71 

 applied for and granted under provisions of the deeree of March 8, 



Where a ditch, canal, or drain Ijecoines a detriment to agriculture 

 in an}^ W'a3% it may ])e tilled in at the request of the owners of adjoin- 

 in o- property, providing another watercourse can l)e used in its place 

 without injuring- other lands. 



Article 14 illustrated the necessity of limiting- the size of ditches and 

 head gates to the dimensions necessary for serving the lands irrigated 

 therefrom. If water were measured in Egypt as it is in some of the 

 irrig-ated districts of the United States there w^ould l)e no necessity 

 for such restrictions. The time and money spent in changing the 

 dimensions of canals and masonry regulating works would go far 

 toward maintaining an adequate system of discharge measurements. 



The close relation between irrigation and drainage is evident through- 

 out the decree. Article 15 sets forth the procedure for locating a 

 drain when the party to be benetited and the party through whose land 

 the drain is to pass fail to come to an understanding. 



The provision of article 19 is interesting when compared with the 

 laws of some of the Western States. The article relates to the break- 

 ing of ditch banks, embankments, etc., and prescribes that if such an 

 oliense is committed complaint is made to the governor, who refers 

 the matter to the inspector or cliief engineer, who makes an examina- 

 tion of the ground, after having given at least fourteen days' notice of 

 the examination. It' the accused is found guilty he is recjuired to 

 restore the property or bear the expense of such work as may l)e 

 necessary to restore it. In some of our States the fact that the water 

 has been used is prima facia evidence that a ditch ]>ank has been cut 

 or a head gate has been tampered with. No notice is necessary and 

 the water commissioner has police authority and can arrest the oliender 



at once. 



Another example illustrates how slowly the huv is carried into effect 

 in Egypt. If in the judgment of the engineer a small gate needs 

 repairs, forty days' notice nuist l)e given the interested parties, that 

 they may remedy it. If the work is not accomplished in the time, 

 another period of forty days is allowed. If the parties still fail to 

 perform the work the government has it done at the expense of the 



owners. 



The decree does not define the rig-hts of irrigators, the unit of meas- 

 urement, or the ])asis upon which the Avater shall l)e divided among- 

 claimants, while other details of seeming less importance to us have 

 been fully set forth. 



The Egyptian government can compel the owner of land through 

 which a canal runs to remove trees w^hich are found to interfere with 

 the full fiow of water in the canal. It permits cultivation of a canal 



