Itjt then} 'begin wifh the least costly, and go on by (fe rrets to the irrigation of all" tlje land }n the county worth irrigating,'. Those who had studied Mv Buster's report would see that a large oust would be incurred., for head works. The Engineer's inquiries had dissipated the idea that to bring the water from tno Bakaia to these plains was an A.B.C. matter. The bed of the river was 50 feet below the terrace at Lavingfcoii, and an expenditure of about £'38,500 would be required for head wprjff and. t;u.nn,g}ling. if §\e% cotyld gut w.ater to 'fchq plains without in curring this heavy expenditure for head works and tunnelling, everyone would allow that it ought to be done. He had his own r'ewM an this matter, and m giv; ing p^-m-esijion tq then} I*Q asked them to uud^istancl that they were simply his own and that m expressing them he s-'poke only for himself, and not for the Council Hc| hou?ht the better plan would be to modify My Ba>;tev'a twq so^emca so as to avail thenvselves of the sources of supply m bosh reports. TJ'ie be^t source of supply for No. 1 area was m tlie neighborhood of the Bakaia |jwnslnp, i\\\<\ from|:h:s a latge number of settlers could be sup pliea at a co^t of 2s per acre.," He would" advocate first dealing with $o. 1| and then su|)|jly4hg No. % taking thq supply I

higher up, having the water of the Aali- j burton supplemented by water from fche , Rakaia. Mr Wright then read from Mr Baxter's'reportas follows :—" The scheme I formerly reported on for fche iirigition of this ami of about 150,000 acres, com prising Nos] and 2 districts, was (o have cost about £16,000 only, but it wt n sub ject to the following drawbacks :—First, —The full supply frcm the South Ath burton River would not have been avail able at all times, as the drought of the last two years has clearly proved. I shall refer to this deficiency more fully when bringing up my report on the Ashbufton- Rangitala Irrigation Scheme. 