34^ Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



applied art it should lead to such a rapid development as this world 

 has never seen before. Even in European countries, where vested 

 interests are strong, where vast amounts of money have been ex- 

 pended in manufactures which are now not up to date, and in pro- 

 cesses that are being rapidly superseded, there has been a consider- 

 able quickening of spirit in the last few years, and there is a general 

 wish lo set the house in order. How much more, then, should we 

 in South Africa with the opportunity afforded by the latest know- 

 ledge, with the open veld to build on, and living in a country w'ith 

 such enormous mineral resources of iron, coal, and copper, besides 

 its wealth of gold and diamonds, and the possibilities of agriculture, 

 dulv improved by irrigation, resolve that, as far as in us lies, South 

 Africa shall take her stand amongst the foremost nations of the 

 earth. The keynote of this century is intensity of labour; it can 

 scarcelv be said to be the motto of all in South Africa to-day, but 

 with increased competition there is no reason, climatic or otherwise, 

 why labour should not be as strenuous here as in America, and even 

 to-day many men work as hard here as in any country in the 

 world. One of the prominent questions of immediate: interest is 



IRRIGATION. 



Mr. Will cocks, in his able report on this subject for South 

 gation. Mr. Willcocks, in his able report on this subject for South 

 Africa, suggested that all rivers and torrents should be proclaimed 

 as public domain, the property of the Government representing the 

 people, as was done bv Victor Emmanuel in Italy ; whether this is 

 possible or not is not a matter for discussion here, but this is certain, 

 that some legislative measure dealing with irrigation is necessary 

 before much can be done in the way of large irrigation schemes, 

 except in rare and isolated cases where all the riparian owners are 

 of one mind. Without proper legislation we shall continue to see 

 millions of cubic feet of flood water roll away uselessly, and what 

 might lie a source of wealth to thousands of farmers wasted every 

 year. The great factor of course in successful irrigation work is 

 common-sense ; it is of no use making irrigation works at a cost that 

 makes each area irrigated so costly that it will not pay to work, nor 

 is it economically wise to irrigate more area than you can possibly 

 get cultivation for. The two great instances where successful irri- 

 gation works have been carried out on a large scale are in India and 

 Egypt; in both these countries the inhabitants have cultivated the 

 soil for many centuries. In India 23 million pounds sterling have 

 been expended by the British Government on vast irrigation works 

 providing water for the irrigation of upwards of 13 million acres, 

 that is, at a cost of about 35s. per acre. In Egypt the great works 

 which have just been completed have cost probably ^10 per acre or 

 more, but as this Ian 1 when irrigated is worth never less than ^2^30 

 per acre, and often considerably more, the work is economically well 

 justified. It is interesting to see how we are ruled bv sentiment even 



