already pointed out, the last applies to the district irrigal 

 the Murray and the Murrumbidgee, and in a less degree 

 of the other river districts. In such 



if the land 

 lepth of Sin. at a cost oi 



This is equivalent to stating that the actual 

 • water distributed over the land will be 10,890 cubic 

 re ; but, even with fairly managed works, it may be 

 reckoned that the loss in distribution will bring the total quantity 

 up to 12,000 cubic feet per acre. It is well known that with a 

 good class of pumping machinery, water can be raised to a height 

 of from 30ft. to 40ft. at a cost under a shilling for every 12,000 

 cubic feet, and it goes without saying that in a properly designed 

 system of canals delivering water by gravitation, the cost of water 



quantity c 



would 1 



img per ; 



here assumed as a maximum for the irrigation of pasture land ; 

 but there are frequently cases in which a much higher rate could 

 be afforded. For instance, during the spring and early summer 

 months of last season— that is from August till December of last 

 year — when the sheep throughout the Western Division and a large 

 portion of the Central Division of this colony were reduced almost 

 to the last extremity, after hundreds of thousands of them had 

 been drafted otF to the hills at great loss and expense, the 

 pastoralists would gladly have paid a much higher rate than that 

 mentioned for the flooding of parts of their estates. 



It is a striking fact that whilst the pastoralists of the south- 

 western part of Riverina were experiencing a serious drought dur- 

 ing last spring, an abundant supply of water was flowing past 

 them to waste. So great was the supply flowing past Hay that 

 durmg the whole of September and October, and up to the middle 

 of No%'ember, sufficient water could have been spared to flood 

 «,000 acres per day to a depth of 3 in. In fact, during the two 

 former months the available supply was much in excess of that 

 mentioned, and a considerable quantity was available in December. 

 , It is not too much to say that if the system of weirs proposed 

 jn my Report on Irrigation in Riverina, already referred to, had 

 been m operation during last year, the area of land flooded by 

 that means alone would have exceeded half a million acres. It is 

 to be borne in mind that this could have been done without inter- 

 fenng with the supply proposed to be distributed in the district 

 ^tween Hay and Wagga. If a line be drawn due south from 

 Way to the Billabong Creek, and another north-west from Hay to> 

 Jfie Lachlan River, the district commanded bv the weirs referred' 

 to -would lie to the west of these lines, and would extend to a con-, 

 siderable distance westward from the Murrumbidgee below itsr 

 junction with the Lachlan. The area commanded consists chiefly 



