DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/manualoflandreve01bade A MANUAL THE LAND REVENUE SYSTEMS AND LAND TENURES OF BRITISH INDIA. (PRIMARILY INTENDED AS A TEXT-BOOK FOR THE USE OF OFFICERS OF THE FOREST SERVICE.) BT B. H. BADEN-POWELL, OP THE BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. ewrtTTTAr i • 5 ^ 4 CALCUTTA: OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING. 1882 . ERRATA. Page X, line 8 for “ this system ” read “ these systems " 9f 48, note 99 “ 5th century ” 99 “ 7th century ” 9f 83, line 7 99 “ mee’fifi ” 99 “ mu’fifi ” 9i 95, line 22 99 “ zfinrindar ” 99 “ zamlndar ” 99 166, last line but one 99 “ dependant” 99 “ dependent ” 99 190, line 8 99 “ settled ” 99 “ settlement ” 99 206, line 10 99 “ won ” 99 “ own ” 99 301, line 14 99 “ from ” 99 “ for ” 99 309, line 17 99 “ could ” 99 “ would ” 99 356, note 99 “ bhfiic4-ch4ra ” 99 “ hh4iachfira” 99 361, line 20 99 “holdigs” 99 “ holdings ” 99 382, line 16 99 “ a part ” 99 “ or part ” 99 491, line 19 99 “ causes ” 99 “ circumstances ” 99 615, line 18 99 “has” 99 “ was ” 99 671, line 6 99 “ group ” 99 “ grade ” 99 684, line 7 99 “tenant’s ” 99 “ tenants ” 99 712, lines 4 and 5 99 “ cultivation of land with proportions 735, 742, 764, read “ cultivators . . . specification . . . interests under the law ” last line but one after “ ehamufi” insert “dates” line 4 for “covered” read “caused” line 24 „ “That” „ “The” ledgments. Without this aid, the really great labour in¬ volved in the preparation of this Manual could never have been accomplished. Where the assistance received was so general and so valuable, it is difficult to make mention of one PREFACE. 21 !*> ^ vm nr he only need for a preface is to give me an oppor¬ tunity of expressing my acknowledgments to those officers who have helped me in this work. By the permission of the Government of India, I visited the head-quarters of the several Local Govern¬ ments to collect the books, reports, and other documents necessary to compile this Manual. When the results of my enquiry had been put to¬ gether, I printed a rough draft of what I proposed to say regarding each province, and circulated this to various officers for criticism and advice. The friendly reception I everywhere met with, the kindness and the patience with which officers in every province listened to my questions and gave me access to the information I required, the valuable notes which many of them afterwards furnished me on reading my first rough print,—these demand my warmest acknow¬ ledgments. Without this aid, the really great labour in¬ volved in the preparation of this Manual could never have been accomplished. Where the assistance received was so general and so valuable, it is difficult to make mention of one IV PREFACE. more than another among the helpers. But I ought specially to offer my thanks to the Hon. A. Rivers Thompson, c.s.i., c.i.e., c.s. ; to the Hon. H. L. Dampier, c.i.e., c.s.; and Mr. H. J. S. Cotton, c.s., in Bengal; to Mr. H. S. Reicl, c.s., Mr. Vincent A. Smith, c.s., Mr. R. S. Whiteway, c.s., Major G. E. Erskine, and Mr. W. C. Benett, c.s., in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh; to Mr. G. J. Nicliolls, c.s., and Mr. J. W. Chisholm, in the Central Provinces; to Major E. G. Waco (Settlement Commissioner) and Mr. J. Wilson, c.s., in the Panjab 1 ; to Mr. Leslie S. Saunders, c.s., in Ajmer; to Mr. G. D. Burgess, c.s., in British Burma; to Mr. W. B. Jones, c.s., the Commissioner of Berar; and to Mr. A. J. Dunlop, Assistant Commissioner of Akola; to Mr. H. A. Acwortli, c.s.. Acting Under Secretary to the Government, and Colonel the Hon. W. C. Anderson, c.s.i. (late Settlement Commissioner), in Bombay; and to Mr. C. J. Lyall, c.i.e., c.s., in Assam. B. H. BADEN-POWELL. Lahore; March 1, 1882. 1 I would also desire to record my iudebtedness to Mr. C. L. Tupper’s book on the Customary Law of the Punjab. Not only is this work replete with judiciously selected evidence regarding land tenures, but the different portions of the collection arc prefaced by original essays regarding the history andNjpvclopmeut of the land tenures and the history of communities, which will give th^%J>ook an honourable position not only among works of local interest, but of those which contribute to the general understanding of the early history of institutions. CONTENTS. Preface .......... i Note as to Vernacular spelling .... vii Introduction explaining the objects of the Manual. ix BOOK I.—INTRODUCTORY. Chapter I.—The Provinces of India and their constitution . 3 „ II.—The Legislature and the Laws of India . . 24 ,, III.—A general view of the Land Tenures of India . 42 „ IV.—A general view of the Revenue Systems of India ....... 106 BOOK II.—THE LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OP BENGAL, Chapter I.—The Permanent Settlement .... 161 „ II.—The Temporary Settlements .... 187 „ III.—The Land Tenures ...... 216 „ IV.—The Revenue Officials and Revenue Business . 244 BOOK III.—THE LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. Introduction ....... 