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The £2,750,000 provided for in the bill is to be spent over six years. I think it is important that a time limit has been placed on the expenditure of this money. We all have vivid memories of dams being started and not completed, with the result that the ultimate costs has been far greater than the original estimate. It is very pleasing that the money is to be spent over a period of six years. While the Commonwealth's contribution will be £2,750,000 the total expenditure will be more than £12,900,000- just on £13,000,000. I think, too, that it is fortunate in one respect that this offer has been made at this time, because councils to-day are not finding it difficult to obtain sufficient moneys for the various works that they want to undertake. I think it has been stated already that in these five counties along the Hunter River there are between 300,000 and 400,000 people living in an area of 5,500,000 acres. That is a tremendous area and when it is covered by flood water it resembles a great inland sea. We are also told that in normal times when there are no floods the products of the area are worth something like £9,000,000 a year. If the area can be made reasonably free from floods then its productivity will be increased greatly. If I might digress for a moment, I think Senator Ormonde made some reference to share farming on the north coast. He did not specifically mention the Hunter valley but I took it that he was including that area when he referred to share farming as being a peasant type of existence. I took that to mean that he was saying that it was not a lucrative occupation. That may be so in certain cases, but it is not true of share farming generally. For instance, only this year one share farmer in my district produced 70,000 bags of wheat, the first payment on which will be over £90,000. Therefore, it cannot be said that all share farmers are verging on bankruptcy. I think it was Senator Anderson who said that some areas benefit from floods because the receding waters leave behind them very valuable soil, but I remind the Senate that while floods do deposit valuable silt on some areas they denude other areas of their good soil. In some years, floods are responsible for carrying thousands upon thousands of tons of good fertile soil into . the sea. This is one of the things that flood mitigation can help to prevent. Soil conservation, for instance, can be related to flood mitigation in this way, and we have seen great strides made in the prevention of soil erosion during the past few years. The prevention of soil erosion anywhere will help considerably in flood mitigation work because by preventing soil erosion much can be done to hold the waters in their original channels. One honorable senator quoted some poetry this afternoon. It reminded me of the poem about the drover who was returning home. It went something like this - Every creek and gully sends forth its little flood Until the river runs a banker, all stained with yellow mud. That is how floods start. If the run-off can be prevented then something at least is done towards minimizing the effects of floods. Mention has also been made of the civil defence organization in New South Wales. When speaking about floods I think we should pay a tribute to this organization because it is doing very good work indeed. From what I can gather the civil defence organization in New South Wales is probably better organized and more efficient than that of any other State, and I think this is due largely to the very good work of the director, Major-General Dougherty. Again, there is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained from the way in which the people in flooded areas have organized things to minimize flood damage. For instance, the shopkeepers have erected substantial shelves at high levels on which to place their goods during times of flood. In one town that I know of business was resumed some two or three hours after the flood receded despite the fact that the water had been 3 or 4 feet deep in the town. In this way, the people have shown that they are certainly worthy of any assistance that we can give them in the way of flood mitigation.