Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-24
midas CANAL
PLAN NEAR END
Vast Irrigation Project Has
Cost British Province
$35, 900, 900.

The greatest enterprise ever under
taken by British irrigation engineers,
the Lower Bari Doab Canal, in the
Punjab has just been completed, end
its opening makes e landmark in the
wonderful and romantic story Of In
dian irrigation, says the London
Times. This third and last section Of
the triple canal project" which is
now irrigating vast areas in the Pun
1ab, is being completed.
The Lower Bari Doab Canal is I'M
usual in construction, for it actually
crosses upon d level the important
river Raw. The new canal has cost
about Il, $40 600 and it is expected
that it will irrigate over $1,000 acres
Of crops The Chenab Canal, which
is another section Of the triple prof.
ect, alone ilrisates an area equiv al
ent TO two-fifths OF the whole cultVa-
BILE area of Egypt. The great Pun
lab canals have done more, for they
literally peopled the desert wastes.
The cultivators have been established
III districts which were formerly a ite
useless. Their villages are thriving,
their land is growing in value, and
for them the desert sands have in
deed proved golden. The triple project
cost close upon $1,000, 600 but it Yields
to the government return upon APP
ital outlay OF tx per cent. Ye' 1t
means affiuence to the peasantry also,
and life in the canal colonies is SO
popular among the staiwart men OF
Northern India that the Development
OF irrigation is seriously affecting re-
cru ting for the native army.
The attract.on of irrigation schemes
f,,t 10 40 10
are 50 visible and concrete. To enter
an irrigated area in northern India
Is an unforgettabie experience. The
stranger passes in a flash from mo-
notonous, barren sand hills into a
land Of smiling plenty. On the one
hand, the interminable desert, on
the other, green, waving crops, pros
porous villages and cool, refreshing
CLEANS OF water. Small wonder that
In the presence Of such visions men
have sometimes been led to form ex-
aggerated ideas Of the possibilities of
irrigation. 1t seems so easy and so
simple to collect and guide the waters
pouring downward from the h M
alayas and "Dring the deserts in. "
But it is not so easy, and there is a
definite limit, now fairly well ascer-
| tanned. to the prospects Of irrigation
III lnQld.
When all the rograms are COM
pleted more than IS per cent. of the
surface flow Of the railfall Of India
and Of the water from the Himal yam
SHOWS will still escape to the sea.
Ran does not fall III greatest volume
where it is most needed. The thirty
inches of rainfall in the Cherrapnnj
Hills of Assam perforce runs to waste.
though it would make the arid empti-
ness OF Sind blossom as the rose.
Though the scope Of irrigation in
india Is not unreasonable enough
has already been done under British
rule to make the Indian irrigation
system one OF the wonders of the
world We have expended f40,000,00O
on irrigation, have brought millions
Of acres under cultivation and pro-
vided means of livelihood for mil
lions Of the peasantry. Incomplete
though they are, the irrigation works
/ constructed by the British in India
are in some respects the most benefi-
cent and the most practical monu-
ments of our rule. They have not
/ exercised famine, but they have done
much toward that end. Railways are
destined to furnish the ultimate soiu-
ton Of the problem of famine. Crops
never fail simultaneously throughout
the whole OF India. The difficulty has
been to convey food to the stricken
| district, and that difficulty the spread
Of railways ie overcoming.