Scientific Notes.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1216, 28 October 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scientific Notes.

The desert interior; of Australia ia to be aubdued by electricity. So say Mr, •P. T. Mott, of Leicester, and Mr. Thomas Blunt, of Loughborough, The former says, "It is probable that.within a few, years the dynamo machine will prove of more practical value to Australia jthirn to any other country in the' world,": This is good news, and deserves to. be looked into. There ia, we are told, accu-' mulating evidenee'that in the tertiary sand-; atone of the great central plain of Australia; there is an abundant , supply of water not many yards from thejsurface. Putting this assumed fact alongside another—namely, that power can be generated wherever coal is plentiful, and transmitted economically and: ■effectively by electric wire to inland motors, —the conclusion is arrived at that, Australia l need never be in want of water. Steam, engines worked near the coal-pits are to supply all. Australia; with power, and the supply of subterranean water is of course to be inexhaustible, Unfortunately all the alleged facts are mere assumptions, There is underground, water, for the most part' br&okish, here and there, but no more can be got out of the ground: than falls into it., Even in England wells are easily exhausted, as the •large, brewers find to their great inconvenience ■ and cost. Mr. Mott asks, " .Why need the crops bo lost for lack of water ?"-a question which he. evidently thinks can-bo as easily answered as asked. But is he aware of the quantity required for the irrigation of a single: acre ? He is confident that there is abundance of water in Australia,; because the gum-trees could not resist the drought unless their roots touched water. But where are the gum-trees. of the great central plain ? Even on the plains near the coast there are no gum-trees except .along the creekß and round the waterholes, where the source of the water supply is obvious enough, The gum-trees drawing their water from subterranean.supplies are myths, There may possibly be such a rarity, but the exception would prove the rule to be theother way,- That water may be had in moderate quantities from wells here and there is not to be disputed, but that iwell water is available' for irrigation purposes can only be,admitted .when the thing is done, Settlers are satisfied ■ when they can get'enough-water for 'their | domestio purposes and for their horses, sheep! and cattle. The other assumed, fact—that .power,can be transmitted. economically and • effectively by electric wire—is a delusion. , ■The process is costly and ineffective. The - work can be done better without the electrio' wire than with it, The water can •be more easily pumped up by, the direct application' of wind poiver than by any possible electrio arrangement, and there is less difficulty in; storing the water than in conserving the' power, _lt has not even been shown.that of' the various means of accomplishing the latter' purpose electricity is the best. The dynamo; maohinewill have its uses in Australia as 1 elsewhere, but to suppose that it will be available for securing a water supply is an idle dream.

Fortunately there are many less fanciful means of making the most of the Australian rainfall, whether it be collected on the surface or brought up from below it. Of course! it is desirable to collect as much as possible before it reaches the strata below the subsoil. The water is purer ■ and more easily dealt with than that from wells, Where the rainfall is scanty hot a drop should be allowed to reach the sea or otherwise go to! waste, Salt lakes can generally be, in the course of time, converted into fresh. The! sweetening of the Dead Sea itself would not boa difficult feat; Reservoirs and lakes may be rendered perrennjal by diminishing the area of evaporation land increasing their, depth, In some eases the diversion of creeksfrom their usual courses into new ones may be: profitable, If by any process of tunnelling, or embankment a stream on the Beaward face of the Dividing Range could be turned inland it is obvious; that much would be gained. Land is not yet of sufficient value to justify the outlay of much capital on such projects, but the time is rapidly approaching when the pressure of population throughout the world will briug within the range of practical speculation-schemes which if propounded at present would be considered fit only, to emanate from lunatics, Something may be done even now, and ameliorating changes made which, 1 ; although eluding observation at the time', may have a cumulative influence, tho benefit of which will be reaped hereafter,-77w Leader (Melbourne).