The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-23 00:00:00

INDIAN RAILROADS, CANALS, cf,c.

_ •

(From the Morning Herald.)
It was stated in 1848 by Mr. Mangles, now
chairman of the East India Company, that of
300,000,0001. of money received from the natives
of India only 1,400,0001. had been expended in
roads and public works. Agreeing as we do with
Mr. Disraeli that the blue books which constitute
our Parliamentary literature are an invaluable re-
pository of facts and opinions, we
propose from
that source of information, which few have time to
consult, to-describe what the Company have really
done for Hindostan in the department of civil en-
gineering. Their principal labours have been di-
rected to canals and roads. The fornier receive
water from -the rivers, which are either fed by
the melted snows of the Himalayas or supplied
by the rains of the south-western monsoons. The
chief rivers which derive their s'reams from the
Himalayas are the Ganges, t he Jumna, and thelndue;
those which depend on the replenishment of their
channels from the south-western monsoon are the
Nerbuddah, Taptee, Cauvery, Kistna, and Goda-
very. The Jumna was made available for canal
purposes about the middle of the 14th century,
two canals having been then formed • but both
were suffered to fall into decay about the middle of
the last century. They were res'ored by the Mar-
quis of Hastings between 1823 and 1830. " The
whole of the visible streamof the Jumna," accord-
ing to Mr. Thornton, " has been diverted from
the original channel at Badshahmahal, 155 miles

above Delhi, into two canals, called the Eastern and
Western Jumna Canals; and those run parallel with
the parent river, and join it again at. Delhi On the
opposite sides of the river." The Nerbuddah and
the Taptee flow into the gulf of Cambay, and as the
whole of the coast is under the influence of the
south-western monsoons, there is ho occasion to
make canals in that district for the purposes of ag
ricul.ural irrigation. The whole deltas of the Cau-
very, the Kistna, and the Godavery are supplied
with water from those rivers, and on the latter
Colon( .1 Cotton has constructed some excellent
hydraulic works, to which we shall particularly
allude on another occasion. These three deltas
are estimated to c,,ntlin 5,000 square miles; and
the waters of the three rivers, though not' use'
for canal purposes, are intercepted in their passage
to the sea by a dam, and are thus 'made
subs rvient to navigation on the right and left.
The Gano'q s Canal, with its branches, measure
from 700 to 800 miles, and will be available
both for irrigation and navigation. In the
Punjauh, the Ravee Canal will flow through a
channel of 400 miles, and Umritsir and Lahore will
be supplied from its branches, by which means a
large tract of country will be brought under cultiva-
tion. The disAarge of the Ravee at the source of the
canai is 3,000 cubic feet per second ; and engineers
have ascertained that one cubic foot per second is
sufficient for the annual irrigati,n of 218 acres, r
shout one-third of a square On this subject
Mr. Thornton comes to this general conclusion.
Taking the a hole of these rivers--the Ganges, the
Junin?, the Raves, the Su tlej, and Jhelum—you get
a discharge of 24,000 cubic feet per second ; but it
appears that the people of the village do not irrigates
the whole of the surface, but only about one-third; a
cubic foot per second will, thcref‘ re, irrigate about
a square mile ; consequently, 24,00 U cubic feet per
second are sufficient for the annual irrigation of
24,000 square miles, actually irrigating one-third
of it, the other two-thirds not being required to be
irrigated. •

The principal trunk roads run from Calcutta to
De'hi, and onward to Peshawur, from 13Jrnb ty to
Agra, and from Bombay to Ca,lcutt t via Nagpoß.
Toe road from Calcutta to Peshawur m,asurea
ready 1,500 miles. Up 'o 132,111 i it is macadamised,
with the exception of the,Rtv, rs Soane and Jumna,
it is bridged. This grand trunk road from Calcutta
to a lhi cost in construction 1,0001. per mile, and
ti keep the whole distance in repair absorbs an
anneal expenditure of 50,0001. Stations aro erected
along the whole line of the trunk roads,
called travellers' bungalows. The cost of
road-making in different districts varies con-
siderably ; while, as stated, the Calcutta to Delhi,
cost 1,0001. per mile, that of Bombay only cost •
3301. per mile, but it is not macadamised. There
was no law euipowering the levy of tills up to
1852, and they are only raised in three or four
of the mountain passes, calle l gltauts, on which
the Company have to excavate large tanks, or the
cattle would perish from want of water. The
distance from Calcutta to L chore has been per-
' formed by c4rrilge d ink,—that is, post-office mail
--A1 the sixth day from starti, g, which gives a
speed of 81 miles per hour. During the Affghau
campaign it was not performed under ten days, so
that the improvement has .been very considerable
of late years. Mr. Thornton, who is at the
heal of the Statistical Department of the India
House computes the annual expenditure- on
the icrids, canals, embankments, and bridges,
taking -the last tiifreen years preceding the
year 1853, at 240,000/. for the first ten
years, and at 400,0001. for the last five
years. An outlay of 1,500,0001. was authorised on
the Ganges Canal, and 500,0001. for that of the
Punjaub.

