of fertile plains, which can easily be flooded in the manner sug- 

 gested. At a rate of Is. per acre for a 3 in. flooding, the direct 

 return in such a season as last would be £25,000. The approximate 

 estimate of the cost of the weirs was £34,500 ; but if navigation 

 as far as Hay Avere provided for, the cost would probably amount 

 to £50,000. In other words, the direct return in two such seasons 

 as last would be equal to the entire outlay, and in addition there 

 would be a great benefit to the navigation. 



Besides the irrigation which might have been done on the Lower 

 Murrumbidgee, there was during the same months sufficient water 

 to have supplied the proposed canals in the districts on both sides 

 of the river between Wagga and Hay to such extent that 2,000,000 

 of acres of pasture land could have had a 3 in. flooding after allow- 

 ing for a depth of 12 in. over 40,000 acres of crops. These are 

 doubtless large figures, and the sceptical New South Wales 

 pastoralist may suggest exageration, just as an eminent irrigation 

 engineer in India was surprised at the audacity of any one who 

 expected him to believe that a single pastoral estate in New South 

 Wales frequently includes over a quarter of a million acres. The 

 sceptic who is unable to realise what can or will be done in this 

 colony in regard to irrigation should visit the canal works on the 

 Goulljurn in Victoria. He will there find under construction an 

 irrigation canal 110 ft. wide at the bottom, and with slopes of one 

 and a-half to one. He will also find under construction a weir 

 which is to cost nearly £100,000, and he will be able to ascertain 

 that a second canal is to be made on the opposite side of the 

 Goulburn from that under construction. The canal in progress 

 may, when running full, be reckoned on to flood 12,000 acres per 

 day to a depth of three inches. 



The system of flooding the pasture land which has been referred 

 to is merely an extension on a large scale of the system carried 

 out already on the Corrong and Juanbung runs. In addition to 

 the proposed large irrigation works from the Murrumbidgee and 

 the Murray, the same system can be followed on a large scale on 

 the Darling, Macquarie, and Lachlan, and, in fact, on the lower 

 parts of nearly all of our Western rivers. 



Simplicity of Process of Flooding Pasture Land. 



An important point in favour of the irrigation of pasture land 

 is the simplicity of the process. Where crops are to be irrigated 

 a considerable amount of care and skill is required in the levelling 

 of the land and in the construction and management of the laterals 

 or minor distributing channels. In the case of the irrigation of 

 pasture land, if the main distributaries are aligned in a scientific 

 manner, no laterals will be required, the flooding being conducted 

 -direct from the distributaries. As irrigation is very imperfectly 



