water Rights 

 Act. Since the date of Mr. Deakin's report, a number of 

 the States have adopted the principle of the State owner- 

 ship of the rivers, which is the fundamental principle of 

 our Water Rights Act, but this has not altered the policy 

 adopted in the construction of irrigation works. In the 

 proceedings of the Irrigation Congress referred to, such 

 expressions as " We want no paternalism " were repeatedly 

 used, and there appeared to be a general feeling that it 

 was not right either to wish or expect that the Govern- 

 ment would undertake any irrigation works in settled 

 districts. The only direction in which any assistance was 

 wanted was indicated in the desire that the Government 

 should carry out preliminary surveys to determine the 

 character and outline of the country, and that it should 

 locate suitable sites for reservoirs, and conduct a system 

 of river gauging. The case was very clearly put by one of 

 the representatives of Kansas as follows: — "Let it be 

 understood, however, that no friend of the Great Plains 



