xliv. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



seasons during which the rivers are high, the length of navigable 

 river is 3,213 miles, as follows : Miles 



River Murray from Goolwa to Went worth ... 617 



Ditto from Wentworth to Murrumbidgee Junction 255 

 Ditto from Murrumbidgee Junction to Corowa ... 485 



1357 



River Murrumbidgee from Murray Junction to Narandera 500 

 River Darling from Wentworth to Mungindi ... ... 1,356 



Total in miles 3,213 

 While the Inter-State Commission to be appointed by the 

 Federal Parliament will have charge of the navigation on these 

 rivers, it is not to interfere with " the reasonable use of the waters 

 of rivers for conservation or irrigation." As the navigation is 

 liable to long interruptions on the River Darling owing to deficient 

 and uncertain supply of water, and is intermittent even on the 

 River Murray, it is obvious that in a dry country such as that 

 watered by these rivers and their tributaries, conflicts between 

 the interests of navigation on the one hand, and of water conser- 

 vation and irrigation on the other, are certain to arise. The 

 conditions on the principal tributary rivers were referred to in 

 outline in the paper, and instances were given of the manner in 

 which difficulties are likely to occur and of the complicated nature 

 of the task with which the Inter-State Commission will have to deal. 



In Queensland the question of water rights on the rivers is 

 practically untouched. In New South Wales numerous rights to 

 water have been granted, but they are on such a limited scale 

 that they cannot be regarded as any infringement on navigation 

 rights. But in Victoria extensive works for water conservation 

 and irrigation have been constructed, and rights to large quantities 

 of water have been granted, while in South Australia, the water 

 rights which have been granted, though on a much more limited 

 scale than in Victoria, are of far greater importance than those 

 granted up till the present in New South Wales. The Inter-State 

 Commission will thus find that, in the different colonies concerned, 

 the conditions as regards water rights differ widely. By way of 



