$ VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS :
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
BY MR. GEO. A. TURNER
In vacating the chair of the Institute after a second term of office, an honour sufficiently rare to be highly prized by me, I am called upon in accordance with the usual custom to make some remarks on matters that may be of interest to us as a body or as individuals in carrying out the work in which we may be engaged;
but before doing so, it is necessary and a pleasing duty at the same time, to express my gratification and thanks to members, for the in- creased interest they have taken in the proceedings of the Institute.
Not only have the meetings throughout the past session been well attended, but there has been unmistakable evidence of a keener touch, especially on the part of the younger members, with the various subjects which have been brought before us, reflecting credit on the care and thought given to the preparation of the papers pre- sented to the Institute a.s well as the insight and desire for exact knowledge on the part of others.
This is as it ought to be, and is an indication of the essential need of a professional body to which engineers may bring their thought-out ideas with the certain knowledge that they will receive an appreciative and critical audience at the hands of their fellow- engineers, qualified by training and practice to give cultivated con- sideration to the matters submitted to them.
As foreshadowed on the previous occasion I had the honour to address you, the Institute determined to introduce certain alterations more or less important in its procedure, with the view to more fully carrying out what it deemed its true function in the profession; it was to be expected that the working of these changes would be watched with peculiar interest by members, and it could hardly be expected that they would be made without giving rise to some addi- tional work and anxiety to those whose duty it became to give them effect; but the whole-hearted disinterestedness and loyalty to the good of the Institute on the part of those members who have given unstintedly their time and intelligence to the work, has resulted, in my opinion, in an all-round advancement towards that ultimate posi- tion which we all trust it is the destiny of this •=Institute to occupy in the community.
It is to be regretted that we have not during the past year, as at one time seemed possible, been able to carry through the work of codifying our rules and obtaining a deed of incorporation. There is no doubt' that this would add to our usefulness and strength LI placing our business arrangements on a better footing, and helping to pave the way to a closer union in practice and procedure with kindred societies in the other States. It would be desirable to keep this in view in the session upon which we are now entering, as
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 9 there seems nodoubt that a clearly defined constitution and pur- pose, supported by a certain degree of legal standing, would do more than anything else could to give members and others interested the requisite faith and 'security that the aims and responsibilities which are prescribed as the objects of our existence shall be worthily encouraged and borne.
Engineers are very apt to think, and some have given expression to the thought . at our meetings, that they do• not receive from the public that recognition and standing which the importance of their work and the large interests placed in their hands . should command, and no doubt they sometimes look to an Institute such as o•urs to take action which would have an educating effect in this regard.
This opens up a very wide question, and while attaching a high value to the importance of strengthening the bonds in every way which hold us together, there are many reasons why it is is quite im- possible for us to form ourselves into a close corporation. resembling, say, the medical or legal professions, entry into which can be strictly guarded by educational standards, and some tangible hold kept of the avenues of supply. In these professions the skill and know- ledge required for efficiency or success do not vary rapidly from generation to generation; the man who amputates a limb to-day is not greatly different, or at any rate, need not be, in any essential degree, from the man who performed a similar operation fifty years ago; his instruments no doubt are better, but his knowledge of anatomy may not be. Not so with the engineer. His standards and methods are changing with an ever-increasing rapidity; what was good practice ten years ago may be obsolete to-day. The whirl and maze of mechanical progress, following always on the heels of the ceaseless activity of research, puts out of the question any attempt to define or circumscribe his qualifying features. He is not, nor can be, bound by any diploma, however wide and learned, for the inventive genius of a man unknown to universities may surpass in value to mankind the work of others more highly endowed with academical knowledge, an•d rapidly place him in the front rank among engineers. How he acquired his `skill, by what methods of thought he reached his goal, matters nothing. To stamp him an en- gineer worthy of honour, it is sufficient that he can do work econo- mically more perfect than can his compeers.
The very name engineer has ceased to have much descriptive significance to those who bear it; the immense variety of channels opened up by the general adoption of mechanical power in the mul- tifarious needs and processes that go to make up civilisation has extended the business of engineering far beyond the limits of en- gines, however wide a scope we may give to the meaning of that term; and though far from wishing to lose a name so honoured by general association, we must recognise the danger of any restrictive application, especially in a small community such as ours.
