of irrigation problems for which geological, chemical or mechanical knowledge is required. It has, for example, been suggested that a sunken range of rocks is a factor which influences the water table of the Punjab plains: the verification of the existence of such a range and the determination of its features is work for the geologist but it might prove of the greatest value to the irrigation engineer. The discovery of a suitable material for lining canals which would bring the cost of that method of preventing waterlogging within the sphere of practical politics might well prove the decisive factor in restoring waterlogged areas to cultivation. In these and other directions, the scientific staff of the Indian universities could render material help to the irrigation engineer. The investigation of the problems of irrigation in the Empire generally will doubtless receive an impetus from the prominence given to the subject in the Imperial Agricultural Conference held in London in the autumn of 1927. We have no doubt that irrigation engineers in India will be able to make a valuable contribution to the solution of these problems. The precise way in which this contribution can best be made will need careful consideration. We are confident that Indian opinion would warmly welcome a decision to establish an all-Empire research station in India. The new experience thus made mutually available between the staff of the station and the officers of the irrigation and agricultural departments should contribute much towards the advancement of research in irrigation both in India and throughout the Empire. The authorities responsible for the decision on this point may be assured that Indian opinion will welcome an arrangement by which the personnel of an all-Empire station in India whould be controlled, and the administration conducted, in precisely the same manner as in the case of the other stations in the chain. NECESSITY FOR A CENTRAL FOR IRRIGATION RE- 288. If, as we hold, the necessity for research into irrigation problems in all provinces in which irrigation is of importance has been established, the question arises whether much of the work could not be carried out at a central station with consequent saving in staff and expense. The number of officers qualified to undertake research of this character is limited and the establishment of a central station might enable their services to be utilised to greater advantage. But, apart entirely from the administrative problems which are presented by the fact that irrigation is now a provincial subject, we are doubtful whether the problems arising out of irrigation are sufficiently common to all provinces to make the establishment of a central research station either necessary or desirable. Of these problems, that presented by alkali formations is undoubtedly the one which is most common to the irrigated tracts of India but such little work as has been done on it goes to show that these formations are by no means universally due to the same causes. Again, the problem presented by waterlogging in the alluvial tracts of the north is entirely different from that in the trap and crystalline formations of the south, whilst the water requirements of the crops grown in sub-tropical India differ greatly from those of the crops grown in the peninsula. In such circumstances, we are inclined to doubt whether any provincial irrigation department would be willing to accept and work on the results obtained at a research station situated in another province without further independent enquiry. The object we have in view, that of making the experience of one province available to others, can, we think, best be secured by the Central Bureau of Information, the establishment of which we have recommended in paragraph 285 above. The work carried on at each provincial research station should 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. Whilst we do not recommend the establishment of a central research station, it will be obvious that an officer who has made a special study of a problem in one province would be in a position to render substantial help to another province even though the local conditions in that province might be different from those in his own. We consider, therefore, that the interchange between provinces of specialist officers-the number of which is, in the nature of the case, bound to be very limited-should be encouraged. 289. It would appear that many of the troubles which have arisen in the irrigated tracts of India in regard to water DRAINAGE SURVEYS, logging 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 have little doubt that the lesson has been learnt and that, where this is not already the practice, a careful drainage survey which should include estimates for drainage construction will, in future, form an integral part of all new irrigation projects. The importance of the control of surface drainage is not, however, confined to canal-irrigated areas. We have drawn attention to one aspect of it in connection with soil erosion. In paragraph 292 below, we draw attention to yet another aspect of it in Bengal. The Indian Sugar Committee pointed out the importance of proper drainage as a factor in the successful cultivation of sugarcane and drew special attention to the system of drainage which is practised in Java. The Committee recommended that a drainage survey should be carried out in the submontane tracts of the United Provinces in which, from Saharanpur to Gorakhpur, with the exception of Bahraich, the area under sugarcane is large. The necessity for a complete drainage scheme was also brought prominently to our notice in the North-West Frontier Province. In these circumstances, we support the suggestion made by Mr. Howard in his book on "Crop Production in India" that drainage maps should be drawn up by competent engineers who possess the necessary agricultural insight. As he points out, once such maps have been constructed, 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. From the drainage maps it will be MO Y 286-23+ a short step to the preparation of a series of monographs on the river systems of India such as already exists in European countries like Italy. Those of our members who have visited Egypt have been impressed with the attention there given to the systematic drainage of irrigated land. We understand, too, that in the United States of America, where large irrigation schemes have been carried out, drainage questions have now assumed first place in importance among subjects receiving the attention of research workers; since it is found that, if the free downward percolation of water is arrested, alkali troubles almost invariably follow. (i) PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES. 290. Whilst we have not been in a position to present an exhaustive review of the irrigation problems of the different IRRIGATION IN SIND. provinces, there are four questions to the importance of which we desire to draw special attention. These are the problems and opportunities which arise from the prospective wide extension of irrigation in Sind and the irrigation problems in Bengal, the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. We have mentioned that the great Sukkur Barrage which is now being constructed across the Indus below Sukkur, the work on which we inspected in March, 1927, will provide perennial irrigation for some five million acres of land, of which two million acres now receive an unsatisfactory supply from inundation canals and three million acres are uncultivated for lack of irrigation. It is anticipated that water will be available in 1931 and that, although it may take forty years before irrigation is developed to the final stage, the most rapid progress will take place from 1935 to 1938. There can be no doubt that this