242 H - G - McKINNEY. 



is only occasionally that the Macquarie has any perceptible effect 

 on the Darling, but the Namoi frequently affords a valuable con- 

 tribution towards the maintenance of navigation. This river, 

 like the Macquarie, receives practically no snow-water, and though 

 it has a more or less effective catchment of nearly 9,500 square 

 miles, the flow in its channel sometimes stops altogether for con- 

 siderable periods. There is a site for a reservoir at which an 

 enormous quantity of water could be stored — ample, in fact, to 

 make the flow in the river permanent. By careful and judicious 

 management it would be possible to use this reservoir in such 

 manner as to benefit navigation, but if it happens that the supply 

 of water in the river Darling is low whilst the reservoir is being 

 filled, it will be difficult to persuade persons interested that no 

 damage to navigation is being done. Thence will arise the ques- 

 tion as to the "reasonable use" of the waters of the river Namoi. 



Proposals have been made for the diversion of an increased 

 supply of water from the river Namoi into outflow creeks, and 

 two or three large pumping plants have been erected on the river 

 and are used by private landholders. These are comparatively 

 small matters, but as will presently be explained, knowledge in 

 regard to water rights has spread in recent years and the sensitive- 

 ness of persons interested in such matters has increased in a 

 corresponding degree. It might not, therefore, be difficult to 

 show that even the small works referred to, would, under certain 

 conditions, have a perceptible effect on the quantity of water 

 which without them would have reached the river Darling. 



The conditions of the Gwydir River correspond closely with 

 those of the Macquarie, and the question of the storage of water 

 in the upper part of the catchment is in practically the same stage. 

 Extensive drainage works on the lower part of the Gwydir were 

 proposed some years ago, and if these be constructed, the effect 

 will be beneficial to the river Darling. In other respects there 

 will be the same possibilities of disagreement as to the "reasonable 

 use" of the water. 



