portion of its length is under three inches per mile, so that hy 

 the construction of a weir the water would be held back to the 

 extent of more than four miles for every foot in height of the 

 veir. A low rate of fall means a low velocity— a condition of 

 much importance to successful navigation. With a series of weirs 

 at suitable intervals, the river at ordinary heights would consist 

 of a succession of reaches of almost still water, so that navigation 

 would be conducted under highly favourable circumstances. The 

 same weirs would also hold up the water in the river to such 

 heights that flooding the land by gravitation could be carried out 

 m the manner already adopted on the Lower Lachlan. 



Conservation of the Waters of the Macquarie. 

 In the Wimmera district in Victoria, the iudicious expenditure 

 of £100,000 in the conservation of the waters of the Wimmera 

 Elver, raised the value of the land in the neighbourhood of the 

 works by a million sterling. Comparing the conditions of this 

 colony with those in the Wimmera district, we have more than 

 ten times the area of country equally favourable to water 

 conservation, and under as good or better circumstances in regard 

 to the supply of water available. The Darling has here been 

 specially referred to, but the Macquarie, the Namoi, the Gwydir, 

 and the Lachlan also present remarkable facilities for water con- 

 servation and irrigation. As regards the Macquarie, in particular, 

 1 pointed out in a report to the Water Commission in May, 1885, 

 after making an inspection of that river and the country adjacent 

 to It, that "tlie Macquarie affords remarkably favourable conditions 

 for the diversion and storage of floodwater." The report added 

 that "In the district lying between the Macquarie and the Bogan 

 there is a complete network of creeks, all or nearly all of which 

 are well suited for the conveyance and storage of flood supplies." 

 The report dealt chiefly with the engineering aspect of the 

 question, and mentioned some of the places where weirs could be 

 advantageously constructed in the Macquarie, and referred to one 

 place where a large quantity of flood water could be stored. It 

 might have been added that the land, as a rule, is of the highest 

 quality, and that it is remarkably uniform and in every way 

 suitable for irrigation. The floods of 1 887 illustrated in a striking 

 manner the comparative ease with which the Macquarie district 

 can be watered, and the results showed the great benefits arising 

 from such watering. On the other hand, the drought of 1888 

 and the losses which it entailed showed the necessity for conserving 

 and distributing the available supply of water. The Water Com- 

 mission m Its second report, dealt with this comparison between 

 the cases of the Wimmera and the Macquarie in the following 



'The two 



and western 



branches— which form the river Wimmera above Longerenong, 





