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SUNSET LANDS
RAILWAYS AND WATER FACILI
TIES.
SYSTEM OF STORAGE TANKS RE
COMMENDED.
Melbourne, Tuesday.
Recently officials of the Lands De
partment and Water Commission made
a visit of inspection through that por
tion of the State known as the "sun-
set” country. The object ot the tour
was to see v. hat area of Crown land was
available for settlement. A report
1 upon the matter was to-day supplied
\by the Chairman of the Closer Settle
ment Board (Mf M‘lverj as
In regard to the area ot some oOO,UOU
acres known as Sunset; the possibility
of supplving it with water, was inves
tigated in lyl3-16, with the resudt that
it°was found that it would be necesary
to pump the supply, and further that,
it would have to be brough from the
River Murray across the remaining
1,000,000 acres known as Millewa. On
this inforamtion, the Railways fctand
imr Committee considered it advisable
to° build a railway first into the Mil
lewa area, where domestic and stock
water would be soonest available. In
connection with the settlment ot all
these areas, however, the State Water
Commission points out that the cany
in" out of a permanent water supply/ 1
must necessarily take some time, butt,
it further believes that there is no j
need to defer settlement for this rea
son alone. The Government believes
that the methods which were adopted
with such marked success in the Ouyen
district could be adopted in various!
areas. They are : —The construction, ot
small tanks (log and covered tanks) on
the quickest catchments, to provide
water for settlers’ inspection, and for
contractors, and then the excavation of
as big storage tanks as catchments
available will justify, to serve as pre
liminary water supplies for the settlers,
while they are excavating tanks on
their own holdings, or' as drought re
serves or stand-by supplies when their
small tanks give out." In cases of
lengthened periods of dry weather, sup
plies can for the time being be given
by railway, the construction of which
at the car list possible moment is essen
tial: The construction of channels to
give a supply in the first year of ooc
cupation means greatly enhanced cost,
and, generally, owing to the dense, na
ture of the scrub growth, inferior
alignment or lay-out. Thus the set
tler has to pay for all time a greater
water rate as well as. paying it during
the first few years when liis water re
' quinnents are at a minimum'. It is
not until after the first few years of
occupation that a settler has
any stock besides his working
horses, six to nine in number.
Grazing stock, owing to want of clear
ed land, with fallowing methods, must
come later- . With their advent, the
necessity for an assured and adequate
supply, which can. only be given by
channels from some outside sources will
become imperative. They can, how
ever, then be constructed at a minimum
cost; labor, feed, and water being avail
able on the spot, and location within
the cleared land being comparatively
simple.
The parishes of GDaalko, Nyang, Paig
nicv Walpeup,Timberoo, Tiega, Bur
nell, Kia, and Boulka'are examples of
successful settlement under this system.
AM the landholders are doing well, and
an appreciable proportion have retired
on a competence. The Water Com
missison is already arranging to give a
full supply to the 1,000,00.0 acres known
as Millewa,' lying between the Mildura
line and the South Australian border,
and it is prepared to continue the ex
tension of channels into the
area. In the meantime, however, it
will arrange to put down the necessary
log and covered tanks as early as prac
ticable. The Government sees no rea
son why settlement should not be com
menced, and it will certainly see that
supplies adequate for the .early- stages
of occupation are provided.
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