April t, 189a] THE TROPICAL AtSfltSOLTUfflBT. 
711 
at the back of the Government bungalow, which it is 
hoped will be ready for use in a lew months. As 
pointed out before, nothing but the restoration of the 
tanks which lie scattered about the place can raise 
Tissa to the high position it once occupied. It has 
already given evidence of development by the resto- 
ration of three minor ones, and by these means, as 
well as by the careful distribution of water, the cul- 
tivated area has risen in four years from 250 to 1,000 
acres. To this must also be added the 500 acres 
in the vihgea of Sitravila and Magama, making a 
total of 1,500 acres. Before Tissa sprang into existence 
Sitravila used to be cultivated once in five years 
whe'i the rainfall was copious, while Magama was 
irrigated by a native amuna across the river kept up 
at the expi nuiture of much labour by the villagers. 
Both villages are now irrigated twice a jear from the 
same sourcH us Ti^sa. In the recent debute in the Legis- 
lative Coun i. regarding the failure of irrigation works, 
Tissa was pointed out as an instance where a large 
sum had been sunk without an adequate return. This 
is scarcely correct, as no account has been apparently 
taken of the crop it produces, the direot gam to the 
District in placing a large Bupply of cheap arid 
wholesome iood wiihiu the reach of all, and a gain 
to ih: whole Province in ptoviding a means of living 
to those who cannot obtain it in inoie crowded parlB, 
while the improvements in the condition and appear- 
and of people is moat marked. 
Among the improvements to the place are: — 
(1) A new road from Tissa to Knnda to supersede 
the old one, which in consequence of its low position was 
frequently under water. It takt-s a higher level and 
pauses over ihe bund of three abandoned tanks. Its 
whole length of five miles has been cleared > f jungle to a 
width of twei ty-five feet, stumps rooted out, ground 
levelled, and a large swamp filled in at the Tissa end. 
(2) The formation of paths through swamps and 
fields to connect different hamlets with each other. 
(3) The restoration of the bunds of four small tanks 
for the storoge of more water. 
(4) The raising of the spill two feet by a kalin- 
gula has so increased the supply of water that there is 
enough to irrigate a thousand acres over and above 
what is now cultivated, aud applications to purchase 
more land have been frequently made lately. As stattd 
before, there is abundance of surplus water from the 
fields flowiug- uselessly into the sea at present, but which 
ought to be utilised in the cultivation of more laud. 
(5) Tue restoration of the three lanks to the west of 
Tissa has rendered irrigable all the land above Yatala 
dagoba, as on the completion of the lowest tank the 
water when let out found its way freely from an old 
channel to the ground thereabouts. The inhabi- 
tants in the village of Sitrawila below Tissa will be 
forced eventually to give up their fields, as from their 
low positiou in the bed of the Yoda tank it receives 
all the surplus water from the range above. An ex- 
amination of the bund of Yodayawewa shows that with 
a very smfdl outlay it can be restored to a good 
storage tank. There are two breaohes which oould be 
repaired by the prisoners, and the old stone sulice in 
the bund oould be put in order again at a very small 
oost. The oultivators are not averse to an exchange 
for the new land outside the tank, so that the question 
of compensation is easily disposed of. 
I , At the commencement of the year a new jail was es- 
tablished at Tissa with a foroe of thirty prisoners 
drafted from the Hambantota prison. The principal 
work they are employed on is the construction of the 
new road from Tissa to Kirinda, and they have, besides, 
attended to repairs on minor roade, small irrigation 
works, and the opening out of new paths. 
Gouadeuiya, Scheme. — Another soheme which com- 
meuds it6elf to the notice of the Irrigation Board is 
the revival of irrigation down the- Gonadeniya-Alut- 
wewa valley. There are fifteen tanks down this val- 
ley, of various sizes, with periodical cultivation under 
some of them. It is proposed to divert water from 
the Urubokka stream somewhere ni ar Raluwa above 
Udukiriwila tank, so as to fill the tanks twice a year. 
