5,000, irrigated by canals
that cost $8,628,380, and the government enjoyed a net profit of
14.01 per cent that year upon its benevolent enterprise. Aside
from the money value of the scheme, there is another very important
consideration. More than half of the canals and ditches were
constructed by "famine labor"--that is, by men and women (for
women do manual labor in india the same as men) who were unable
to obtain other employment and would have died of starvation
but for the intervention of the government. Instead of being
supplied with food at relief stations, these starving people
were shipped to the Rechan Doab besert and put to work at minimum
wages.

You will agree with me that the government has a right to feel
proud of its new colony, and its success has stimulated interest
in similar enterprises in other parts of the empire. It has not
only furnished employment to thousands of starving people, but
by bringing under cultivation a large tract of barren land with a
positive certainty of regular harvests it has practically insured
that section of the country against future famines.

The following figures will show the rapid development of the colony
from the first season of 1892-93 to the end of the season 1901,
which is the latest date for which statistics can be obtained:

CAPITAL OUTLAY TO END OF YEAR

1892-93 L721,233 1897-98 L1,512,916
1893-94 878,034 1898-99 1,616,676
1894-95 995,932 1899-1900 1,677,982
1895-96 1,174,781 1900-01 1,725,676
1896-97 1,362,075

ACRES IRRIGATED DURING THE YEAR

1892-93 157,197 1897-98 810,000
1893-94 270,405 1898-99 957,705
1894-95 269,357 1899-1900 1,353,223
1895-96 369,935 1900-01 1,830,525
1896-97 520,279

NET REVENUE DURING THE YEAR

1892-93 L4,084 1897-98 L111,041
1893-94 3,552 1898-99 131,566
1894-95 9,511 1899-1900 155,302
1895-96 51,632 1900-01 421,812
1896-97 92,629

RETURN ON CAPITAL OUTLAY, PER CENT

1892-93 0.57 1897-98 7.34
1893-94 0.40 1898-99 8.14
1894-95 0.96 1899-1900 9.26
1895-96 4.40 1900-01 14.01
1896-97 6.75

The system of allotment of land may be interesting. As the area
under irrigation was enti