366 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



return on this expenditure in that year was 21.3 per cent. The 

 population has increased from a few thousand nomads, possessing 

 only camels, goats, etc., to 792,000 agricultural colonists (1901 

 Census) inhabiting towns and villages, and, for India, in most 

 affluent circumstances. Early in the history of the scheme a railway 

 was seen to be an absolute necessity, but, unfortunately, some years 

 elapsed before funds were available for its construction. The colon- 

 isation scheme at first nearly failed, owing to the impossibility 

 without the railway of transporting the immense quantity of produce, 

 and of realising its value and thus paying the Government assess- 

 ment. By means of this and other large Punjab canals the export 

 trade of Karachi has increased enormously, and last year, for the 

 first time on record, the export of wheat from India to England 

 exceeded that from any other country. 



12. Inter-Colonial Irrigation Schemes. 



The two largest rivers of the most thickly populated part of 

 South Africa are the Vaal, forming the boundary between the 

 Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, and the Orange River, 

 which for a considerable length of its upper course divides the 

 Orange River Colony from Cape Colony. While nature has thus 

 made them lines of separation, man, by utilising them for irrigation, 

 can constitute them into bonds of union. By the construction of 

 masonry weirs and dams across these rivers, reservoirs common to 

 the neighbouring Colonies can be formed, and from them canals 

 can be led on each side for the irrigation of their respective territories. 

 The natural conditions being equal, a single canal supplied by a 

 storage reservoir is nearly li times as expensive per acre irrigated 

 as two canals led out from it on the two banks of the impounded 

 river. The financial advantage of co-operation is thus great, and 

 a further benefit of this nature is that the schemes will be constructed 

 from the revenues of two Colonies, instead of one, and will thus 

 involve a smaller demand on the resources of each. 



Sir William Willcocks, in the middle of page 41 of his " Report 

 on Irrigation in South Africa," suggests that the waters of the Vaal 

 should be reserved for the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, 

 while those of the Orange River would be available for Cape Colony. 

 How far the upper course of the Orange River can be utilised by the 

 two Colonies which it divides is not known to the author. The 

 development of inter-colonial irrigation from the Vaal has, however, 

 formed the subject of an extensive reconnaissance of the river, over 

 500 miles long, by engineers deputed to it from the Transvaal and 

 the Orange River Colony. Their investigations have proved that 

 four schemes serving both Colonies are practicable and desirable. A 

 further examination of the lower part of the Vaal by engineers of 

 the Transvaal and Cape Colony has shown that probably the best 

 scheme on the river is available there for irrigation in these two 

 Colonies, and, possibly, also in the Orange River Colony. The 



