FINANCIAL EESULTS OF CANALS 79 



as may be judged from the fact that the Nira Eight 

 Bank Canal, now under construction, is to cost be- 

 tween Rs.4 and Rs.5 crores. The interest paid on 

 capital outlay in the case of the larger irrigation works 

 already opened is shown in the above table. 



The above figures are taken from the last published 

 report of the Irrigation Department for 1918-19, and 

 it will be seen that, except in the case of two small 

 canals, viz. : the Ekruk Canal and the Gokak Canal, 

 the interest paid on capital outlay is very low. It is 

 only ten years since the Godavari Canals were opened, 

 and the returns from them will no doubt improve in 

 time, but the two large canals, the Mutha and the 

 Nira, have been in full working order for many years, 

 and the returns which they make show that, under 

 the present system, irrigation canals in the Deccan 

 cannot be expected to pay more than about 2 per 

 cent, interest on capital outlay, and not much more 

 than 1 per cent, on the sum at charge. It is clear, 

 therefore, that when money borrowed by Government 

 costs 6 or 7 per cent, the direct loss to Government is 

 serious. The value of the canals to the tracts which 

 they irrigate is great, and in indirect ways Govern- 

 ment gets from the canals some small financial return 

 not indicated in the figures shown above ; but looking 

 at the question from the purely financial point of 

 view these canals are a dismal failure, and, so long as 

 this is the case, it is certain that, for financial reasons, 

 the progress of constructing new canals must be slow, 

 even granting the existence of the best will to develop 



