32 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1834, 



open the country from the tank to the sea at Kirinda, 

 and make the Magampattu the richest agricultural 



centre of the province I believe that much of 



the unhealthiness of the locality will disappear as the 

 country is opened up and a regular supply of good water 

 and food is obtained." 



The Government Agent, Southern Province, in a 

 letter addressed to the Ceylon Government, dated 

 March 12th, 1880, alludes to Tissamaharama in 

 in the following words : — " I have much pleasure 

 in being able to report that the restoration 

 of this work promises to prove a great success, and 

 fully to justify the expenditure upon it. Nothing 

 could be more gratifying than the sight of the splendid 

 crops on the 200 acres under cultivation at the time 

 of my visit. This extent will be increased to 500 

 acres in about a couple of years. 



" All the land for which there is sufficient water 

 will now undoubtedly sell by degrees, and be brought 

 into cultivation without any attempt at forcing, by 

 forming what have been called 'colonies' or pauper 

 settlements, and without the offer of any more liberal 

 terms than are now accorded under Sir Henry Ward's 

 minute. 



" The reclamation of the whole land will no doubt 

 be a work of time, but it will, wheu accomplished, be 

 a work of the highest benefit, and will materially im- 

 prove the climate. Already the cleared laud is found 

 to be comparatively free from tho fever for which the 

 place is known." 



The Assistant Government Agent of the Matara dis- 

 trict, Southern Province, gives the following return 

 of irrigation works in that district for the years 187S 

 and 1879 :— 



1878. 1879. 



Acreage irrigated ... ... 6,859 6,S59 



Capital expended ... E 3S6.236 3S6.23G 



Cost per acre ... ... ... 56'31 56'31 



Increased revenue on tithe and 

 water-rate representing inter- 

 est on expended capital 19,879 18,958 

 Hate per cent on capital ... ... 5'12 490 



The Assistant Government Agent adds ; — " It has 

 only been during 1878 and 1879 that the works have 

 been in full play, and their effect was even then much 

 neutralized by unseasonable floods ; but, with every 

 disadvantage, it will be seen that the return on the 

 expended capital for the two years was 5 per cent, 

 and I feel confident that in the future this will be 

 exceeded." 



As regards the general advantages of irrigation woiks 

 and as a menus of water supply in the dry districts 

 of Ceylon, irrespective of their benefit to paddy cultiv- 

 ation, the Government Agent of the Northern Province 

 thus writes in bis Administration report for 1S80 : — 



" Irrigation works, as they are termed, seemed to 

 me to be too much considered merely in their 

 connection with paddy cultivation and the • effect 

 they would have in increasing the cultivation 

 of paddy. As regards, however, such comparat- 

 ively rainless districts as those comprising the Northern 

 Province, a broader view should, in my opinion, be 

 taken ot them, and the general good which might 

 result from the carrying out of woiks, which might 

 reasonably be expected to have the effect of increasing 

 the water supply of such districts, should be cousidired. 

 The storage of water in tanks during the rainy seasons 

 in Buch districts, as a reserve to fall back on during 

 the dry seasons, instead of allowing it to run to 

 waste as it now does, in consequence of many of the 

 tanks being breached, must have a beneficial effect on 

 the country, irrespective of any good that may result 

 in an increase of paddy cultivation. 



"The soil of the Vauui pattus is in many parts 

 rich and fertile, AH that is wanted is water, and 



that, in ordinary seasons, only a few months of the 

 year during the dry season. Anything, therefore, that 

 would give the people supplies of water within re- 

 asonable distance of their villages, sufficient forortln- 

 ary domestic purposes and for merely keeping aiive 

 fruit trees, plants, and vegetables during the dry 

 seasons, or which would enable them to tide over a 

 season of drought, would be a great boon to them." 



These reports, made not by any member of the Public 

 Works Department, but by the Chief Revenue officers 

 in each province, clearly show that the irrigation 

 works in Ceylon have proved successful, and it is but 

 reasonable to expect, when longer in operation aud 

 when futher developed, that the benefits of irrigation 

 will be much more apparent. 



The figures given in this paper are taken from the 

 official reports forwarded to Government ; the cost of 

 the works is eloubtless correct, and allowing for any 

 probable inaccuracy in the estimated acreage capable of 

 irrigation, the average cost per acre irrigated would 

 not be much increased. 



With but two exceptions, the highest cost per acre 

 — R5trl7 — is in the Southern Province, where, since 

 the works were in "full play," they have paid an 

 interest of five per cent., and since it has been shown 

 that a capital of K50 per acre can be profitably ex- 

 pended on irrigation, it follows that in a few years the 

 Government will reap a very large direct return from 

 the capital speut. 



As this capital averages only R23 - 64 per acre it is 

 evident that a return of even R2 per acre per annum 

 would pay 74 per cent, on this sum after deducting 

 1 per cent, for the cost of maintenance and of casual 

 improvements. 



The direct return is, however, only a small portion 

 of the benefits resulting from irrigation ; whatever 

 may be the cost of these works the following are the 

 results : 



(«) That without irrigation a dry year i n many 

 parts of Ceylon means almost famine, (hh) 



(b) That a crop which formerly was doubtful is 

 rendered certain. 



(c) That the yield is always doubled, and frequently 

 trebled. 



(d) That comparative plenty succeeds want. 



(e) That the health of the cultivators is greatly im- 

 proved. 



(/) That the population, as shown by the census of 

 1881, has during the last decade increased in the ir- 

 rigated districts of the Colony in a much larger pro- 

 portion than in the !m-irrigated districts of the same 

 province, (it) 



(g) That, in fine, the general condition of the people 

 is vastly ameliorated, and that the prosperity of the 

 Colony is increased in proportion. 



The object of this paper is to show that these advant- 

 ages can be secured at a moderate cost, and I hope 

 that the success which has attended the irrigation 

 works in Ceylon may promote similar works iu other 

 Colonic?. 



The works alluded to were principally designed by 

 Major Woodward, B.E., who for nine years held the 

 post i f Irrigation Assistant in the Public Works 

 Department of Ceylon, and they were executed by 

 the various officers of the department in whose districts 

 they were situated, but especially by Mr. J. F. 

 Churchill, Mr. Robert MacBnde, and Mr. James 

 Arneil, Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 

 I have not attempt »d to describe the construction of 

 these works in detail as such particulars would be too 

 technical for an unprofessional audience. 



Iih Administration Report for North Central Province 

 for 1878, p. 107. 

 ii " Ceylon Government Gazette," July22nd, 1881, p. 126 



