The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-06 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—YESTERDAY.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

CIIUR.CII RATES.

The-Archbishop of YORK presented a petition from Scar-
borough against the abolition of church rates. •
CONSOLIDATION OF STATUTES.

In reply to some observations by Lord BROUGHAM and
ether noble lords, _

vY
The LORD CHANCELLOR entered into some ex-
planations relative to the bills that had been introduced
into Parliament on this subject, and expressed a hope that
it wonl I be passed this session.

Lord BROUGHAM expressed a similar hope.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway (Capital), Bir-
mingham Improvement, Margate Railway (Ramsgate Ex-
tension, &c.), and St. George's Harbour Bills were read a
second time.

The Stockport, Timperley, and Altrincham Junction
Railway Bills were read a third time and passed.

INDIA.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY moved "That an humble
address be presented to her Majesty, to assure her Majesty
that this house has regarded with great satisfaction the
progress of public works in various parts of India ; and
to beseech her Majesty that, with a view to confer fur-
ther benefits on that country, she will be pleased to
take into her immediate and serious consideration the
best means of extending throughout it, as widely as pos-
sible, the best systems of irrigation and internal navi-
gation." The noble earl said the subject was one that
had latterly been much discussed, and there were two cir-
cumstances which at the present time gave it a peculiar
importance : the famine which had desolated so large a pot--
Lion of India, and the troubles in the United States, which
had threatened so large a portion of our cotton supply. The
famine unmistakably proved the defect of our present sys-
tem of irrigation in India, and the American revolution
showed the great hazard to which we exposed ourselves in
depending entirely upon a single source of supply. A de-
fective supply this year might lead to one equally defective
next year, and we must not forgot there were now not less
than 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 of our fellow-countrymen de-
pendent upon our manufactures in cotton. It was not his
intention to put forward India as a single source of supply ;
but while recognising the West African and West Indian
fields, it appeared to him that India had a special claim to
attention. The two great wants of the country were irriga-
tion and inland navigation—irrigation for the purpose of
fertilising the soil, inland navigation :for the purpose of
carrying off its produce. And these ought always to go
together, because for want of nrvigable canals it had
often happened that abundance in a particular .district had
proved rather a burden than otherwise. He did not, how-
ever, propose canals in any spirit of antagonism to railways ;
on the contrary, he was satisfied that the more they deve-
loped the resources of the country the more likely the rail-
ways of India would be to prove remunerative. The system
of irrigation was peculiarly adapted to the conformation of
the country, and it had prevailed for many centuries under
the native princes, who had carried it out upon a very large
scale. At a very early date those princes had became per-
fectly alive to the necessities of their country and to the true
mode of meeting them. In proof of that he need only refer
to the report of 1853 upon public works in Madras,in which
he found the following passage :—" The mere mention of
the number of works (executed under native princes) would
give no just idea respecting them, as they vary so greatly
in size and value; but we may notice tanks and channels in
14 of the chief Ryotwar irrigated districts." Of these there
were 43,000 in repair and 10,000 out of repair. The esti-
mated amount of capital invested in their construction had
been very little less than 15 millions sterling. The report
proceeded :—" An examination of this list of works suggests
humiliating reflections. The ancient rulers of the country,
with resources of science and skill unmeasurably inferior to
what we can command, raised those numberless magnifi-
cent and valuable works. They are due to the enlightened
intelligence of princes whom we are accustomed to style
barbarians." Irrigation by means of the river water had
moreover a special value ; for as Dr. Watson, in his admirable
lecture on cotton in India,had observed, " Irrigation is essen-
tial, not merely as bringing water but also organic matter,
and certain though small quantities of salts,such as gypsum
and common salt." In considering the water system of
India they must remember that the country suffered not only
from excess but from deficiency—from deluges as well as from
drought. What therefore was wanted was the means of
storing up the flood water, and then in the dry season letting
it flew in fertilising streams over each district. As to inland
navigation, he need only remind their lordships that it was
by using its natural means of internal communication that
America had made those rapid strides which were the won-
der of the present age. (Hear, hear.) But India had ad-
vantages which America had not, for its rivers might be
made navigable for the whole of the year, whereas the
American ones, in consequence of the cold, only enjoyed
that advantage for nine months. Water carriage, too, was
the most easy of construction, the cheapest to keep in repair,
and the best adapted for carrying heavy burdens. It, more-
over,charged the lowest tolls and yielded the largest revenue.
With all these advantages what use had they made of them?
The same report said—" In general it may be affirmed that
the greater part of the flood-waters of our rivers are turned
