§ SIR GEORGE SCOTT ROBERTSON (Bradford, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India what is the area which has been brought under cultivation during the last ten years in the Punjab by means of irrigation; how many people have settled on this land, and what is the proportion of military pensioners amongst them; what is the 37 revenue per cent, on the capital outlay; and what room is there for further similar reclamation of waste land in the Punjab.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. MORLEY,) Montrose BurghsIn the Irrigation Colonies of the Punjab, to which I presume the Question refers, nearly 2,000,000 acres of waste have been brought under cultivation and irrigation during the last ten years. The population of these colonies now approaches 1,000,000 persons. I am unable to give the proportion of military pensioners. The largest of these reclaimed districts, that of the Chenab Canal, gives a return of over 20 per cent. The others are less profitable. In the Punjab as a whole State-owned irrigation works give a return of nearly 11 per cent. The Irrigation Commission have estimated that, within the next twenty years, 2,600,000 more acres of waste in the Punjab may be reclaimed by canals.