ANNUAL ADDRESS. XIII. 



country, who is conversant with the situation, either asks 

 or expects the National Government to construct the irri- 

 gation systems necessary to the reclamation of the semi- 

 arid lands. All that we ask of the Government is such 

 legislation as is necessary, and a very moderate amount of 

 experimenting and demonstration." The system under 

 which irrigation in Western America has made such 

 remarkable progress, has as its main features untrammelled 

 private enterprise working with the consent and co-oper- 

 ation of the settlers. The spirit of self-reliance and enter- 

 prise of the people is aptly indicated by the quotation I 

 have given from the speech of the representative of Kansas, 

 and the results of that spirit are shown to the world in the 

 millions of acres irrigated, and the thousands of car loads 

 of produce which are sent away annually from land which, 

 not many years ago, was regarded as almost valueless. 



Although the people of Australia are more completely 

 British in their origin than are the citizens of the United 

 States, there is a remarkable contrast between the policies 

 of the Governments of the United Kingdom and the United 

 States on the one hand and of the Australian States on the 

 other so far as the encouragement of engineering enterprise 

 is concerned. In the Australian States the tendency has 

 been to concentrate the construction and management of 

 all works of importance under the immediate charge of the 

 Government. Oases have occurred where private com- 

 panies offering to construct useful public works entirely at 

 their own risk and expense, have been refused the neces- 

 sary authority on the ground that the works should be 

 constructed by the Government, and that the construction 

 of such works should await the convenience of Government. 

 This spirit appears to be most developed in New South 

 Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, and seems less pro- 

 nounced in New Zealand and Tasmania. In New South 



