ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. xlv. 



illustration of the value of some of our unused water rights, the 

 paper referred to the evidence lately taken by a Board of Inquiry 

 regarding weirs in the Murrumbidgee. A prominent pastoralist 

 who is a first-class practical authority on the value of water in the 

 Central and Western Divisions, stated in evidence that if the pro- 

 posed Murrumbidgee Southern Canal Project had been in opera- 

 tion during the protracted drought which commenced in 1895, the 

 entire outlay involved in its construction would have been returned 

 to the country several times over. This evidence was supported 

 by details regarding the area which could be irrigated and the 

 crops which could be raised, these particulars being based on the 

 witness 7 own experience. 



2. "The Organisation, Language and Initiation Ceremonies of the 



Aborigines of the South-east Coast of New South Wales," by 

 It. H. Mathews, l.s., and Miss M. M. Everitt. 



This article described the laws of marriage, descent and relation- 

 ship in force among the native tribes occupying the south-east 

 coast of New South Wales from the Hawkesbury River to Cape 

 Howe, on the Victorian frontier, and extending inland till met 

 on the west by the Wiradjuri organisation. A grammar of the 

 language of the Gundungurra, one of the principal tribes in the 

 region dealt with, was also supplied, in which the structure of 

 the native tongue was fully investigated and explained. The 

 paper concluded with a short account of the Kudsha, or Narra- 

 mang, a ceremony of initiation practised within the same 

 geographical limits, by means of which the young men are admitted 

 to the status and responsibilities of tribesmen. 



3. " Tables to facilitate the location of the Cubic Parabola," by 



C. J. Merfield, f.r.as. 



In some brief remarks the author gives an outline of the general 

 application of the cubic parabola, when used as a transition to 

 connect the straights and circular curves of railway lines. The 

 paper forms a contribution to the engineering profession, and will 

 be found useful to those engaged in the location of railway lines. 



