IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 308, 22 January 1875, Page 3

IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

Contemporary with Mr. Vogel's Public Works Policy in New Zealand, a somewhat similar policy is proceeding in India: that is to say, in'both cases immense works are being carried out for the alleged benefit of the people, which are being paid for out of borrowed money. The Indian works are worth alluding to for many reasons.

The Indian native, as described; by Dr. llunter " hais been accustomed to ! trust, to the accidents of .successive seasons, .'-to'- rejoice when tbe rain is abundant an3,tHe, f 'hai-vest bounteous,, to lie dowri and die when the earth is dried up an®' the' crops fail." European. civilisation will not allow of this wholesale'lying*clown to die, and Indian financiers find out that—independent. of the humanity question—financially it does not pay. To meet this financial difficulty, and to protect these ignorant hindoos —if their prejudices, caste and other will allow.of such protection—lrrigation Works are in progress all over India. In the Province of Orissa altjne, owiftg to the disastrous famine of 1866, the whole revenue of the Province was spent upon these Irrigation Canals ; which, it is said, —unless,; these, works themselves can be mode to pay the interest on the cost of expenditure—will" impose a burden, upon the Indian. Government of £2,000,000 sterling, and an annual paymentfbf.£9o,ooo; -The 'Saturday Review"' '..tTiiiiks that '""the . (Indian) Government to lay out small sums of money for some considerable time ; but, as one Province after another puts in its claim, the interest on the aggregate.capital borrowed must become-large enough to exercise a very disturbing influence~on the Indian Budget."" There is'a difficulty in the way of these water works we have already hinted at: that is, that the Indian cultivators, unless" driven to starvation point—when, not only can they pay no water* money, but their ordinary land tax is,not to.be.g9t—appear likely to refuse; to "viae "the water. Lord Mayo proposedjo impose a compulsory rate, to be. levied on all inhabitants who—after. the water had been brought to their 'field'sToFifive years—neglected to take it'; and then only if it can be sis>yed. that, the cultivator's netfc profits would-be increased by the canal after paying-the irrigation rates. Five years, one would think, would be sufficient to convince. ,the .most rigid Hindoo, who had an eye to the main chance,'in spite of all his foolish preju".N c .member of the Indian Go-, vernment will be allowed to make a hobby of irrigation eo-long as his colleagues know that the rate which is to pay for it canno raised unless, it has been proved: that the cultivator will be better off after he. has used the water and paid for it. than be was before either using it or paying for' it." Is thero not n hint here worth the notice of our Provincial Councillors in Otago—not to mention the Colonial Government?- If any, Pmvinc-ial member of Executive knewth'ere' were some such rating conditions;" not'' to be imposed. unless it' could'-be ; shewn to be beneficial/ could ;.he persuade himself or his colleagues in"fo~the advocacy of some lines; of branch railway such as at*e under "con tract, irrigation in India will, be a feather in the cap of the humanitarians, and all such efforts will prove financially successful. "As regards the objection "that a water-rate will set the peasantry against irrigation, two things are to be said. In the. -first places-tins dislikls of'irrigation is mot likely to survive the discovery that they a; e' Benefitted by it, and they will not be long in making, this discovery when they have to pay for it whether they uie it or nofc. ~(Jnder.,a system, of voluntary payments, a generation might pass away without-the fact finding its v way into their minds ; under a system of compulsory payments, they, miay be trusted not to persist in refusing water which it. them no 'more-to-take than to-pasa by. ~ In the secitfpd "place; supposing that a compulsory wa.ter-rp.te even under these conditions would tend.to set tho peasantry against irrigation, it wonld. not have •this effect in nearly the" sa'me degree as the add tional taxes which will have to be levied if, the expense is thrown orJ the Indian .Exchequer instead of being borne, by thpse for-whose advan'talgo if is incurred. Observation of results-will in time make,# clear to the .rajtepayer that he. is'a gainer by irrigation. He will -see. his fields green ;year after .'year whether, the season be dijy op .rainy, and. h© will grow by decrees to understand that his immunity from famine is diie to the forethought of l i he, .But between an addition to.the general taxation of the country and the benefits dgrivejlJxom irrigation there .is no obvious conn ex-, iob; and -'the" peasant who,-/hears that this, new burden has been" laid upon him forvthe . benefit of a district hundreds of. trilles'away will be a longtime m! findipg' ; out'hdw he is the better of it."<'---The-.'last paragraph'pf the above quotation is feugg'pstive of much to the resident at Mount Ida or Clyde, whose share in the land ftind of the Province is for the benefit, of districts h'u'hcli'eds of miles away. Certainly it will be long before he finds out how he is the better of it.