Buckingham Canal
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Buckingham Canal
A salt-water navigation canal, tidal to a great extent wherever the river bars are open, which extends for 262 miles along the east coast of the Madras Presidency from Pedda Ganjam (15° 39' N. and 80° 15' E.) in Guntur District, southwards through Madras City and on to Merkanam (12° 12' N. and 79° 57' E.) in South Arcot. At Pedda Ganjam it communicates with the fresh-water high- level canals of the delta system of the Kistna river, and so with the Godavari delta canals, and thus opens up water communication with the port of Cocanada, making a total length of 462 miles of main navigable canal. The Buckingham Canal runs within three miles of the coast throughout its entire length, and many portions of it are within half a mile of the sea. It utilizes some portion of the Pulicat Lake.
The excavation of the section from Madras City to this lake was begun as long ago as 1 806 as a private enterprise, and was known, after its originator, as Cochrane's Canal. In 1837 this was taken over by Government, but up to 1876 only 5I lakhs had been spent in extending it. It was at this time called the East Coast Canal, In the great famine of 1876-8 it was resolved to take up the completion of the undertaking as a relief work, and an expenditure of over 29 lakhs was incurred. It was renamed the Buckingham Canal after the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, then Governor of Madras. Up to date the total capital cost has amounted to 90 lakhs. The chief ditificulty in maintaining it in order was that, as it crossed the whole drainage of the country, it was extremely liable to be silted up. Between 1883 and 1891 large expenditure was incurred in remedying this tendency.
In ordinary years the traffic upon it, though it amounts to 12^ millions of tons, is insufficient to meet the working expenses, and a deficit of about Rs. 20,000 occurs. The railway along the coast, which has been opened since the canal was constructed, has robbed it of the long- distance traffic which it was originally designed to carry. The chief traffic along it at present is salt from the various coast factories and firewood from SrTharikota to Madras City, but in bad seasons it is of value in connecting the two fertile deltas with the poorer country farther south. Cargo boats and boats belonging to Government and private individuals ply along it. Wharves have been constructed at intervals for their use, and there are also a series of travellers' bunga- lows upon the banks.
