224 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1885. 



per cent more, but his total expenaes were under Mr. 

 Elliott's. In Matara he had allowed 1 bushel for '2| 

 acres, which he believed «a^ sufBcient. As regards 

 the quantity of paddy sown in an acre of land, 2^ 

 bushels to the acre had been long recognized and 

 acted on as the proper equivalent in the Indian dis- 

 trict. Ludovici also speaks of the usual paddy sowing 

 basis as 2i acres to the amunam of 6 bushels. In 

 the IJatticaloa district the figure varied from 2 to 4 

 bushels, and he had taken 3 as a fair average. How- 

 ever, this difference but little affected the results. 

 Again, as regards iHilc/v?*, it was difficult to know what 

 rate to fix and what value to place on the land. The 

 lowest rate for money loans in Batticaloa was 1 63 per cent 

 and on loans of grain 50 per cent in kind. In view of this 

 Mr. Elliott had only gone into the actual expenditure 

 on the land in raising the crop, such as a &ui)er- 

 intendent would have to disburse, leaving what 

 might be called the " Colombo charges " to be 

 added according to the circumstances of each case. 

 Still accepting Mr. Rama Nathan's figure of 20 bushels 

 produce per acre and an outlay including interest 

 of Kit), he pointed out that paddy would only cost 

 80 cents a bushel, against 96 the Madras value and 

 Rl"50 the usual selling price of Indian paddy in 

 Ceylou. As regards water-rate Mr. Elliott had 

 allowed for this in the case of Matara, where it was 

 a charge (of Rl) in perpetuity. In Batticaloa it was 

 all paid otf in 10 years and would be properly 

 chargeable to the capital cost of the land. Against 

 the low rates of yield quoted by Mr. Rama Nathan, 

 Mr. Elliott gave some other instances of returns iu 

 excess of those on which he depended, which had 

 been committed to him, one of 60 fold at Vavuniya- 

 vilankulam. He also quoted one from the same report 

 as Mr. Rama Nathan had of a return of 150 amunams 

 or 1,125 bushels from 40 acres or 28 bushels the 

 acre from aland in Batticaloa. As regards the gentle- 

 man who had quoted Bluebook statistics — which were 

 admittedly untrustworthy in spite of spasmodic 

 attempts of individual officers to make them more 

 correct he reminded his hearers, that, out of 

 some 70,000 acres of paddy land in the Battica'oa 

 district, only 30,000 were affected by the expend- 

 iture on irrigation and some of this area was still imper- 

 fectly irrigated and require further subsidary works. 

 He (Mr. Elliott) had always advocated irriga'ion where 

 there was a nucleus of a population. In Batticaloa 

 where irrigation had been beaun it was about 70,0(.I0 

 and it was now over 109,000. He believed that there 

 was room to make other Batticaloa? and Mataras in 

 the island, especially iu that part stretching from the 

 Giant's Tank to Elephant; Pass, to which he believed 

 the surplus population of the Jaffna peninsula would 

 flock if the water-supply could be made secure. In 

 reply to Mr. Capper's query is to the development 

 of rice cult vatiou in Batticalon, Mr. Elliott gave the 

 following figures ;-— 



AreaAolually Land 

 Cultivated. Revenue, 

 Acres. R. 



1850 .., ,,, 22, 055 23.906 



1SC6 41,380 .S7,157 



1876 59,730 77.060 



1883 58,9l6 60,757 



'fhe general revenue had increased from £6,071 in 

 1848 lo oidy £7,315 in 1H57, ahont which tirre irrig- 

 tltion had been commenced in Bttica'o . It then 

 ivfut up to i;i0,787 in 1858, and £16,855 in 1861 (hut 

 this included £(1 872 from land sitles. ) In 1865 it was 

 ;£14,840, £21,000 in 1F67, .and £31,000 in 1SS3 (in- 

 cluding only ,fc;i,38'2 from land sales). The revenue 

 from tlie anack farm had risen from £680 in 1867 

 to £2 038 in 1867 and £3 402 in 1883. Stamps gave 

 £2,283 in 18S3 against ^£1,020 iu 185S. 



