July i, 1884.] 



(THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



29 



icuiar tank with which he is connected is completed ; 

 on the other hand, the Government provide and con- 

 struct, free of cost to the village, the ironwork and 

 mneonry required for the sluice and waste weir. No 

 water-rate is charged on lands irrigated under this 

 system. 



The repairs of these village tanks were commenced 

 in 1874, and the following is the result of the work 

 dene to them up to end of 1S81 : — 

 Number of tanks provided with sluices ... ... 199 



Number of sluices constructed 206 



N umber of permanent " spills " or waste weirs 



constructed ... ... ... 53 



Total cost of sluices and " spills " R259,785 



Average cost of sluices and " spills " per tank „ l,3t)5 



The number of tanks on which the villagers worked, 



chiefly in forming and strengthening the dams in 1881, 



was 912. 



The quantity of earthwork thus executed from 1874 

 to 1881 inclusive was cube yardB 2,,574,474, and its 

 value, at 30 cents per cube yard, amounted to 

 E772.342. (.-) 



Alluding to the village tanks restored in the North- 

 Central Province, the Government Agent thus writes 

 in his Administration Report for 1878 : " As shown 

 in the earlier part of this report, the Government has 

 provided 117tnnks with the necessary masonry works 

 in sluices and spill waters at a cost of 136,988 rupees, 

 or at an average cost for each tank of 1,170 rupees. 

 The people, by whom tho restoration of the embank- 

 ments is undertaken, have worked on 856 tanks, and 

 the value of the earthwork done by them is com- 

 puted at 387,410 rupees. The earthwork necessary for 

 the complete repair of each village tank is estim- 

 ated at 3,200 rupees, or about three times the 

 value of the masonry contributed by Government. As 

 the work done by the people is spread over not less 

 than seven years, no village tank, except under speci- 

 ally favourable conditions, has as yet been com- 

 pletely restored ; but the large additions made to the 

 embankments by the united labour of the landowners 

 have already borne good fruit ; it has not only stopped 

 the process of decay and ruin which threatened to 

 destroy the whole of the ancient irrigation works of 

 this great tank country, but it has given a great im- 

 pulse to cultivation ; has enabled the tanks to 

 withstand floods ; has doubled the price of land ; has 

 enabled the people to cultivate annually a far larger 

 portion of the existing fields than has been possible 

 within human memory, and gives immediate promise 

 of a large increase in the area of land brought under 

 cultivation. The restoration of the village tanks, 

 even though as yet incomplete, has secured to Nu- 

 wara Kalawiya in 187S the finest paddy harvest ever 

 known, under conditions which before the work of 

 restoration commenced resulted in total failure of 

 paddy cultivation. In the former weak state of the 

 bunds, a heavy flood breached almost every tank, and 

 left the people as entirely without water as if there 

 had been a total drought ; but in the great floods of 

 December, 1877, it was found that the tanks, with 

 only a very few exceptions had been so far improved 

 as to hold up a quantity of water larger than they 

 had ever contained before within living memory, 

 without being breached ; and the result was the 

 largest crop and the largest land revenue ever known ; 

 while in the adjoining districts of North Matale, under 

 similar conditions of life and cultivation, but without 

 any attempt having been made to restore the tanks, 

 all the tanks were breached and there was no cultiva- 

 tion. Though the extent of cultivated land has not 

 yet materially increased, greater security has been 

 given generally to cultivation by the improved state 



z Administration Report, North Central Province, by 

 G overument Agent, for 1881. 



of the tanks, and there is a marked increase in the 

 extent of the existing fields which is cultivated when- 

 ever there is sufficient rain to fill the tanks, and also 

 a marked increase in the paddy revenue as shown by 

 the following statement for the five years during which 

 the province has existed. 



" Paddy revenue for the five years 1874-1878, show- 

 ing also the extent sown and the produce : — 



1874. 1875. 1876. 1177. 1878 



Pelas. (aa) Pelas. Pelas. Pelas. Pelas 



Extent sown in Pela... 2,277 13,740 20,910 5,974 21,104 



Produce in Pela ...17,745 112,490 142,740 42,143 164,594 



R. R. R. R. R. 



Revenue in Rupees. ..11,963 23,583 31,959 18,065 44,732 



"From the time known as the British accession in 

 1815 down to 1874, a period of sixty years, the district 

 of Nuwara Kalawiya was entirely neglected, and the 

 tanks had fallen into such a ruinous state that they 

 barely sufficed to hold up enough water for half of the 

 existing fields. Gradually, as the work of restoratian 

 progresses, they hold more and more water, and the 

 extent of the original fields, which can be sown with 

 sfcurity, increases accordingly, with the satisfactory 

 results shown in the statement given above. As soon 

 as the restoration has gone so far as to provide more 

 water than is necessary for the existing fields, there will 

 be a general demand for additional land to be broughtjin- 

 to cultivation. The present gain is in the greater extent of 

 th^ex sting fields which canbe!cultivated,and the greater 

 securityattending the cultivation by the diminished risk of 

 loss of water, which was formerly of frequent occurrence, 

 owing to the ruined state of the bunds. The bad 

 harvest of 1874 and 1877 were the result of insuffici- 

 ent rainfall to fill the tanks. In like manner, the 

 distress of the present year is caused by the general 

 failure, not only of the paddy harvests, but of all the 

 winter crops, owing to the failure of the usual rains 

 in the last quarter of 1878 and January of this year. 

 When with sufficient water the tauks, even in their 

 partially restored state, enable the people to raise 

 such crops as those of 1S78, and bringing in so largely 

 increased a revenue as is shown by the foregoing state- 

 ment, the argument in favourof not leaving any tanks 

 dependent on rain supply whtn there exists the means 

 of filling them from rivers, is exceedingly strong ; and 

 it may be well here to repeat what is stated in the 

 Annual Report for 1876, that: — 'Though the import- 

 ance of repairing the tanks, so that they may store as 

 much as possible of the rain that falls, cannot, per- 

 haps, be over-rated, still it is not of less importance 

 to the progress and prosperity of this province to 

 endeavour to utilize the rivers which now run to 

 waste, and render the people independent, to a great 

 extent, of the local rainfall, which is uncertain, and 

 generally insufficient.' .... 



" Deficient rainfall means deficient crops, and it is to 

 be hoped that the Govtrnment will not longer delay 

 the restoration of the magnificent canals and river- 

 fed tanks of supply which will render cultivation no 

 longer precarious, but will bring to it the security 

 of an increasing supply of water, such as it possessed 

 under the rule of the Sinhalese Kings. It is on the 

 restoration of these large artificial lakes, and thei>- 

 connected network of canals, that ' the future pro- 

 sperity of this province mainly depends; and, until 

 they are restored, the Government cannot expect 

 to receive any large return for the large outlay incurred 

 on roads and other public works.'" 



Maintenance and Distribution of Water.— The 

 maintenance of the irrigation works pertains to the 

 Public Works Department and they are under the 

 immediate charge of the superintending officer of 

 the district in which they are situated. Under this 

 officer, an overseer, with some coolies, has charge 

 of each tank or irrigation work, for its maintenance 



aa pela is an area of about half an acre. 



