IRRIGATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18999, 23 October 1923, Page 3

IRRIGATION.

QUEENSLAND SCHEME. TO COST £2,000,000. ,Teoji Dob Own Cokhesponpent.) SYDNEY, October 11. Parliamentary sanction has been given in Queensland for proceeding with a great irrigation scheme, rivalling that of the Murrumbidgee, in New South Wales, on the Dawson River, which traverses a fertile coastal region to the south-west of Rockhampton. The initial cost will be £2,000,000. and a huge storage dam which it is proposed to construct will take six years to complete. The scheme involves a large hydro-electrio generating plant, and it is estimated that there will be- a total annual revenoe from the undertaking of £211,500. The scheme comprises a main storage dam, situated in what is known as the Nathan Gorge. The dam will impound something like 2,480,000 acres feet of water, which will be carried from the dam to Delusion Creek, 27 miles further down the river, along the natural bed of the river. The wafer will be diverted by main and natural channels over tlie whole of the area, which is divided into several zones, Castle Creek being the centre zone of the settlement. The hydro electricity plant will be situated at the weir and will be operated by the water as it comes through the sluice.# The power from that plant will be supplied over the whole of the area. Most of the area will be irrigated by gravitation, but the water will te pumped to the higher levels. The estimated quantity of land available is 200,000 acres of irriguhle ; land, and, in addition there are 200,000 acres adjacent which are suitable for grazing purposes. The value of the land before resumption is estimated at 10s per acre, and one of the features that makes the success of the scheme possible is that the value of the land will be increased by the establishment of irrigation facilities to £l2 per acre.