ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS; 35 



In order to be in a position to deal with the great question of 

 utilizing the rivers, special legislation is required to define the 

 rights of the State and of individuals to water and to settle the 

 important question of riparian rights. A Bill with these objects 

 in view was read last Session, and leave for its introduction was 

 given to the Minister for Mines and Agriculture, but there was 

 no opportunity to proceed further with the matter. 



Action is being taken by the Water Conservation and Irrigation 

 Branch of the Department of Mines and Agriculture, including the 

 prosecution of surveys throughout the districts most favourably 

 situated for the conservation of water and for irrigation. The 

 districts dealt with include the alluvial plains of the Murray, 

 Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Macquarie, Namoi, and Darling, and the 

 length of lines surveyed and levelled up till the end of January 

 amount to about 5,400 miles. These surveys, which are still 

 in progress, have shown the practicability of canals from the 

 Murray and Murrumbidgee, and they have also shown that the 

 natural outflows from the Lachlan and the Macquarie can be 

 improved and utilised to great advantage with a moderate 

 outlay. The project for filling Lake Urana has also been shown 

 to be a much easier work than was at first anticipated. In the 

 case of the River Murray it is proposed to construct a canal 

 capable of carrying two thousand cubic feet per second, and this 

 canal it is found can have its full supply from the river during 

 six months in every year, on an average. If even one-third of 

 this quantity were wasted or lost by percolation, absorption, and 

 evaporation in the distributing channels, the area of land which 

 could be flooded to a depth of three inches every twenty-four 

 hours would amount to over ten thousand acres. The supply of 

 water to feed this canal is most abundant in the Spring and early 

 Summer months when it is most generally required. 



The Murrumbidgee is not so regular in its flow as the Murray, 

 but even in this case it is found that a full supply can be obtained 

 for an average period of three months in every year, and that a 

 fair supply can be obtained during five other months. It is 