to no account, and vast bodies of water flow annually to the
sea which might be made use of to fertilise hundreds of
thousands of acres, to feed a vast population, and add enor-
mously both to the wealth of the people and the revenue of
the Government." The report proceeded to say, " Still less
use (this remark, though made on native princes, is equally
applicable to the British Government) was made of the canals
of irrigation, though many of them were well adapted for
water carriage during 6or 8 months of the year." From
the defect of water communication had arisen the greater
part of the evils that afflicted India—its famines, its pesti-
lences, its fevers, and all its consequent suffering. It was
impossible to have a stronger proof of that than what had
taken place in respect of the Great Ganges Canal. The Great
Ganges Canal ran through a district particularly in need of
the agency of water. When the canal was first constructed it
was left unfinished; the distributing channels were not
touched at all, and the consequence was that the canal was
quoted as a strong proof against canal navigation in India.
But what was the present state of things ? Mr. T. Moss, the
assistant secretary to the government of the North-Western
Provinces, said, "The beneficial effect of the canal during
the first season cannot be over•estimated ;" and Captain
Turnbull, the Superintendent-General of Irrigation, states
that, " Had there been no canal there would have been no
crop on broad lands which are now covered with wheat and
other cereals in large abundance." According to a rough
calculation 339,243,8401b5. of grain have thus been supplied
to the market during the recent calamitous season, and as
each pound is an ample quantity for one man daily, this
would be equal to the maintenance of 644,718 men and
464,718 women and children for a whole year, while it will
also have produced fodder sufficient to keep from starvation
the cattle of the districts through which the canal has
passed, and has probably saved the Government from mak-
ing remissions of land revenue to the amount of £lBO,OOO or
,-C200,000. Ile added, "It cannot fail to produce 'a very
great impression on the minds of the people, who will thus
have been saved from starvation and misery, and to make
them happy and contented?' Could it be wondered at that
the Lieutenant-Governor should have appended this re-
mark, " His honour feels sure that it will be both policy
and good economy to push oat this magnificent work to
completion with the utmost vigour, even though at the risk
of some present financial inconvenience." This was an
instance of a country which needed irrigation, and where
they saw the results of it. But the greatest of all triumphs
had been effected by the opening up of the district of Raja-
mundry, in the delta of the Godavera., the wonderful work
of Sir Arthur Cotton, the result of which had been that the
revenue increased upon last year, 1860, £45,000. The ex-
ports were £500,000, being an increase of £lBO,OOO ; the
bullion imported by those people, who had been the most
impoverished people in India, amounted to £190,000; the
revenue increased £175,000, being an increase of 90 per
cent., on what it was before'the works began, and the profit
on the expenditure was 40 per cent. The boats on the
canal to seaport in 1852 and 1853 were 752; and in 1862, a
period of only eight years, they had increased to 15,000 :
and the tonnage cf each boat on an average was twofold
greater than that of the boats used formerly. Here was a
let ter just received from that district :—" Nothing is more
probable than that this tract of country may this very year be
visited with famine for want of those works ; as it is, even at
this moment, a great part of the Madras Presidency is on the
very verge of famine ; rice is selling at a penny a pound,
from two to three times its ordinary price, indicating most
terrible sufferings among the poor. In Rajahmundry, on
the other hand, where irrigation works are in operation, the
price is just half what it is in other districts, and while the
people are entirely free from all such pressure, they ate ex-
porting probably more than 80,000 tons this year to relieve
the suffering provinces." In Appendix Zto those papers
of 1853 there was the following statement of results for 14
years, from 1835 to 1849, of expenditure on irrigation works:
—The number of places was 39. On one point the profits
were 77 per cent. ; on another, 91 per cent. ; on another, 197
per cent ; on another, 2:59 per cent. ; and the average profits
on the whcle were 691 per cent. If those results wore brought
dew to the present day he believed they would be much
larger. On the other hand let them see the effect of neglect
and of omission to construct th..so works. He would take
the district of Guntoor, which had an area of 4,700 square
miles,
,and which lay on the south bank of the Kistnah
J. he report alluding to the state of things in 1852,
said :—",
The large number of ruined tanks in all parts of
the country indicate that formerly the extent of irrigated
land was considerable; at present it is only 4 per cent. of
the total cultivation." During
left2co theo oo
district, andtotal
there
emany
persons. loss to zbzn thedain m
starvationrfa i
andfamine
fever
si.rYots, and Govern-
ment was estimated at above two
millions
by
ns
the
ete
.Whoatf
ofpithie c statei n
of
was the condition of Guntoor
wor:is ? Mr. Bourdillon said,
apeaking
the district in 1861, " The works on the Kistnah were
suspended by the mutiny, and works of distribution
very partially executed. You ask whether Gunther is
more safe from famine than it used to be. No doubt
it is, because two talooks are partially watered from
the Kistnah. The dams are complete, but the channels for
them are wanting, though the cost would be small, andthe