269 Chapter I.—The Procedure of Settlement .... 274 „ II.—The Land Tenures— 1. —North-West Provinces . . . 348 2. —Oudh ...... 384 3. —Pan jab .. 395 4. —Central Provinces .... 428 „ III.—The Revenue Officials and their Procedure ; Revenue Business and Revenue Courts . 457 Note A.—On the Scheduled Districts, North- Western Provinces . . . 506 „ B.—On the Hazara District (Panjab) . 518 „ IV. — The Revenue System and Tenures of Ajmer- Mcrwara ....... 522 > VI CONTENTS. BOOK IV.—THE RAIYATWARI SYSTEM. PAGE. Chapter I.—The Land Revenue System and Tenures of Bombay ....... 547 „ II.—The Land Revenue System and Tenures of Berar . ... . . . . . 607 ,, III.-—The Land Revenue System and Tenures of Madras ....... 642 BOOK V.—MISCELLANEOUS SYSTEMS. Chapter I.—The Land Revenue System and Land Law of British Burma ...... 690 1 „ II.—The Land Revenue System and Tenures of Assam ....... 724! „ III.—The Land Revenue System and Tenures of Coorg ....... 756 v ' t NOTE. Vernacular terms (including the names of places) are repre¬ sented, wherever possible, by simple transliteration, except in cases where the term has become practically Anglicised. Transliteration gives the student an immediate clue to the actual vernacular term, and that is the really important thing. The pronunciation will usually be known to him. Where this is not the case, I may briefly indicate that all accented vowels, a, i, u, ire pronounced in the continental fashion (as lago, vino,puro, in Italian) ; “ e” is always as ‘ ay ; in dag ; “ y ” is always a conso¬ nant ; “ o” is always long as in “ depot ” (never short as in :t potter ”) . As for the unaccented vowels, — ‘a' is always as ‘ a ’ in organ. ‘ i ’ - ‘ i ’ in pit. ‘ u ’ - f u ’ in pull. As a rule, typographical difficulties prevented my using diacri- :,ical points to distinguish the consonants ; I have, however, indi¬ cated the j by an apostrophe (as in 'arzi), and the j is distin¬ guished from the ^ by use of the letter q alone. This is of course only a rough account of the matter, but it will ;ave an English reader from absolutely mispronouncing the words. The only terms that ought to have been transliterated, and are not miformly so, are words from Madras and British Burma. The 'ormer I have transliterated, wherever I could, on the authority >f Wilson’s Glossary ; for the latter no system of transliteration ias yet been adopted. In two instances I have adopted a modified pelliug, because the words occur repeatedly and the accentuation s typographically troublesome : I have written “ raiyat ” and : taluqdar, ” though correctly these words should be “rah'yat” and ■' ta'alluqdar.” B. II. B.-P. INTRODUCTION EXPLAINING THE OBJECT OF THIS MANUAL. It is necessary to render a brief account of this Manual;—how it came into existence, and what object it aims at fulfilling. It had long been desired that Forest Officers should become better acquainted with the land and revenue systems of the coun¬ try. But the conditions of a forester’s life, especially as regards facilities for reference to books, require that any subject to be studied should be available in a handy, or at least in a manageable, volume. Unfortunately such a Manual has not hitherto existed. There is no account of the land and revenue systems sufficiently suc¬ cinct to be contained in one volume of a size which is not forbidding, or sufficiently precise to be a text-book for study. I have found nothing between the brief and general accounts contained in Campbell’s Modern India or Chesney’s Indian Polity on the one hand, and the detailed “ Revenue Manuals,” Volumes of Circulars, aud Codes of Acts and Regulations of each province, on the other; able as the former are, they are not sufficient for the purpose; the latter are costly and more or less inaccessible. It was therefore necessary to prepare a Manual which would answer the conditions required; would be in reasonable compass, and yet would go into sufficient detail to enable an officer to know how to act in a matter of revenue law, when in the course of his official duty it was necessary to do so. This latter requirement I have endeavoured specially to meet, by abundant references in the footnotes, to the Acts and other sources from which more detailed information can be obtained. At the same time there was a strong inducement to undertake the task, in the fact that there are many others besides Forest Officers to whom such a work will probably prove acceptable. X INTRODUCTION. Officers who have lately come to India to take part in its ad¬ ministration may desire to make a preliminary survey of the ground generally, before entering on a detailed study of their duties in the particular province to which they have been appointed. There are also many persons who now devote themselves to a study of the financial and economic welfare of India; these are especially in want of an easy means of studying the land and revenue systems. Indeed, the reasons why a study of this system is so necessary to all who would help forward the progress of