approach to the responsible officers of the department and to Government, we would suggest the creation, in those provinces in which irrigation is of importance, of an organisation on the analogy of the local railway advisory committees composed of representatives of the irrigation, revenue and agricultural departments with a majority of non-official members who should, if possible, be cultivators. The main duty of this advisory committee would be to deal with complaints from cultivators or associations of cultivators in regard to irrigation matters.

The Government of India have recently constituted a Central Irrigation Board of which the Consulting Engineer to the Government of India and all the chief engineers for irrigation in the provinces are members. The Board will work through sub-committees consisting of those engineers with recent experience of works akin to those to be discussed. These sub-committees will be convened by the Government of India at the instance cf the local Government concerned when a new project is about to be sanctioned or when a province finds itself in difficulties in any technical matter. In addition to this Central Irrigation Board, we propose the establishment of a Central Bureau of Informa tion for Irrigation which might suitably be placed in charge of the Consulting Engineer to the Government of India with its headquarters at Delhi. The main functions of the Bureau would be to establish and maintain a comprehensive library of irrigation publications and to act as a clearing house of information needed by provincial officers. It should endeavour to keep agricultural officers and the public generally in touch with irrigation developments in India and abroad. We also recommend annual or biennial meetings of irrigation engineers to be held in rotation in different provinces and in localities which possess features of special interest to the irrigation engineer. We also consider that provision for research on irrigation problems should be made in all provinces in which irrigation is of importance. The matters for investigation would include the distribution and application of water required for crops, the question of waterlogging, drainage and lining of canals. The scientific staff of the Indian universities might assist in the solution of irrigation problems for which geological, chemical or mechanical knowledge is required. We do not consider that a case has been made out for the establishment of a central station for irrigation research. The work of provincial stations engaged in such research should, however, be reviewed from time to time by a committee appointed by the local Government in consultation with the Central Board of Irrigation and the Council of Agricultural Research.

Many of the troubles which have arisen in the irrigated tracts of India in regard to waterlogging and the formation of alkali lands have been due to failure properly to correlate a new irrigation system with the natural drainage of the tract. We, therefore, consider that drainage maps should be drawn up by competent engineers who possess the necessary agricultural insight. Once these maps have been made it will be easy to control all such undertakings as the construction of roads, railways, canals and embankments and to see that nothing interferes with crop production.

Questions arising out of the great extension of irrigation in Sind as the result of the construction of the Sukkur Barrage are dealt with in detail in the main Report, as also are questions specially affecting the NorthWest Frontier Province and Baluchistan. As these questions, though important, are of local interest, they need not be referred to here. For the same reason we do not mention the problems peculiar to Bengal which are also dealt with in the main Report. These are so complex in their character and their solution is of such importance to Bengal that we consider that a committee of experts should be appointed to investigate them.

In regard to hydro-electric development, it is to be noted that the natural reserves of water power available in certain parts of India are considerable. In existing conditions, we consider that the immediate openings for electric power for agricultural purposes are confined to pumping schemes. Information required in connection with hydroelectric development should be supplied by the Central Bureau of Information for Irrigation. In view of the highly technical nature of the subject, expert advice in regard to any particular scheme of development should be obtained from a firm of consulting engineers.

IX. COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

CHAPTER XI OF THE MAIN REPORT.

Good communications are of great importance to the cultivator for on them largely depends his opportunity for the favourable marketing of his produce. It is the improvement in communications since the middle of the last century that, more than any other factor, has brought about the change from subsistence farming to the growing of money crops such as cotton, jute and groundnuts. But good communications also react upon every aspect of the cultivator's life for the closer connection which they create between the villages and the towns must stimulate the more backward rural community to demand a higher standard of education as part of a higher general standard of living. They also induce interchange of ideas and so broaden the cultivators' outlook on life. The milage of railways and roads in India is rapidly expanding. All roads, except those of military importance, are a transferred subject in the major provinces. In Bengal, practically all the roads are under the district boards, who meet the entire cost of construction and repair from the roads and public works cesses. In Madras also, roads with few exceptions, are in charge of the local authorities but they receive substantial financial assistance from provincial revenues. In other provinces, except in the Punjab, roads fall into two classes, those of provincial importance which are maintained by the Public Works Department and local roads which are maintained by local bodies. Roads in the Punjab have been classified very systematically. Class I roads form the arteries of the road system and are maintained by the Public Works Department. Class II roads are those which pass through more than one district or connecting important places. These are in charge of the district boards but the expenditure on them is shared by government and local funds. Other roads fall in class III. In all provinces, village roads, that is, roads connecting villages which are not on any through line of communications with the road system of the district are almost entirely a matter for the villagers themselves. Such roads are often mere tracks that can only be used during dry weather.

