Communications and transit > Enquiry on national public works

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In accordance with the Agreement, the construction of the works is carried out by
the Governments of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; the constructing
authorities appointed under the various State Acts being :
New South Wales : Minister for Public Works;
Victoria : State Rivers and Water Supply Commission;
South Australia : Commissioner of Public Works.
The works have been carried out direct by the constructing authorities.
Maintenance, operation and control of any work are to be performedby the Govern¬
ment which constructed the work.
III.
The cost of construction of the River Murray works is shared equally by the four
contracting Governments. The cost of maintenance, etc., is shared equally by the three
State contracting Governments, the Commonwealth being freed from any obligation in
this regard.
Expenditure is charged to the ordinary budget of the Government concerned, the
amount being provided from revenue or loan funds, according to the decision of the
individual Government.
Contributions towards the estimated cost of the works are called up from the contrac¬
ting Governments periodically, usually monthly, by the River Murray Commission.
The Commission makes advances to the constructing authorities and the amount expended
by those authorities is reimbursed to them by the Commission.
IV.
An approximate estimate of the allocation of the cost of these works is : material,
50%; labour, 50%.
V.
It is estimated that the proposed works referred to in Ifcj will provide employment
directly and indirectly for a thousand men for approximately five years.
As regards the effect of the works on economic activities, although the discharge
of the Murray River last season was some eight million acre-feet (representing not a
“ low ” but a “ mean ” year), it was only the stored water in Rake Victoria and the Hume
Reservoir, together with that retained by the locks and weirs, which saved the whole of
the irrigation settlements along the river from practically complete failure, both by
providing water at a sufficient level when it was required and by preventing the seepage
of salt from the soil. The life of every irrigation settlement on the Murray River in South
Australia is dependent on these storages.
The area in New South Wales which can be commanded by gravitation from the
Murray River has been estimated at upwards of five million acres, and the bulk of this
area can be served by a canal offtaking above the proposed Yarrawonga weir. To
command the balance, a second diversion weir will be required upstream of Yarrawonga.
The water available will be sufficient to supply only a small portion of the area which
can be commanded, and the principle which is being followed is to allocate to landholders
sufficient water to permit of the irrigation of a portion of their holdings from, say, 1 acre
in 6 to 1 acre in 25, dependent upon the size of the holding. Works are at present in
progress by the State authorities to develop over a million acres of this area, the object
being the growth of fodders under irrigation for the feeding of stock and not for any
extension of fruit-growing until the marketing position is more assured.