186 On Irrigation in Tasmania. 
good judgment could be formed of the best mode of pro¬ 
ceeding. 
In conclusion, I beg to apologise for offering so im¬ 
perfect and unstudied a paper as this: my excuse for not 
taking more pains to make it what it should be (so far 
as I am capable of doing so) is, that my state of health is 
such that I find it impossible to give due attention to 
any thing. I should not, indeed, have ventured to write on 
the subject but for this one consideration, that my course 
in India had put me in possession of precisely the kind 
of information that appeared to me to be wanting ; and I 
could not help trying to do wliat I could to promote the 
welfare of a colony for which I feel deeply interested, not 
only on account of the unbounded hospitality and kind¬ 
ness that, as a perfect stranger, I experienced in it, and 
especially when from a serious accident I most needed 
it, but also because it has been so favoured by a gracious 
God, that I feel assured that it has within itself all that 
can be required to make it one of the finest countries in 
the world. 
P S.—Since the above was written, the water belt 
lately introduced in England has been tried at Norfolk 
Plains, worked by Avery’s Rotatory Engine, but only 
as yet on a small scale. The engine was worked to 
rather less than 1 horse power, and with a belt 5 inches 
broad : it raises upwards of 40 gallons a minute, 25 feet. 
The belt is merely canvas covered with coarse blanket, 
and quite plain. It passes over a drum 2 feet in diameter, 
and moves at about 850 feet a minute. This is probably 
the cheapest apparatus for raising water that could be 
made use of/ The engine is also set to work a small 
Hour mill, and grinds 2 bushels per hour, with a con¬ 
sumption of 3 cubic feet or 18 gallons of water converted 
into steam, which is decidedly more than a good high 
