XCII RELATION OF ELECTRICITY TO IRRIGATION WORKS. 
RELATION or ELECTRICITY to IRRIGATION WORKS 
anp LAND DEVELOPMENT. 
By THOMAS ROOKE, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E. 
[Read before the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, 
July 20, 1903. ] 
IT is my privilege to night to bring before you the appli- 
cation of electricity to irrigation works in Australia.. The 
time at our disposal will not permit anything more than a 
passing glance at a subject of such magnitude, and the 
following remarks are intended to draw attention to possi- 
bilities of electrical development in this direction. The 
subject is inseparably associated with the transmission of 
power by electricity for all kinds of industrial purposes. 
It is proposed first of all to draw attention to electrical 
pumping plant; secondly to the transmission of electricity 
and its development; thirdly, to consider the relation of 
these matters to conditions prevailing in Australia. 
Pumping operations of all kinds, both on a large and a 
small scale, are being carried out to day by means of 
electricity, for irrigation, for mining, and for general pur- 
poses of all kinds. Speaking generally, there is nothing 
peculiar about the pumps used, and the motor has generally 
been attached by spur belt or other suitable reducing gear. 
In most cases now arising, it is possible to dispense with 
gearing, for manufacturers have succeeded in lowering the 
speed of motors and raising the speed of pumps to the extent 
necessary. The ideal pump for attachment to an electric 
motor is the centrifugal pump, in which valves are abolished 
and the greatest simplicity attained. High and low lift 
motor driven centrifugal pumps, the former of small size 
have been in use for a good many years, but it is only 
