8vo. 17 pages including in-text illustrations, plus a folding colour map measuring approximately 38 x 26 cm. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, containing other accounts as well, seldom found in such good and original condition. Irrigation and drainage engineer Gibbons W. Cox examines for the first time the Artesian basin of Australia, for the purpose of offsetting periods of drought by way of a "fuller utilization of the artesian water conserved in the crust of the Earth." Noting that Australia's rivers are few, and suggesting that it will become increasingly costly to hold their flood-time waters in canals and reservoirs, he calls attention to the immediate need for "remedy to the existing defects in administration of this valuable asset." To substantiate the concept, he examines similar regions, including Madras, Persia, the Sahara Desert regions of Algeria, and especially the United States of America, providing impressive statistics of success, where in some regions whole communities survive only by the "transformations produced by artesian waters upon sandy wastes" even with the most primitive systems in place. Following this, he illustrates the current usages of outflow waters tapped into with bore holes, and the loss of invaluable water. Alarming and factual statistics are presented, the loss of 31,340,000 sheep from 1890-1899, and 975,645 cattle in the year 1900 alone, to bring awareness to the critical water problem. Costs and effectiveness of river irrigation versus better management of artesian waters support his urgent recommendation. Together with photographic and sketch illustrations, and a colour map showing the expanse of the underground basin and partially reclaimed regions within Queensland alone, Cox makes a most compelling argument, concluding that, "... the only alternative lies in a greater increase in artesian supplies, and their adoption for systematic irrigation (for at least fodder and stock), and thus induce a larger pastoral and agricultural population to settle on the land... It is easily conceivable that sufficient water might be tapped by a great increase or artesian borings in Australia, which would provide permanent rivers and creeks in the interior from which systematic irrigation could be carried out... there would be greater evaporation, increased moisture, and a far more equable climate..." A discussion then ponders the sustainability of the water source, a most important topic which remains a question still today 110 years later! [A recent study, 2013, has assessed the sustainability of the artesian reservoir, through a comprehensive examination of the Basin's water flows, hydrology and geology.]
