[From The otago Daily Times.] THE MILDURA IRRIGATION COLONY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 3

[From The otago Daily Times.] THE MILDURA IRRIGATION COLONY.

The experimental irrigation colony at Mildura, on the Murray river, formed the subject of several articles in these columns in the years 1886-87. The unusual character of the proposal and the prospects its success would open ■out made it a matter of great interest even at this distance. The success of similar settlements in California and other States in the North American Union" gave the scheme a backing of precedent which carried all doubts and objections before it, though we remember pointing out at the time that everything would depend upon the credit and character of the promoters, into which the Governments to whom they applied for concessions ought to make the most careful inquiry. But the boom was then approaching, and it may be presumed that much was taken for granted in dealing with gentlemen who pro- • mised so much and asked for so little as the Chaitby brothers, and did things on so very magnificent a scale. For although the personal honesty of these gentlemen has not been assailed, the history of the settlement from first to last is a monument of their incapacity for the task they xmdertook, and if they have ruined themselves they have also ruined a great many other innocent settlers and laid a responsibility upon the Victorian Government to get them out of their present deplorable condition which will prove very difficult to discharge. The idea of Mildura was to convert a "barren tract of country upon the Murray river near Wentworth into a smiling settlement of fruit-farmers by irrigation to be supplied from the river. By an Act passed in 1886 the Victorian Government handed over a considerable area to the Chaffey brothers for this pui fpose, with conditions designed to secure the provision of the necessary irrigation. The settlement was " boomed " in true Melbourne style, and attracted' settlers with capital not only from the old world but even from other parts of Australia — so seductive was the picture of a model community in which every man should literally live under his own vine and fig tree, and have schools, lawn tennis, and a good club within easy yeach. It is by no means certain yet that this ideal condition is unattainable at Mildura, The choice of position for

the settlement is not objected to, and that admirable fruit for drying, tinning, jam-making, &c. can be grown there has been placed beyond dispute. But the Chaiteys were not sufficiently strong financially, and consequently they made cheap water channels which leaked and wasted the water which is the lifeblood of the settlement. Then, in their confidence that the whole colony was " going off " like hot cakes, the managers allowed everyone to pick his own section, thus making it necessary to carry out the-^ whole irrigation scheme at once, whereas in the result large intervals were not taken up, but had to be supplied with water channels in order to reach perhaps a single outlying" section. Another mistake alleged is the choice of unsuitable trees, which produced fruit valueless for preserving. The result has been a continual struggle alike for the promoters and the settlers, in which part of the interests of the former were transferred to a body known as the Mildura Irrigation Company (Limited), which appears to consist of the Chaffeys plus the settlers. The situation is further complicated by the GriAFiivrcYS having undertaken a similar settlement known as Remnark, a few niiles further down the river on the South Australian bank, fol 1 the Government of that colony, and by the absence of any provision in the Act of Parliament constituting the colony for legal power to collect the rates payable for the water supplied to the settlers. Tho Gha.ffbys complain that over £40,000 of arrears are due to them by settlers. Tho settlers are not supplied with sufficient water to enable them to successfully carry on the industry out of the profits of which they expected to pay the promoters, water rates, and other charges. A special correspondent of the Ai'gus, who has been sent to inquire into the condition of the settlement, reports that matters could not well be worse, and that there is no alternative to absolute ruin for the settlers and the abandonment of the settlement if Parliament does not step in and provide some means of raising funds to mend the water channels and keep a sufficient supply flowing. This will no doubt eventually be done in some shape, but a preliminary difficulty exists in discovering j the various interests concerned, which seem to have been hopelessly involved by continual shifts to raise the money required to carry things up to the present point. The idea of the settlers seems to be that they should be allowed to form themselves into an ordinary water trust on the same basis as other such trusts in Victoria, supplying themselves with water and rating themselves for its cost. But owing to the complication of interests this is not so easy as it looks ;.and it may be added that tho other irrigation trusts in Victoria have proved terrible sponges to the Government, and are several millions in arrears, of rates due for moneys advanced by the State for sinking water channels. It sounds very pretty to talk about the settlers being allowed to rate themselves for water, but the capital has to be provided by the State, and the interest in the shape of rates is very scantily forthcoming. The Victorian Government may be left to find the best way out of this ! pretty mess. But it is a thousand I pities that an experiment which has succeeded so admirably in the United States, and which was made in Australia apparently under quite as favourable conditions, should result so disastrously. It is, of course, possible that Mildura may yet be j turned into a success, but with most of the water channels to be relaid, and

the whole plan of settlement revolutionised, and the complicated interests that have been created therein, it would seem alrno9t as easy to start an entirely new settlement, although there is so much land actually planted. O£ Renmark, which is a younger settlement, no news seems to reach the papers, and it is to be hoped that this may be considered good news. The moral is the old one of the necessity for extreme caution as regards the finance and management of ventures for which the State incurs an ultimate responsibility. Victorian Mildura may be said to represent the New Zealand Midland railway, but witli the very important difference that its failure is apparently not due to any want of practicability in the original scheme, but to mistakes in carrying it out.