Then again, engineers who do even the same work are not necessarily the same stamp of man, and cannot hope to be remune-
rated and recognised as such. The originator or inventor has quali-
IO VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS:
ties of a much higher order, and deserves greater reward than all subsequent engineers who merely copy and manufacture from his designs. It _does not follow that he, alway s _gets, this. reward.. Other factors are -necessary to command worldly success- besides engineer- ing ability, but he cannot be deprived of the credit due to that ability at the hands of those capable of judging its worth. While this is true, it is equally true that what was good and praiseworthy on his part, may become routine and common in time, and we cannot blame the public estimation or professional etiquette if they agree to place a lower value on the skill of those who tread in his well defined footsteps.
The fact seems to be that the endless variety of form our work may take, renders it out of the question nowadays to bring all branches under some descriptive category, - which will apply with equal truth and force to each, and one cannot but admire the wisdom and foresight of the founders of this Institute in laying down the qualification for its membership on the broad and practical basis of actual engagement in some branch of engineering.
Our profession has become, as it were, a great army, enlisted voluntarily from all classes and employed by mankind to wage con- stant warfare against the hostile forces of nature, to push back bar- barism, to ameliorate the conditions of life in this world, as fax as that is possible by material means, by bringing as many comforts and advantages as procurable within the reach of all, and to cheapen commodities by reducing the cost of production. In this struggle the sanguine, brilliant, adventurous spirits will naturally take the lead where the risks are greatest, and become the foreloopers to the main body; for the most part they will strive and work for the love of it, indifferent largely to personal gain if but progress be made and new knowledge won. Behind them come the great body of organis- ing minds, equally hardworking and vigorous, who are prepared to occupy and develop the positions selected and proven by those in front; not so ready as they to take the risks of frontier work, not so indifferent to personal advantage of which they usually reap 'a richer harvest, but determined to hold and exploit the new ground for all it is worth. Further, in the rear come all those who are content to do detail work, much of it of a most essential character, but prac- tically devoid of risk, out of the fighting line as it were; in soldiers' phrase they can sleep at nights, and it is in accord with law and ex- perience that their reward, by the standard we have of determining it, should be of a lesser money value.
Do not misunderstand me, the public do not look upon us as, nor for a moment- do we pretend to be philanthropists; but it is an indisputable fact that the great factor of this age is the generation and distribution of mechanical power, and the countless adaptations and agencies which spring from it. If it can be shown by any true and equitable system of computation that mankind is not on the average better off, endowed with greater advantages, and surrounded by more material comforts; if the poor are poorer than they were, say, one hundred years' ago; then it seems to me, no more sweep-
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. II ing condemnation of our work can be imagined for the standard of well. being of a people is a measure of their engineering ability, a community or nation taking its place in the scale of civilisation in direct proportion as it has succeeded in ..wringing by ,scientific inves- tigation from Nature her secrets, and applying them to its use by mechanical means. and business methods. Problems are thus set engineers :. How to put to the most effective and economical use for man Nature's' forces and laws? How in effect to cheapen produc- tion?
Hardship and loss has been caused to some, and perhaps no more pathetic scene is ever witnessed in our industrial affairs than that of men whose means of livelihood has disappeared by the intro- duction of machinery, and it is little comfort to tell them the total labour necessary is not lessened, that the machines have to be made and tended. Even this oft-repeated objection to. progress, however, is fast disappearing. In the early days of mechanical appliances, the steps were . so rapid. and great, that large bodies of men were immediately and in many centres affected, making their absorption into other callings a somewhat extended process. Now the forward steps are more difficult of attainment, more costly of introduction, affecting as a rule a smaller number, making the question of suitable arrangements for the men displaced much . simpler of solution. It is at the same time but natural that our sympathies should lean to- wards those who have been unable to make much, if any, provision against, loss by the ever varying economic conditions of industry which affect both rich and poor alike. - The great body of evidence, 'however, goes to prove that every reduction in cost of production, every percentage of heat saved, every gradient lessened and curve eased, every waterway deepened and aid to commerce built, every device which lessens friction and increases the directness of application of power, does something to widen the area of pros- perity, brings some comfort within the reach of a larger number of our fellows, lessons the toil and enriches the leisure of the people and renders more remote the possibility of calamity and loss to the worker.
