Note Footnote a: — APPENDIX H.

The report then discusses the question of using artesian water for power in the industries. The Hydraulic Engineer points out that of the total horse-power used in the United States at that time about 39·5 per cent. was hydrodynamic. Artesian water, he says, can be applied to driving all kinds of machinery, "from a sewing machine or a cream separator to a saw or flour mill; and for fire-extinguishing it is most excellent." He therefore recommends the employment in Western Queensland of turbines and Pelton wheel motors for sheep-shearing, electric lighting, and other kinds of machinery used there, pointing out that the horse-power available was—At Blackall, 8·04; at Cunnamulla, 41·53; at Charleville, 123·41; and at Thargomindah, 63·51.a He further recommends the utilisation of the artesian supply for street mains, a suggestion since carried out with great public advantage in several western towns. While Mr. Henderson doubts the utility of artesian water for irrigation, he says that, generally speaking, it is quite as valuable as that from town mains, rivers, and falls for developing power. The aggregate area to date in which precious artesian water has been found in Queensland is 117,000 square miles, and he feels that this area would be rapidly enlarged by exploration by both Government and private borings. The shallowest completed flowing well in Queensland at that date was 60 ft., and the deepest 3,630 ft.; the average depth so far as known to the department was 1,289 ft.