INTERCOLONIAL WATER RIGHTS AS AFFECTED BY FEDERATION. 235 



With regard to this division, it is necessary to mention that the 

 area described as effective is so only in a limited degree, and that 

 the non-effective area is the scene of the loss of an important pro- 

 portion of the waters which flow off the areas classed as effective. 

 Reflection on these points will afford some indication of the great- 

 ness and complexity of the question of water rights throughout 

 this immense catchment, whose only apparent outlet to the sea is 

 the mouth of the river Murray in South Australia. The inter- 

 mittent character of many of the tributary rivers, the low rate of 

 discharge to which even the most valuable among them are liable 

 to fall, and the small rainfall throughout by far the greater part 

 of the entire catchment, are factors which increase both the 

 importance and the difficulty of the question of intercolonial 

 water rights. 



Before proceeding to particulars regarding the extent to which 

 the different colonies are interested in this question, is it necessary 

 to have a clear conception of the manner in which rights to water 

 are used, or are likely to be used, in the country drained by the 

 river Murray and it tributaries. Taking in their natural order, 

 according to the stages of settlement and development of the 

 country, the means by which the waters of the rivers and of their 

 tributary creeks have been or can be utilised, we have first the 

 use of the water under natural conditions, that is as it flows or 

 as it is found stored in the channels; second, the construction of 

 dams to store water in these channels ; third the erection and use 

 of pumps on the rivers and creeks ; fourth, the improvement of 

 the flow in natural outflow channels ; and fifth, the construction 

 of cuttings, or canals, for conducting water through the delta 

 land between the rivers. Some of these means are frequently 

 used in combination with others, but the order of progress as 

 stated is of sufficiently general application for present purposes. 

 As regards the drainage area of the river Murray, the colony of 

 Victoria is well advanced in the last stage. New South Wales 

 cannot be considered to be beyond the fourth stage. In South 

 Australia, owing chiefly to want of natural facilities, only the 



