The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-16 00:00:00

EAST INDIA IRRIGATION AND CANAL

COMPANY.

The first ordinary general meeting of the share-
holders in this company was held at the London
Tavern yesterday—James Thompson, Esq., in the
chair.
The report having been taken as read,
The CHAIRMAN said the prospectus of this
company, which was issued after a lengthened
negotiation with the Secretary of State for India,
was based on terms which had been agreed upon
with him, and they did not anticipate that they
should experience any serious difficulty in coming
to a practical understanding with the supreme
Government of India. They were in the first in-
stance most desirous to come to a settlement with
the home authorities, as had been done in all other
cases where companies had been established in this
country for the carrying out of public works in
India. They were not aware of any sufficient ob-
jection to this course on the part of the Government,
and they still thought that with an honest desire on
both sides to come to a satisfactory conclusion, this
would have been the most expedient and certainly
by far the promptest course of procedure. The
Secretary of State, however, ruled otherwise, and
they accepted a reference to Bengal, on the faith
that thenceforth they would have to do only with
the supreme Government of India, and that the
Governor-General would feel himself competent to
make an arrangement with them on the basis of the
terms which had been agreed upon. They accord-
ingly communicated with the supreme Government
on the Ist of September last, and they at the same
time availed themselves of the opportunity of for-
warding to the Governor-General a draft contract
for consideration. His reply was dated the sth
Decembr, showing that it met his immediate atten-
tion ; but having been forwarded to the Secretary of
State, though it was due in the middle of January,
it did not reach them till the middle of March.
(Hear, hear.) This reply was in all respects satis-
factory. The Governor-General understood the
terms they proposed to Sir C. Wood as they
understood them, and as it appeared to him they
would be understood by any ordinary unsophisti-
cated mind, and the suggestions that he made and
spirit in which he met their propositions were such
as to assure them that from his Government they
should receive every consideration. In forwarding
this despatch the Secretary of State took the op-
portunity to tell them that they and the Governor-
General had in one essential point entirely miscon-
ceived his intentions. It was stipulated in the
original basis of agreement that the whole profit of
their works should be theirs ; that the price of the
water sold to the Government should be fixed by
legislative enactment before the works were com-
menced ; and that such water should be sold only to
the Government with the view, as they understood,
of preventing any difficulty, and saving the neces-
sity of their coming into contact with the cultiva-
tors. The Secretary of State now intimated, how-
ever, that by such whole profits he merely meant
the sale price altogether, irrespective of the profit
that was the effect of their irrigation of the land ;
that this price, moreover, was to he altered from
time to time ; and that, in fact, the Government was
to be at perfect liberty to charge what rates they
chose to the cultivator, in the shape of land tax,
altogether without reference to the value of the ir-
rigation to the cultivator, and without reference to
the sale price to them. In order to understand this
completely it was necessary to bear in mind that
in no part of India that he was aware of was the
water rate—that was, the intrinsic value of the
water—kept entirely distinct from the land tax,
except in two cases, Rajanaundry and the Ganges
Canal, where the land tax was separate from the
water rate ; but in both those cases the distinction
was more nominal than real. That being the case,
if the Government reserved to themselves the right
of altering the price of water from time to time, and
of increasing the land tax of the lands irrigated by
the company on the ground of improved value con-
sequent on irrigation, this was nothing more nor
less than indirectly appropriating to themselves a
portion of the profits. The company did not desire
to interfere with the discretion of the Government
in dealing with the proper land-tax of the country
in any way they might deem expedient, but the
company understood their profit to be the value of
the irrigation as between themselves and the. culti-
vator, and they contended that if the Government
assumed to themselves either directly or indirectly
the charging of rates for water other than they paid
to them, this would not be carrying out the spirit
of their agreement that the whole profits should be-
long to the company. He thought this would be
generally admitted, and it seemed strange that it
should be disputed by the Secretary of State. The
Governor-General had no doubt on the subject, and
if he had been left to conclude the arrangement on
the basis of the terms which had been agreed upon
with Sir C. Wood—and what other object was there
