470 



NA TURE 



[September 7, 1905 



the nation. Even where there is no immediate intention 

 of constructing irrigation works it is well to establish 

 this principle. Otherwise vested rights may be allowed 

 to spring up, which it may be necessary in after years to 

 buy out at a heavy cost. 



Uodes of Distributing and Assessing Water. 



Where the river is too inconsiderable to be proclaimed 

 as national property, and where there is no question of 

 spreading the water broadcast over the land, but of 

 bestowing it with minute accuracy over small areas to 

 rear valuable plants, such as fruit-trees, it may be very 

 well left to local societies or to syndicates of farmers to 

 manage their own affairs. Where irrigation is on a larger 

 scale, and its administration is a matter of national 

 importance, the control of the water requires the closest 

 consideration, especially if, as is usually the case, the 

 area which may be irrigated exceeds the volume of water 

 available to irrigate it, and where the water is delivered 

 to the fields by gravitation without the labour of raising it. 

 It must be decided on what principle the farmer's right 

 to the water is to be determined. Is he to obtain water 

 in proportion to the area of his land which is irrigable? 

 If part of the irrigable land is not yet cultivated, is some 

 of the supply to be reserved for such land? Is he to pay 

 in proportion to the area actually watered each crop, or 

 to the area which he might water if he chose? Where the 

 slope of the land is sufficient to allow the water to flow 

 freely out of a sluice into the field channel, it is not 

 difficult to measure the water discharged. Modules have 

 been invented for this purpose, and the owner of the 

 field may be required to pay for so many cubic feet of 

 water delivered. The Government or the association own- 

 ing the canal will then have nothing to do with the way 

 in which the water is employed, and self-interest will 

 force the farmer to exercise economy in flooding his land. 

 But even then precautions must be taken to prevent him 

 from keeping his sluice open when it should be shut. 



In Italy and in America water is generally charged by 

 the module ; but in many cases, where the country is very 

 flat, the water cannot fall with a free drop out of the 

 sluice, and, as far as I know, no satisfactory module 

 has yet been invented for delivering a constant discharge 

 through a sluice when the head of water in the channel 

 of supply is subject to variation. These are the conditions 

 prevailing in the plains of Northern India, where there is 

 a yearly area of canal irrigation of about six millions of 

 acres. The cultivator pays not in proportion to the 

 volume of water he uses, but on the area he waters every 

 crop, the rate being higher or lower according as the 

 nature of the crop demands more or less water. 



The procedure of charging for water is, then, as follows : 

 When the crop is nearly ripe the canal watchman, with 

 the village accountant and the farmers interested, go over 

 the fields with a Government official. The watchman 

 points out a field which he says has been watered. The 

 accountant, who has a map and field-book of the village, 

 states the number and the area of the field and its culti- 

 vator. These are recorded along with the nature of the 

 crop watered. If the cultivator denies that he has received 

 water, evidence is heard and the case is settled. A bill 

 is then made out for each cultivator, and the amount is 

 recovered with the taxes. 



This system is perfectly understood, and works fairly 

 well in practice. But it is not a satisfactory one. It 

 holds out no inducement to the cultivator to economise 

 water, and it leaves the door open to a great deal of 

 corruption among the canal watchmen and the subordinate 

 revenue officials. 



Government Control of Water Supply. 



Where the subject agricultural population is unfitted for 

 representative government it is best that the Government 

 should construct and manage the irrigation, on rules care- 

 fully considered and rigorously enforced, through the 

 agency of officers absolutely above suspicion of corruption 

 or unfair dealing. Such is the condition in Egypt and in 

 the British possessions in India. Objections to it are 

 evident enough. Officials are apt to be formal and in- 



NO. 187 1, VOL. 72] 



elastic, and thev are often far removed from any close 

 touch with the cultivating classes. But they are impartial 

 and just, and I know of no other system that has not 

 still greater defects. 



Even if the agricultural classes in India were much 

 better educated than they are, it would still be best that 

 the control of the irrigation should rest with the Govern- 

 ment. By common consent it is the Government alone 

 that rules the army. Now the irrigation works form a 

 great army, of which the first duty is to fight the grim 

 demon of famine. Their control ought, therefore, to rest 

 with the Government ; but the conditions are very different 

 when the agricultural classes are well educated and well 

 fitted to manage their own affairs. 



Irrigation is too new and experimental in America for 

 us to look there for a well-devised scheme of water control. 

 The laws and rules on the subject vary in different States, 

 and are often contradictory. It is better to look at the 

 system evolved after long years in North Italy. 



The Italian System. 



I have already alluded to the great Cavour Canal in 

 Piedmont. This fine work was constructed by a syndicate 

 of English and French capitalists, to whom the Govern- 

 ment gave a concession in 1862. Circumstances to which 

 I need not allude ruined this company, and the Govern- 

 ment, who already had acquired possession of many other 

 irrigation works in Piedmont, took over the whole Cavour 

 Canal in 1874, a property valued at above four millions 

 sterling, and ever since the Government has adminis- 

 tered it. 



The chief interest of this administration centres on the 

 Irrigation Association West of the Sesia,' an association 

 that owes its existence to the great Count Cavour. It 

 takes over from the Government the control of all the 

 irrigation effected by the Cavour and other minor canals 

 within a great triangle lying between the left bank of 

 the Po and the right bank of the Sesia. The association 

 purchases from the Government from 1250 to 1300 cubic 

 feet per second. In addition to this it has the control 

 of all the water belonging to private canals and private 

 rights, which it purchases at a fixed rate. ."Mtogether it 

 distributes about 2275 cubic feet per second, and irrigates 

 therewith about 141,000 acres, of which rice is the most 

 important crop. The association has 14,000 members, 

 and controls 9600 miles of distributary channels. In each 

 parish is a council, or, as it is called, a consorzio, com- 

 posed of all landowners who take water. Each consorzio 

 elects one or two deputies, who form a sort of water- 

 parliament. The deputies are elected for three years, 

 and receive no salary. The assembly of deputies elects 

 three committees — the direction-general, the committee of 

 surveillance, and the council of arbitration. The first of 

 these committees has to direct the whole distribution of 

 the waters, to see to the conduct of the employes, &c. 

 The committee of surveillance has to see that the direc- 

 tion-general does its duty. The council of arbitration, 

 which consists of three members, has most important 

 duties. To it may be referred every question connected 

 with water-rates, all disputes between members of the 

 association or between the association and . its servants, 

 all cases of breaches of rule or of discipline. It may 

 punish by fines any member of the association found at 

 fault, and the sentences it imposes are recognised as 

 obligatory, and the offender's property may be sold up 

 to carry them into effect. .An appeal may be made within 

 fifteen days from the decisions of this council of arbitra- 

 tion to the ordinary law courts, but so popular is the 

 council that, as a matter of fact, such appeals are never 

 made. 



To effect the distribution of the water the area irrigated 

 is divided into districts, in each of which there is an 

 overseer in charge and a staff of guards to see to the 

 opening and closing of the modules which deliver the 

 water into the minor watercourses. In the November of 

 each year each . parish sends in to the direction-general 

 an indent of the number of acres of each description of 



1 See Mr. Elwood Meads " Report on Irrigalion in Northern It.ily," 

 r rimed for the Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1904. 



