120 



[August, 1912. 



climatic conditions which during the re- 

 cent years have not been favourable, as 

 recorded by Mr. Freeman in his report 

 of 1908 S.P. VI. viz:— "In 1912 everything 

 was swept away by flood and thereafter 

 there were seasons of drought ; in March 

 1907 the cyclone damaged a promising 

 crop and the N. E. monsoon was a failure 

 with the consequence that there is less 

 than a half munmari crop " (for 1908). 



Notwithstanding these unfavourable 

 influences, I find that the crops from 

 1898 to 1907 averaged over l'l million 

 bushel of paddy and were only once very 

 short (470,000 bus. in 1906,) but even then 

 no less than 69,000 acres had been sown 

 owing to seasonable rain in November 

 1905, but the long continued drought 

 which followed adversely affected the 

 crop. 



THE IMMENSE DEVELOPMENT 



of the district during the past 50 years, 

 and especially the very great extension 

 of paddy cultivation refute both the 

 pessimistic views expressed by Mr. 

 Freeman in this report and his reflec- 

 tions on the "habits of the people," 

 especially the Moors who form such a 

 large proportion of the population, who 

 have in spite of unfavourable seasons, 

 so to say, returned to the charge and 

 persisted in cultivating considerable 

 areas though frequently receiving in- 

 commensurate recompense for their 

 labours. 



It is interesting to note that the best 

 crops in Batticaloa are now not secured 

 in the years when the rainfall is 

 heaviest, but when it is moderate. 

 Additional storage is, therefore, the re- 

 medy required to meet this great exten- 

 sion of cultivation and the two 



LARGE TANKS AT UNICHE AND 

 KONDAVETLAVAN 



(completed since 1906) have doubtless 

 proved as successful as the older works. 

 But they by no means are all that is 

 wanted to keep pace with further de- 

 velopment of the industry, or justified 

 by the financial success which has 

 attended the outlay in the past, which I 

 will now proceed to discuss, 



On Irrigation the total expenditure to 

 end of 1906 (exclusive of the two incom- 

 pleted works above mentioned) was 

 Rs. 1,255,149 on construction and Rs. 

 439,328 on maintenance, making a total 

 of Rs. 1,649,477. 



On the other side of the account there 

 has been actually realised, by rates Rs. 

 53,8^9, by repayments (of original cost) 

 Rs. 234,^35 and by sale of land benefitted 

 Rs. 621,034, making a total of Rs. 909,868. 

 But this does not represent all the return 

 to Government ; and to it must be add- 

 ed the additional revenue for its share 

 of the increased crops up to 1892. Allow- 

 ing 25 % (for subsequent rise in the price 

 of paddy) on the average given revenue 

 (Rs. 24,000) of the pre-irrigation period 

 (1856-9) I find that over and above this, 

 the increase between 1860 and 1892 

 amounts to Rs. 895,000 in round numbers. 



This added to the recoupments above 

 specified, makes a total return of say 

 Rs. 1*805,000 against a total expenditure 

 (including maintenance) of Rs. 1'695,000. 



In other words the Batticaloa works 

 had up to 1906 rather more than entirely 

 repaid all expenditure in regard thereto- 

 so that Sir John Keane was quite wrong 

 when he wrote the "only blemish in 

 the record of progress in the Eastern 

 Province is a disregard of financial con- 

 siderations which has occasioned an 

 annual charge upon revenue for the 

 maintenance of an industry capable of 

 its self-support." 



In Trincomalie 

 the average area cultivated in the 1862-6 

 period was 5,000 acres producing a crop 

 of 50,000 bushels. In 1869, the restora- 

 tion of Allai and Kanthalai tanks was 

 begun and there has been steady 

 but slow advance ever since, reaching 

 an average of 10,000 acres producing a 

 crop of 330,000 bushels during the 10 

 years ending in 1908. 



The area included in the G. C. registers 

 in 1880 was 7814 acres and it is reported 

 by the Asst. Agent (S. P. VI of 1908) to 

 have increased to 11,428 in 1907 composed 

 as follows : Irrigated by large works 

 6,870; by 43 restored village tanks 1,555 