India, are also to a great extent the reasons why Forest Officers should understand them. The first of these reasons will only be fully appreciated when some progress has been made in the examination of the systems themselves. Here I must ask the student to take it on my statement, that the land revenue system is so bound up with the whole administration of Government, that a general idea of it, is, if not absolutely necessary, still highly desirable for an officer of almost any department, who wishes to take his place intelligently as a member of the composite body of officials jointly engaged in the administration of the country and the promotion of its prosperity. With a Forest Officer it is especially so ; the estates he has charge of supply the wants of the people, and are more or less con¬ nected (through the exercise of forest rights and privileges) with their daily life. To administer such estates efficiently, a perfectly cordial relation between the District Officers and those in charge O of the forest estates must be maintained. Nothing is more detri¬ mental to the best interest of the forest administration, than a feel¬ ing that the Forest Officer is a person who is for ever trying to press one class of rights, while the District Officer is occupied in restraining him by putting forward antagonistic rights of another class. Forests exist for the public good, and for that good individuals must submit to a limited amount of interference with rights or privileges which, if unrestricted, would result in waste. To effect INTRODUCTION. XI this without undue oppression, requires the co-operation of both classes of officers; each must understand and appreciate the point of view of the other. Officers engaged in the revenue administra¬ tion of a district would no doubt welcome the means of under¬ standing more systematically, the importance of forests and their place in the economy of nature. This want, it is hoped, may, before long, be supplied 1 . But, on the other hand, to enable Forest Officers to understand the point of view of the District Officer, and to afford him the means of taking up a secure position in his work of administration, there cannot be a better preparation than a study of the land revenue systems of India. The second reason is a more special one. Forest estates are nearly always constituted out of waste land' at the disposal of the St^e, which has been excluded by the land revenue settlement arrangements from the area of the village lauds or estate dealt with. Hence boundary questions depend in many , cases on revenue records and settlement maps; and the Forest Officer is brought into contact with fc patwdris,” “ karnams,” head¬ men, and others, whose functions can only be understood with refer¬ ence to the land revenue law of their district. He has also to refer to “ records of rights/'’ village maps, “ khasras,” “ field regis¬ ters/'’ and so forth, all of which are the result of revenue settle¬ ment operations. It will thus, I think, be clear that a study of the subjects com¬ prised in this Manual has a very practical importance to the Forest Officer, apart from that more general importance to which I first alluded. How far the method in which the Manual has been prepared, will adapt it to fulfil the requirements of study, can only be seen when the work has been in the hands of Forest Officers and the 1 What is wanted is a popular but accurate book of small size, on the model of the French book (which I can cordially recommend to the perusal of all classes; it can be ordered anywhere, and costs 2 francs), “Jules Clave :—Etudes sur l’economie forestifere ” (Guillauuiiu et Cie.: Paris, 14 Rue Richelieu). Xll INTRODUCTION. public generally for some little time. That my book must contain some errors, and still more omissions, I feel certain ; but the reader will be disposed to regard such defects with indulgence, when he recollects the wide scope of the work, and the limited time at my disposal for its preparation. I hope also that the references in the footnotes will often supply the means of correcting or obviating to some extent the defects of the text. B. H. BADEN-POWELL. Lahore. e ( u j ;« 4 • ■ * . 4 f* .* .■* I. -i‘. « » >'*•', . . , .* BOOK I A GENERAL VIEW OE THE PROVINCES OP BRITISH INDIA THEIR REVENUE ADMINISTRATION AND TENURES. MAHESWAftt LIBRARY. Antiquarian B La* Books Seller. CALCUTTA, (INDIA > V I ' / V * » 30 * — OF BRITISH INDIA. CHAPTER I. r ~ OF THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, AND HOW THEY WERE CREATED. § 1.— Introductory . As this Manual is devoted to the consideration of the Land Tenures and Revenue Systems which distinguish the different provinces of India, it will be well to understand how these provinces came into separate existence for the purposes of administrative government. The limits of my work, however, preclude me from entering on anything like a historical sketch of the progress of those great and unforeseen events which led to so vast a territory being brought under British rule : for such information the standard Histories of India must be consulted. I must plunge at once in medias res, only pausing briefly to remind the reader that the history of the British rule in India is the history of a trading Company, which in the course of events, became a govern¬ ing power, and which ultimately, being dethroned by the Supreme Legislature in 1858, left the huge fabric of its dominion to be administered by the Crown. 