August, 1912.] 



123 



not large as the sluices provided were of 

 the cement pipe description. 



On Irrigation, by the larger works, 

 the outlay on construction was Rs. 839,715 

 benefitting 7,271 acres (exclusive of the 

 area under village tanks stated above). 

 On maintenance (to end of 1906) a further 

 sum of Rs. 134,857 was expended and 

 against that there has been recouped 

 Rs. 82,287 by rates and Rs 12,745 by land 

 sales, Of the expenditure on construc- 

 tion Rs 628,532 was on the Deduru-oya 

 works, already irrigating 4,300 acres and 

 capable of serving a further 5,700 acres, 

 all lying in a part of the district which 

 has been sadly tried in the past. 



That the general condition of the long 

 neglected Seven Korales has been immen- 

 sely ameliorated by this expenditure and 

 policy, with which the name of Frank 

 Fisher must be associated, goes without 

 saying- Evidence of the coming pros- 

 perity is supplied by the fact seconded 

 by Mr. Saxton that the villagers round 

 Maho station sent away during 1907 by 

 rail, 412 tons of rice, (the equivalent of 

 over 30,000 bushels of rice,) the more 

 especially as this was done in a year 

 when the rainfall was abnormally low 

 (66"). 



In Puttalam and Chilaw districts, 

 it was estimated in 1866 that the sowing 

 extent of paddy land was 100,000 bushels, 

 equivalent to about 40,000 acres, but this 

 was inclusive of a very large extent of 

 old abandoned land lying in the Puttalam 

 division where the rainfall is very 

 limited (averaging only 38") and the 

 population small (28,000) chiefly resident 

 on the sea coast and interested in 

 coconuts. In Chilaw the rainfall is 

 somewhat better (55") and the population 

 much higher (75,000) ; also largely resi- 

 dent close to the sea coast where the 

 soil is more suitable for coconuts. 



There has, however, been progress 

 in paddy cultivation which has risen 

 from an average of 4,000 acres in 1882-4 

 to 12,000 in 1903-7, and production from 

 94,000 to 194,000, of which only one-third 

 was contributed by Puttalam i 



On Irrigation, a sum of Rs. 241,788 has 

 been expended on construction and aui> 



veys, and Rs, 178,683 on maintenance, of 

 which Rs. 138,321 has been recovered by 

 rates, repayment and land sales. Village 

 tanks in this district are, it is reported, 

 receiving attention, the restoration of 

 135 benefitting 7,873 acres in the Chilaw 

 and 122 watering 3,350 acres in Puttalam, 

 having been undertaken. 



SOUTHERN PROVINCE. 



In Galle district according to Schneider, 

 early in the last Century the area of 

 paddy land was 32,500 acres calculated to 

 yield 216,000 bushels. In 1866, the area 

 was reported to be 31,500, of which 28,000 

 wer e on an average cultivated and yield- 

 ed 269,000 bushels. In 1880 the Grain 

 Commissioners' enquiries fixed the extent 

 at 45,461 acres, and the average cultiv- 

 ation had risen to 43,000 acres, yielding 

 500,000 bushels. 



The average production for 1903-7 was 

 597,000 bushels, but a crop of 725,000 is 

 reported in 1908-9— years in which the 

 N. E. monsoon was good and the light- 

 ness of the S. W, was probably favour- 

 able to the extensive lowlying lands on 

 the banks of the Ginganga, which takes 

 its rise in the very wet zone. 



The Deviturb Dam. 



The rainfall in all parts of the district 

 being, as a rule ample, no storage of 

 water is required in the interests of 

 paddy and the expenditure classed as 

 irrigation has been on works for protec- 

 tion against flood and on facilities for 

 drainage. One of these executed in Sir 

 H. Ward's regime at a cost of Rs. 66,000 

 proved a failure for, though it kept out 

 the floods in the Ginganga from a large 

 tract of fields in Deviture, no provision 

 was made for the drainage of the local 

 rainfall which is considerable. It has 

 consequently been abandoned as the 

 cost of construction of the necessary out- 

 let would be utterly disproportionate to 

 the benefit to be secured, 



Dedduwa Scheme, 

 In the Dedduva scheme for guarding 

 against the incursions of the floods of 

 the Bentota river, due provision was 

 made for drainage ; it has proved success- 

 ful and, though costing a gooddeal jnore 



