Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/226

PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. for irrigation. In Victoria numerous irrigation trusts have been formed to utilise the waters of the Murray River and its tributaries. These trusts have been unsuccessful financially, and the Government has hitherto obtained but a small proportion of the interest due to them on the money advanced. The principal causes of failure are, first, extravagance in construction, and secondly, the fact that the farmers would not buy water from the trust in a season when there was a fair rainfall. The irrigation trusts of Victoria must therefore be mainly regarded as an insurance against drought. It would be impossible, within the limits of this paper, to review the whole question of irrigation and water conservation, which is of such vital importance to the whole of Australia. I will content myself with saying that I fear the possibilities of developing the interior by irrigation are not so great as I estimated them to be seven or eight years ago. That the possibilities are considerable is evident from the present position of the two large irrigation Colonies of Renmark and Mildura.

So little is known in this country of the true history of the enterprises associated with the names of the Messrs. Chaffey; so much abuse has been heaped upon the promoters and others connected with these enterprises; the opinion is so generally held that they have been absolute failures, that it will not be out of place if I ask your attention for a few moments to the subject. I shall deal principally with Mildura, because it has been recently the subject of inquiry by a Royal Commission which only reported last September, and having spent three days there, I am able to speak with some knowledge of its past history and its present position. 208