GRAZING FARM SELECTORS' BORE.
The report dated 15th September, 1898, mentions that the Bando bore sunk for the Lands Department for the accommodation of grazing farm selectors was completed during the year at a depth of 2,081 ft., giving a supply of 2,000,000 gallons daily, and at a cost of £3,289. It was estimated to water 146,000 acres. The Roma bore for the town supply had also been completed at a depth of 1,678 ft., and yielded a controlled supply of 111,000 gallons daily, which sufficed for the wants of the town.
STATISTICS TO DATE.—THARGOMINDAH ILLUMINATED.
Particulars of thirty-seven bores sunk in the colony to a depth of 3,000 ft. and over are given. Of these eleven had reported flows, either large or small, during the year, three had been abandoned, and nine were still in progress. The yield of 376 bores in the colony was estimated at 214,000,000 gallons a day, the average per bore being over half a million gallons. Besides these, fifty-five sub-artesian wells—those whose water did not rise above the surface—yielded 2½ million gallons a day; and perennial springs gave an ascertained continuous flow of nearly 4,000,000 gallons a day. The report calls attention to a serious diminution in the yield of certain wells, and says that it has been ascertained in some cases that the loss was due to loss of head, and not to any leakage or obstruction in the casing. The Hydraulic Engineer therefore again urges legislation to give the Government control of bore water. As to power, it is mentioned that a small electrical installation had been set up at Thargomindah by the Bulloo Divisional Board, and that the number of lamps of sixteen candle-power that would exhaust the bore power was 150 to 200.
THE DROUGHT OF 1899.
When the report dated 30th August, 1899, was prepared the country was held in the throes of a protracted drought, and the Hydraulic Engineer speaks of compression in his report on the ground of economy. For years past the reports had been becoming increasingly bulky, appendices and maps being supplied on a generous scale. Government expenditure in bore-sinking had now nearly ceased, presumably because private enterprise had already benefited greatly by Government prospecting for water, and the same necessity did not exist for State action as in previous years. The new feature of the departmental year's work is stated to have been the comparative analysis of the height of bore sites and the water potentials thereat, upon which the iso-potential map, with the full description given in page 56 of the report, is based. By this time the number of bores sunk to a depth of 3,000 ft. and over was fifty, an increase for the year of thirteen, which shows that private enterprise was still active in the search for artesian water. The total number of flowing bores in the colony was given as 440, with a yield of water of nearly 266½ million gallons a day.
The report dated 25th August, 1900, mentions that during the year in the Adavale bore 9,000 gallons of water a day had been struck at 1,494 ft., and although further sinking had been carried to 2,930 ft. there was no increase in the supply. By this time the number of bores sunk to 3,000 ft. and over had increased by nine, or to fifty-nine, while the aggregate flow of artesian water was put at over 321½ million gallons per day.
REGRETTABLE ECONOMIES.
The report dated 31st August, 1901, was the last to supply the very full information customarily given annually by the department. There was almost universal drought and difficulty. In some parts of the State, however, the drought had broken, so that needful works could be again pushed on. But this was by no means the end of the great drought of 1898-1903, and the appendices and valuable maps which added so greatly to the permanent value of the reports of the department were discontinued, and only a brief report was presented. This is much to be regretted, but retrenchment was enforced by revenue shrinkages and the dislocation temporarily caused by federal union. Happily, however, the information has since been carefully collected, and is now available to complete this sketch of the work done and results achieved since the year 1883, when the department was created under Mr. Henderson's direction. In the 1901 report the success of the Adavale bore is recorded, the depth being 3,398 ft., with a flow of 990,890 gallons per day, and at a total cost of £5,369. The striking of a supply of water in the Dalby bore to the amount of 46,470 gallons an hour at a depth of 1,841 ft. is also mentioned in this report. This success is interesting on account of the site being the furthest easterly where artesian water has been found.
The report for 1902 was cut down to the minimum limit. It was prepared while the country was in the grip of the worst drought ever known, and yet private enterprise was active as ever in bore-sinking, no less than thirty-six flowing wells having been completed during the year. The total number in the State was thus brought up to 563, yielding 375,000,000 gallons a day, the average flow per bore being 666,231 gallons.