Page:EB1911 - Volume 14.djvu/884

Rh proposed to take off from the right bank of the Sutlej, and to irrigate about 600,000 acres in the Montgomery and Multan districts, at a cost of Rx. 2,500,000. These three last projects would add 2,774,000 acres to the irrigated area of the province, and as they would flow through tracts almost unpeopled, they would afford a most valuable outlet for the congested districts of northern India. In addition to these great perennial canals, much has been done since 1878 in enlarging and extending what are known as the “inundation canals” of the Punjab, which utilize the flood waters in the rivers during the monsoon season and are dry at other times. By these canals large portions of country throughout most of the Punjab are brought under cultivation, and the area thus watered has increased from about 180,000 to 500,000 acres since 1878.

It is on inundation canals such as these that the whole cultivation of Sind depends. In 1878 the area was about 1,500,000 acres; in 1896–1897 it had increased to 2,484,000 acres. This increase was not due to famine in Sind, for that rainless province depends always on the Indus, as Egypt does on the Nile, and where there is no rainfall there can be no drought. But the famine prices obtained for agricultural produce doubtless gave an impetus to cultivation. In Sind, too, there is room for much increase of irrigation. It has been proposed to construct two new canals, the Jamrao and the Shikárpur, and to improve and extend three existing canals—Nasrat, Naulakhi and Dad. The total cost of these five projects, some of which are now in progress, was estimated at Rx. 1,596,682, and the extension of irrigation at 660,563 acres.

Turning from the basin of the Indus to that of the Ganges, the commissioners appointed to report on the famine of 1896–1897 found that in the country between the Ganges and the Jumna little was left to be done beyond the completion of some distributary channels. The East India Company’s great work, the Ganges canal, constructed between 1840 and 1854 before there was a mile of railway open in India, still holds its place unsurpassed among later irrigation work for boldness of design and completeness of execution, a lasting monument to the genius of Sir Proby Cautley, an officer of the Bengal Artillery, but a born engineer. Ever since 1870 consideration has been given to projects for irrigating the fertile province of Oudh by means of a great canal to be drawn from the river Sarda. The water is there in abundance, the land is well adapted for irrigation, but as there is a considerable rainfall, it is doubtful whether the scheme would prove remunerative, and a large section of the landowners have hitherto opposed it, as likely to waterlog the country. Among the four protective works of irrigation which were said above to have irrigated 200,733 acres in 1896–1897, one of the most important is the Betwa canal, in the parched district of Bundelkhand. This canal has cost Rx. 428,086, and causes an annual loss to the state in interest and working expenses of about Rx. 20,000. It irrigated, however, in 1896–1897 an area of 87,306 acres, raising crops valued at Rx. 231,081, or half the cost of the canal, so it may be said to have justified its construction. A similar canal from the river Ken in the same district has been constructed. Proceeding farther east, we find very satisfactory progress in the irrigation of southern Behar, effected by the costly system of canals drawn from the river Sone. In 1877–1878 these canals irrigated 241,790 acres. Rapid progress was not expected here, and 792,000 acres was calculated as being the maximum area that could be covered with the water supply available. In the five years preceding 1901–1902 the average irrigated area was 463,181 acres, and during that year the area was 555,156 acres, the maximum ever attained.

The canal system of Orissa was never expected to be remunerative, since in five years out of six the local rainfall is sufficient for the rice crop. In 1878–1879 the area irrigated was 111,250 acres, and the outlay up to date was Rx. 1,750,000. In 1900–1901 the area was 203,540 acres, the highest ever attained, and the capital outlay amounted to Rx. 2,623,703. It should be mentioned in favour of these canals that although the irrigation is not of yearly value, they supply very important water communication through a province which, from its natural configuration, is not likely to be soon intersected by railways. If, moreover, such a famine were again to occur in Orissa as that of 1866–1867, there would be no doubt of the value of these fine canals.

In the Madras presidency and in Mysore irrigation has long assumed a great importance, and the engineering works of the three great deltas of the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery, the outcome of the genius and indefatigable enthusiasm of Sir Arthur Cotton, have always been quoted as showing what a boon irrigation is to a country. In 1878 the total area of irrigation in the Madras presidency amounted to about 5,000,000 acres. The irrigation of the eight productive systems was 1,680,178 acres, and the revenue Rx. 739,778. In 1898 there were ten of these systems, with an irrigation area, as shown by the accompanying table, of 2,685,915 acres, and a revenue of Rx. 1,163,268:

In the three great deltas, and the small southern one that depends on the Srivaikuntam weir over the river Tumbraparni, extension and improvement works have been carried on. The Sangam and Pennar systems depend on two weirs on the river Pennar in the Nellore district, the former about 18 m. above and the latter just below the town of Nellore. The former irrigates on the left, the latter on the right bank of the river. This district suffered severely in the famine of 1877–1878, and the irrigation works were started in consequence. The Barur tank system in the Salem district was also constructed after the famine of 1877–1878. As yet it has not fulfilled expectations. The Periyar scheme has for its object both the addition of new irrigation and the safeguarding of that which exists in the district of Madura, a plain watered by means of a great number of shallow tanks drawing their supply from a very uncertain river, the Vaigai. This river takes its rise on the eastern slopes of the Ghat range of mountains, and just opposite to it, on the western face of the range, is the source of the river Periyar. The rainfall on the west very much exceeds that on the east, and the Periyar used to find its way by a short torrent 