E. F. PITTMAN AND T. W. E. DAVID. CXXXI. 
carbonated water, none of the artesian bores in this State 
are known to evolve free carbon dioxide. We have there- 
fore, at present, no evidence to show that gas pressure 
plays a part in the rise of the artesian water of New 
South Wales. 
Variation in amount of flow from artesian bores.—In 
several instances, notably at Pera Bore, near Bourke, and 
also at the Coonamble Bore, a marked diminution of flow 
has been observed of late years. The falling off in the yield 
in these two instances was brought under notice by reason 
of the fact that the water is utilised for irrigation and 
other purposes, and it is more than probable that at many 
other bores where re-measurements of the flows have 
not been recently made, a corresponding decrease in the 
fiow has occurred. At Pera, the first bore put down 
yielded 610,000 gallons a day when just completed, but in 
the year 1900 the yield was found to have diminished to 
300,000 gallons per day. A second bore was then put down 
about a mile from the first, but the flow from it did not 
exceed 250,000 gallons per day. 
A feasible explanation of this falling off in the yield is 
that the protracted drought through which we have just 
passed has materially lessened the amount of water absorbed 
by the intake beds. Weare unable to state with any degree 
of accuracy how long the water would take to travel down 
the porous beds from their intake to a point several hundred 
miles westward, but inasmuch as the drought referred to 
lasted for more than five years, it appears reasonable to 
assume that it was of sufficient length to account for the 
reduced intake making itself felt at Pera. 
In addition to the long period variations in the flow from 
the artesian wells just referred to, the artesian water has 
been observed at one locality (Urisino Station, Wanaaring 
to Milparinka Road), to be subject to some very remark- 