Before separating, Mr. Rama Nathan wished to cor- 

 rect Mr. Berwick in the thought that he was opposed 

 to paddy cultivation or arguing against it — nothing 

 could be further from his thoughts. 



Mr Berwick moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Elliott 

 for his timely and valuable paper, on one of the most 

 important subjects which could occupy their attention ; 

 and this was seconded by the Hon. K.A. Bosanquet, 

 who said he had regularly attended their mettings in 

 tlie hope of gaining information, but that this was 

 the first occasion he could remember on which he 

 really felt he had been instructed aud was going away 

 wiser than he came. (Laughter.) He hoped similar 

 discussions of practical value would frequently 

 occur. The vote was carried by acclamation. 



In replying to the vote of thanks, Mr. Elliott 

 expressed his belief in the permanency of paddy 

 cultivation. Rice had been grown on the same lands for 

 over 100 years and the crops did not seem to be 

 affected by those general adverse influences of nature 

 which had so severely tried other branches of agri- 

 culture in Ceylou. 

 The meeting separated about 11 p. m. 



REVIEW OF THE OUTLAY AND RESULTS 

 OF IRRIGATION IN CEYLON 1868-83. 



As with Sir Arthur Gordon's advent wo may bo said 

 to have made a new departure iu regard to Irrigation, it is 

 obriously desirable that the public should be in possession 

 of the results so far, of the system inaugurated by Sir 

 llercules Robinson in 1868, aud so energetically pressed 

 forwai-d by Sir WiUiam Gregory. 



A Sessional Paper X, of 1884, gives a good deal o( in- 

 formation on the subject, but as it was wrapped up in 

 some sixteen pages of undigested figures, without a single 

 column totaled, it was but of limited value to any but fho 

 iiiitiatod. An abstract of this paper in a convenient form 

 is given at the end of this notice, which renders it possible' 

 for the pubUo to judge how far the result.s tabulated justify 

 the expenditure of the past. 



From this abstract, it will be found that the total ex- 

 pendituro on Irrigation Works from ISUti to the end of 

 iS83 was (in round numbers) E2,600,000, or K46 per acre 

 over an irrigated area actual ti/ utult-r ciiltiration oi 56 tlUU 

 acres, of which exactly 20,000 acres have been pm-ehased 

 from the Crown since 1868 (besides about 1,000 more not 

 brought into cultivation) . 



Against this expenditure a sum of R 360,000 has been 

 recouped by the sale of Government lauds, while on ac- 

 count of water-rate a sum of K242,000 had beeu actually 

 recovered and K154,00U was outstanding on the 30th Juue 

 1883; but of this, K142,000 was due iu the Batticaloa 

 district, but outstandings on this account to the end of 

 1881 have been since got in. Practically therefore we 

 may treat water-rate as haring brought iu a sum of 

 E3y6,00O. In addition to this there is a further asset to 

 be taken into consideration, viz, an annual coutrihutioii of 

 R8,420, being the water-rate at Kl per acre ivhieh certain 

 proprietors (chieJiy iu the Iilatara district) have elected to 

 pay in perpetuity under the prorisions of the Ordinance. 

 This capitahzed at 5 per cent represents a further re-' 

 imbursenieut of ^saj) K173,0U0. 



Summarizing these results we arrive at the nctt outlnv 

 as follows : — ' ■* 



Total expenditure on irrigation 

 works fi'om 1868 to lt(83 ... ,,|{2 600 000 



By sale of land benefited E 300,000 

 „ water rate terminable 386,000 



„ „ „ iu perpetuity ] 

 (R8,420) capitahzed at 5 \ 170,000 920 000 



per cent ... J ^^_^_ ' 



Nott outlay ... Kl,(ir4,0i'0 



t)r m other words, bovermnent have beeu directlv repaid 

 over one-third of the expenditure on the works, and must 

 look tor any further immediate return to an increase in 

 the revenue ti-om the grain grown on Iho laaide affected 

 by the additional water-supply prorided. 



