THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
[Feb.  i,  18931 
516 
dustry,  but  taking  all  things  into  consideration  it  is 
hard  to  see  how  it  could  be  otherwise.  Other  pro- 
ducts might  be  encouraged,  it  is  true,  but  rice  is  likely 
to  remain  first  in  the  needs  and  tastes  of  the  people. 
BICE  GROWING  IN  CEYLON. 
The  natural  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  cultivation 
of  rioe  are  naturally  made  much  of  by  the  opponents 
of  irrigation,  and  even  its  advocates  are  unable  to 
ignore  their  seriousness.  It  is  a thirsty  crop,  and  the 
provision  of  a sufficient  supply  of  water  by  means  of 
storage  is  therefore  most  expensive  in  proportion  to 
area  affected.  Then  again  the  rich  deltaic  soils  of 
the  Ganges  and  the  Brahmaputra,  with  their  annual 
floods  richly  laden  with  silt,  secure  crops  which 
are  fifty  fold  to  eighty  fold  of  the  seed  sown.  There 
is  much  argument  as  to  what  may  be  considered  a 
fair  return  in  Ceylon,  and  as  rice  is  grown  almost 
everywhere,  there  are,  as  is  natural,  very  different 
returns.  In  some  districts  it  is  insisted  that  the 
harvest  gives  only  four  or  five  fold,  while  the  average 
claimed  is  not  more  than  fifteen  to  eighteen  fold.  It 
is  confessed,  therefore,  that  the  island  is  heavily 
handicapped  in  this  regard,  and  cannot  compete  with 
the  mainland.  In  1888-89  India  exported  nearly 
27.000. 000  cwt.,  while  Ceylon  imported  3,330,000  cwt. 
Sometimes  it  has  been  questioned  whether  rice  grow- 
ing does  not  involve  an  absolute  loss  to  the  Sinhalese 
farmer,  and  very  careful  estimates  of  his  working  ex- 
penses and  profits  have  been  made.  The  result  ap- 
pears to  show  that  in  certain  districts  which  are  well 
irrigated,  such  as  Matara  and  Batticaloa,  it  pays  well, 
but  that  in  others  it  yields  only  a bare  profit.  The  doubt 
has  arisen  whether  the  limit  of  its  payable  production 
has  not  been  reached,  and  certainly,  the  fact  that  some 
6.000. 000  bushels  annually  have  been  brought  from 
India  during  the  past  few  years  would  seem  to  lead  to 
such  a conclusion.  On  the  other  hand  Mr.  Elliott, 
the  Government  agent  at  Batticaloa  has  conducted 
some  careful  experiments  in  rice  growing  by  means 
of  hired  labour  in  two  districts  with  which  he  is 
intimately  acquainted,  and  gives  a balance-sheet  which 
shows  a profit  of  40  per  cent,  in  the  one  instance, 
and  70  per  cent  in  the  other.  If  such  profits  are 
open  to  the  average  cultivator,  as  many  believe, 
there  is  still  a fine  future  before  the  Sinhalese 
and  Tamils  of  the  low  country,  and  the  Govern- 
ment policy  is  abundantly  justified. 
HOW  THE  POLICY  WAS  DEVELOPED. 
That  Ceylon  should  have  adopted  an  irrigation 
policy  at  all  is  somewhat  remarkable,  but  the  form 
which  it  has  taken  is  perhaps  more  remarkable  still. 
Though  separated  from  India  by  but  a narrow 
channel  of  sea,  the  island  has  developed  upon  its 
own  lines  independently  of  its  great  neighbour. 
While  in  both  countries  the  State  have  stepped  in  to  aid 
the  cultivator,  and  has  undertaken  costly  works  to  pro- 
vide his  fields  with  an  unfailing  water  supply,  yet  in 
Ceylon,  owing  to  the  cautious  character  of  Lord  Grey, 
it  has  done  so  with  certain  reserves,  and  only  upon 
conditions  of  local  responsibility.  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  the  population  to  be  dealt  with  is  entirely 
Asiatic,  and  that  the  forms  insisted  upon  are  those  as- 
sociated in  Europe  with  responsible  Government,  the 
difficulty  of  the  task  imposed  may  be  appreciated.  A 
short  reference  to  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
policy  was  developed  in  the  first  instance  may  lead  up 
to  a better  understanding  of  its  present  character,  and 
of  the  important  conclusions  to  which  it  points. 
, PORTUGUESE  AND  DUTCH  PERIODS. 
