1848.] 



The Neilgherry Mountains, 



specified ( in para. 63) that the control of all streams and canals 

 be in the hands of government." 



This principle of control does not certainly 



Much litigation constant- i ^ , 



ly going on about rights obtam m this district at the present time — par- 

 of water. ^.^^ Cutting channels and leading off water from 



a convenient stream at pleasure, without any permission asked or ob- 

 tained from the civil authorities, and frequently without the consent 

 or knowledge of the proprietors of lands through which their chan- 

 nels are brought. No system is observed in the management of these 

 channels, so that where a slight deviation in their course might ren- 

 der the water available for neighbouring lands, we find such a prin- 

 ciple of accommodation neglected, and frequently an immense and 

 reckless waste of the element permitted, amounting to a hundred times 

 more than is made in any way available by the self constituted pro- 

 prietor. Other parties again, whose land lies between a head of 

 water and the ground of another proprietor, refuse permission to the 

 latter to lead it through their premises, to his own, thereby inflicting 

 injury on the individual, and causing detriment to *' the property of 

 government," for as such, under para. 61 of the Dheyra Doon Des- 

 patch, the Honorable Court have decided that "all grants are to 

 be considered," being merely held as *' leasehold land under Govern- 

 ment." On this subject I would beg leave to suggest that as " Go- 

 vernment are to retain control of all streams" on these Hills, and as 

 the lands cultivated as gardens pay a high rate of assessment, the 

 same system as to the distribution of water for the use of each pro- 

 prietor, should be followed in this district, as prevails in the low coun- 

 try, where not a cubic foot is allowed to be wasted or misappropria- 

 ted. This interference on the part of the Government authorities 

 does not seem called for in any other parts of the Hills than the sta- 

 tions where Europeans, East Indians, and Natives have settled, viz., 

 Ootacamund, Coonoor, and Kotergherry, as the Burghers and other 

 aboriginal cultivators make no use of water for the purpose of irriga- 

 tion save for poppy, onion and garlic fields, which are not so numer- 

 ous as to have given rise to any disagreement between adjacent vil- 

 lages upon the subject : whereas at the settlements it affords a fer- 

 tile, and constantly recurring cause for litigation and misunderstanding. 



Towns and villages. ^ '^^^ ^^^Y ^0^" ^^^^s, properly SO called 



is *' Ootacamund," and even this term can only 

 be applied legitimately to the native portion of the settlement, since 



