THE TROMCAL AGRICULTURIST, 
(March i, 1892. 
652 
conntitnentfi. In the colonieii these would be forced 
upon their attention at every step, and they would 
require to pay dearly for any enoroachmont, or imaginary 
enoroaohmont upon them. 
Except in Ceylon the great Irrigation works of India 
are conatructed with borrowed money, raised in Lon- 
don, and charged to the works at from 3i to 4 per 
cent. The price need not be wondered at, seeing that 
the guarantee of the Britieb Government ia behind 
the debonturee.* Though this of iteeif would snilioo, 
there are the further facts that the money is spent in 
a populous empire, with an enorraone revenue, and 
that the works as a whole sre very remunerative 
In Madras, the Nor'h-west, the Punjab and Sind they 
yield handsome profits; in Bomliay they are likely 
to pay for themselves, and in Bengal they are, after 
all, the cheapest and best means of dghting famine, 
and saving the public treasury from ruinous drafts in 
bad seasons. On tho merits of the investment, there- 
fore, the stook would bo entitled to rank high, afiart 
from its guarantee. Before tlio colonies can liope to 
site tbeir irrigation proposals regarded in the same 
light they must bo able to satisfy the capitalists of, 
the mother country that the outlay is reproductive, 
for quite content with the credit of the Qoverumcntn 
the Brilon has never really considered eithe,r Indian 
or Victorian expenditure under this head. Except the 
directors of the Scotch companies, which hav 
done well in Colorado and otber of the Ameri' 
can State, the moneyed men of Great Britain knew 
nothing of irrigation ventures. The Madras and 
Orissa companies, if not forgotten, would certainly 
have not encouraged a favorable view, even in India. 
Those who lend upon colonial securities are en- 
tirely unacquainted with them, and are likely to re- 
gard State loans which are employed to benefit private 
landa with a oonsiderable amount of siispiciou. The 
debt of Ceylon is so light as to attract no attention, 
and the greater part of her irrigation capital has been 
drawn from revenue. Mildiira should have an excel- 
lent inflnence when sufficient time has elapsed for its 
financial reaulta to be ganged, but even its enterpris- 
ing managers are understood to have liad an unrea- 
sonable diflioulty in getting their prospects appreoiii- 
tod by financiers here and at home. Oolonial irriga- 
tion has to justify itself, and those connected with it, 
hereforo, must be upon their mettle in order to render 
ts balance-sheet above reproach. This does not 
imply that spreial consideration should not begiyen to 
tho enterprise in its earlier years, and while its novelty 
telle against it, even with the farmers, bnt it does 
remind us that the now departure is to bo judged by 
its profit and loss iioooiint, and that this will iiifluenoe 
not only the tax-payors wlio are not irrigator.s, bnt 
those who make advances to us for the prosonutiou of 
eproductive public works. In this respect India has 
the advantage. The Madras schemes are debited wHi 
8J per cent and tho others, except Bombay, wtiich 
takes 4 per oeut. as the cost of its money, reckon at 
about B} per cent., or at least ooe half per cent less 
than ours are debited with under the law. Judging 
by recent events, no very early reduction of the rate 
below 4 per cent is to he hoped for in Australis. 
Something requires to be said of the Water Supply 
Eepartuieut, a bureaucratio service which, though not 
free from faults, has an honorable record, and will 
certainly compare favorably with any other depart- 
ment in India. It adds greatly to the ease of adminis. 
tration, though it mnltipliee its perils, that the clients 
affeoted belong to a sabjeot race, and that the vorua- 
culsr journals do not appear to have yet developed 
that critical faculty which makes the press in Anglo- 
Saxon communities occasionally a moans of miNchief, 
but on the whole a must efficient and invaluable spur 
to administrative lethargy and favoritism. The public 
* If Mr. Deakm moans the Government of Britain, a.s 
contradistinguished from thoGuvernmout of the Indian 
Empire, wo should like to know if he is correct. Only 
in rare and extreme cases, such as that of Jamsica 
when in a state of ruin, are loans to colonics or 
posBeisions imperially guaranteed. None of our Oeylon 
loans have thia guarantee, — Ed. T, A, 
spirit, incorruptible integrity and tenderness to the 
natives exhibited by most officers is highly creditable 
to them and to their eonnlry. So far as can be 
judged hy a passing stranger they do their work 
admirably, and considering all tho oironmstanoes of 
the case inexpensively also. 