vast project provides a unique opportunity for putting into practice the lessons to be drawn from irrigation experience elsewhere in India. There is every reason to believe that the greatness of the opportunity thus presented is fully realised but there are a few points we wish to emphasise. We have carefully examined the project from the point of view of its effect on cultivation and on the welfare of the rural population. There is at present considerable difference in the agricultural conditions on the right and left banks of the Indus. The area on the left bank is mainly a cotton area, the agricultural organisation of which is based on one irrigated crop in three years. Wheat and rice are the principal crops on the right bank and a crop is taken every year. The first question for special investigation is the kind of crops the cultivation of which can confidently be recommended to the cultivator in all the tracts to be brought under perennial irrigation. It should be ascertained whether the distinction between the crops which are grown on the right and left banks is based on a real difference in conditions of soil, water supply or climate, in fact, on anything more definite than a preference on the part of the cultivator. It should further be decided how far it is prudent, in the left bank area, to rely on cotton only as the main crop or whether efforts should be made to find alternative money crops which can be grown successfully in this tract. We note that berseem has been grown with success. The Agricultural Department should examine the possibility of encouraging the development of a dairy industry based on fodder crops grown on irrigated land. A system of mixed farming might well prove of much value both from the point of view of direct financial return and in its effect in promoting and maintaining soil fertility; but this last advantage will depend upon the adoption by the cultivator of sound practice in conserving and using natural manure. We need hardly emphasise the desirability that the water requirements of the crops which will be grown when perennial irrigation is assured should be determined as soon as possible and that from the outset, investigations should be carried out with a view to ensuring that the problems which have arisen in other irrigated tracts from waterlogging and alkaline formations do not appear in this tract. We attach great importance to obtaining timely and authoritative information in regard to these and kindred matters which affect the welfare of the cultivator. The tract appears to us to be one in which the establishment of a joint irrigation and agricultural station for research into irrigation problems at the earliest possible moment is eminently desirable. In 1924, the Government of Bombay appointed a committee to consider the administrative developments that were necessary for the provision of agricultural advice to zamindars confronted with an entirely novel system of irrigation; and the opening of the research and experiment station at Sakrand in 1925 has been the first step in a programme of vast importance. No decision appears to have yet been taken on the point whether the Agricultural Department in Sind should be separated from the department in the Presidency proper and placed under a separate Director. The urgency of the closest collaboration between agricultural, revenue and irrigational officers has been already set forth, and we deem it our duty to advise the Government that the chief revenue and irrigational officers should have ready access to agricultural advice at the headquarters of the Province of Sind. The agricultural problems of Sind will, in our opinion, assume such importance as a result of the construction of the Barrage that we consider the province should have its own Director of Agriculture with headquarters at Karachi. The work at the Sakrand farm and its sub-stations will fully occupy the time of a deputy director of agriculture. We recognise that Sind under Barrage irrigation will contain as important and comprehensive a system of agriculture as Egypt has to-day and we consider that the welfare of the people demands a chain of experimental stations subsidiary to Sakrand, and a full staff of competent officers. We are convinced that the financial returns to the State from expenditure on a far-sighted policy will be on the most. generous scale. The training of the staff for Sind is a matter of considerable difficulty. We are informed that the arrangement with the Punjab Government, whereby Sindhi candidates attended the college at Lyallpur, was given up owing to a financial disagreement; MO Y 286-23a and we would suggest that this matter should be adjusted at the earliest possible date. (ii) THE PRINCIPLES We trust that, in the very natural preoccupation due to the construetion of the Sukkur Barrage, the possibilities of irrigation development in other parts of Sind will not be entirely lost sight of. The evidence we recorded at Karachi showed that there are certain areas outside the area commanded by the Sukkur Barrage project in which there are considerable possibilities for schemes for pumping water from rivers, canals and other sources, as the water requires to be lifted a few feet only. The problem which is thus one of evolving a suitable pump combining a low lift with a high discharging capacity should be investigated by the engineering section of the Agricultural Department. 291. The principles which should be adopted in disposing of such of the areas which will come under irrigation as are still at the disposal of Government require to be settled without delay. We conceive that these fall into three main divisions. In the first place, the claims of the indigenous population general immigration from outside which will be essential to the proper development of the tract will require careful consideration. We trust that some equitable solution will be found which will ensure to the labourer (hari) as well as to the landholder in Sind a first claim to those lands in the newly irrigated tracts which are at the disposa! of Government. We consider, however, that the immigration of a certain number of progressive cultivators, including those familiar with the possibilities of irrigation elsewhere, should have a beneficial effect on the local standards of cultivation, and we, therefore, recommend that provision for them should be included in the allocation of such lands. TO BE ADOPTED IN in the face of the In the second place, it is important that the manner in which the areas at the disposal of Government should be allocated should be determined as soon as possible. In such schemes, the small holder must form the backbone of any intensive system of cultivation and should be encouraged in every possible way. But it will probably be as important here, as in the Punjab colonies, to insist that the small holder shall himself cultivate his grant and shall not be allowed to grow into a petty absentee landlord. In the Punjab, it is a condition of all peasant grants that the grantee shall settle permanently on the estate and build himself a house there. These conditions must be fulfilled before occupancy rights can be acquired, and even when, later, the grantee is permitted to acquire proprietary rights, the sale is conditional on the continued observance of this condition. The value of the small holder is so linked up with his residence on the estate that we think that the attempt should be made in Sind to ensure observance of this condition on lines conformable to the prevailing systems of tenure. If any applicants for larger grants are forthcoming who can be trusted to carry on agriculture by progressive methods and who possess such public spirit as would lead them to contribute substantially to the social advancement of their smaller neighbours, then we |