THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1905

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1234, 26 January 1905, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1905

Here shall the JPross tho I'eoplo's Bight maintain Unaned by influence and unbrlbed by giro j Hero patriot Truth ho glorious praoepts duty Pledgod to Religion Liberty, wd Law

PROMINENCE has been given in the Australian cable news lately to the groat scheme of watering parts of Australia, chiefly Victoria, (luring Ihe dry season of the year. The scheme may now be considered to have pasßi'd its initial the report of the committee appointed to consider the matter having been fnmisbed to th« Slates interested. The attempts at irrigation which have so far 'been made in Victoria jjiave not been succssful, and Mr Geo. Swinburne, M.L.A.. Minister of Water Supply for Vicioria, has been engaged for some tim>i in the p-e----paration of an irtigaiion scheomon entirely new lines, Although con-' aideraly over a million has already been spent by tlw Suite upon irrigation works, it was found that the gtipuly was insufficient and the administration ineffective, A system bf trusts had been in operation for eighteen years without developing perceptible improvement.' Tho hventy-three trnsis were locally administered, and the result was that although two-thirds of the capital bad been written off the commissioners had great difficulty in carrying on in any sort of satisfactory manner. Consequently Mr Swinburne formulated the <uew scheme. He proposes 'hat the Governmevit shall take over the whole control of the irrigation business, abolish the

trusts, and appoint a centralbody to administer the scheme; the State taking all the risks. The rate at which water will be supplied to the settlers is a question surrounded with a good deal of difficulty; but it is proposed to overcome this by adopting the principle that the land which gets the greatest benefit should pay the highest rate, irrespective of cost of work. It is expected that the scheme will be able to pay its way by 1917. It will require about six 'years to carry out the work at an expenditure at £1,300,000, and, aR already cabled, the water will b u supplied at a graduated rate for Sevan yoars, after which the full rate will be enforced. According to present calculations the full rate will be one-fifth of the net annual value of the land after deducting buildings and improvements on orchards and vineyards. If land is worth an annual rental of 5s per acre the irrigation rate be Is per acre per annum. The rate is ex pected to increase as population be comes more numerous and tho land more valuable. Thus the revenue will increase and the heavy construction expenditure will not recur. It is proposed to classify the value of the land every ten years for Ihe purpose of assessment, though the commissioners will be endowed with power to re-assess the land value every, year. They can also reduce the rate on land less suited for irrigation, but it must not be reduced below one-teu th. It has taen deemed necessary, in order to overcome the question of riparian rights, to declare all rivers and watercourses in the State part of the public domain Consequently the beds and banks of all watercourses in Victoria will become the property of the Crown. Any further extension schemes called for in the future will be dealt with as the circumstances may render necessary. As to the possible difficulty with South Australia over the water of the Murray River, he says that South Australia will be met in any reasonable way, As he understands the position, all that South Australia contends tor is tha*. the navigation of the Murray shall be maintained, As he professes himself certain that there is abundance of water for all their purposes, he feels that all existing differences could be yttled at a friendly con* ference. Of course, he says, Vic. toria wants a lot of the Murray vater, and must get it. On being asked <ia to his schemes for the future, Mr Swinburne said, "I should like to pee the whole of the northern part of Victoria, including the Mallee districts, parts of which are eminently suitable for irrigation, brought within the scheme, but unfortunately we lack sufficient water, The limits of our water supply must be the limits of our irrigation. We are goiug to try to conserve as much ! of the flood waters as we can, but even then it is doubtful whether we should be able to supply the millions , of acres which are available in the ' dry area. Farmers," he says," have made their own'experiments, and it is surprising how comparatively few have used the water intelligently, but we ate quite sure' that in our scheme the best results will be obtained." Such a scheme, if eflfec- . tively carried out, cannot well fail to make Victoria the Garden State of Australia.