F. C. Danvers, Report on Irrigation Works in India for the Year 1875–76 (1876), pp. 17–60. British Library, Oriental and India Offi ce Collections, shelfmark C/141 ff. 33–63.

For most of the 1870s regions of India were visited by famines. Ameliorative measures had been introduced by the government to relieve distress, but these had provoked controversy because of their cost and the interference in the market for grain and labour. A permanent solution was sought in eff ective irrigation and railway schemes. Protagonists lined up to argue the relative merits, paying particular attention to the costs. In this report, F. C. Danvers, Assistant Secretary to the Public Works Department, surveys the record of the government in constructing canals, and the revenue returns that accrued.