Page:Arthur Cotton - The Madras Famine - 1898.djvu/7



We have had, in the past Session, four discussions on the subject of India. In all which, of course, the most terrible visitation that has occurred in our time, the present Famine, has been the most prominent point, but in all, the word Water has, I believe, been never once mentioned. Most assuredly, then, our first enquiry is, what can be the reason of this omission? There must be some most tremendous pressure that could force the Officials carefully to avoid any allusion to the one thing upon which all depends in the matter. The slightest hint of the subject of Water might have led to the dangerous question, what becomes of all the Water? This would be treading upon most dangerous ground. It might even lead to a demand for information upon the whole question of Water for production and Water for transit. The moment the questonquestion [sic] is started we come upon the fact that one single river in the peninsula pours into the sea in a single day, 5,000 millions of cubic yards of Water, enough to produce rice for two millions of people for a year. There was certainly Water enough flowing into the sea last year to provide food for the whole population ten times over, and it would supply Water for all the Navigation Canals that could be cut throughout India. There is therefore no want of water. The only remaining question then is, What would it cost to distribute the Water over the Land and along the Navigation Canals? The answer to this is that all the great Irrigation works already executed by our Government, Irrigating about six millions of acres, or rather