2nd Progress Report - Part 1

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This transcription is complete

of the poison question is distinctly bad and should be referred to an outside Appeal Board.

We find that irrigation, from which so much has been expected in this State, has not yet proved satisfactory when applied to land with a 30in. to 40in. rainfall. Adverse local conditions are set up by the application of water in this country, which time and experience will abate. Irrigation is not a success when applied to wet, sour, land, but should rather be regarded as a coping stone to a highly developed system of agriculture, for which the country is not yet ready. A further drawback is the limited amount of good and suitable land available on the principle water courses.

Harvey Irrigation Area.—This we have found to be an experimental attempt to apply water to insufficiently drained, irregular, deep and shallow soils in a 36in. rainfall. The experience up to the present has been largely discouraging, but the end, when conditions are better understood, will probably be good.