TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 499 
drought that even then it might pay a Government to enter on a scheme of 
irrigation. But it is evident that it might not pay a joint-stock company. 
In all cases it is of the first importance to establish by law the principle that all 
rivers or streams above a certain size are national property, to be utilised for the 
good of the nation. Even where there is no immediate intention of constructing 
nrigation 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. 
Modes 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 
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 owning 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 ¢harged 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 
urigation 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 
cultivator. 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 
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