BIG IRRIGATION WORK.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18534, 14 January 1932, Page 7

BIG IRRIGATION WORK.

COMPLETED IN INDIA.

SEVEN HUGE CANALS.

A MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT

lOmclal Wireless.)

RUGBY, January 12

A memorable event in the history of India will take place to-morrow when the Viceroy, Viscount Willingdon, -will open the -world’s latest irrigation system. This is the Lloyd barrage at Sukkhur, with seven huge canals, by means of which a sunparched area as large as Eugland will be turned into agricultural land. The entire province of the Sind is practically rainless, so that a supply of water from the river which flows through its length Is absolutely vital to most of its 3,500,000 inhabitants. One of the most notable achievements of the British in India, and the one most often overlooked, is the conversion by irrigation of waste lands Into fruitful lands'. The present .scheme has occupied eight years In Its completion. The Lloyd barrage is several miles long. It has numerous arches, each 90ft. wide. The waters of the river flowing from the Himalayas into the sea 1 will be harnessed to supply the rich soil of the province by 7000 miles of canals, some of them wider than the Suez Canal, with private channels. Serving an area of 35,000 miles the soheme makes possible the cultivation of 6,500,000 acres, and it is estimated that the value of the crops produced from the area will approach £30,000,000.

The cost of the scheme was about £15,000,000. .

T.he barrage, which is one of the greatest feats of British engineering, was named (ifter Lord Lloyd, formerly Governor of Bombay. The scheme was mooted nearly a century ago after the Sind distriot was conquered by British troops, but not till after the Great War was it sanctioned. The Lloyd (Sukkhur) barrage measures 4725 ft. between the faces of the regulators on either side. A gross area of 7,500,000 acres is commanded,

of whloh 0,500,000 acres are culturable, and an annual area of Irrigation of 5,500,000 acres is anticipated, of which 2,000,000 acres represent existing inundation irrigation, which wili he given an assured supply of water by the new canals. A return of 10 i per cent, on the capital is expected from water rates alone, but a further large Increase In general revenue is expected from the huge area of waste land which will be brought under cultivation. There will be increases on this account under practically ever/ head of revenue, such as railways, customs, stamps, excise and the like, not to mention the addition to the country’s wealth owing to the production, on land at present barren, ol valuable crops.