Some idea of the advance made during British administration may be gleaned from the following figures. Before the advent of British authority in India, when little had been done in the way of large irrigation works, the area under irrigated cultivation could not have exceeded a couple of million acres or so, though accurate information is riot forthcoming. This had risen to 10,500,000 acres in 1878- 79 and to 19% million acres by the beginning of the present century. Thirty years later it stood at thirty-one point seven millions, the highest reached so far. These figures exclude cultivation in Indian States, and moreover relate only to areas irrigate ed by Government canals. There are large tracts irrigated" both by Government and private tanks and wells, which cannot be overlooked and swell the total further. In 1934-35 the area under well irrigation was approximately twelve point six million acres. It may be realized, therefore, that the figures given are of a most conservative if approximate nature.
Bay of Bengal by means of a tunnel over a mile long, or about five times the entire length of London Bridge, bored through solid rock.
Equally remarkable are the headworks of the Cauvery Delta system, comprising four weirs of a total length of 2% miles and nearly 1% miles of embankment
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.