§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONErose to call the attention of the House to the necessity of cutting through Adam's Bridge, and thereby obviating the necessity of circumnavigating the island of Ceylon. The subject was one of the greatest commercial importance, and it had been brought several times under the notice of the Indian Government, and in 1862 a Committee, over which he had the honour to preside, was appointed by the House, which recommended that the Indian Government should cut a passage between the island of Ramisseram and Point Tonitory, at the western end of Adam's Bridge, with the view of shortening the present route to and from the Bay of Bengal by 360 miles; but, notwithstanding that recommendation, from that time to the present, no steps had been taken in the matter. That the trade which would be benefited by the execution of the proposed works was not an unimportant one, was shown from the fact that, imperfect as the existing channel was, it had increased from 7,000 tons in 1829 to 200,000 in last year. Having twice visited the locality he was in a position to say that no difficulty whatever would have to be encountered in executing the proposed works. The opening of the Suez Canal had occasioned the Indian trade to be carried on almost entirely by steam vessels, and he believed that, in the course of two or three years, sailing vessels would be engaged in the traffic. This would, of course, greatly augment the utility of the proposed works. The Colonial Government at Ceylon had determined to make a large and deep-water harbour at Colombo, and if the proposed canal were cut there would be a saving of 250 miles between that port and Madras. The navigation of the Gulf of Manaar was the safest in the world, and it appeared from the annual Reports of the Indian Presidencies—which, from the clear and ample manner in which they treated all 835 Indian questions, he should be glad to see in the Library of that House—that in the course of last year 2,222 vessels passed through the existing channel through Adam's Bridge, of which, although they were navigated by natives, only two were lost. What he now proposed was that the Indian Government should cut a canal through a promontory in the Madras Presidency, for a distance of two miles and a half, the height of the land being 12 feet, at an estimated expense of £91,000, whereby a magnificent harbour, containing 16 miles of smooth and deep water would be obtained. Last year 117,000 bales of cotton were shipped at very great risk and expense at Tutacorin; whereas if the harbour to which he was referring was constructed ships could load at jetties along the shore, to which the cotton could be conveyed by means of a short branch line of railway. The Province of Madura, in the Madras Presidency, was extremely rich in cattle, sheep, and other produce; but the harbour at Point de Galle was one of the most incommodious that could be found on any coast. Canals were no new things in those parts. The Madras Presidency had already 89 miles of canals, one of nine miles in length having been recently constructed for the purpose of connecting Madras with the great rice-producing district of Pennaar; but the Indian Government would not incur the expense of making the two and a half miles of which he was speaking, because the opening of such a canal would be an Imperial question, and ought, in their opinion, to be defrayed out of the Imperial funds. As the making of the canal would save vessels making the voyage to Calcutta—720 miles of sailing—shipowners would be willing to pay a remunerative toll for the privilege of passing through the canal, and so the work would be self-supporting. His belief, indeed, was that it would pay the Indian Government most handsomely for the outlay. He desired further to say a few words in regard to another question connected with maritime matters on the coast of India. The hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary for India in addressing his constituents two or three years ago, took credit for having 40 lighthouses on the coast of India. But the coasts of India extended from the Persian boundary at Beloochistan 836 to the limits of the kingdom of Siam at Tenasserim, a distance of 4,000 miles, making about one lighthouse to every 100 miles of coast; but, to his own knowledge, there were 14 points between Bombay and Cape Comorin where lighthouses were so much wanted that ships had to make much longer passages, and to run far greater risks, than would be the case if the shore was properly lighted. Having sailed along 1,200 miles of the coast of India in the course of last year, he could say that there was no civilized country in the world worse off for necessary coast light and harbour accommodation. If the channel he had alluded to had been in the hands of M. de Lesseps, he would have done in nine months what the Government of India had taken as many years to accomplish. By means of the dredges used by M. de Lesseps on the Suez Canal, the great rivers of India might be rendered navigable and useful for the purpose of carrying the inland produce to the coast for shipment during the whole year, instead of during a part of it only, as was the case at present; while the mouths of many of them might easily be converted into good harbours by the appliance of those scientific means which were so well understood in this country. But the science of constructing harbours was so little understood in India that there were not to be found on the whole continent harbour works of equal magnitude with those which had been constructed by private enterprize at Grimsby and many other places on our coast. To sum up his object in bringing this question forward, it was to save the mercantile marine of Great Britain from the expense of 720 miles more of sailing than was necessary in making the voyage to Calcutta, and from the risk of sailing round one of the most stormy and disagreeable promontories in the world.