The evidence we received shows that the condition of the roads in India has deteriorated in recent years, and that the rapid expansion of motor traffic has brought into existence an entirely new range of problems of road construction and maintenance. This new factor has led to the recent appointment by the Government of India of a Road Development Committee, consisting of fourteen members of the Central Legislatures, which is investigating the whole question of road development in India. The concern of this Committee is primarily with the development of the main roads, but we would emphasise the importance of subsidiary comunications which are of even greater concern to the cultivator. His village must be linked up with the main arterial roads if he is to get the advantage of good communications.

Road boards have been established in some provinces. Their functions are in the main advisory and it is only in the Punjab and Burma that they have wider functions and have embarked upon an ordered

programme of road development. We recommend that road boards with powers similar to those which have been given to the boards in the Punjab and Burma should be constituted in all provinces.

In the administration of their road policy, local boards are very much handicapped by lack of funds and we consider that local governments might give liberal financial assistance where a well-devised scheme has been thought out. The matter is of such importance that we would recommend flotation of loans for this purpose rather than that expenditure should be met from current revenues. There is, unfortunately, always a danger that main roads will receive a disproportionate amount of attention. Liberal grants-in-aid should be given from provincial revenues for the construction and improvement of village roads, although improvement of such roads must in the main depend upon the efforts of the villagers themselves. To this end, co-operative action on their part should be encouraged. All district boards should have the services of a qualified engineer.

It is desirable that, in the development of communications generally, railways and roads should be regarded as complementary to each other. Roads should be designed to serve rather as feeders to the railways than as competitors for traffic. Railway freight rates are frequently criticised from the point of view of the agriculturist. We do not accept the view that rates are generally too high, but we suggest a periodical revision of rates with a view to the adjustment of their incidence as between various sorts of produce. We consider it desirable that closer co-operation between the railway and agricultural departments should be secured by the appointment of the Director of Agriculture or the Marketing Officer in each province as a member of the local advisory committee on railways.

With regard to water ways, the only point brought prominently to our notice was the extent to which their use is hampered by the spread of water hyacinth in Assam, Bengal and Burma. Various attempts have been made to deal with this pest but with indifferent success. Further research is urgently needed and, as the problem affects a number of provinces, we consider that a programme of work should be formulated by the Council of Agricultural Research so that concerted action can be taken simultaneously in all the provinces affected.

MARKETING

The agricultural departments in India have done much to improve the quality and to increase the quantity of the cultivator's outturn but it cannot be said that they have been able to give him substantial help in securing the best possible financial return for his improved quality and his increased outturn. This is the only inducement that can be held out to the cultivator to adopt improved seed and he is not likely to take much trouble if he finds that he cannot get a better price for his improved produce. For this comparative indifference to quality, the middleman may in part be responsible as he is inclined to buy rather in quantity than in quality, and it is only when an improved variety

has been grown over a large concentrated area that a reputation for quality can be obtained and a premium price commanded. There is great absence of information with regard to marketing conditions in India. In all provinces markets vary greatly in character and importance. Some are privately owned; some are directly under the control of the district board or municipality. It is only in Berar that the constitution of markets is regulated by special legislation and that the management is in the hands of elected committees. An act for regulation of cotton markets in the Bombay Presidency has recently been passed but has not yet come into operation.

In all provinces we received complaints of the disabilities under which the cultivator labours in selling his produce in markets as at present organised. It would be unfair to ascribe these entirely to the middleman. It must be recognised that the middleman fulfils essential functions and that it is not possible to dispense with him. That abuses exist and that some of these can be remedied or removed is, however, beyond dispute.

The most hopeful solution of the cultivator's marketing difficulties seems to lie in the improvement of communications and the establishment of regulated markets, and we recommend for the consideration of other provinces the establishment of regulated markets on the Berar system as modified by the Bombay legislation. The establishment of regulated markets must form an essential part of any ordered plan of agricultural development in this country. The Bombay Act is, however, definitely limited to cotton markets and the bulk of the transactions in Berar markets is also in that crop. We consider that the system can conveniently be extended to other crops and, with a view to avoiding difficulties, would suggest that regulated markets should only be established under provincial legislation. Local governments should also take the initiative and such markets should immediately be established in a few principal centres. Only in this way will public opinion be educated to realise the advantages of markets of this character and a demand for them be created. The relationship of a regulated market to the council of any municipality or to the local board in the area in which the market is being established will require careful consideration in drafting legislation.

We consider that the management of these markets should be vested in a market committee. This committee should contain adequate representation of the actual cultivators in the areas served by the market and, if their interests are not adequately safeguarded, an official of the agricultural department might well be nominated to the committee to protect them. It is undesirable that any licensed broker should be eligible for election to the committee as a representative of the cultivator. Provision should be made for the representation on the committee of co-operative societies in the area served by the market. The addition to the committee of nominated members should not be allowed to reduce the actual trade representatives below a certain limit. The committee should elect its own chairman. Details of the