system of internal navigation intersecting the whole delta would be Water established throughout the year.' And besides the 'head-locks' the estimate included a provision of one lakh for 'sluices, locks, and other small masonry works.' The smallness of this provision, which could not have been intended for more than half-a-dozen1[1] or so of even the small and inexpensive locks originally proposed, shows that there was but a very imperfect perception on the part of Major Cotton himself of what would be required to make the main irrigation arteries of the system into really efficient lines of communication. It is not therefore to be wondered at that when the detailed estimates for the various canals came in with large sums set down for locks and special arrangements for navigation, the Government should have regarded the provisions for that purpose as almost a new development of the original intentions to which sanction had been given. The Governor of the day, Sir Henry Pottinger, even went so far as to 'say I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that this is an entirely novel scheme which, so far as I recollect, had no existence in the original project for an anicut across the Gódávari.'
"But Colonel Cotton was determined that his chief canals should be made navigable ..... and so he went on with steady insistence, loyally backed up by the officers who followed him on the delta works, till at last opposition to his views on the subject was broken down, and there are now in the Gódávari system alone nearly 500 miles of canals which, besides carrying water for irrigation, are excellent lines of communication. Nor is this all; from the Gódávari system, navigation can at three places pass into the Kistna system with its 300 miles of navigable canals, and from it again into the Buckingham Canal, which runs along the coast for 196 miles from the end of the Kistna system to Madras, and for 65 miles further south. From Cocanada to the south end of the Buckingham Canal the length of canal navigation is 450 miles.
"There cannot be the slightest doubt that the provision for cheap carriage, not only in and about the district itself but also to the neighbouring districts and to an excellent seaport, contributed largely to the rapidity with which the Gódávari irrigation developed and the district sprang into prosperity. In this way the cost of the works specially required for navigation has been repaid over and over again, quite irrespective of the direct returns from boat licenses, tolls and so on."
The development of canal traffic has indeed been enormous. Sir Arthur Cotton wrote in 1852, 'I should not be surprised if, after a few years, the district be well managed and the canals kept in good order, the traffic were to average
- ↑ 1 In his letter No. 184, dated 3rd August 1849, Captain Orr gives the number required as 10. There are now 54, exclusive of head-locks.