§ MR. J. B. SMITHsaid, no one could doubt the importance of the opening of Adam's Bridge advocated by the hon. and gallant Member. The object of saving a dangerous voyage of 700 miles in going to or from Calcutta was so great that the Indian Government could not, now that the Suez Canal was opened, longer avoid the necessity of looking into it. A proper survey and estimate should be at once obtained, and whether made by the Indian or by the English Govern- 837 ment, such tolls might be levied on ships passing through the canal as in a few years would be sufficient to pay the cost, after which a very small toll would be all that would be required to keep it in repair.
§ MR. EASTWICKsaid, he was surprised that so little had been done by the Government to carry out the recommendations of the Committee of 1862 in reference to this among other Indian questions. He could not explain to himself why it was that the Government had failed to undertake a work, the expense of which was so small, and the advantages so great and certain. One of the great advantages of carrying out the recommendations of the hon. Baronet was that it would encourage the coasting trade; it would also enable the mariner to avoid a circuitous route, and a most dangerous place to touch at, Point de Galle, often attended with loss of life. But the chief advantage of all was the securing a good harbour. Indeed, having been himself nearly lost in the passage going from Calcutta to Madras, he could fully appreciate the advantage of a good harbour on that coast. There was this further Imperial advantage—that the construction of the new harbour would be found of almost incalculable advantage in case of war breaking out in that part of the Queen's dominions.
§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he had no doubt of the advantages of the proposed work. It could be made, and it would save the dangers and loss of money and time in making the voyage round the island of Ceylon. The East India Company had annually, for many years, devoted a sum of money to deepening the channel; but owing to the difficulty of excavating the rock under water, the progress had been comparatively slow and ineffective; the rocky barrier, however, could be removed by the employment of diving bells and competent excavators.
MR. GRANT DUFFsaid, he did not doubt the advantage of having a deep-water channel all through the strait between Ceylon and the coast of India. Such a channel would add considerably to the commercial facilities of the world. But admitting, for the sake of argument, that such a channel could be made, who was to make it? The Government of Ceylon had not hitherto considered that its subjects were sufficiently inte- 838 rested in the matter to expend any very considerable sum of money in carrying into effect any such proposal as that which had been advanced by the hon. Baronet. Was it, then, to be the Imperial Government? The Imperial Government refused to do anything of the kind. The Admiralty said that ships coming from the Red Sea would, no doubt, be very glad to save some hundred miles by using a deep-water channel through Palk Straits, if one could be made; but they would think twice before paying the toll which it would be necessary to exact. As for ships of war, they would continue to go round the outside of Ceylon, and touch, as they have been long accustomed to do, at Trincomalee. Was it, then, India that must make the channel? Well, but India was making it to the best of her ability. For 42 years the Indian authorities had been paying considerable sums for improving the water way, and a large amount of Indian shipping now went through what was known as the Paumben Channel. If Government were now to alter its plans and adopt the new channel proposed by the hon. Baronet, the whole of the money that had been spent in improving the Paumben Channel would be thrown away. He (Mr. Grant Duff) had been arguing on the assumption that what the hon. Baronet proposed was not impossible; but the information laid before him by persons acquainted with those seas, and familiar with the soundings, amounted to this—that the Paumben Channel had been greatly improved, and would be still further improved; but that, when all had been done that could be done, neither it nor any of the other channels which had been proposed could be made available for large ships, the water being very shallow for a long way, both in the Gulf of Manaar and on the other side of Adam's Bridge, so that both the north and south entrances of the proposed channels would be unapproachable by large vessels, unless an expenditure altogether disproportionate to the object to be attained was incurred. Passing from that subject to the much larger question to which the hon. Baronet had referred—the question of lighthouses and other maritime improvements on the Indian coast—he (Mr. Grant Duff) was very far from denying that there was an immense deal to do on the Indian coast; but when 839 the hon. Baronet compared the harbour works of India with the harbour works of this country, he should remember the very different amount of capital that was available for such purposes in England and in India. He could not give the hon. Baronet much hope of anything being done for the particular project which he had recommended for improving the water way between Ceylon and the mainland; but he could assure him that the Indian Government was quite alive to the importance of improving harbours and creating more lighthouses around the shores of India.