July i, 1884. | 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



33 



The Chairman (Sir John Goode) : Before calling upon 

 the several gentlemen who have kindly undertakes to 

 address us, I may, perhaps, be permitted to offer aword 

 or two, by way of comment, on the valuable paper we 

 have just heard read. When I call your attention to 

 the fact that the works Mr. Mosse has described were for 

 the most part constructed something like 2,00tl years ago 

 broadly speaking, you will, I think, agree with me that 

 very considerable historical interest attaches to them. 

 (Hear, hear.) Mr. Mosse tells us of a dam 11 miles long 

 and in some places "0 feet high— the Fadivil Tank. He then 

 tells us of the Kalawewa Tank, which is about 40 miles 

 in circuit : the dam in this case averages 60 feet high, and 

 is about 5| miles in length. He further tells us of another 

 dam — the Karagauga, a huge embankment ranging from 

 40 to 00 feet high, and for many miles averaging SO fcot 

 high, and continued without intermission a distance of 

 24 miles. These are works of great magnitude, and that 

 they should have been constructed for such a purpose 

 and at such a period is to me a matter of considerable 

 historical interest, as I think it must be to all present 

 this evening. Again, from what I may call the politico- 

 economical point of view, these works are very important. 

 Mr. Mosse has just told you, briefly and concisely under 

 seven different heads, what the results have been. The 

 three most important of these are the almost absolute 

 avoidance of famine ; the crops formerly doubtful 

 are now rendered certain, the yield being doubled if 

 not trebled ; and the health of the cultivators is 

 greatly improved and the condition of the people generally 

 very much ameliorated. These are, I say, most important 

 facts, and 1 think we are very fortunate in having had 

 them placed before us in such an able manner by Mr. 

 Mosse. (Hear, h-^ar.) Ceylon is a country not always 

 blessed with those " spicy breezes" of which we have all 

 heard. It is subject not only to occasional deficiency of 

 rain, but also to floods of a most damaging character. 

 Some eight years ago I was asked by the Government of 

 Ceylon to give them some professional advice with a view 

 to relieve the low-lying districts near the coast of the 

 effects of some of these floods. Perhaps, as Mr. Mosse has 

 been treating on the rainfall in Ceylon, I may be permitted 

 to mention a fact or two concerning it. In the flood of 

 1837, upwards of 1,200 houses are said to have been de- 

 stroyed. In the flood of 1831, the damage was even greater 

 than that. As lately as 1872, in some districts, the floods 

 lasted from ten to twenty-one days, and the water rose 

 from 10 to 20 feet— in some instances as high as 30 feet. 

 One official reported that in part of his district the water- 

 rose so rapidly that the inhabitants had to he rescued in 

 the night through the roofs of their houses, that on that 

 occasion more than 350 villages were considerably flooded, 

 and that in one district alone 541 houses were destroyed. 

 These facts illustrate the violent changes of climate in 

 Ceylon. They show what the people are subject to in the 

 island. I am glad Mr. Mosse has put before us such a 

 practical paper this evening. The information it contains 

 will not bo coniined to those now present. The paper and 

 the discussion will be carried, I may say, without exag- 

 geration, to the uttermost parts of the earth, and the 

 Royal Colonial Institute, in affording the means of eliciting, 

 and in bringing before the public in general, and colonists 

 in particular, the information the paper contains, and such 

 further information as will be given in the discussion, will 

 be fulfilling one of the most important functions for which 

 it was established. (Applause.) 



The Right Hon. Sir Wiixiam Gregory, k. c. m. g.: 

 I think the Paper which has just been read by Mr. 

