398 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1887. 
Of the works mentioned, the most famous are the 
great delta works of Tanjore, Godavery and Kistna, 
and some description of these may not be cut of place. 
The Cauvery delta system is virtually of native origin. 
The delta differs in one most important and essential 
particular from the deltas of the Godavery and Kistna. 
While in the two latter the irrigation and drainage 
channels have to a great extent to be artificially con- 
structed, in the Cauvery delta, on the contrary, the 
numerous deltaic branches of the river form in them- 
selves the natural sources of irrigation and drainage. 
This essential difference may explain why even under 
the native regime the delta of the Oauvery was a 
thriving district, while the districts of the Godavery 
and Kistna were miserably poor. 
Tanjore came into the possession of the English 
about the year 1800, and at that time the irrigation 
was carried on by cuts in the banks of the various rivers 
of the delta. This system, defective iu itself, was 
rendered still more so by the precarious nature of the 
supply available. The fall of the Coleroon, which 
branches from the Cauvery, is far greater than that 
of the latter river, and consequently there was always 
a tendency for the Coleroon to draw off too much water, 
and for the Oauvery to silt up at its head. The pre- 
vention of this was a source of constant trouble and 
anxiety to the officers of the district. It was not till 
1836, when, at the instigation of Captain (now 
Sir Arthur) Cotton, the Upper Coleroon Anicut was 
built, that all fears on this head were set at 
rest. Since that time improvements in the shape of 
regulating works, sluices, and embankments have been 
steadily carried out ; and quite lately the construction 
of the Oauvery and Vennar regulators may be said to 
have practically ensured the safety of the delta against 
future floods. These regulators built across the Oau- 
very, and its main branch the Vennar, in connection 
with the Grand Anicut, — an old native surplus work, 
which has been much improved, — allow of the supply 
during floods, being so distributed between the Cole- 
roon, the Oauvery, and its several branches, that the 
delta need never receive more water than it can with 
safety dispose of, a danger to which it had always been 
exposed since the construction of the anicut which 
while it effectually prevented the possibility of a too 
scanty supply created the opposite evil of a too ex- 
cessive one. Some idea of the success of the Oauvery 
delta as a financial investment may be gathered from 
the returns of 1885-86, which give the total outlay on 
new works and improvements as R16,59,254, the area 
irrigated as 905,284 acres, and the percentage of net 
revenue on outlay as 38 - 98.* 
Next in order of age came the Godavery Delta Works 
which were commenced early in 1847. The desir- 
ability of throwing an anicut across the river had first 
been brought to the notice of Government towards the 
close of the last century by Mr. Topping, a Civil En- 
gineer, but no steps were taken in the matter till 
1844, when the rapidly decreasing revenue of the dis- 
trict, and the poverty of the ryots, led to the pro- 
ject beiDg again taken up. In this year Sir Arthur 
Cotton submitted a general report, followed in 1845 
by a more complete one together with detailed esti- 
mates for the anicut, and approximate estimates for 
the system of channels in connection with it. The 
project received the approval of the Court of Direc- 
tors, and the construction of the work was commenced 
early in 1847. The total outlay incurred to the end 
of 1885-86 was Rl, 21,67,097, the area irrigated 555,908 
acres, and the percentage of net revenue on outlay 
wasl0'29; the project will it is expected, be fully 
completed in 1889-90 at a cost of 111,30,32,653 when 
the area under irrigation will be 612,000 acres, and the 
percentage of net revenue on outlay 12*7. 
The Kistna Delta Works, which come next in order 
to the Godavery, were commenced in 1852, when the 
construction of the. anicut was put in hand. The out- 
lay incurred to the end of 1885-86 was R75,55,990, 
the area irrigated 330,159 acres, and the percentage 
of net revenue on outlay 1 101 . On the completion of 
* In round numbers 40 per cent on outlay, a result, 
we suppose, utterly without precedent or approaoh ? 
— Er>. 
this project, which it is hoped will take place in 
1901-2, the figures are expected to stand as follows: 
total expenditure Rl, 49,00,944, area irrigated 475,000 
acres, and percentage of net revenue 8 22. The de- 
crease in this last figure is due to the fact that a 
considerable expenditure has to be incurred in in- 
creasing the efficiency of existing works without ex- 
tending irrgation, and on this expenditure there will 
be no return. 
How greatly these works have benefited the country 
may be gathered from the fact that in the famine of 
1877-78, when every unirrigated district was import- 
ing grain in enormous quantities, the grain exported 
from the Godavery was valued at £1,740,000; and 
yet, in the year 1844, the district was described as 
being in a poverty-stricken state, with a steadily de- 
cling revenue. Similarly with the Kistna. This dis- 
trict, now one of the richest and most thriving, was 
previous to the construction of the anicut, one of the 
very poorest in the Presidency, and suffered very 
severely in the famine of 1833-34. A noticeable fea- 
ture of the works described is their construction 
solely at the cost of Government. This system, with 
its concomitant evils of grants varying in accordance 
with the state of the Exchequer, explains why many 
of the works were so long in hand, and why the 
actual outlay in many cases was much in excess of 
the original estimated cost. It appears to justify the 
view that a more liberal policy on the part of Gov- 
ernment in encouraging their execution by private 
enterprize would have given better results. The Kur- 
nool Canal, however, the one solitary example in this 
Presidency of a large irrigation work carried out by 
a Company under Government guarantee, by no means 
supports this idea. The Company, known as the 
Madias Irrigation and Canal Company, for the ex- 
ecution of the Tungabudra Project, as the scheme was 
then called, was incorporated in 1858 and the regular 
contract deed was signed in 1863. In 1860 the Company 
was already involved in monetary troubles, and from 
that period to 1882, the year of the transfer of the 
Canal to the Secretary of State for India, its history 
was one long record of financial difficulties ending in 
eventual failure. Since its transfer, the work has been 
a losing speculation to the Government, and when the 
large capital already sunk is considered it is to be 
doubted whether the works can ever be remunerative. 
The works above alluded to may be generally classed 
as productive ; that is, works the outlay on which was 
in the first instance justified by the more or less large 
percentage of returns expected. The occurrence of the 
famine of 1876-78 first compelled the acceptance of the 
necessity of protective works, that is, works which, 
though not sufficiently remunerative to justify their be- 
ing classed as productive, are still calculated to be a 
preventive of famine, and to guard against a future 
heavy expenditure in relief to the people. Of this class 
of work, only one, the Rushkkulya Project in the Gan- 
i jam district, has as yet been commenced. Sanctioned 
in 1883, the preliminaries for commencing work were 
I undertaken towards the end of 1883-84, and it is ex- 
ipected that the year 1894-95 will see it completed. The 
ischeme is to utilize the waters of the Mahanuddy and 
1 Rushkkulya rivers for the purposes of irrigation and 
navigation. The net revenue anticipated on the com- 
pletion of the works is 5 per cent, on the total capital 
outlay. Among the schemes not yet put in hand may 
be instanced the Peryar Project, which has received the 
sanction of the Secretary of State; it is a scheme for 
diverting, by the construction of a dam across the 
Peryar, the waters of that river into the Madura district, 
a district which at present receives but a scanty supply 
from either monsoon, and in the last famine was among 
the localities which suffered most severely. The Project* 
is to take six years to complete, and on completion is 
calculated to pay 7'8 per cent, net revenue on total out- 
lay. It may therefore be fairly classed as productive; 
but in addition to this, its importance as a protective 
work cannot be over-estimated, as its successful 
* A gigantic one: diverting the waters of a large 
river from oue district to another, by engineering 
works of a most interesting character.— Ko. 
