LXXIV. H. G. McKINNEY. 
WATER CONSERVATION SURVEYS or N. 8. WALES. 
By H. G. McKinney, M. Inst. C.E.° 
[Read before the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, 
August 19, 1896.] 
Wuitsr the first great rush for settlement on the lands of this 
Colony was in progress, the question of the conservation of water 
was left entirely to the individual occupiers of the land, and no 
idea of the necessity for dealing with it from a national point of 
view seems to have occured to those who had charge of the fram- 
ing and administration of the laws. It was not surprising that 
settlers of British origin should have treated the subject in this 
manner. Nevertheless it was a great mistake to overlook the 
fact that the conditions here are entirely different to those existing 
in the British Islands, and that precedents for the best course of 
action should be looked for in countries whose conditions more 
nearly resemble those of this Colony. 
As settlement progressed, every dry year brought an increasing 
number of proposals regarding works for water conservation which 
it was suggested should be taken in hand by the Government. 
With very few exceptions the schemes thus brought to the notice 
of the public and of the Government, were of a visionary and 
impracticable character. In some cases a fair knowledge of the 
physical geography of the Colony was alone sufficient to show 
that the proposed schemes were not feasible ; but it soon became 
obvious that in order to place the Government in a position t0 
know both what could, and what could not be done, a compre- 
hensive system of levels and surveys was necessary, as Was also & 
system of recording the heights and gauging the discharge of the 
rivers. This was the position of affairs when the present writer 
took up the duties of Engineer to the Royal Commission on the 
Conservation of Water in 1884, Previous to that time, records 