It may seem strange that a body of men specially trained to do, this work, whose intelligence tells them unerringly in which direc- 'tion economy must be looked for, does not more often, and to a greater extent, reap the rewards which follow successful accomplish- ment,. but we must remember that engineering is but a thing • of yes- terday ; the old .order changeth with extreme slowness; engineers themselves have scarcely had time as yet to realise their own posi- tion, what organisation or what training will best serve to fully equip them for their business. The great bulk of, people are not yet capable of reasoning out effects to their true causes. When, for 'instance, some ,notable, reduction of freights takes place, they are much more likely to assume that legislative action has in some way worked the change; than that the improvements in naval engineer- ing are probably- the sole reason. and engineers are too busy with their own concerns to correct the false impression. As a rule, I
I2 VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF UNGIN$ERS :
`think it may be said we work too much to reach some scientific ideal, forgetting, or largely neglecting, the business aspect of the question, We are inclined to have, in fact, a certain disrespect for business.
and will not devote time to -learning its methods and limitations.
This tendency should be corrected, for, until we make up our minds that cheapness and profit are the ultimate end of all our efforts, • and not ideal accuracy and efficiency, and learn to grasp the stage when the maximum possible of these for the time being is reached, we can never hope to reap a full share either of reward or of public credit for effecting the change.
If we consider for a moment the general conditions of produc- tion in Victoria to-day, " and try to come to a decision as to the best means to adopt to increase and cheapen that production, in or- der that there may be an increased margin of profit wherewith to expand her industries and raise the average standard of comfort of her own people, we would most likely decide that no one direction offers anything like the same possibilities of success and rapid ex- tension as the general adoption of irrigation to agriculture. I am well aware this is an old and well worn theme in this State. Many of the best minds have devoted much thought and research to it.
Much money, both private and public, have been spent upon works of great magnitude and interest, with a view to its general applica- tion on a large scale to suitable lands, and though some progress has undoubtedly been made it cannot be said so far that the hopes of the people with regard to it have been fulfilled.
This Institute has in its proceedings several very valuable and full contributions dealing with the question, both as applied to local conditions and in other countries, and it may seem presump- tuous on my part to attempt to say anything to members this even-
ing on the subject which will have any value or much interest, but as a new irüpetus has been given to it by the introduction of Mr.
Swinburnè s water bill, it seems desirable that your attention should be shortly directed to some aspects of this most hopeful means of indefinitely increasing the productiveness of the soil.
It may be at once said, that in the matter of irrigation Victoria has taken a great lead over the other States of the Commonwealth, probably because, owing to her small area, agricultural, as compared with pastoral occupation of her lands, has sooner become a thing of vital concern, and also because the topography and cli- mate of the country are more favourable to the conservation of the
rainfall than anywhere else on the continent.
The total capital expenditure to date on the part of the State, in connection with domestic and stock supplies, and for irrigation is
£5,634,130. Of this large sum £1,095,669 has been advanced to irrigation trusts, and £2,665,445 has been spent on national and State works for storage and distribution of water, the balance being made up of advances to water works trusts and other corporations, chiefly for the supply of country towns. There are twenty-two irri- gation trusts, and of their total indebtedness as given, considerably over a million has been written down by a magnanimous Government
9
PRESIDENTIAL, ADDRESS. 13 to 4364,472 so that the difference— 73I,rg7—so far at least as hook-keeping is concerned, must be taken as a total loss. In addi- tion to this, although certain fixed rates have been assessed and, levied by the trusts for cost of distributing channels, etc., nothing whatever has been charged to the users for water. Notwithstanding these conditions, which must be characterised as of exceptional generosity, the greatest total area irrigated in one year has. been 120,000 acres, a result which cannot be considered as satisfactory, and which would seem to indicate that the very cheapness of the.
supply, combined with the free and easy administration, has dulled the sense of the farmers to the great benefit the Government have put within their reach.
It cannot, however, be overlooked that some of the Trusts—
notably the Rodney Trust, in the Goulburn Valley—have made steady and encouraging progress, and there must be distributed throughout the Trusts areas . a large amount of accumulated experi- ence, of great value for future development, which may be accepted as no inconsiderable set-off against the financial loss. Account must also be taken of the fact that irrigation is a comparatively new thing in Victoria, introducing a novel set of conditions into agricultural methods, and it is. onlv-. natural and in accord with what has been found over and over again in other countries, that progress at first, is slow, and profitable results difficult to. get. Prejudices have to be overcome, indolence, carelessness and indifference have to be reckoned with, and failures have to be recorded; but the leaven of industry and intelligent application eventually bear their fruit, if they be assured of a continuity of policy on the pa rt of the authority supplying the water. It is, perhaps, at the present time the most cheerful augury of future greatness which this State possesses, that not only is it practically certain the policy of bringing the means Of irrigating the land within the reach of a favoured few to be con- tinued, but the present Government has given unmistakable evi- dence of an earnest determination to greatly increase the scope of that policy, by extending the headworks and channels, and also by altering the whole system of administration, so as to put it on a sound business foundation under a' common authority.
