ance. I may say in passing that I do not think the question can 

 be finally settled yet, but the interval has sufficed to bring out 

 important facts which I think should be published. 



First in reference to the opinion that no water reaches the 

 Darling from the fiat country, the following fact is sufficient to 

 show that that view has been pressed somewhat too far, and will 

 have to be modified so as to admit, that in heavy rains water 

 does reach the Darling from it : — On the 21st January 1885, a 

 remarkable rainstorm entered this colony in the N.W,, not far 

 from Milparinka, and travelled at the rate of about seven miles 

 per hour, straight across country to the sea in an E.S.E. direction. 

 On all the country round Wilcannia from 10 to 11 inches of rain 

 fell in about 40 hours. The river had been very low for months 

 before, but sufficient water from this rainstorm ran off the com- 

 paratively fiat country, to make a flood in the Darling at Wilcannia 

 that reached a maximum of 28 feet above summer level ; this flood 

 did not subside to the old level until February 26, which was clear 

 proof that the rain water not only filled the river, but continued 

 to drain into it for several weeks. Certainly, the water did not 

 come down past Bourke, which, being in the margin of the storm, 

 was but little affected by it ; and the river measures there showed 

 that the only rise reached its maximum at 4 feet and was all over 

 in four days. There was no other possible way for it to come, but 

 off the country about Wilcannia, where the rain storm passed over. 

 It was obvious therefore, that the opinion referred to, although 

 generally true, must be taken with some reservation, for the 

 instance just given shews that the Darling is in times of heavy 

 rain fed by the drainage oflf the country below Bourke, and this 

 amounts to proof that at times it is fed by other parts of the flat 

 country. With reference to the view that the underground water 

 comes from New Guinea or even more distant high land, that is 

 South America, it seems hardly necessary to answer it seriously, 

 it is quite certain however that even if the mountains of New 

 Guinea could drain into our western plains the area of them is 

 utterly insufficient to afford the supply. 



It is impossible to say exactly how much is lost from the ground 

 by evaporation. We could tell approximately how much was 

 lost from the rivers, but the investigation of the loss from soil 

 is a very difficult matter, for reasons which might easily be 

 explained. So long as the surface soil is wet the evaporation 

 goes on from it rather faster than from water, but as soon as 

 the soil dries down half-an-inch, which does not take long, the 

 evaporation from it practically ceases, the layer of dry earth 

 seems an effectual covering to the water below, it is obvious then 

 that the evaporation from soil does not go on at the rate which 

 many persons suppose it does, and I am quite convinced that 



