kitrecords

   Compiled by KK De Silva,  an employee of the RVDB,  1967-1979 Introduction   Sir James Emerson Tennent, Colonial Secretary from 1845 to 1850, at page 432 of his book,  Account of the Island of Ceylon … .. Vol. II says that on a visit to the Horra-bora Tank (Soraborawewa ), then in ruins, he was so impressed with its magnificense & potential for rice cultivation that after subsequent inspections of other ancient tanks in the Northern Division , he proposed in 1848 that measures be taken to restore important ancient reservoirs by legislative action; his proposal was approved, but action delayed due to unavoidable circumstances, possibly the 1848 uprising, & legislation was introduced later, when Sir Henry Ward was Governor, by way of the Irrigation Ordinance No. 9 of 1856 . Soraborawewa was restored in 1876. (Arumugam,1969). The Irrigation Department was established by the British in Ceylon on 15 th May 1900 & it h...