4 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 2.— The Presidencies. So long as the East India Company 1 was, as a body, chiefly con¬ cerned with trade, the charters granted to it by the Crown (from the first memorable grant of December 31st, A. D. 1600, onwards) related, as might be expected, chiefly to trading interests. The first settlements,—at Surat (A. D. 1613), on the Coroman¬ del Coast, at Fort St. George (A. D. 1610), and at Fort William in Bengal (A. D. 1698), were mere “ factories” for trading purposes 2 . These factories then became “ settlements,” which were governed internally each by a “ President and Board.” In the course of time, out-stations or dependent factories grew up under the shelter— of the parent, and then the original factory was spoken of as the “ Presidency town,” or centre of the territory where the President resided. In this way, what we now call “ the three Presidencies 3 ,” Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, came into existence. In 1773, the government of the Presidency of Fort William was entrusted to a Governor General and Council, who had a cer¬ tain control over the other Presidencies. This was provided by the Act (13 Geo. Ill, Cap. 63) known as the “ Regulating Act.” 1 The title “ East India Company” originated with the Act of Parliament 3 and 4 Wm. IV, Cap. 85 (A. D. 1833). Section 111 says that the Company may he de¬ scribed as the “East India Company.” At first the Company was called “the Governor and Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies.” Then a rival Company was formed, called “the English Company trading to the East Indies.” These two Companies were afterwards united, and, by the Act of Queen Anne (6 Anne, Cap. 17, Sec. 13), the style became “the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.” Last of all, the Act of William IV, first quoted, legalised the formal use of the designation ever since in use. It is, however, frequently used in the titles of Statutes prior to this, e. g., 9 Anne, Cap. 7; 10 Geo. Ill, Cap. 47; 13 Geo. Ill, Cap. 63. 2 And, indeed, they were not “ possessions,” but the traders were the tenants of the Mughal Emperor. The first actual possession was the Island of Bombay, ceded by Portugal, in 1661, to Charles II, as part of the marriage dowry of the Infanta. This island was granted to the Company in 1669. 3 The use of this term has never, even in Acts of Parliament, been precise : some¬ times it is meant to signify the form of Government, sometimes the place which was the seat of that Government; at other times it meant the territories under such Government. TIIE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 5 It was not till twenty years after (33 Geo. Ill, Cap. 52) that the government of Bombay and Madras, respectively, was formally vested in a Governor with three Councillors 1 . These territorial divisions of India, called Presidencies, could not be authoritatively defined from the first; they gradually grew up under the effect of circumstances. Territories that were conquered or ceded to the Company, were, naturally enough, in the first instance attached to the Presidency whose forces had subdued them, or whose Government had nego- ciated their cession. Thus, for instance, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, went to Port William the territory acquired from the Nawab of the Carnatic, to Fort St. George; and the territories taken in 1818 from the Peshwa Bajf Rao, to Bombay; and so on. No one could foresee what course events would take; and when it is recollected under what very different circumstances, at what different dates, and under what unexpected conditions, province after proviuce was added to the government of the Company, it is not surprising that the Legislature should not, ab initio, have hit upon a convenient and uniform procedure, which would enable all acquisitions of territory to be added on to one or other of the existing centres of Government, in a systematic manner. The student will not therefore be surprised to find that the legislative provisions for the formation and government of the provinces of India are not contained in one law, but were developed gradually by successive Acts, each of which corrected the errors, or enlarged the provisions, of the former ones. § 3 .