XIV. ; GEORGE CHAMIER. 
in and near this same area, and this is only one of a number 
of instances of the same character. The immediate aim of 
systematic administration in such cases should be the 
limiting of the depth and duration of the flooding in wet 
years by the conservation and the wider distribution of the 
waters which are now wasted on a gigantic scale. This 
could be done to the advantage of all concerned, by the 
construction of storage reservoirs, dams, and outflow 
channels, the effect of which as already indicated, would 
be to give a widely distributed supply of water throughout 
the course of a river, while affording a better regulated 
and less precarious supply to the lower landholders. 
PROPHRTY IN WATHR. 
By GEORGE CHAMIER, M. Inst. C.E. 
[ Read before the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. 8S. Wales, 
First Session July 20, 1903. | 
PROPERTY in water is naturally vested in the possession of 
the land, upon which, for the time being it lies. Whether 
falling as rain, or running from springs at the surface, or 
being drawn from wells under the earth, the water belongs 
to the landowner, who has exclusive disposal of it, so long 
as it remains upon his land. This is a self evident propo- 
sition, for it would be impossible for any civilized community 
to manage otherwise, as water is essential for cultivation 
and industry, and must be owned, preserved, and. utilized 
for the indispensable needs of man. 
Thus the principle of property in water is established in 
the nature of things: it is universally received and embodied 
