24 MARCH 1923, Page 35

It is hoped to turn the Murray Valley into an

" Australian California " as a result of the completion of the Lake Victoria Storage scheme on the borders of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The Murray Waters Commission, at a cost of over £6,000,000, hopes to provide 3,000 miles of navigable waterway and to irrigate over 2,000,000 acres of land. Many Australian and British settlers are going to the Murray district, but the development of the district must depend on a steady market for its dried fruit industry. From the Australian standpoint the British market is at present too dependent on foreign supplies. It is hoped that the British buyer will give increasing support to this growing Australian industry. Mr. W. B. Chaffey, the pioneer of irrigation in Australia and President of the Australian Dried Fruit Association, has just reached this country to join the Australian fruit delegation which is over here investigating the British market. " We are producing much more fruit than Australia requires," says Mr. Chaffey, " and we are looking to Great Britain to give us those markets we need."