After long resistance from the Company railways
have been introduced into India, but the lines, or
portions of lines, yet completed, are very trifling
compared to the extent of the territory. Lord
Dalhousie recommended the immediate establish-
ment of a line from Calcutta to Peshawur, and
proposed to connect that with a line either from
Bombay to Agra or from Bombay through the
valley of Berar to Allahabad; another line travers-
ing the country from Madras to Poonany, and
one from Madras to Bellary and Bombay. A
system of electric telegraphs, connecting the
three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and
Bombay with each other, and with Agra, Lahore,
aud. Shull+, has been completed at a cost of 351. per
mile, or a total of 110,2501. for a distance of 3,150
miles. The Company are also entitled to-credit for
deepening, within the last ten years, the ." Paum-
hum Passage," between the island of Ceylon and
the continent of India. Large ships, which formerly
were obliged to sail round the island, now safely
pass tiroug,ll this improved channel. The Indian
Government is also entitled to praise for the trigo-
nometrical survey of the country, an arc of the
meridian having.been measured from Caps Comorin
to the base of the Himalayas—about 1,100 miles;
that forms a starting point for triangulating the
whole country, and delineating its topography and
geography. The great atlas of India is upon a scale
of four miles to an inch. The survey of the north-
west provinces was completed in 1842 • and, with
the settlement, cost 337,0J0/. Every field has been
measured, and there are thirty-one provinces iu
the north-west.
Such is a substantial account of what the Com•
pany have done to promote the material interests of
India during the last few years of their dominion ;
but we fear it is true that even this small activity was
involuntary, and forced upon them by the remon-
strances of public opinion. They have long known
that India never could become an exporting country
without a complete network of railways, as the cost
of transporting commodities over earth roads,
on the backs of bullocks for long distances, de-
stroyed all profit, and thus indirectly arrested pro-
duction. The stagnation of business has of course
tied down the labourer to the lowest level of sub-
sistence while surrounded by all the raw materials
of wealth, he has lived and died a pauper because
these have never been developed. We have suf-
fered the cultivator to pine in indigence, while we
have pampered the Bengal sepoy taken from the
class of cultivators. While the Indian Government
has been pressed down, by growing indebtedness, •
and an annually deficient revenue, it has wilfully
neglected the most obvious means of extricating
itself from difficulties by discouraging an industry
which alone could recruit their exhausted treasury.
We willingly give them credit for all that they hiftve
recently attempted or achieved ' • but there is no
excuse for a century of inertness. When the mutiny
is quelled, other men and other measures must be
introduced, for the old routine is pregnant with
disaster. Let us at least be wise enough to profit
by the lessons of experience.

The President of the India Board (the Right Hon. R.
Vernon Smith) has conferred a cadetship in the East
India Company's service on the Fon of Sir li. -Wheeler,
K.C.8., who was murdered at Cawnpre ; and on the
son of Major Burton, who was murdered at Sotah.
[ADVEItTISEMENTI Coloured Maps Gratis.—A Plan of Man.
chester will be presented Gratis with the DISPATCH, ou Sun-
day. next, Dec.l 27th, A truly beautiful-Coloured double
Map (if Asia will also be given on Sunday, Jan, 3d. And a
coloured Map will be iss,ted every week Gratis with each copy
of the DISPATCH,
Numbers per m
oa fy the
b e made Atlas
completea r e k
to form
Back the fect and useful Atept
las
ttiatthe work
from the commencement at any time, and at the perfect
convenience of the purchaser. Any Map of the Series may
ever
published.
1 i s
on
d.
sale,
so e
constantly h
be bad with the Newspaper of the current week, or with
any copy not out of print. The price of the DisrArcu
is—unstamped, sd, ; stamped (to go free by post), 6d.
The Friday Evening Edition may be received in the most
I distant. parts of the kingdom on Saturday morning. Port-
folios, with spring-clipped backs, arc now ready, price
3s. 6d., 45., and upwards. Orders received by aU News
, Agents, and at the Office, 139, Fleet-street, London,