208 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [FT. IV 



roads clearly marked, so that purchasers of land may know that 

 they will abut upon a road, and that when their land is opened 

 up, the road will be cleared also. The terms upon which roads 

 will be made, and how far away from the nearest " made " road 

 land will be sold, are mere details for subsequent settlement. 

 The important thing is to make the reservations while the 

 country is virgin. 



Drainage in flat lands is another matter which must be 

 provided for by the Government, and at the same time that the 

 road reservations are marked out, the drains should be demar- 

 cated also. As far as practicable, the roads and drains should 

 be side by side, and arrangements should be made for the 

 future use of the drains as canals, with the necessary passing 

 places, and docks at the more important centres. As with the 

 roads, the drains need at first only be marked upon the map, 

 but when any land is sold, the necessary drain should be cut to 

 it through the drainage reservations. This should be done 

 by the Government, and a small drainage rate charged, if 

 necessary. 



By the carrying out of these two very important measures, 

 the land will thus be broken up into "sections" averaging 

 about a square mile each, divided by roads (made or demar- 

 cated), and in coastal or other very flat districts also by drains 

 (made or demarcated). The Land offices have now to deal 

 with their very important share in agricultural progress. In- 

 tending purchasers will know that whatever land they buy has 

 both drainage and transport frontages, and that the necessary 

 communications will be made by Government to the already 

 existing made roads and made drains, within a settled period. 



The most important work of the land offices, from the 

 point of view of agricultural progress, is the intermingling of 

 the different races, and of the different types of agricultural 

 enterprises. This is rendered very simple by the system of 

 "sections" already indicated. Each section, or at any rate 

 each larger sub-division of a section, should be reserved for one 

 race or caste, or for one type of agriculture. Reservations being 

 thus marked on the map, the roads and drains are then made 

 as required. In the sections reserved for peasant agriculture, 