But perhaps tho beet criticism of the Indian system 
of sole State responsibility is to be found in the 
constant efforts to mitigate it. Wherever possible a 
village is dealt with as a whole and required to settle 
tho distribution of water and all disputes arising from 
it. From Coyhm to the Punjab we find this practice 
pursued wherever feasible. The headmen, as they are 
termed, in all settleraenti, are invariably enooiirsged 
to become answerable for the main sdminisfration, 
and, as has been seen committees, or panoU malials, 
arc especially created for the purpose on inundation 
canals. In every way legislation strives to throw 
upon the residents of each locality the task of settling 
tlieir own affairs, and of secu'ing protection to tlie 
canals as common property. Even in the independent 
territories similar methods of local government, on a 
small scale, have sprung up, testifying in the strongest 
and clearest manner to the necessity which everywhere 
exists for it in connection wilh irrigation. It ia not 
too much to say that so far as circunisiancos permit 
tho Indian system is being approximated to our own, 
though still conveying a very limited authority indeed 
to the ryot ; that the associations of irrigators in 
France, Italy and America repre.sent tho development 
in a higher form of tho same principle of local 
pspoiiaihility ; and that tho Victorian trust system as 
it now stamls is their ideal, and the ideal of irrig nors 
all tho world over. Advances of cheap money for the 
construction of works, chosen and managed by those 
dependent upon their supply, represents as nerl yas 
piiasible ths perfect system for white farmers. iThoie 
who oppose it seek to dimnisli tho rosponsibilit es of 
the people ooneeriied, and to oast them upon the 
general body of taxpayers, just a.s members of shires 
created and anthorised to raise rates to make roads and 
bridges ask that they may bo bnilt for them by the 
Fublio M orks Department. There aro instances in 
which an appeal to the pnblic purse ia valid in each 
ease, hot they are few and special. There is no just 
and no sane principle for the distribution of pnblic 
funds, except that they should be expended to benefit 
ratepayers in proportion to their contribution, or to 
tho urgency of their special need. Lobal expenditure 
shonhl mean local taxation, to raise the iiocoa.sary 
sum, or pay interest upon it ; any departure from this 
moans tho reduction of polities to a selfish game of 
grab. If the Anstralian is to east all his responsibili- 
ties upon his Government bo most endow it with 
power eqnal to its task, inolitfling power over himselt 
and hia property, which would render him in some 
respects a mete ryot. If be accept the privileges of 
ireecom and free institutions, ho must bear hia bor- 
clens tor himaelf id oommon wiih hia follows, and in 
conjunction with thorn. The altorna'ivo ia to yield 
both burdone and freedom to the State. 
In arid Asia Irrigation has been an easential, 
and whether in Persia, Afghanistan, or the re- 
gion to the north of them, and whether in ancient 
or modern times, has supplied in a large measure 
the means of maintenaiioe to its peoples. The 
oasis of Turfan, according to a Russian report 
published in aVn/urs of this year, contains colossal 
works of the same character as those of Ontario and 
other places in Oaliforuia, bringing the water to 
the surface by means of tunnels or of wells sometimes 
BOllft. deco. Sir Oolin Moncrioff recently visited a 
part of the Russian territory where there are still to 
be seen remains of vast soliemes constructed in a 
remote age but it is imdcrstoo l that his report is un- 
favorable to any extensive attempt to reconstruct 
them. The canals and tanks of India were not under- 
taken for profit, nor yet merely to increase an estab- 
lished prosperity bnt nuder tho terrible preasnro of 
necessity. Of course the production of the oountry 
cannot bo indefinitely increased by anoli means, but it 
can be rendered fairly even, guarded against adverse 
seasona, and a reaerve provided by moans of an artifi* 
