JVLY I, 1834.1 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



3i 



hitherto dono in this* direction, we should wish to see 

 the revenues increased and not diminished." 



Finally, the Commissioners thus express their 

 views as to I be importance of extending reproductive 

 works : — 



"The great object for the Government to accomplish 

 is to make the country produce enough grain for its 

 native and immigrant population, and to accomplish 

 this it is desirable to continue on a larger scale than 

 hitherto the restoration and improvement of irrigation 

 works throughout the country. 



"It is more to the interest both of the native popul- 

 ation and of the European planter to extend the 

 irrigation and to improve the means of communication 

 between the coast aud the interior, and throughout the 

 interior of the island, than to reduce taxation." 



It is interesting to record that from 1865 to the end 

 of 1871, when the revenue of the Colony did not exceed 

 R11,000,000 per annum, the sum voted for the public 

 works of the island amounted to R24, 992,010, (ee) or an 

 average for the seven years of R3, 570,287 per annum, 

 and that during the next six years up to the end of 

 1S77, with an income never exceeding R14, 676,000 

 per annum, the votes for public works amounted 

 to R22,340,09G, (fj) or an average of R3, 723,349 per 

 annum. 



The largest expenditure of the Public WorkB Depart- 

 ment was in 1878, when it amounted to R5,553,638, (gg) 

 and for the five years from 1875 to 1879 inclusive, it 

 averaged R4,8S4,263 per annum. 



It was during the administration of the late Sir 

 Henry Ward, from 1855 to 1860, that a liberal ex- 

 penditure on reproductive works was first sanctioned, 

 a policy which has "resulted in the expansion of 

 agriculture and trade, and in the improvement of the 

 public revenue." 



This wise policy is still followed, and for the last 

 twenty-five years the greater portion if not the whole 

 surplus of the revenue over the fixed expenditure of 

 Ceylon has been devoted to reproductive works, viz., 

 new roads and bridges, new buildings, irrigation works, 

 and the repairs of these several works. 



This expenditure is altogether distinct from that on 

 the Railway extensions, Colombo Harbour and Colombo 

 Water Works, the cost of which are defrayed from 

 loans raised on debentures. 



In the Administration Report of the Public Works 

 Department for 18S0 the Director, Mr. Churchill, 

 writes : "As remarked in previous annual reports, the 

 expenditure on irrigation is proving most remunerative 

 and beneficial. In the Eastern Province, by the 

 ereotion of the anicuts and supply channels, perfect 

 control is obtained over the rivers, the surplus waters 

 of which are stored during the floods and distributed, 

 during the cultivating season, over the vast tracts of 

 land now brought into cultivation, and admitting of 

 even a second crop being grown during the dry season 

 by the aid of the flood water stored in the tanks. 



" The same good result is also to be seen in all 

 the other provinces where irrigation works have been 

 carried out. 



" A survey and examination is being made cf the 

 ancient irrigation works in the Mannar districts of the 

 Northern Province, which centuries ago was one of the 

 great rice-producing districts of Ceylon. So far as they 

 have gone, these surveys tend to show that these 

 ancient woiks can be restored, and the now waste lands 

 be made as productive and remunerative as of old. 



The cost of the maintenance of the irrigation works 



tc Address of Governor Sir Hercules Robinson, on closing 

 the Legislative Council of Ceylon on December -tub, 1^71. 



//Address of Governor Sir William Gregory, on closing 

 the Legislative Council of Ceylon on May 7th, 1877. 



yy Administration Report of the Public Works Depaitmcnt, 

 Ceylvn, for 1878. 



for the years 1878, 1879 aud 18S0, averaged R33, 147 

 per aunum, or about I percent of their total cost. 



General Results.— The irrigation works referred to 

 having been so recently completed, there has not yet 

 been time sufficient to show their full results ; they 

 have also been constructed too much individually, 

 or as separate works, instead of being, as in many 

 cases practicable, grouped together and carried out as 

 one system. 



In the Revenue Administration Reports for 1879, 

 the Government Agents writes as follows : — 



"Eastern Province. — Irrigation. — Under this head 

 I have to notice that the southern pattus of Batticaloa 

 district have further cause to be thankful to Govern- 

 ment, in that their wants have not been lost sight 

 of, notwithstanding the unforeseen additional ex- 

 penditure called out by the destructive work of the 

 flood of 1878, and in the face of a declining revenue, as 

 1 said before. The irrigation scheme is bring steadily 

 proceeded with year by year. Last year witnessed the 

 construction and improvement of anicuts, sluices, &c, 

 benefitting thousands of acres, such as those at Kaliyodai, 

 Aladiyodai, and Suriyadi, &c, while of the works for 

 this year, already in progress at the time of writing, 

 two large ones, the Pattamputti autcut and the storage 

 channel for Irakkainam tank, will be available before 

 the year closes." 



Similarly the Government Agent North-Western 

 Province reports ; — 



" There can be no question of the usefulness of the 

 restoration of the village tanks. By providing sluices, 

 which the Government supplies free of charge, the 

 injurious practice of cutting the bund is rendered 

 unnecessary, and by the raising aud repair of the bunds 

 (which the villagers undertake) the tanks are made 

 to bold more water, and the cultivation of the fields 

 under them becomes less precarious. It would also be 

 undoubtedly useful to the people, and profitable to 

 the Government, to undertake the restoration of large 

 tanks, which, though now breached, would if repaired 

 give an assured supply of water to fields already 

 under cultivation. There are several such tanks in 

 the province, but the best of them is Pandawewa, 

 which is situated in a part of the Dewamedi Hatpattu, 

 where three out of five crops fail for want of water. 

 The tank is said to have been built be Panduwasa, 

 the second King of Ceylon. There are the ruins of an 

 ancient city close to the end of the buud. The tank 

 was last breached about eighty years ago. It is fed 

 by the Kalamuuu-oya, a stream which drains a large 

 extent of country, and would constantly replenish 

 the stock of water. The area of the tank, when re- 

 stored, will be nearly 1,400 acres, and it will irrigate 



about 2,500 acres I only hope that the cost 



will not be prohibitive, and that the work of restor- 

 ation will be one of the works to be undertaken 

 under the irrigation vote of next year. That it will 

 be of incalculable benefit to the people I am the roughly 

 convinced?" 



lu the Administration Report for 18S0, the Assist- 

 ant Government Agent ot the Southern Province 

 writes : — 



"The Tissamaharama irrigation scheme promises 

 exceedingly well, and I believe will amply repay all 

 the money that has been spent upon it. The 

 expenditure up to date has been approximately 

 R142.000, and it requires a further outlay of about 

 R60,000 to make provision for meeting the large de- 



mai.il there will soon be for water 1,940 acres 



under the tank have been already sold, lealiziug a 

 sum ot i;25,S70, and I have received applications for 

 about another 1,000 acres, but the sale of laud has 

 been stopped till better arrangements for the supply 

 of water can be made. In anticipation, however, of 

 the completion 01 the work, lam having 4,0t0 acres 

 of. land cut up tor sale, which, when cultivated, will 