—Method of dealing with neib territories. Until quite a late date (as will be seen hereafter) no Statute gave any power to provide for any new territory, otherwise than by attaching it . to one or other of the three historical Presidencies. But as a matter of fact, large areas of country, when conquered or 4 The term “Governor or President,” however, begins to appear before that ; e.g., in section 39 of the Regulating Act itself; and in 26 Geo. Ill, Cap. 57. G LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. ceded to the British by treaty, were not definitely attached to any Presidency; at any rate, it was doubtful whether they were in¬ tended to be so or not. This was especially the case with the Bengal Presidency ; it became in fact, difficnlt to say with precision, what were the exact limits of that Presidency, or whether such and such a district was in it or not; and that afterwards gave rise to questions as to whether particular laws were in force or not. The Act 39 and 40 Geo. Ill, Cap. 79 (A. D. 1800), was the first distinctly to empower 5 the Court of Directors in England, to determine what places should be subject to either Presidency, and set the example by declaring the districts forming the province of Benares (ceded in 1775) to be formally “ annexed” to the Bengal Presidency. After this, nothing of importance on the subject of territorial division appears till the year 1833, when the 3 and 4 Wm. IY, Cap. 85, was passed. By this time the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay had nearly reached the limits which they afterwards retained, and these were territorially convenient; but the remaining Presidency of Bengal had attained most unwieldy dimensions. Not only had Cuttack (Katak) been added to Orissa (thus bringing up the fron¬ tier of Bengal to that of Madras), and the large provinces of Assam, Arracan, and Tenasserim been acquired as the result of the first Burmese War in 1824, but most of what we now call the North- West Provinces 6 , had been also annexed to it. The Act of 1833 5 There are Acts of 1773 and 1793 which make allusion to the subject, but the Act of 1800 is the first which directly deals with it. 6 These large additions in the north-west (besides the Benares Kingdom above alluded to) consisted of the districts ceded in 1801 bv the Nawab of Oudh, and comprised the country now known as the districts of Allahabad, Fatihpur, Cawn- pore, part of Azimgarh, Gorakhpur, Bareli, Muradabad, Bijnaur, Badaon, and Shalijahanpur. Soon after, a subordinate of the Nawab’s ceded Farukhabad ; and not long after followed the districts ceded at the close of the Maratha War (which began in 1803): these were Etawa, Mainpuri, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Mu- zaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Agra, Mathura, and Delhi (the latter including all that is now under the Comraissionerships of Delhi and Hissar) ; also Banda and parts of Bandelkhand. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 7 therefore (section 38) proposed to divide this enormous Presidency into two parts, to be called “ the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal/'’ and the “ Presidency of Agra 7 .” It was to be determined locally, what territories should be allotted to each. § 4.— The first Lieutenant-Governorship ( N.-W'. Provinces). Though a ff Governor of Agra” was actually appointed 8 , the scheme was early abandoned, and instead of forming a new Presi¬ dency, the “ North-West Provinces” were separated from the rest of Bengal and placed under a Lieutenant-Governor. This was ordered in 1836, and was legalised by the 5 and 6 Wm. IV, Cap. 52 (1835), which suspended the previous enactment ordering the creation of two presidencies, and rendered valid the appointment of the Lieutenant-Governor. Bengal was thus partly relieved and reduced to more reasonable dimensions. § 5.— The Government of Bengal. But still there was another difficulty. There was no separate Governor or Lieutenant-Governor for Bengal. The Governor General of India was ex-officio Governor of Bengal that is to say, he had to do the work of a local Governor in addition to his func¬ tions as Governor General with supreme control over all Govern¬ ments. Accordingly, the Statute 16 and 17 Vic., Cap. 95 (1853), authorised the appointment of a separate Governor of Bengal, or (until such an officer should be appointed) a Lieutenant-Governor. This Act also looks back on the arrangements made for the North- West Provinces (just described), and again confirms them, going on to say that the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal was to consist of such part of the territories of the Presidency, as for the time 7 This attempt to attach the historic reminiscences involved in the term “ Presi¬ dency” to Agra, which had never known the system of “ President and Board,” is curious. 8 See Notification (in the Political Department) of the 14th November 1834. 8 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. being, was not under the new Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-West Provinces. A Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal was accordingly appointed under this Act 9 . § 6.