WATER SUPPLY AND IRRIGATION. 175 
same proportion to one another in both countries, in which case 
our position is very little more unfavourable than is that of India, 
where irrigation has been carried out on a large and most successful 
From the foregoing it will be seen that there are two classes of 
country for us to deal with: that on the middle levels, where the 
rainfall is, taking an average of years, fairly abundant, where the 
evaporation is not very great, and where the slope of the country 
is sufficiently marked to convert a large proportion of the rainfall 
into running water, which, under normal conditions, is rapidly 
_ carried away by creeks and rivers. The other class is on the level 
lowlands, where there is a minimum of rainfall, a maximum of 
evaporation, and so little incline, that under ordinary conditions 
ie} 
much broader significance in India than it has in this country, 
Where they are little else than excavations, few of which contain 
such means as these the evil 
ght within the scope of a general scheme, ei 
ing unfavourable, or on account of 
wget? ‘an canals before the 
_ Yalueless land having to be traversed by of 
— Astrict to be irrigated 4 could be reached. In such cases the cost of 