 Mosse is a valuable. Paper. It contains a good deal of 

 statistics, which may perhaps be considered heavy read- 

 ing, but they are extremely valuable to any person who 

 wishes to consult the Paper for information. In various 

 countries information is being sought on the subject ot 

 irrigation. It is not merely in Ceylon and in what I may, 

 call our tropical colonies that the subject possesses interest 

 but in Australia I have had many inquiries made to me 

 on the subject of irrigation from tanks, and I have been 

 asked repeatedly by Australians to give them information 

 upon the working of our system in Ceyk n, for in Aus- 

 tralia, as you are well aware what they suffer from is 

 drought at one time and floods at tbe other, and they 

 think that if some such \ systi m could he carried out in 

 parts of Australia as prevails in Ceylon the burplus water 

 5 



which now runs to waste might be stored and the country 

 be reatly benefitted. Permit me to mention one or two 

 facts in respect to the effects of irrigation. When I 

 went to Ceylon in 1S72 I visited the Eastern Province, 

 where irrigation works were begun by Sir Henry Ward 

 and carried on by Sir Hercules Robinson. Inthosedays 

 I did not knowmuch about the mysteries of tanks, spills, 

 anicuts, etc., but there were certain facts which struck 

 me. I saw standing on one height an expanse of 24,000 

 acres — waving green in paddy. The charred stumps of 

 trees and logs lying about showed that only a very short 

 time previously this tract had boen a jungle. Surround- 

 ing this vast expanse, converted from jungle into land 

 producing human food, I saw a large, well-fed, contented 

 population, with children bright and gay and round and 

 plump, and 1 came away with the impression that there 

 was great prosperity surrounding those irrigation works. 

 A few months afterwards I went up into the north and 

 middle portion of Ceylon— a vast district very little known 

 iu those days, and which no Governor ot Ceylon had 

 visited for a space of sixteen years. The contrast was very 

 remarkable. I saw a poor, downcast population— a people 

 who, apparently, had resigned all hope. It I may make 

 use of a strong expression, they were rotting away by 

 disease, and almost perishing by famine. They were 

 always in danger of dying by famine, and absolutely the 

 greater part of the country was being decimated by 

 I passed through a district a little north of this 

 large tract of country of which I am speaking. I saw 

 villages, or what were villages a few years before, for the 

 palm trees were there, and I asked what had become of 

 the people. " Oh, dead or run away." That was the 

 state of that country under English rule. It was a 

 couutry eminently fitted for irrigation. In the district to 

 which I allude the report of the Government Agent of 

 the province for 1P71 mentions that there were 1,600 

 village tanks belonging to 1,500 and odd villages, and that 

 not a single one of them had sluices, or was capable of 

 containing water to any extent. We have ample con- 

 firmation of the former fertility of tnat great tract of 

 country, for we have an account in 1678 by the English 

 prisoner Knox, of the central city of Anuradhapura being 

 surrounded by a vast and fertile plain, all teeming with 

 plenty. It was perfectly clear that something must be 

 done to remedy this state of things, and the first thing 

 I endeavoured to obtain was a reconstruction of the village 

 tanks. I have not time to enter into particulars, except 

 to say that through the agency of the village councils 

 themselves we were able to set the people to work at their 

 tanks, and that at this moment there are 1,200 out of the 

 1,500 tanks being repaired, a large number of which are 

 already so far completed that sluices are put into them. 

 So far from the people being subject to want and periodi- 

 cal famine, the price of rice has fallen from l'50c 

 and 250e per bushel to 50c ; and they have not only ample 

 food themselves, but are exporting large quantities of 

 their produce to the north of the island, and receiving 

 other commodities in return. (Hear, hear.) I never saw 

 Buch a revival in the whole course of my life. I have quite 

 recently been there, and I saw large tracts which were 

 almost impenetrable jungles now waving under rice. (Hear, 

 hear.) Not only that, but this terrible disease which has 

 been extirpating the population of the country has been 

 arrested completely. At one time ward after ward was 

 being constructed, in which to place those suffering from 

 disease, and now, according to the reports of the principal 

 medical officer and of the medical officers of the country, 

 there are hardly any inmates of those wards. As the 

 ablest and most sensible of the medical men said, "Medicine 

 can do very little good ; food can do a great deal ;" and 

 now they had ample food, good water, and good air. 

 (Applause.) I think the way in which we laboured to pull 

 up almost from the very depths of distress a large popul- 

 ation of well-conducted fellow -subjects— some 60,000 or 

 70,000 — and to place them on their legs, is" no small matter. 

 Even if it had cost a considerable sum oi money it. would 

 have been no small matter, but I most fi mly belive that 

 these proceedings in the way of irrigation will not only be 

 productive of an enormous amount of good to the people, 

 but will eventually amply repay the Government the 

 outlay they have incurred. In the paper just read, Mr. 

 Mo683 goes clown to 1879. A report has appeared within 

 the last few days from the present Government Agent of 



