sanctioned, and the Government of India are ready to grant money freely to carry out the Commission's reconsiderations. Besides these productive works, nearly £2,000,000 have been spent on irrigation for protective purposes without expectation of a return, and some of the Irrigation Commission's proposals are of this character. On these works there is, and must be, a heavy loss. As a rule the water they supply is not wanted in good seasons, and, having no perennial source, is liable to run short in drought Expenditure on irrigation projects that will not pay at least the interest on the capital cost does not appear to me to be wise. At any rate, while there are profitable schemes to be carried out, all the money at the disposal of the Government should be reserved for them.
Space does not permit me to enlarge on what has been done in the way of legislation to protect the peasant from eviction and exactions when he holds from an intermediary landlord, and not directly from the Government. Suffice it to say that from 1859 to the present time there has been a succession of measures for the protection of the cultivator. Security of tenure and a fair rent have been recognised as no less important for the prevention of famine than irrigation, Hardly a Viceroy has left India without an addition to the Statute-Book in this direction.
What we have done for India in the way of postal and telegraphic communication must be known to everyone. I do not think that there is any Post-Office better administered than that in India. There is certainly none which carries letters for a halfpenny. The postal-order system is admirable, and is the greatest boon to the people. The person to whom money is sent has not to travel to the Post-Office to get payment The money is handed to him at his door by the postman. As there are hundreds of thousands of men serving or working away from their homes and sending remittances to their families, often in out-of-the-way villages, the convenience of this system, which has the full confidence of