in referring it to the supreme Government ?—the
whole matter would have been arranged. To this
point, however, they had now got, after a lengthened
negotiation, an arduous struggle, and a considerable
delay. They had received the asserance of the
Secretary for India that the matter was left entirely
in the hands of Lord Canning, and that what-
ever he did would be confirmed by the Government
at home. The Government had suggested to them
to send out an agent to negotiate with the supreme
Government, but they had thought it not desirable
to do that till the contract laying down the general
principles on which they were to proceed was
signed, and as he had mentioned they some time
ago sent out a draft contract, in which Lord Can-
ning had made some alterations. These they had
mainly concurred in, and there was now nothing
to interfere with the satisfactory settlement of that
contract. When the contract had been signed they
would appoint an engineer with a sufficient staff,
to survey the country and to plan the works, and
no further expense would be incurred till this sur-
vey and plans had been completed, and the nature
and extent of the works had been satisfactorily
ascertained. The territory of Orissa had for some
years forced itself upon the attention of Govern-
ment. There were many parts of England which
had been equally neglected, but nowhere, perhaps,
had the result of mismanagement and neglect been
so apparent and attended with such direful conse-
quences as in this unfortunate province of Orissa.
This province might be taken as consisting of
three tracts, The first skirted the sea coast, was
low and swampy, and was turned to little account,
its chief product being salt, of which a large quan-
tity was produced, and which yielded a large re-
venue. This district was intersected with a great
many small streams, which contained in them a
subsoil of fine mud, calculated to act as a good
manure, and there was no doubt that under good
treatment this part of the country admitted
to % very great extent of profitable culti-
vation. It had, however, b€en turned to very little
account, mainly from the vicissitudes of the sea-
sons and the great risk that attended its cultivation.
It produced some of the staple articles of commerce
which were grown there in different patches, but
only to a very small extent, though there was no
doubt that under a different system of management,
if there were means of irrigation and transport to the
sea-board, they would be produced to a large ex-
tent. Inland of this district was the second dis-
trict, densely wooded, and also said to be rich in
mineral wealth. The district had beeh recently
surveyed, and the engineer said the upper region
of the Mahanuddy certainly admitted of very great
improvement. The floods in the river rose seven
feet above the level of the country, and the
natural result followed, that the whole country
was periodically submerged. Mr. Shore, a Go-
vernment officer, speaking of this, said :—" It is
not right that the people should every year be
kept on the qui vice for two or three days and
nights, waiting for a signal to fly to the highest
attainable ground, and see their houses crushing
around them." This occurred not once in a century
but every year, and sometimes twice a year. In
addition to this the town of Cuttack was annually
in the greatest danger of being destroyed by the
fieods. The engineer reported that on the last oc-
casion, if the water had risen only three inches
higher nothing could have saved the town ; that a
breach was made, and it was only by the greatest
exertions that they filled it up with bags of sand.
lie was sure there was not one present who would
not respond to the observation of Sir Arthur Cotton,
wchabh,roinsiastgpepnaakscisoneugd notffrryot, from the
district, said :—" Think of a
tract held for 50 years by a civilised, energetic,
without
handshoutoneof
a indicationsemsemi-civilised
heathen government, excepting in its being much
great
te protectedand
serious
evmil
the
eods than
govern before."
raent had
been
ban attemptingkin e n t s remedyoneeid
e ellyththeevacroinesuteruechtainonnelosf,
and
d-
if this had been done when the main river was
making openings through the delta it might have
been done at a comparatively moderate outlay, but
as usual the matter was neglected, and it was only
after the dangerous results of such neglect became
apparent thst the means IV been taken to provide
a remedy. But the only object and effect of the
embankments would be to restore the river to its
poriginalrnvide for condition
droughts
o ; theyby
whichls7O
lil
e 0
cotluOnntlrhyl gwto
s
liable to be visited. As hp had said, there was at
present no irrigation, though this was a country
which seemed by nature to have been intended for
irrigation, and bylirrigation these large rivers which
hitherto had been a curse might be made a blessing.
At present the whole revenue of Onttack' a district
as large as Wales, was only 16 'tics or £160:000,
but which it was stated by Capt. Beadle, a govern-
ment officer, might, by a little attention to irriga-
tion, be increased to £400,000, Capt Short said of the
eouthern portion of the Cuttackdiqriot, the Po9ree