» L. A. B. WADE. | LXXXI. 
Talmalmo with capacities of 25,000 and 19,000 million 
cubic feet. Irrigation by pumping is now carried on along 
the banks of the Murray toa considerable extent. This is 
possible on account of the low banks which render the 
pumping inexpensive. 
The Murrumbidgee River has an effective catchment 
area of 13,000 square miles. The grade of the surface is 
about 10 inches to the mile at Wagga, and diminishes to 5 
inches to the mile below Hay. Ata point about 20 miles 
below Hay the banks decrease in height and the river 
spreads out over 1,000 square miles of low lignum country. 
Up to the present, the only works constructed are the cut- 
tings into the Yanko Creek. There are four proposed 
irrigation canals under consideration now, two on each 
bank of the river. The first pair take out from the river 
at Narrandera, the second pair from immediately below 
Hay. Both projects command scattered areas suitable for 
irrigation, but there is also a large area of clayey country 
included. The water supply is sufficient for two of the 
canals only, and it is a question for urgent consideration 
as to where the water can be utilized to produce the 
greatest good to the State. The problem is complicated 
too by the presence of large sub-soil supplies between the 
Murrumbidgee and the Murray to the west of the Yanko 
Creek, but a classification of the land is now in progress. 
Storage sites have been surveyed at Tantangarra and Barren 
Jack, the capacities of which are 16 thousand million cubic 
feet and 28 thousand million cubic feet respectively. 
The Lachlan River has an effective catchment area of 
20,000 square miles. The grade of the surface is about 15 
inches per mile at Forbes, and diminishes to 4% inches per 
mile at Oxley. Below Oxley the channel widens out into 
reed beds, in which the river is lost. The river also over- 
flows into Lake Cowal, and into the Willandra and Billabong 
6—July 20, 1993. 
