HL Deb 23 July 1900 vol 86 cc834-7
* LORD KINNAIRD

My Lords, in rising to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether he will give a list of the irrigation and other works for the prevention of famine undertaken since the last famine in 1897, and the cost thereof; also of the largo works approved. as being necessary previous to 1897 which, have not been undertaken owing to want of surplus revenue, notwithstanding the fact that they are expected to be remunerative, and that money can be borrowed at a lower rate than works are expected to yield, I think everyone may feel hopeful that we are now near the time when the pressure of famine will begin to pass, and the Government will, be free to. consider what steps may be taken to prevent future famine in certain districts unprovided with water. I will not enter at this time into the thorny questions on which there is so much difference of opinion with reference to what can be done and whether we fail to utilise the water which Providence gives to us, and of which I believe more than three-fourths' if not a great deal more, is not utilised, and whether large works might be carried on with any advantage, as has been done in some districts where certain authorities in old times said it was impossible to take advantage of water not far off by means either of irrigation canals or the storage of water by means of dams. Then the second part of my question raises, I think, an important point, namely, whether it is desirable to stop an important work simply because revenue may fail when it has been agreed by all the authorities that the work is desirable. It seems to some laymen in this master, that when the Government can borrow at a low rate of interest and hope within a short time not only for a return on the work but also increase of revenue, when the next revenue assessment comes to be made the work ought not to be stopped by want of ready money, and I feel confident that there are many in both Houses of Parliament who would be willing, supposing the Indian Government were not able to further their own resources, to find large sums for this purpose to make even a liberal grant from the Imperial Exchequer in the way of a free loan, with proper conditions for repayment when the work became remunerative. I will not further detain your Lordships. I have to ask the noble Lord the question of which I have given notice.

* THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of ONSLOW)

I think from the nature of the question which the noble Lord has put to me that he has not quite rightly appreciated the practice of the Government of India in apportioning the money for the purpose of carrying out irrigation. There are three kinds of irrigation works carried out by the Government of India. First of all, there are what are known as the major works. Those are paid for out of borrowed moneys and are expected to be, and as a matter of fact are, remunerative. Then there are what are known as minor works. 'Those as a rule are smaller works which are constructed not out of capital, but out of revenue. In some cases those also are remunerative. Then there are what are known as protective works. These are paid for out of the famine fund, which, as the noble Lord knows, is a fund set apart every year by the Government of India for the purpose of protection against famine. They would not be constructed at all were it not for protective purposes, although it occasionally turns out that they also are remunerative. Of all those works, if the noble Lord wishes it, I can give a return, but they can already be found in different papers which have been laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament. As regards the second part of the question the noble Lord seems to think that some of the irrigation works in India are likely to be suspended owing to lack of funds arising from revenue; but, as I have already told him the major works, the more important works, are paid for out of borrowed money and not out of revenue at all, and I am not at all aware that there is any ground for the suggestion which seems to be contained in the question that the expenditure on irrigation works has been cut down during recent years owing to the famine. On the contrary, the provision for irrigation works has been steadily increasing in recent years. In 1898-99, the total expenditure was £453,047, in 1899–1900 it was £622,733, while the Budget estimate for the current year is £708,200. A paper has been laid on the Table of your Lordships' House called "The Explanatory Memorandum of the Secretary of State," explanatory of the Budget statement which he will make in another place in the course of a few days, and the noble Lord will there find a statement of the irrigation works which are about to be carried out. But I think there is a little misapprehension in the minds of many people as to the amount of the irrigation work which is being carried on. Not less than nineteen millions of acres are already under irrigation in India and twenty-five and a half millions of money have been spent, and as a matter of fact there is very little fresh ground in the whole of India where irrigation works could be constructed with any advantage. The Viceroy has been giving great attention to this question and he has come to the conclusion that all that the Government of India could spend, however much money they might have, would be something like ten lakhs a year, and that would probably about double the area of 300,000 acres which is covered by work of a purely protective character at the present time. So the total practicable increase of the irrigable area in India under both heads of irrigation works cannot amount to much more than four million acres. The Viceroy hopes to lay down a permanent scheme and a continuous policy for carrying out irrigation works in India, and so far as the cost and the motley to be raised for carrying them out is concerned, I think the noble Lord need have no apprehension that that amount will fall off in years to come, because, as he is well aware, the major works—most of the irrigation works in India—are extremely remunerative and therefore capital can be advantageously borrowed for the purpose of making them, and it is the intention of the Government of India to continue carrying them on at as rapid a pace as is consistent with the nature of the work, and they believe that in the course really of a comparatively short period all the land in India which is capable of irrigation will be dealt with.