—i Unattached Provinces. So far then as the territory actually attached to the Bengal Presidency is concerned, the matter was settled; but at this time there were many districts which had never been placed under any presidency at all. Such were the “ Saugor and Nerbudda” (Sagar and Narbada) territories (ceded after the Maratha War of 1817-18)^, Coorg (Kodagu) 1834, Nagpur (1854), the Panjab (1849), and Pegu (1852). How were these to be provided for 10 ? It is probable that at first the case was not thoroughly under¬ stood ; at all events, the only additional provision made by the law of 1853, was a general power to create one other Presidency besides those existing, and if it was not desired to make a “ Presidency ” then to appoint a Lieutenant-Governor of the territories to be provided for. But a glance at the list of provinces or districts just given as “ unattached,” and a thought as to their geographical position, will show that this provision was not sufficient ; the “ unattached” provinces were too far apart to make it possible to provide for them by uniting them under one new “ Presidency.” The power, how¬ ever, to make one new Presidency or Lieutenant-Governorship was afterwards made use of for the purpose of constituting the Panjab territories a separate Lieutenant-Governorship 1 . In the year 1854, the defect was supplied as regards the re¬ maining British territories in India. By the 17 and 18 Vic., Cap. 77, provision was made for the government of such territories or parts of territories as “it might 9 See Resolution, Home Department, No. 415, dated 28tli April 1854. 10 Sind, annexed in 1843, had been attached to Bombay. Oudh was not annexed till afterwards (1856). 1 In 1859. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 9 not be advisable to include in any Presidency or Lieutenant- Governorship.” Section 3 empowers the Governor General by proclamation (under Home sanction) to take such territories under his “ immediate authority and management/' or otherwise to provide for the administration of them. Under this Act the “ Local Ad¬ ministrations " under Chief Commissioners, as they now exist, were constituted. As they are under the “ direct orders " of the Governor General, the Government of India is itself the Local Government 2 , and the Chief Commissioner constitutes a “ Local Administra¬ tion " as administering the orders of the Local Government. It would of course be inconvenient if the Governor General had to exercise directly, in every one of these provinces, all the powers of a Local Government, and therefore, in 1867, an Indian Act (XXXII) was passed to enable him to relieve himself of such detailed work, by delegating certain of his powers as the “ Local Government " to the Chief Commissioners then existing, which were those of Oudh, the Central Provinces, and British Burma. Since then, this process has been further simplified by in¬ serting in Section 2, clause 10 of Act I of 1868 (“ The General Clauses Act"), a definition of the term “ Local Government." In all Acts passed after 1868, when anything is provided to be done by a Local Government, that includes the Chief Commissioner of any province; in fact, the delegation of the Governor General's power as a Local Government is in all such cases implied by, or con¬ tained in, the legal meaning of the term Local Government 3 . Of course the term has this wider meaning only when the context or some express provision, does not control or limit it. 2 The provinces nuclei- Lieutenant-Governors are called “ Local Governments,” because such provinces, though subordinate to the Government of India, are not immediately under the orders of the Governor General. 3 The “ General Clauses Act ” of 1868 defines the term “ Local Government ” to mfean, “ the person authorised by law to administer executive government in the part of British India in which the Act containing such expression shall operate, and shall include a Chief Commissioner.” In Assam, where it was not convenient that this should take effect, Acts VIII aud XII of 1874 were specially enacted, to regu¬ late the powers of the Chief Commissioner. 10 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The powers of the Governor General were further enlarged by the 46th section of the 24 and 25 Vic., Cap. 67 (“The Indian Councils’ Act, 1861 ”), which gives him power to constitute new provinces and to appoint Lieutenant-Governors for them. The Act also makes provision for fixing the limits of every “ Presi¬ dency division, province or territory in India” for the purposes of the Act; aud for altering those limits. In 1865 the 28th Vic., Cap. 17, provided the power to apportion or re-apportion the different territories among the exist¬ ing Governorships and Lieutenant-Governorships. There are also provisions of the Indian Legislature regarding minor divisions of territory, i.e., creating new districts and altering the existing boundaries of districts, of which it is not here neces- sarj' to speak. § 7 .