INTERCOLONIAL WATER RIGHTS AS AFFECTED BY FEDERATION. 239 



sites for such reservoirs besides several others which on any of 

 our more northern rivers would be most valuable. The plains 

 adjoining the Murrumbidgee are remarkably favourable for the 

 distribution of water from it for irrigation and other purposes, so 

 that the conditions for the conservation of water and the con- 

 struction of canals are all that could be desired. With regard to 

 the value of such work, one of the most extensive landowners in 

 Riverina stated not many months ago in evidence before a Board 

 of Inquiry on the diversion of water from the Murrumbidgee, that 

 if the proposed Murrumbidgee Canal System had been completed 

 at the beginning of 1895, it would, during the five year's drought 

 which then set in, have saved its entire cost, several times over 

 to the country. In the face of evidence of this description, it is 

 impossible to imagine that works for properly utilizing a fair 

 portion of the waters of the Murrunabidgee can be much longer 

 delayed. 



The question now arises as to how the interests of this State in 

 the Murrumbidgee will be affected by the powers conferred on the 

 Federal Government. It has been pointed out that the Murrum- 

 bidgee is less regular in its flow than the Murray, that the 

 discharge falls lower, that the channel is less satisfactory as regards 

 navigation, and that the necessity for storing water on the upper 

 part of its catchment is much greater. All these conditions tend 

 to increase the number of cases in which the interpretation of the 

 word "reasonable" in the Federation Enabling Act will become 

 an important question. It always appeared to the writer that in 

 a country so badly supplied with large rivers and other large 

 natural supplies of permanent water as Australia is, the best 

 course would have been to settle definitely, that in all cases where 

 navigation comes in conflict with water conservation and supply, 

 the latter should have the preference. However, we have to 

 take conditions as we find them, and it is evident that the 

 definition of the "reasonable use" of water is a question of 

 the first importance, and one which will require careful treat- 

 ment. 