The essential features of the proposed water bill, in which we as engineers cannot avoid taking a deep interest, are briefly :—The vesting of all water within the prescribed areas in the Crown; the abolishing of management by Trusts and the substituting an adminis- tration by a commission of three appointed by Government; and the making of a fixed charge on the land depending on its quality and position with regard to the distributing channels, but not exceeding 20 per cent. of the net annual rental, to cover the cost of new works, maintenance charges and supervision. It is at once evident that these proposals are a radical departure from present methods, in- volving the assumption of a greatly extended responsibility on the part of the State, and some contraction of established conceptions
°f liberty of action on the part of our cultivators, which is sure In' result in their being most critically examined. Had they been
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brought forward ten years ago, , they might with some justice have been characterised as an unwarranted attempt to force an untried ,system on unwilling people.. To-day, however, circumstances are greatly changed. In the interim a • large amount of carefully collected data of river gaugings, of contours, and nature of soils, - has been made available, and the management of water distribution by Trusts composed of local residents of the various districts has proved a financial failure, and is open- to many other serious objections: On all hands it is admitted something must be done to increase and stimulate the productiveness of the soil, and it is only where irriga- tion has been adopted that any real evidence exists .of the practic- ability .-of that ,
increase. These and like considerations induce the belief that the provisions of the bill are no more than are necessary to place agriculture in Victoria on a solid basis of freedom from drought and security of return, with a no greater expenditure of in- telligence and energy than can reasonably be expected at the hands of our farmers.
It cannot be argued, because the great bulk of the farming lands of the State have been alienated and made freehold by the occupiers;
that the responsibility of the Government to the people as a whole can extend no further than to see that these occupiers lead law- abiding lives, irrespective of their treatment of the soil under their control. The fundamental` principle that all wealth comes from the soil carries with it the burden, that it, as well as its freeholder, shall suitably perform. its function, and if the Government is pre- pared tâ spend public capital . in providing means for improved culti- vation, it is justified in asking that these means shall be intelligently applied, and in making safe provision for meeting interest and fixed charges.
As it is water and not land which is the controlling factor in the, problem of an increased and cheapened production from semi- arid soils, and as any • scheme to adequately meet the requirements of the great plains north of the dividing range would be too vast an un- dertaking for private enterprise under the circumstances attached to the payment of interest on capital invested, it appears most fitting and opportune that the Government should have recognised the necessity for accepting the task as a truly national function, and have- taken the -necessary steps to initiate the construction of the works, which are really no more than an extension on a very large scale of the arrangements already made for dealing with the water in the catchment area of the Goulburn.
The Waranga basin is being constructed by an embankment 4}
miles lang, across the mouth of what was a large swamp, and is calculated to give a storage capacity of 9,000,000,000 cubic feet, 97 per cent. of which will be available. The depth of water over the total submerged area. of 181 sq. miles, will be about 20 feet, and close upon £1oo,000 has already been spent upon the work. An outlet channel has been cut from the Goulburn reservoir, 24 nii]es long, with a bed width of iro feet, to carry 103,000 cubic feet per min. to Waranga, costing £240,000, and efficiently bilking these two
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 15
great reservoirs together. ,From Waranga it is proposed to con- struct a main outfall channel- *estw~ard to the Loddon in the . first.
instance, a distance of about go miles, a work which, with the necessary distributing channels, it is estimated will cost close upon.
21,500,000. The full scheme provides for the channel to be carried a further distance of .go miles .to the Mallee, . but it is. intended to develop the area commanded by the .Waranga-Loddon stretch before incurring further large liabilities by an extension westward.
The irrigable land commanded by the main and sub-channels is 1,250,000 acres, and, from a valuable. report by Mr. Stuart Murray, it is shown in ordinary years sufficient water can be spared from the Goulburn reservoir over and above the supply to the other irrigation channels connected to it, to irrigate this large area to the depth of r - foot per acre, while in a low year, 4o5;000 acres can be so treated.
