COCl 



of sucli magnitude as the famine of 1.877 apart, there is no reason 

 to doubt that by the combined effoi-ts of the G-overnment and the 

 people, the modest estimate put forward by Sir James Caird would be 

 realised, if not exceeded. The Grovernraent has already done so much, 

 both directly by the construction of irrigation works and indirectly 

 by the extension of communications, that the tendency of increased 

 pressure of population has been counteracted without imposing on the 

 people the necessity to resort to the cultivation of poorer lands to any 

 considerable extent — a fact which, the reviewer, most erroneously, in 

 my opinion, takes to be evidence of the deterioration of the economic 

 condition of the population. The railway and irrigation projects still 

 under execution — the Tank Eestoration Sclieme, the Periyar and the 

 Eushikuliya irrigation projects, and the East Coast Eailway will 

 immensely develop what are now backward districts and add to the 

 food production not merely of particular tracts but of the country as a 

 whole. The reviewer has very curious ideas about the effect of irriga- 

 tion works on tracts of country other than those in which they are 

 actually situated, as he remarks tautologically regarding the Kistna 

 and the Goddvari anicuts that they affect " strictly localised areas," 

 ignoring the fact that the Groddvari and Burma rice are being sold at 

 Negapatam in the centre of the Cauvery delta, while considerable quan- 

 tities of Tan j ore rice are exported to Madura and Tinnevelly districts. 

 We have also seen that the real value of food-grains, «.^'., the price 

 taking into- account the change in the purchasing power of money in 

 terms of which it is expressed, has so far fallen and not risen. On the 

 part of the ryots the improvements effected by them have consisted 

 chiefly in the extension of cidtivation by wells and,- to some extent, in 

 the cultivation of commercial crops and the adoption of improved 

 methods of cultivation as regards crops for which there is a fairly 

 constant demand in foreign markets, for instance Tinnevelly cotton. 

 As regards cultivation by wells, I have made inquiries in all directions, 

 and there is not the least doubt that it is extending rapidly in Coim- 

 batore, Salem, Madura, Tinnevelly^ Chingleput and Trichinopoly 

 districts. Mr. Nicholson, I believe, found that, in some villages in the 

 Tinnevelly district, wells had enormously increased during the last 

 decade. The increase in the Coimbatore district is well known. In one 

 of the zemindaries in the Madura district for which I have information, 

 themmiber of wells has doubled during the same period. 20,000 wells 

 have been dug within the last 2 years alone with the aid of loans 

 obtained from G-overnment to the extent of upwards of 30 lakhs of 

 rupees, and a very recent inspection of these wells by the Settlement 

 Commissioner showed that they are in good condition and calculated 

 to be of great benefit to the tracts where they have been excavated. 

 The increase of produce due to application of irrigation to land whe- 

 ther the water is obtained from channels, tanks, or wells, must have 

 increased the average rate of outturn per acre and it is absurd on the 

 part of the reviewer to contend that this is not quite as legitimate an 

 increase in the average outturn as the additional produce obtained by 

 the adoption of improved methods of tillage, and of rotation of crops, 

 and by the application of expensive manures. Though there has been 

 some improvement in the latter respects also, it is on too small a scale 

 to be striking. 



