PROPERTY IN WATER. xIX, 
absorption of these feeders, for irrigation or other purposes, 
might so diminish the natural flow of a navigable river as 
to render it unnavigable, and thus inflict a serious and un- 
justifiable injury to vested interests. But according to 
the fundamental principles of property in water, already 
explained and universally admitted in law, the primary 
right to the water is appurtenant to the ownership of the 
land. 
A river is a natural outlet for waste water—that is, for 
water that has not been utilized and has been allowed to 
escape off the land. The interests of navigation are there- 
fore secondary, and there is no injustice involved. As 
regards the sources of a large river they could not be 
materially affected, as they are always so situated as to 
render their diversion impracticable. Issuing from high 
and often snowy ranges, or from dense forests and broken 
ground, they cannot be tapped or impounded, and it is only 
the tributaries that debouch on the plains that admit of 
being utilized for water conservation or agricultural pur- 
poses. Looking at the matter from a practical. point of © 
view, it is only in rare cases that the utilisation of water 
can, in any way, interfere with the navigation of a main 
river, but where such a conflict of interests may arise, it 
is evident that the right of navigating cannot affect the 
claim of the land to the water, before it enters the stream. 
If we now apply these principles to the conditions obtain- 
ing in Australia, we are led to certain definite conclusions, 
that are of great importance, not only as affecting local 
interests, but also the welfare and progress of three of the 
principal States. 
Australia differs in two particular respects from most 
other civilized countries; first, as regards physical con- 
ditions which have denied to this continent any great rivers, 
or an ample water supply. Not only is the volume of its 