During  the  earliest  ages  the  Sinhalese  had  developed 
an  irrigation  system  on  the  greatest  scale.  As  the 
official  report  for  1888  says  : — “ There  is  no  part  of  the 
island,  except  the  central  mountain  districts,  in  which 
the  remains  of  canals  and  tanks  are  not  found  ; but 
whether  the  whole  island  . . . waseverat 
any  one  time  under  cultivation,  as  some  suppose,  or 
whe'her  the  population,  abandoning  or  driven  from 
ancient  centres  of  habitation,  gradually  migrated  from 
one  district  to  another,  erecting  new  works  where 
they  settled,  and  allowing  the  old  ones  to  decay,  is  a 
disputed  question.  The  fact,  however,  that  almost 
all  irrigation  works  are  found  on  investigation  to 
form  but  parts  of  large  connected  systems,  affecting 
great  stretches  of  country,  would  appear  to  favour 
the  former  supposition.  . ...  The  Yodiela 
(canal)  itself,  54  miles  long,  is  only  one  link  in  a 
connected  chain  of  tanks  reaching  far  north  and  west- 
ward  Another  system,  as  yet  only  parti- 
ally explored  ....  extended  from  the  foot  of 
the  Central  Mountains  to  the  sea  on  the  south  coast ; 
while  the  remains  of  ancient  cities,  which  are  fre- 
quent in  Uva,  show  that  the  country  was  once  highly 
cultivated  by  the  agency  of  canals,  the  remains  of 
which  are  often  crossed  when  traversing  the  forest.” 
During  the  period  of  the  Tamil  invasions  of 
the  thirteenth  century  many  of  these  were  des- 
troyed and  others  neglected  so  as  to  soon  des- 
troy themselves.  The  Portuguese  were  blind  to 
their  value  and  guilty  of  wilful  vandalism,  though 
the  Dutch  who  succeeded  them  were  enabled 
from  their  own  experience  to  appreciate  the  navi- 
gable canals  and  take  some  steps  for  their 
maintenance.  Still  little  was  done,  and  the  island 
which  had  maintained  according  to  the  records  no 
less  than  5,000,000  people,  was  unable  when  its  irri- 
gation was  restricted  to  support  more  than  750.000. 
RESTORATION  OF  WORKS  BY  THE  BRITISH. 
The  British  had  scarcely  taken  possession  before 
the  cause  of  the  national  decline  was  discovered,  and 
proposals  were  made  even  as  early  as  1800  for  the 
restoration  of  some  of  the  works.  With  customary 
deliberation  successive  Governors  debated  the  ques- 
tion, and  in  1832  it  was  referred  to  a commission, 
which,  actuated  by  a laudable  desire  to  free  the 
people  from  the  oppression  of  the  corv(e,  or  con- 
tribution of  forced  labour,  recommended  that  not 
even  her  Majesty  should  be  authorised  to  demand 
it  for  the  future  without  payment.  As  it  was  by  this 
means  that  the  works  had  always  been  maintained, 
the  ruin  of  many  of  those  remaining  speedily  re- 
sulted. “Each  cultivator  was  ready  to  grum- 
ble and  complain  that  his  neighbour  would 
undertake  no  work  of  repair  ; but  he  was  firmly 
resolved  to  do  none  himself  so  long  as  his  fellows  re- 
frained from  doing  their  part  also."  In  1846  Sir 
Emerson  Tennent,  then  Colonial  Secretary,  endea- 
voured to  awaken  his  superiors  to  the  necessity  for 
action.  In  1847  he  obtained  a recommendation  from 
a committee  in  favour  of  the  repair  of  old  tanks,  and 
immediately  afterwards  tabled  a proposal  to  apply 
portions  of  the  road  funds  to  this  purpose. 
LORD  GREY’S  MINUTN. 
Lord  Grey  emphatically  refused  to  follow  a diver- 
sion exactly  equivalent  in  Australia  to  the  application 
of  municipal  rates  to  water  supply  purposes,  and  in  a 
minute  of  1849  laid  down  the  principles  upon  which  he 
would  insist  before  authorising  a tew  departure  in  State 
interference.  His  first  condition  was  that  the  culti- 
vators themselves  must  be  consulted  and  form  for 
the  purpose  a local  body,  and  the  second  was  that 
the  works,  being  for  the  benefit  of  a particular 
body  of  persons  in  a particular  locality,  those 
thus  favoured  must  bear  at  least  a portion  of 
the  cost  and  maintenance  of  the  scheme.  The 
immediate  effect  of  these  requirements  and 
of  political  exigencies  wes  to  delay  the  initiation  of 
legislation  for  six  years  ; not  that  it  was  impossible  to 
comply  with  the  conditions,  for,  indeed,  insomerespeoti 
they  had  long  been  anticipated. 
VILLAGE  COUNCILS  OF  IRRIGATION. 
Every  village  in  the  island  had  possessed  for  centu- 
ries a kind  of  assembly  of  notables  and  elders,  to  whom 
all  questions  of  common  interest  were  referred.  The 
absolute  necessity  for  joint  effort  in  connection  with 
irrigation  had  been  felt,  and  at  a remote  period  a com- 
plete system  of  administration  had  sprung  up,  of  which 
the  tradition  remained  where  the  works  bad  been  des- 
troyed, and  the  practice  where  they  were  a*  ill  in  exis- 
tence. All  land-holders  were  oompelled  to  do  their 
share  of  repairs  or  else  they  were  refused  water.  They 
were  forbidden  irrigate  fresh  fields  unless  there  was 
a surplus  available)  and  in  a seatou  of  drought  were 
allotted  only  a fair  proportion  of  the  diminished 
stream.  The  rotation  of  watering  and  the  order  of 
supply  were  strictly  determined,  and  thefts  of  water 
or  breaches  of  the  custom  promptly  punished.  This 
