~Canal extensions in Western Panjab.~--In the last quarter of a century the chief task of the Canal Department in the Panjab has been the extension of irrigation to the Rechna and Jech Doabs and the lower part of the Bari Doab. All three contained large areas of waste belonging to the State, mostly good soil, but incapable of cultivation owing to the scanty rainfall. Colonization has therefore been an important part of all the later canal projects. The operations have embraced the excavation of five canals. ~Lower Chenab Canal.~--The Lower Chenab Canal is one of the greatest irrigation works in the world, the area commanded being 3-1/3 million acres, the average discharge four or five times that of the Thames at Teddington, and the average irrigated area 2-1/4 million acres. There are three main branches, the Rakh, the Jhang, and the Gugera. The supply is secured by a great weir built across the Chenab river at Khanki in the Gujranwala district, and the irrigation is chiefly in the Gujranwala, Lyallpur, and Jhang districts. In the four years ending the average interest earned was 28 p.c., and in future the rate should rarely fall below 30 p.c. The capital expenditure has been a little over L2,000,000. The interest charges were cleared about five years after the starting of irrigation, and the capital has already been repaid to the State twice over. [Illustration: Fig. 46. Map--Canals.] ~Lower Jhelam Canal.~--The Lower Jhelam Canal, which waters the tract between the Jhelam and Chenab in the Shahpur and Jhang districts, is a smaller and less profitable work. The culturable commanded area is about one million acres. The head-works are at Rasul in the Gujrat district. Irrigation began in 1901. In the four years ending 1911-12 the average area watered was 748,000 acres and the interest earned exceeded 10 p.c.