money spent from imperial funds on Panjab canals
has exceeded twelve millions sterling, and no money has ever been better
spent. In, when the area irrigated was a good deal less than in, the
value of the crops raised by the use of canal water was estimated at
about 207 millions of rupees or nearly L14,000,000. It is only possible
to note very briefly the steps by which this remarkable result has been
achieved.

[Illustration: Fig. 45. Map--Older Canals.]

~Western Jamna Canal.~--Soon after the assumption of authority at Delhi in
1803 the question of the old Canal from the Jamna was taken up. The
Delhi Branch was reopened in 1819, and the Hansi Branch six years later.
In the famine year nearly 400,000 acres were irrigated. For more than
half a century that figure represented the irrigating capacity of the
canal. The English engineers in the main retained the faulty Moghal
alignment, and waterlogging of the worst description developed. The
effect on the health of the people was appalling. After long delay the
canal was remodelled. The result has been most satisfactory in every
way. In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Sirsa Branch and
the Nardak Distributary were added, to carry water to parts of the
Karnal and Hissar districts where any failure of the monsoon resulted in
widespread loss of crops. If a scheme to increase the supply can be
carried out, further extension in tracts now very liable to famine will
become possible. In the six years ending the interest earned exceeded 8
p.c.

~Upper Bari Doab Canal.~--The headworks of the Upper Bari Doab Canal are
above Madhopur near the point where the Ravi leaves the hills. The work
was started soon after annexation, but only finished in 1859. Irrigation
has grown from 90,000 acres in to 533,000 in, 861,000 in 1900-1, and
1,157,000 in. The later history of the canal consists mainly of great
extensions in the arid Lahore district, and the irrigation there is now
three-fifths of the whole. In parts of Amritsar, and markedly near the
city, waterlogging has become a grave evil, but remedial measures have
now been undertaken. The interest earned on the capital expenditure in
the six years ending averaged 11-1/2 p.c.

~Sirhind Canal.~--A quarter of a century passed after the Upper Bari Doab
Canal began working before the water of the Sutlej was used for
irrigation. The Sirhind Canal weir is at Rupar where the river emerges
from the Siwaliks. Patiala, Jind, and Nabha