act as a deterrent to private enterprise to an extent which 

 few can realise. It is therefore, very important that in dealing 

 comprehensively with water conservation, the Government should 

 adopt some such safeguard as that in operation in Victoria. 

 When irrigation began to be extensively practised in that colony 

 it was soon found that proper surveys and levels were required to 

 show the lines which channels should take, and the best methods 

 of distributing the water. Even the holders of farms of moderate 

 extent found it greatly to their interest to obtain this information. 

 There are in this colony some station managers who are really 

 good practical engineers, and who are quite capable of managing 

 irrigation work themselves ; but these are only a small minority. 

 As a general rule, station owners and station managers know 

 little or nothing of the process of irrigation, and this is only natural. 

 The greatest mischief to the cause of irrigation is done by those 

 who, without reason, imagine that they understand the subject. 

 Such persons occasionally launch into a series of reckless and mis- 

 directed experiments, and after finding such experiments a decided 

 failure financially, they come to the conclusion that the conditions 

 of the country are unfavourable to irrigation. It is necessary to 

 add that cases of this kind are extremely rare, owing simply to 

 the fact, that even with indifferent management and appliances, 



Causes of Backward State of Water Coxservatiox. 



The want of proper legislation has been mentioned as a great 

 obstacle in the way of anything being done towards water con- 

 servation on a large scale, but the root of all difticulties in the 

 matter is the broad and comprehensive ignorance which prevails 

 on the subject. The people in the western parts of the colony 

 reahse its importance and are practically unanimous regarding it, 

 but they constitute a small minority of the population. The great 

 majority of even well-informed persons in Sydney and its suburbs 

 understand nothing about water conservation in the West, and to 

 them it is a much less interesting topic than the Town Hall organ, 

 or the General Post Office clock. Nor are the country towns free 

 trom blame in this matter. The building of a new post-office or a 

 courthouse frequently attracts more attention in a town than 

 questions regarding the increase of the productiveness of the entire 

 aistrict in which the town is situated. 



The Sydney press has made some creditable efforts to enlighten 

 the public on the value of water coeservation and irrigation, but 

 With only a very limited degree of success. If a series of articles 

 ^ere now published decrying irrigation and stating that it cannot 

 ^>e successfully practised in New South Wales, I believe there 

 Would still be found Sydney readers who would go approvingly 