As the success of this great project develops, no doubt provi- sion will be made for further conservation by headworks on the Goulburn, and also a connection to the Murray high enough' up to command the Waranga Basin. Other works of an important charac- ter, all with the object of extending the area of irrigated land in various districts of the Murray . watershed, are in progress; but probably enough has been said to show members that as a State we are embarked on an irrigation policy of immense magnitude, con•
sidering the smallness of the population, and, as engineers accus- tomed to look in every case, we consider, to the return of the money spent, it is natural to ask, Will these great water distribution schemes Pay?.
Perhaps no one in Australia is in a better position to give a sound and authoritative reply to that question than Mr. Swinburne, the present Minister of Agriculture. When placing his water bill before Parliament, he said, " I have made no attempts at any flight of oratory in dealing with this subject, but I felt that unless we progress in our irrigation policy, unless we endeavour to carry out tome such scheme: as I have delineated, we shall be behind in the race for wealth and progress. Indeed it seems to me that the black races under British rule are making greater strides in this respect than we are doing in Victoria, and I am certain that if we do not endeavour to use the water which .we have to spare to the greatest advantage, our export trade in the near future will be overwhelmed by the cheap labour of the black races under British rule." This is not a prospect that we, as men having some knowledge of natural science and the possibilities that lie ahead of a systematic adherence to the underlying truths which govern all natural processes, can accept with equanimity, so that it is requisite to know whether the liabilities of the position are heavier than can reasonably be coped With
The total interest at 4 per cent. on capital, and for maintenance end management on the Goulburn-Loddon scheme is £g6,855. It is proposed to meet this by a rate of Is. 8d. in the Zr for domestic and stock supply in the area dealt with, bringing in £15,008, and
16 VICTORIAN - INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS.:
a charge for irrigating water of 4s. oid. per acre foot, to make up the balance of. 81;844. In other words, an increased yield of 3 bushels or its equivalent of wheat per acre, would do more than cover the cost to the cultivator ; and when we consider the low ave- rage yield as. compared with other countries which is now obtained in Victoria, this does not seem an impossible improvement to ex- pect. On the contrary, it does, not approach.the results which are obtained where irrigation has been adopted as an integral part of cultivation. From a return published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 1901, the average increased yield of various crops by irrigation is given as:—
Barley, 95 per cent.; Corn, 38 per cent. ; Oats, 49 per cent.;
Potatoes, 141 per cent.; Wheat, 131 per cent.
To come nearer home, we find that in Queensland Messrs Drys- dale Bros., on their estate on the. Burdekin, have installed, without Government aid of any kind, pumping plant for irrigation purposes of a total capacity" of 57,000,000 gal. per day of 24 hours, costing over e90ó0, which has resulted in an all-round increase in their crop of over 5o per cent. Messrs. Gibson and Howe, on the Bur- nett, have put down pumps to lift 17,000,000 gal. per 25 hours, 25o ft. high, costing over ,aa,0oo, with a 75 per cent. increase of yield as the result. The proprietors of the Kalamia estate on the Burde' kin, have pumping plant for 42,000,000 gal. per 24 hours, costing
£8000, giving similarly satisfactory results in increased production.
The Hon. S. McCaughey, in his evidence before the Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray, said that he could grow two crops of . sorghum or four crops of lucerne per annum by irri- gating with 18 in. of water, and from experience, the former would carry 5o sheep per acre for four months, and the latter ~5 sheep per acre for six months, and continued by stating "Two-sevenths of the waste flow of the Murrumbidgee would irrigate 2,203,856 acres of wheat, oats, or barley to a depth of 44 in., .which" would, judging from my experience, give a return of 4o bushels of wheat or 6o bushels of oats per acre, worth, say, 2S. for the former and Is. 4d.
for the latter, or a gross return of 8,815,424 in either instance."
Other cases might be cited of an equally encouraging nature from our own State, all "pointing to one conclusion—that wherever the care and attention necessary have been given, the results have been most profitable.
