ng the
greatest achievements of British rule in the Panjab the magnificent
system of irrigation canals which it has given to the province. Its
great alluvial plain traversed by large rivers drawing an unfailing
supply of water from the Himalayan snows affords an ideal field for the
labours of the canal engineer. The vastness of the arid areas which
without irrigation yield no crops at all or only cheap millets and
pulses makes his works of inestimable benefit to the people and a source
of revenue to the State.

~Canals before annexation.~--In the west of the province we found in
existence small inundation canals dug by the people with some help from
their rulers. These only ran during the monsoon season, when the rivers
were swollen. In 1626 Shahjahan's Persian engineer, Ali Mardan Khan,
brought to Delhi the water of the canal dug by Firoz Shah as a monsoon
channel and made perennial by Akbar. But during the paralysis of the
central power in the eighteenth century the channels became silted up.
The same able engineer dug a canal from the Ravi near Madhopur to water
the royal gardens at Lahore. What remained of this work at annexation
was known as the Hasli.

~Extent of Canal Irrigation.~--In 1911-12, when the deficiency of the
rainfall made the demand for water keen, the canals of the Panjab and
the N.W.F. Province irrigated 8-1/2 millions of acres. The figures are:

_Panjab_

A. Permanent Canals Acres Interest earned %

1. Western Jamna 775,450 7-3/4
2. Sirhind 1,609,458 8
3. Upper Bari Doab 1,156,808 11-1/2
4. Lower Chenab 2,334,090 34
5. Lower Jhelam 801,649 10-1/3
B. Monsoon Canals 1,654,437
Total 8,331,892

_N.W. Frontier Province_

Acres Interest earned %

Lower Swat River 157,650 9-3/4
Two minor Canals 67,510
Total 225,160

On the Sirhind Canal, on which the demand fluctuates greatly with the
character of the season, the area was twice the normal. The three canals
of the Triple Project will, when fully developed, add 1,871,000 acres to
the irrigated area of the Panjab, and the Upper Swat Canal will increase
that of the N.W.F. Province by 381,000 acres. The canals will therefore
in a year of drought be able to water over ten millions of acres without
taking account of possible extensions if a second canal should be drawn
from the Sutlej. The