Page:Arthur Cotton - The Madras Famine - 1898.djvu/32

 much land will be idle, as nearly all the cattle will be dead. The sale of bullocks has been so great that the coolies find it cheaper to buy meat than grain, a bullock selling for 3 ru.” Again; “The villages under the Canal may be considered to be in a very prosperous condition, the crops being very good indeed. In January of this year, the Overseer reports that the white Cholum sown in Prattacotta is magnificent. I have never seen finer crops of this grain than those of Banakercherla and Venputa. The ears were so full and the plants so thickly grown that they were touching each other.” Again; “the average yield per acre is, 2 putties, which is above that of the preceding season; this putty has been recently sold at 48 ru.; the straw is almost half as valuable as the grain.” Thus the whole value of the crop is about 140 ru., while the charge for water is 6 ru., and the total cost of the works is only £3 per acre of rice. In February it is reported, “the wet crops, more particularly in the Cuddapah and Prodatoor Talooks, are the finest that have ever been reaped.” In March it is estimated, “that nearly 70 million pounds of food grain have been grown under the Canal in three talooks. This is sufficient to preserve one quarter of the population of the Kurnool district for six months, and to feed more than 8,000 pair of Bullocks. There can be no doubt that if the water were properly and timely taken, and with the same eagerness that it was taken this season, when it was too late, the grain grown under the Canal in the Kurnool district would feed the whole population, amounting to a million, for 12 months, even if no crops were raised except from Canal Irrigation.” Again, in March; “there is little doubt that the Canal water affects the health of the population considerably. When procurable Canal water is always preferred to Well water; some villagers are in the habit of going 2 miles for it. While in Camp I was unable to find a well in any village containing water fit to drink. In one place though greatly in want of a draught of water, I was compelled to abstain from drinking the water of three wells, as the taste was filthy.” Thus far the quotations. Have these things no bearing upon the Famine? As regards Canal Transit, Grain can be carried by Water at one twentieth of the cost by Railway, which besides cannot produce one pound of food for either man or beast. Had two millions that this will cost been spent on Irrigation and Navigation, the whole of these provinces would have been secured for ever from Famine, and from ten to twenty millions added to the income of the people. Further, had the necessary preparations been made when the Famine had become certain, the Link of the Canal might have been cut from Cuddapah to Nelloor, and the districts of Bellary, Kurnool and Cuddapah, have been put in direct communication with Madras and with Godavery and Kistnah. Thus the Famine would have been turned into a blessing, and an annual benefit derived to the country far beyond the interest of ten millions. The extension of the Coast Canal has at last been undertaken from Nelloor to the Kistnah. By the latest accounts 50,000 people were