The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-22 00:00:00

Government and the Indian administration have LATEST INTELL MEN CB

lately shown much more interest in matters connected
with irrigation, and, although Sir ARTHUR COTTON,
after his 40 years' experience, and his long acquaint-
ance wi th the delays and indifference of govern-
ments, naturally looks with suspicion on all official
pledg es, yet we may hope the pressure of public
bu?kness will keep them up to the mark. It seems
sb:ange that, in a country in which the Anglo-
Saxon element so largely predominates, an under-
taking of such vital importance and comparatively
easy achievement should have been overlooked, but
-we must remember that India is not England. The
climate is exhausting and unfavourable to energy,
whilethesystem of governmentis altogether different
from our own, and the classes who would be most
active and most interested in forwarding any such
measures at home take little part in public matters.
Indian affairs generally want that enterprise and
vigour with which great undertakings are pushed
forward in England. The administration is con-
ducted in a different spirit, and public interests
suffer for lack of the vigilant supervision of the
House of Commons. With regard to this
matter of irrigation no Indian Government has
acquitted itself creditably. This very scheme of
the Orissa works has been the subject of a good
deal of comment. The company have expended
nearly a million of money, but are standing still for
want of capital. There can be no doubt, from what
has been already achieved, that the undertaking
will be highly remunerative. Therefore it is the
more amazing to the projectors to be compelled to
stop half way. The Government, instead of giving
them the assistance that was wanted, proposed to
buy up their undertakings altogether, on
terms which were anything but favourable.
It is no wonder that those who had gone through
all the preliminary labour, and borne the expense
of an undertaking truly national in its character
and on the scale in which it has been conducted,
should shrink from so disheartening and unprofit-
able an arrangement. The Orissa Company, too,
began their work when there was little immediate
prospect of success, and when irrigation was less
thought of than now. Having had the courage and
the confidence to advance the capital necessary
for the commencement of so vast a work, totally
unaided by the Government, it was not fair for the
Government to expect to come in and reap the
credit and the profit of their labours. Some idea
of the undertaking may be formed from the fact
that, according to the opinion of the most compe-
tent engineers of the country, the canals now in
course of construction will, when completed, convey
water for the irrigation of about 700,000 acres.
Neither are the returns to be expected from this
undertaking merely visionary or speculative. Even
in its present imperfect state the prospects of wide-
spread success are most encouraging. The natives
are glad to avail themselves of the immense advan:
tages conferred upon the soil by systematic irriga-
tion, and the more it is applied to the lands the more
will be the applicants for leases. We find that
by the report of the end of March there had then
been signed in connection with the Kendrapara
Canal alone leases fur about 26,000 acres, most of
them being for three years, and that applications
from cultivators of laud under the same canal were
being received at the rate of from 2,000 to 5,000
acres daily. The natives have proved their anxiety
to get the water by cutting the smaller channels
necessary to convey it to their fields. In other
parts of the district affairs are almost equally pro-
mising, and now that matters have been adjusted
with the Government, we may hope to see the
works both at Orissa and at Behar carried on
rapidly and uninterruptedly to their full comple-
tion. The Behar undertaking is equally im-
portant, and indeed is thought by many high
authorities to be more promising than the Orissa,
but more interest is naturally felt in the progress
of the Orissa works, owing to the failure. The Go-
vernment of India has agreed to guarantee the
company for the water supplied, an arrangement
which the directors themselves admit can hardly be
too highly prized. By the terms of the contract it
is provided that the company shall be paid for the
water supplied, not by the the cultivators, but by the
Government, at the price charged to the cultivators,
so that the shareholders have no longer any risk of
loss. The Government will of course have a share
in the profits, a fair and satisfactory arrangement,
which will, no doubt, work, to the advantage of all
parties.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, May 21.

The Chicago Republican Convention has unani-
mously nominated General Grant for the next Pre-
sidency, and has passed resolutions denouncing any
repudiation of the public debt, and approving the
impeachment of President Johnson.