Items of Interest January 27, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

Lord Carmichael, soon to retire as Governor of Bengal, India, was presented with a farewell address recently by the municipal body of Darjeeling, the beautiful hill station to which official Bengal is accustomed to retire between March and November. In the course of his reply he made the following notable admission: "I am afraid I cannot agree with those who profess to think more work is done in the hills than in the plains. In Bengal, at any rate, that is certainly not the case ... I know that if I had been in the plains I could have done more work. I know too that many of my friends, especially of those who seem to me to work hardest, think the same thing, and I cannot see why we should not say so."

This system, notwithstanding repeated protests against its extravagance, has now continued for some fifty years. So far, attempts to bring about a reform have been fruitless. In a country like India, where there is no public opinion, the severest criticism has not the effect which it has in European countries, and the strength of vested interests grows with the years.

A bulletin sent out by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, treating of irrigation, says: "The committee [appointed by this chamber] is of the opinion that the most far reaching, scientific, and comprehensive method of irrigation is that undertaken by the Federal Government under the authority of the reclamation act of 1902. The Salt River project near Phoenix, Ariz., may be taken as typical of these enterprises. The lands under irrigation have an annual rainfall of from three to ten inches, but the sources of the Salt and Verde Rivers are in the surrounding high altitudes where the precipitation ranges from ten to twenty inches.

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