122 



[August, 1912. 



by the Legislative Council this was 

 cut down to Rs. 282,400 for the irriga- 

 tion of 15,000 acres, which was sanc- 

 tioned in 1894. The supply channel was 

 sufficiently completed by November 

 1906 to turn the water through the 

 breaches in the old bund to the fields 

 and the restoration of the tank was com- 

 pleted in 1904 at a cost of Rs. 609,648 

 and reported to be capable of irrigating 

 23,000 acres including 7100 of old land. 

 But to do this further provision had to 

 be made for the improved channels of 

 distribution, regarding the cost of which 

 there appears to have been difference of 

 opinion and pending their completion 

 the resulting benefits have been limited. 



In 1907 the acreage cultivated under 

 the tank was 8200, and as the rainfall 

 (46") was above the average ; the total 

 acreage under paddy in the district rose 

 to 11,000 and produced a crop of 150,000 

 bushels of paddy, t Notwithstanding the 

 large addition to the original cost found 

 necessary — as there is another 15,000 

 acres capable of cultivation — the pecu- 

 niary prospects of this scheme appear 

 to be most encouraging, and it should 

 eventually make a return of 5 % if not 

 6 % on the net cost of construction after 

 allowing for the recoupments from the 

 sale of the land. 



IRRIGATION IN THE NORTHERN 

 PROVINCE. 

 On irrigation in the Northern Pro- 

 vince, excluding the outlay on the Giant's 

 Tank and Karachchi schemes, the expen- 

 diture has been Rs. 442,534 on construc- 

 tion and Rs. 8y,934 on maintenance. This 

 includes Rs. 106,522 on sluicing the 427 

 village tanks repaired by the cultivator 

 and irrigating 12,443 acres, largely in the 

 Mullelawe district. The recoupments 

 have been up to end of 1906 (exclusive of 

 the Giant's Tank) Rs. 15,878 from sale of 

 lands and Rs. 16,469 by lates. 



It must be borne in mind that the 

 expenditure in this Province was under- 

 taken, as in the adjacent N. C. P., to 

 rescue a dwindling population from dis- 

 tress and disease, This is apparently 



still the case in the Mannar district 

 where the Asst. Agent reports "the 

 population is constantly decreasing ; the 

 total number of deaths exceeded the 

 births by 1669 in the last five years, 

 an appalling state of affairs," which it is 

 to be hoped the increased supply of food 

 and water provided by the restoration 

 of the Giant's Tank may largely remedy. 



Under the circumstances it is to be 

 hoped that the proposed channel from 

 the Tekam totheAkatbi Miruppu tank 

 on the Southern Bank, which was begun 

 in 1904, but stopped, may be taken up at 

 an early date as it will serve a large ex- 

 tent of land held by Moormen, who are 

 industrious and energetic, and will un- 

 doubtedly justify the necessary expendi- 

 ture in a very short time, 



THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCE. 



KURUNEGALA DISTRICT. 



Regarding the Kurunegala district, it 

 was reported in 1867 that the extent of 

 paddy land had decreased from 400,000 

 acres to one-fourth of this, but the 

 average area actually cultivated was 

 then only 52,000 acres, producing a crop 

 of 800,000 bushels of paddy. There was 

 only a slight increase in these figures 

 till 1878, when owing to the heavy rain- 

 fall (114") the extent cultivated doubled 

 and the crop was estimated at 1\ million 

 bushels of paddy, and it was even a little 

 above this in 1879 (when the rainfall was 

 157"). These figures show what the district 

 was capable of producing under favour- 

 able climatic conditions. Progress, how- 

 ever, continued, and cnly in four years 

 when the rainfall was very deficient were 

 the crops under 1 million bushels of paddy, 

 and since 1903 they have been over 2 

 million bushels of paddy, a result ascribed 

 to the irrigation works executed in the 

 district, especially to the very extensive 

 repair by the cultivators of village tanks. 

 The number of these is stated by the 

 Director of Irrigation in his report 

 for 1907 to be 1,116, benefiting 85,392 

 acres ; but the value of the labour 

 contributed by the landowners is not 

 stated nor the amount of the Govern- 

 ment contribution, which, however, wag 



