Some irrigation works were carried out during these years,[170] but no great forward policy in that direction was instituted. The "forward policy" presently adopted was of a very different sort. The thoughts of the politicians were absorbed in other things; the opinions of the bureaucrats were divided, and there was stringency in Indian finance. If the experts could not agree on the proper basis of estimating the results of irrigation, still less were they at one on the kind of irrigation work that was desirable. Every one was agreed in favour of irrigation "in principle"; but as soon as it became a question of detail, whether in finance or in engineering, there were as many opinions as there were experts. One school said, "Borrow the money and the land will be so enriched that the ryot will be able to pay increased taxation." Another school retorted, "But he will be squeezed out of existence first; therefore, retrench all round, and wait for better times." Or, if the financial difficulty were overcome, engineering difficulties were raised. One school said, "Make navigable canals," but that meant fulness of water in them. Another said, "Make canals primarily for irrigation," but that meant depletion. And so the controversy continued, with no decided impulse from the men in office. Famines came and went; some works were carried out as a form of "relief"; no great preventive policy was established. [170] _E.g._ the "Buckingham Canal," connecting the canals N. and S. of Madras (made as a Famine Relief work, after being "under consideration" for a quarter of a century). Miss Nightingale celebrated this tardy achievement in an article in the press: see Bibliography A, No. 99.