7 MAY 1881, Page 22

CURRENT LITERATURE.

The Irrigation Works of India, and their Financial Results. By Robert R. Buckley. (W. IL Allen and Co.)—Mr. Buckley speaks with authority, holding, as he does, a high place in the Public Works Department of India ; and it is pleasant to find that the general pur- port of his statements is satisfactory. Some irrigation works have failed ; some, on the other hand, have been conspicuous successess the rule generally, it may almost be said universally, being that the profitable undertakings are those where we have restored the work of native rulers which had been suffered to fall into decay. But the general conclusion of the whole matter is, that we get a fair per- centage on the money expended. This is without taking into accounts what really ought to be reckoned, the insurance against a periodical famine expenditure which, to a certain extent, these irrigation works provide.