1HE IRRIGA I TON AGE. li 



indefinite or prolonged period, (unless the canal is maintained as a 

 protective work against famine in times of different rainfall in well 

 population districts). In all projects for canals designed expressly as 

 remunerative or reproductive works, careful forecasts are drawn out 

 showing the anticipated revenue and expenditure for twenty or more 

 years after completion. These show the growth of the irrigated area, 

 and revenue therefrom, year by year, the gradual paying off of the 

 accumulated interest on the capital cost by the net revenue, (total re- 

 ceipts minus all working expenses) until, after a certain number of . 

 years which may be ten, fifteen or twenty, the annual net revenue 

 forms a handsome interest on the capital cost. A less rate of interest 

 than 4 per cent would not be considered sufficient to render the work 

 remunerative; and on the canals of North India, a rate of 8 or 10 per 

 cent or even more, is realized frequently. Without a satisfactory 

 assurance that a canal would be, in this way, remunerative, the gov- 

 ernment would not be prepared to construct it. Ordinarily, when a 

 canal of this kind is constructed in any country, by private capitalists 

 or a company as a remunerative undertaking, the owners would ex- 

 pect a much quicker return of profits on their expenditure, and there- 

 fore would be less likely to undertake a single large canal carrying as 

 much as 8,000 cubic feet per second, (as the largest canals in North 

 India do) and which could not be expected to be remunerative for sev- 

 eral years after commencement. The state ownership of rivers and 

 canals has this advantage, that the government can afford to wait sev- 

 eral years, and can spend money more freely on so constructing a 

 work as to be permanent, without renewals being acquired. Efficiency 

 and permanent success are better ensued in the case of large and 

 costly undertakings by the government carrying out their design and 

 construction by a competent staff of trained and reliable engineer. In 

 the early days of a country such a staff is not usually available, and 

 in order to have its first railways constructed, the government of 

 India was obliged to have recourse to the system of inviting their con- 

 struction by guaranteeing a regular rate of interest on the capital ex- 

 penditure from their very commencement. But for many years past, 

 with an efficient staff of engineers in its own railway branch of the 

 Public Works Department, government has been able to do its own 

 construction work, and keep all profits for itself. In the development 

 of irrigation no such urgency was called for, and irrigation works 

 have been uniformly carried out by government agency, the depart- 

 ment being increased as more engineers were required. 



All these perennial canals are designed to flow continuously 

 throughout the year. The works on them are constructed, once for 

 all, solidly of concrete, iron, brick and stone, with a view to perma- 

 nently withstanding the heaviest strain ever likely to be brought on 



