AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 65, 3 August 1912, Page 8

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

A GREAT IRRIGATION SCHEME. Sydney, July 13. A function wihch is taking place today marks the first stage of a great undertaking. It is the turning on of water to the first section of farms to be irrigated in connection with the Murrumbidgee Valley irrigation scheme of ' r New South Wales. For the gathering j of water there lias been built on the course of the Murrumbidgee river, a tri--1 Jbutary of the Murray, one of the largest {dams in the world. It will tower 240 ft \ above the river bed. At its base it is 160 ft thick and 800 ft long. It will store ' a lake of water covering 12,740 acres, . and sufficient in volume to cover 766,324 . acres to a depth of Ift. Provision is . being made for the irrigation of 125,000 I acres, which will later be increased to . 350,000 acres, and will be subsequently , augmented by 1,000,000 acres of "dTy" . land to be worked in conjunction with > the area under irrigation. It has been , decided to limit the area which will be , supplied with water during next summer to about 1.1.000 acres. It is confid--1 ently asserted that there is every pro- ' spect of the Murrumbidgee irrigation 1 area becoming one of the most densely1, populated, and one of the most productive of the farming districts in the State. The soils are said to be remarkable in fertility, and eminently suited for irrigation purposes. The'total cost of tlifc scheme is £1,650,000. It is 20 years ( since investigations were begun concerning the possibilities for irrigating the Murrumbidgee Valley, so it cannot be said that the great expenditure has been entered upon wjthout enquiry. Hopes are already expressed that its success will be followed by other enterprises of ■ a similar nature, and that in the not • distant future New South 'Wales will bell /come practically immune from the effects t of drought.