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33._THE IRRIGATION QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA 



BV \V. Wl-STHOFEN, M.I.C.E. 



The climatic conditions prevailing in South Africa — the un- 

 certainty and insufficiency as well as the inequality in distribution of 

 the annual rainfall, make it absolutely necessary that irrigation should 

 be resorted to if the countr\- is ever to be made a self-supporting one 

 so far as the production of foodstuffs is concerned. 



Thousands of square miles of the most fertile land are lying waste 

 — more particularly in the Cape Colony, owing to the want of this 

 most essential adjunct to agriculture and hu.sbandry in a semi-arid 

 climate. 



Irrigation ha.s been practised in South Africa from time imme- 

 morial no doubt, yet it may be said with much truth, that the manner 

 in which the aboriginal has led water on to his little patch differs Imt 

 little from that in which irrigation is practised at the present. 



Broadlv speaking, when it has pleased Providence to provide the 

 element, man has, in a leisurely way, seen fit to utilize it, and when it 

 has pleased Providence to withhold it man has tamely submitted to 

 do without it. 



Within the last 30 or 40 years some progress has certainly been 

 made, mainly by individuals who tried to benefit by the experience 

 gained in other countries and to- utilize the advantages which scientific 

 research and engineering skill has placed at their disposal. But these 

 efforts were spasmodic and never on a scale Avhich could result in 

 profit to the whole community rather than to the individual. 



It is the object of this paper to examine to some extent into the 

 causes which underlie the want of progress in a matter so deeply con- 

 cerning the ^yelfare of this countr}- and its inhabitants. 



First and foremost must be held the fact that all public work.s- 

 are to a great extent looked upon as counters in the political game. 

 However enlightened a Government may be and however anxious to 

 further a good cause, it is controlled by Parliament and it has not 

 the power to pa.ss measures whirh have not the approval of a majority 

 in the Legislature. 



No one who has followed the debates on Irrigation in the House 

 of Assemblv could fail to be struck w'ith the extremely narrow and — 

 if the term be permissible — parochial views which are held by the 

 majority of country Members and which find expression in their 

 speeches. It is evident that they are ignorant of what has been done 

 in other countries and cannot realise that only by co-operation and 

 by working unitedly for the benefit of the whole Colony can any 



