SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
Murray River Scheme. 
Irrigation Development. 
(By E. N. ROBINSON:) 
Although the development of irrigation farming has been the sub- 
ject of political discussion in Australia for very many years, it is only 
within a comparatively recent period that. genuine efforts have been 
made to utilize our limited water resources for the promotion of 
primary production. Then when provision was made under various 
State schemes for irrigation settlement the response, for various 
‘reasons, was not encouraging. Now, however, the time has arrived 
when there is a clamorous demand for irrigation blocks, and the public 
Departments administering. this branch of land settlement are being 
besieged by applicants for farms where water is provided. The pen- 
dulum has swung in the other direction, and irrigation is becoming 
the popular preference. : 
The River Murray conseryation scheme is, therefore, attracting a 
wider and a deeper interest than it did when the agreement between 
the Governments of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia 
and the Commonwealth Government was ratified a few years ago. Out 
of this renewed and increased interest has arisen a good deal of mis- 
conception both as to the extent of new territory that can be made 
available for irrigation and as to the time in which the final work 
will be accomplished. 
The former of these two problems is not of much importance to the 
present generation, for, judging by the rate of “development of land 
settlement in the past, there must soon again be a sufficiency of irri- 
eated land to meet prospective requirements. It is of the highest 
importance, howeyer, in considering the ultimate economic develop- 
ment of Australia, and in assisting towards a realization of the narrow 
restrictions placed upon us by nature. From time to time various esti- 
mates have been made of the total area that can be brought into cul- 
tivation by utilizing the waters of the Murray. and its tributaries, but 
these are continually being recast in conformity with new engineering 
proposals, and it is doubtful whether any engineer would indulge specu- 
lation except in the very broadest terms. 
Under the agreement entered into between New South Wales, Vic- 
toria, and South Australia with the Commonwealth, a permanent 
Commission was appointed to carry out certain works and to make 
regulations for the utilizing of the waters of the Murray. The Com- 
mission consists of representatives of the Commonwealth and the three 
participating States, with the Hon. L. E. Groom as president. The 
main general scheme provides for the construction of a dam at Mitta 
Mitta, on the Upper Murray, which will enable the flow of the river 
to be regulated; and a supplementary storage at Lake Victoria. It 
embraces also the construction of twenty-six weirs and locks in the 
352 
