116 



Failure of the Yan Yean Reservoir. 



amounting to £7,600. A singulai' objection, when it was 

 admitted that the people of Melbourne had hitherto been 

 compelled to pay at the rate of £150^000 a year for a miserable 

 supply of water — £10,000 a year f r a population of 100^000 

 is a halfpenny per week for each individual. If we add to 

 this £10,000 as interest for the first cost of Mr. Hodgkinson's 

 scheme, the cost of an efficient water supply from the Yarra, 

 with all the advantages of purity, certainty^ and high service, 

 would have been a penny a week per head. 



It is a singular fact, and worthy of being recorded, that 

 the modified gravitation scheme, under the patronage of the 

 Commissioners, so expanded itself in less than twelve months, 

 as to re-appear under the new estimate of £650^000. 



A good deal has been said of the advantages that the Yan 

 Yean scheme possesses over its rival in its powers of indefinite 

 extension. Perhaps this remarkable increase in the estimated 

 cost is to be regarded as an illustration of this principle. 



4. My chief objection to the Yan Yean scheme is the very 

 limited supply of water for so colossal an undertaking, and 

 this serious objection did not escape the notice of the Select 

 Committee, who admit that it is " accompanied with the 

 dravfbacks that the quality and quantity of water might by 

 possibility fall short of the standard, and that in the execution 

 of the work some unforeseen difficulties might have to be 

 encountered," And the chief object of this paper is to place 

 before you certain data by which you may be enabled to 

 judge for yourselves on this all-important point. 



Having long entertained the opinion that the Plenty, from 

 its limited size, was quite unsuited to supply the city with 

 water, I resolved, in December k-t, to visit the Yan Yean 

 Water Works, and obtain all the information I could respect- 

 ing them. And as Dr. Mackenna had expressed himself much 

 interested in the result of my inquiries, I invited him to 

 accompany me, which he very kindly did. Mr. Taylor, the 

 resident overseer of the works, politely showed us every 

 attention, and gave us every information we desired.^ 



It is proper" here to mention, that when I submitted my 

 first paper to you last month, it was necessarily based upon 

 very limited data ; but I was so impressed with the import- 

 ance of the sidoject, and the result of my own inquiries, that 

 I suggested the appointment of a Committee for the purpose 

 of investigating the whole subject in a scientific manner, and 

 reporting to the Society. I should also add, that^ I had the 

 honour of accompanying your Committee on their scientific 



