Arizona republican., 1910-06-17
IRRIGATION EXPERT
 FROM PARKWAY JAVA
The Dutch Government Lends Enqi-
 neer to Phoenix to Study ! Reclamation Project.

The fame of the Salt River valley and the big Roosevelt dam has reach cd the far away island of Java in the Southern Pacifics-a.i. X. Meyers an engineer in the employ of the Dutch Government which controls that isl and. arrived in Phoenix yesterday to make study of the irrigation project here and take hack to Java the ideas he gathers for the use of the Dutch government. For, although Java gets a rainfall of so inches annually as compared to the eight inches of this district. il is still an irrigated country owing to the fact that the rainy sea- son is short and the downpour terrific while il lasts. leaving the greater part of the year dry. For this reason the water has to be stored to spread it over the dry months. and Meyers in- structions are to study methods Of storing water
 Meyers itinerary includes almost all of the dry countries of the globe. He has been away from Java a year most uG which has been passed in Europe in study. He came to America last April From Phoenix he will sv tn NUma and then to the coast and back up to Denver. He will then go to Mexico and Panama and then tn Porto Rico aUd thC little island of Cur8C"J. under Dutch rule, where hc has q spc- Cisl mission tn perform for his gov eminent. He then goes to New York and foF the third tiulc crosses the continent to san Francisco and sails to British India Ceylon, Egypt Tuus and AlgerS before returning to Java.
 Meyers is comparatively young man who has risen rapidly iu the ser vice of his government. He was cdu- C3tsd in the universities uf Holland and then sent tO Java where he soon ruSe in v nat would bc known here as inc reclamation serviCc. His chief duty in Phoenix will hr iu sec Engi- ncer Louis Hill and make the trip to the RopSeN eli dam. lluw long that will take biTn he does not know but Inc Said yesterday that he will rcmaiI here till Inc has seen all thtrc is to see in tn. matter of irrigation and tho StOTa5p of water. He speaks English vcrN- well but says he finds the pro- nunciation of the words. especially proper names. quite a stumbling block
 He talked freely of his own country its government, products and irriga tinu. My country" he said. lis prob ably better known for ifs coffee than for anything else and that embodys Il strange fact The coffee you drink does not come from Java-that is. very. little of it Java coffee comes from Brazil. few years ago it was the chief product of our island but
 
 coffee culture in Java has died away to one-tenth of it's proper production because of q disease to its leaves. The plant has deterioated 10 such an eX- tent that its culture is almost hope less where as thirty years ago the island vas famous for the excellence and quantity of the product
 sugar is now the backbone of the commercial island and leads all other products. in eXportation. Last year vt shipped to the nations of the world I,2jO.000 tons of sugar-thc equal of the output or the island of Cuba. Rice, however. is tine principal production. though but little of it is exported. Last yaer we raised 2,500000 tons of 1t.
 In Java the water and the land. ev- cry acre Of soil and every drop of wa ter are owned by the Dutch govern lnent. And every pound of sugar and rice is raised under system of irri- gation. You will see that Lam leading up to the object of my mission in America The natives have certain rights on their land but they cannot sell it. They may lease one third of it to q European but must cultivate two-thirds Of ii and raise food stuffs on it. This is done to protect the ma tives as if were against themselves. The water is given to the crop rather than to ihe land. and if native raises no crop he gets no water. Nor is he permitted to sell his water rights to any other person.
 '|All of our eighty inches of precip itation fa.'5 in six months time: tn" rCnIaindcr of the year iS dry and thus water storage becomes d necessity. During the rainy season inc rice crop grows to maturity but the sugar grows during the whole year Sugar is the most profitable crop Or tlin island aud thr drmand has brought q need on thc part of the government for increased irrigation facilities our chief irriga- tiun system consists of dams built across the rivers It is not adequate and the purpose of my visit here is to sturdy your methods of construction Uf storage reservoirs and the impouuding Of underground water flow. -.