THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



147 



grade, was weak and small; with their help he antici- 

 pated progress very slowly, and therefore set to move 

 the government to import a large number of well- 

 qualified men from outside Hyderabad. Here he did 

 not succeed, for, according to a recent government reso- 

 lution, no outsider is allowed to be employed (except 

 in extreme cases) in the service of his highness the 

 Nizam. An engineering school, which was not founded 

 on the best basis, did exist in Hyderabad, which im- 

 parted instruction to the natives to qualify them as 

 supervisors and surveyors. This he strengthened and 

 improved to suit his requirements and made it a feeder 

 for drafting young, healthy and properly trained men 

 into the irrigation department. When he assumed 

 office few works Vere in progress and less estimates 

 -were ready to start new ones. What, then, was needed 

 was a large survey party to investigate and speedily 

 prepare estimates for the restoration of old, ruined 

 tanks. Being an excellent administrative officer, he 

 so distributed the existing staff and quickly disci- 

 plined the members, that in a year's time he had suffi- 

 cient estimates to make a good start, and this start 

 was made in earnest. 



All public works department works are here car- 

 ried out by contract agency, the contractor monthly 

 receiving payments in cash for the amount of work 

 turned out by him. A little before Mr. Allen took 

 charge a system of payment called "the new scheme"' 

 was introduced, by which a contractor agreed to earn- 

 out an irrigation work as provided in the sanctioned 

 plan and estimate at his own cost. His entire outlay, 

 together with interest at 5 per cent per annum on it, 

 being reimbursed to him from the accruing revenue 

 -under the tank or system, restored or repaired by him. 

 Though a great number of works were let out under 

 the system, the progress was very slow, as the con- 

 tractor naturally executed only such immediate repairs 

 as would make the work paying and proceeded with 

 the other repairs at a rate proportionate to the portion 

 of his reimbursed outlay. Thus a work which would 

 have, in the ordinary course of things, been completed 

 in a year was allowed to drag on for three and four. 

 The scheme was abolished in the commencement of 

 the current year and all works are now carried on by 

 cash monthly payments only. Mr. Allen soon per- 

 sonally acquainted himself with the whole of Telin- 

 gana division by long and extensive tours throughout 

 the irrigation districts. The number of useful irriga- 

 tion projects investigated in his time is great and those 

 under construction are many. 



If for the sake of convenience the thirty-six years 

 of the existence of Hyderabad public works depart- 

 ment be divided into three periods and a comparison 

 be made of the average annual expenditure on irri- 

 gation works, the following table indicates how Mr. 

 Allen had labored within the term of his office to raise 

 the irrigation, status of these dominions and how 

 admirablv well he succeeded : 



The proportion of expenditure on establishment 

 before Mr. Allen took charge was as great as 42.4 per 

 cent. In 1902 he reduced these charges to 21.1 per cent. 



The average amount of estimates per annum pre- 

 pared by the department during the third period was 

 29,931,861 rupees. 



Mr. Allen, for the convenience of working the irri- 

 gation projects, classified all works under four heads: 



Major works: Class 1 Restoring abandoned 

 works. Class 2 Restoring recently damaged works. 

 Class 3 Extending and improving existing works. 



Minor works: Class 4 (A major work irrigates 

 above and minor below 100 acres). 



Figures for the new increase- in revenue on ac- 

 count of irrigation assessment on lands brought under 

 cultivation by the operations of the department during 

 the third period are not available to a degree of ac- 

 curacy for each year. But for 1900 A. D. they are, 

 and give a return of 10.5 per cent from all classes of 

 works on the outlay. The whole of the third period 

 covered a cycle of bad years as regards the rains, and 

 consequently the returns are poorer than they would 

 have been in more favorable years. 



The area of new land that will be brought under 

 cultivation by the operations of the irrigation depart- 

 ment in the third period will be about 400,000 thou- 

 sand acres, as detailed below : 



1. By works already sanctioned and under 



construction 214,734.75 



2. By works under sanction 52,271.50 



3. By works under survey 132,993.75 



The minimum rate of assessment of wet lands pre- 

 vailing in the irrigation districts for an acre is fixed 

 at 8 rupees per acre for a crop, and with these low 

 figures the annual revenue that will accrue to gov- 

 ernment will be about 3,250,000 rupees from the above 

 acreage. 



Up to the arrival of Mr. Allen as chief engineer 

 the plans received and sanctioned by government were 

 for small works. The designs adopted for the masonry 

 works and the data for all hydraulic calculations dif- 

 fered in each district. No uniform method was fol- 

 lowed to attain the same result, a consequence of which 

 was that a lot of indifferent work was carried out. To 

 regulate this Mr. Allen, out of his irrigation experience 

 obtained in his eleven years service in the Madras presi- 

 dency, issued thirteen learned circulars among the dis- 

 trict engineers and bound them down in the prepara- 

 tion of their plans of works to a uniform method and 

 design. A great economy was thus effected on the 

 initial cost of the works without affecting their effi- 

 ciency and considerably reduced the subsequent cost of 

 maintenance of those works constructed accordingly. 



Several original works, mostly conception of Mr. 

 Allen, costing over half a million rupees, were inves- 

 tigated during the third period and others put in hand. 

 A description of these will form the subject of future 

 articles in this magazine. 



From what has preceded above it will be seen 

 what immense good is done to the country by the ad- 

 vent of Mr. Allen as chief engineer in these dominions. 

 Mr. Allen had always the interest of this country at 

 his heart and strived to do the greatest good he could 

 for it. He has now returned to the Madras service, 

 but Hvderabad and its people will long remember him. 

 The irrigation staff which was under him has been 

 thoroughly organized bv him. and each and every mem- 

 ber of it has. under his able administration of five 

 years, attained that professional excellence which will 

 surelv in future voars continue to benefit the state. 