Gonadoniya tank lies at the hi ad of tlio valley, and 
oontains two springs, wh ch with the aid of the water 
from the stream at one time, kept the tank fu'!, but 
years ago the bund was breached, and the bed has been 
converted into fields and gardens by the villagers, to 
which they have acquired a prescriptive right. I should 
leave this tank alone for the present, as compensation 
for lands would be heavy, but the water might be al- 
lowed to flow through it to those below, which were 
connected with each other by a channel, and traces of 
which are to be found here and there down the valley 
covered over with dense jungle. Two othi r schomes 
were laid before the Central Irrigation Board: — 
(1) Converting Namuyaluwilla at the back of Tangalla 
into a large storage tank. 
(2) Constructing aniouts atCanewila on the Urubokka 
stream. 
As, however, funds were short it was decided to let 
them stand over till next year for consideration. 
The Netulpitiya Channel. — This channel, 2£ miles 
long, is designed, as stated in a previous report, to fill 
the tanks in the Netulpitiya valley with the surplus 
water from Udukiriwila tank, which ita-elf is fed by 
the Urubokka stream. The heaviest cutting was at tbe 
lower end through a ridge to a dtpth of 80 feet with 
rock at the bottom. The work is almost completed 
now, and will be ready f< r use for ihe next yala crop. 
The repair of the la gesi tank, Pattiyapola, in the 
valley, breached in 1887 by an exceptionally heavy 
flood, is to be oommeuced at once, aud sums have 
been voted for small improvements to the other tanks 
also in the fame valley. 
The importance of the channel cannot be uudi rrated, 
for it will briog under regular cultivation once, if not 
twice, a year over l.OtO acres, which in former years 
never yielded a crop more than once in three ye rs. 
There are five store tanks recently tluiced, anil two 
n ore smaller ones, seven altogether, which ought to 
be filled regularly twice a year from the channel. 
Kehelwatta Irrigation Scheme. — 1 his is a scheme to 
bring under cultivation about 1,000 acres by throwing 
an anicut across the Urubokka stream and diveiting 
the water by means of a channel to fields in the 
villages of Kehelwatta, Katuwana, Gomadia, and 
Karatota. A rough rubble anicut once stood in the 
place where it is now proposed to build a masonry one 
tut being loosely put together was swept away years 
ago by a heavy flood. The old channel, however, is still 
there and wants clearing out — one section is still utilised 
to catch the drainage from the hills to irrigate a 
small tract. 1 have sent in my report on the scheme, 
and urged strongly that it should be taken up at once 
as it lies in the centre of a populous district which 
periodically suffers much from want. The people live 
principally on chena produce, and when this fails in 
times of drought there is great soarcity, as was the case 
at the close of this year, when I had to appeal 
to Government for money to open relief works. 
B1,000 was granted, and this is being spent 
in clearing out the old_ channel by village labour. 
A moro recent examination of the ground shows 
that the building of an expensive anicut might 
possibly be dispensed with, and the cutting of a 
channel in the face of the rocky bank to a point 
higher up the river would answer equally well 
to ooDduct the water into the old ohannel. 
The condition of the people in the northern 
part of the Magam pattu claims the strongest 
sympathy of Government. The population is 
gradually dying out, and village after village is being 
deserted for the reason that the system of irriga- 
tion, which formerly enabled the inhabitants to 
raise enough food to subsist on, has through years 
of neglect fallen into decay. An examination of the 
country by me in September last showed that the 
water supply »»s 1 ormerly derive d from the Diyagam 
pattu in be Bai u la District. When the large works 
in the West and E;ist Giruwa pattus have been 
completed an examination of this system ought to 
be comm< need. If, as I hear, it is contemplated to 
restore some of the large irrigation works over the 
boundary in the Badulla District, something ought 
to bo done to the tanks on this side to store the 
surplus water that must of necessity flow down 
especially those in the Malala-ar valley, which were 
filled by the Malala stream, taking its rise in the 
Badulla Distriot and pasBiDg through, a series of 