Perhaps the most striking instance, however, which I can give you of the absolute, faith and security which can be placed on irri- gation, is that of the small . territory of Hawaii, where practically the entire production of the soil is dependent upon efficient water sup-
ply. The case of this country is the more remarkable, as in every instance the schemes are the result of private enterprise, and that a very large proportion of the total supply is obtained by pumping, notwithstanding the high price of fuel in that country. The total water pumped in 'Hawaii" for irrigation to an average height of 200 feet has now reached the enormous total of 600,000,000 gala per.
day of 24 hours, which, if combined, would give a river more than
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 17 one quarter the size of the Murray at Mildura when navigable—
say, 300,000 cubic feet per minute.
In view of what is being done in other countries, it may be asked, why we have hesitated so long? And why the cultivators in Victoria have been so slow to avail themselves of the works which have been constructed in the past? With regard to the first question, it must be admitted in all fairness to former administrations that the sub- ject in Australia is surrounded by more than ordinary difficulties.
There is practically only one watershed on this side of the conti- nent—that of the Murray—draining an immense area of country, about twice the size of France, and including a large percentage of the territory of four States. Naturally the legal questions arising out of the riparian rights of these States are very difficult of settle- ment: In addition, the great extremes of flow of the main river and its tributaries introduced an element of uncertainty in the sup- ply which tended to delay and caution. Manifestly the first essential of an irrigation scheme is to know with some, degree of accuracy the quantity of water available, and, as the value of river gaugings . de- pends upon the number of years which they cover, it has taken time to collect and"tabulate: the necessary data. Moreover, as it was not till last year that a Royal Interstate Commission agreed, after a care- ful investigation of the whole surroundings, upon a basis for appór- tioning the waters of the Murray, and determined the rights of the several States concerned, it perhaps would have been impolitic to have proceeded' much further without some such apportionment.
The second question is, not so easily answered. Farmers are proverbially conservative, and probably the comparative ease with which many could make a comfortable living without irrigation made them indifferent to its advantages.. They would realise that to irrigate successfully meant a complete departure from the hap- hazard methods employed. Money had to be spent, land had to be graded, cultivation carried on without cessation' on a scale of thoroughness, and with an intelligence which they were not too eager to bestow, while the absence of any outside pressure to com- pel the acquisition of the requisite knowledge, left them free to do so or otherwise as they thought fit.
It may perhaps be said that one main cause of the slowness of advance lies in the general opinion held as to the qualification necessary in a - successful agriculturist. Many believe, however un- fitted a man may he for industrial or commercial life, however ill- equipped he may be to stand the strain and struggle of city life, he is quite good enough for a farmer, and he is relegated to a Gipps- land forest or a northern plain with the hope that he will manage somehow to make a living. Settlement by such means is sure to be slow and unsatisfactory. The public have to be taught to recog- nise that in no calling does the result bear a more direct ratio to the energy and ability expended than in agriculture; that capital and brains and careful experimenting are more necessary than mere Physical endurance, but that, given these, the profits obtainable from a farm under irrigation will be as great and more secure than from
c
18 VICTORIAN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS:
most other investments. It should be borne in mind also, that Vic- toria herself must, to a very large extent at any rate, bring these semi-arid northern plains under cultivation. There would appear to be little chance of inducing farmers from Europe with the neces- sary capital to break up their homes, and to start pioneering at the Antipodes. Before such a movement as that can be possible, we must have something more to _show than mere acres; the cer- tainty of profit, security from drought, and a life with at least some of the amenities of modern ideas must have been demonstrated on a fairly large scale, if men from abroad are to be attracted to our shores. The people of to-day are less inclined to suffer hard- ships than their fathers were, and the constant tendency is to concentrate the pioneering on the engineer. He has to a greater . degree than formerly to move ahead of settlement, opening up the country for the agriculturist, building his roadways and waterways, and bringing both the means of transit and growth to the land prior to occupation.
I could have wished that the scope of this paper would have ,..allowed some reference to many interesting details of this great question of irrigation; the effect, for example, of forestry in les- sening evaporation, as well as its influence in preventing the leach- - ing out by heavy rains of the soluble elements of the soil, chiefly , lime, potash, and nitrogen. This latter is a most important branch
•of the subject, and it would be well for Government to consider some system of instituting a. tabulation by the Agricultural Depart- , ment of soil analyses in the northern watershed.
My purpose will, however, have been served if I have been able to convey to members some idea of the great possibilities of an increased prosperity and a brightened future for Victoria, which are bound up in the conservation and application to the soil of the ,surplus waters of her rivers.
