The report goes on to discuss the probability or otherwise of water in sufficient quantities for irrigation being obtainable by conservation. In summarising his argument the Hydraulic Engineer says, "Looking at the question broadly, I am much disposed to regard the possibilities of a sufficiently abundant supply of water being obtained for irrigation, especially for land in small areas devoted to intense culture, as of considerable promise." He then urges the inadequacy of artesian wells for the irrigation of large areas, pointing out, among other things, that the entire discharge of the wells then flowing in Queensland would suffice to irrigate only 219 square miles to a depth of 1 ft. He thinks that in Queensland we shall have to depend upon "natural" water for irrigation purposes. A VALUABLE MAP--376,832 SQUARE MILES IN ARTESIA. A new feature in the 1893 report was the map giving information as to (1) artesian bores applied for, (2) under contract, (3) in progress, and (4) completed. It showed that out of a total of 668,497 square miles of the "Rolling Downs Formation" (Lower Cretaceous) no less than 376,832 square miles, chiefly in the arid west, was likely to be water-bearing. This estimate, it may be noted, has been very slightly reduced of late, but the scope for exploration in water-finding seems still great in Western Queensland. The report alludes to the success attained in the Queensland manufacture of well-boring machinery. All the plant used, the wire rope alone excepted, was manufactured in the colony, where improvements had been made in the originally imported article. Yet it is admitted that the apparatus used was "not a perfectly scientific one, because it does not produce a core by means of which the nature of the strata and the angle and direction of the dip can be fully ascertained." Queensland yellow-wood (_Flindersia Oxleyana_) had quite replaced American timber in the manufacture of drilling poles. [Illustration: SCENE ON LOGAN RIVER, SOUTH QUEENSLAND] EFFECT OF GOOD SEASONS. In closing, the Hydraulic Engineer reports that the succession of good seasons experienced (years 1890-93), and the abundance of water and grass resulting, has occasioned much inattention to water conservation, and he also expresses regret that financial exigencies have compelled the dispensing with some valued members of his staff. The article is illustrated by diagrams, and the studious reader will peruse it with profit. THE SOURCE OF ARTESIAN WATER.