—Present constitution of Provinces. The existing division-of the Indian territories not forming part of the older Presidencies, is then due to the Acts of 1853, 1854, and 1861. The Pailjab, which had before been a Chief Commissionership, was erected into a province under a Lieutenant-Governor 4 , as already mentioned. Oudh was annexed in 1856 and taken under direct management as a Chief Commissionership. In 1877 the then Chief Commis¬ sioner was appointed to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North- 4 At first, by tlie proclamation of annexation and the despatch organising the new province (dated 31st March 1849), a Board of Administration composed of three members, was appointed. By the Government of India Notification No. 660, dated 4th February 1853, the Board was replaced by a Chief Commissioner, to be assisted by a Financial and a Judicial Commissioner. Last of all, by Notification No. 1, dated 1st January 1859, the Governor General “ proclaimed that a separate Lieutenant- Governorship for the territories on the extreme northern frontier of Her Majesty’s Indian Empire shall be established, and that the Panjab, the tracts commonly called the trans-Sutlej States, the cis-Sutlej States, and the Delhi territory, shall be the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor.” These limits are maintained to the pre¬ sent day. The Delhi districts were transferred to the Paujab by Act XXXVIII of 1858, now repealed as spent. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 11 West Provinces, and this practically, to some extent, amalgamated the two provinces, without, however, destroying any special admi¬ nistrative features of either 6 . By Resolution. (Foreign Department) No. 9 of 2nd November 1861, the Chief Commissionership of the Central Provinces was constituted. This province was made up of the Sagar and Nar¬ bada territories and the Nagpur province; some other districts being afterwards added. The notification contains a long history of the administration of these provinces 6 . British Burma was constituted a Chief Commissionership on its present footing also in 1862 7 . As in the case of- the Central Provinces, the Resolution gives a history of the previous adminis¬ tration ; it recites that there had been three separate Commis¬ sioners of Arracau, Pegu, and Tenasserim, respectively ; the first had 5 Proceedings of Government of India, Home Department, No. 45, dated 17th January 1877. In order to facilitate the action of Government, an Act (XIV of 1878) was passed, which in many matters assimilated the powers of the Chief Commissioner of Oudh to those which the Lieutenant-Governor would exercise. This assimilation is chiefly effected by repealing some of the provisions in various Acts which require the Governor General’s sanction to the Chief Commissioner’s proceedings. 5 Nagpur had been under a Commissioner as Agent for the Governor General. The Sagar and Narbada districts had at various times been transferred from one Government to another. They were originally under the Supreme Government; sub¬ sequently they were placed under the Lieutenant-Governor at Agra. Again, in 1842, the general control of them was vested in a Commissioner and Governor General’s Agent, in direct communication with the Supreme Government, while the supervision of fiscal and judicial affairs remained with the Sudder Board and Sudder Court at Agra, respectively. After this, the general jurisdiction was again transferred to the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, and so remained till the noti¬ fication issued in 1861. Nimar had been managed chiefly as an ‘ assigned district’ till its cession as a whole in 1860. Sambalpur was added to the Central Provinces in 1862, Nimar in 1864, and a small estate called Bijragogarh in 1865. The fact that some tracts in Nagpur were ceded in 1817 does not place Nagpur first in the list of acquisitions. The province as a whole had been managed since the defeat of Appa Sahib in 1817, on-behalf of the minor Bhousla Raja (Raghoji III). He suc- I ceeded to the estates in 1830, but died without heirs in 1853, and the province lapsed I to the British Government. The Revenue Settlement was introduced in 1860. The history of this, may be found in the “ Law of the Central Provinces,” by J. G. Nicholls, page 337, et seq. • Resolution, I'orcigu Department (General), No. 212, dated 31st January 1862. 12 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. l>eeu under Bengal, tlie others directly under the Government of India; it was now desirable to unite them under one Chief Com¬ missioner. Berar (the Hyderabad Assigned Districts) is governed by British officers in virtue of the treaties of 1853 and I860 8 . By the first treaty Berar and some other territories were assigned for the payment of interest on the debt due to the East India Company for the support of the Hyderabad Contingent force, and for some other purposes. The assignment was subject to an annual account of receipts and expenses. By the treaty of 1860 the debt was declared cancelled; certain of the territories assigued under the first treaty were restored, and Berar alone retained (within the' general limits it now occupies, but including certain taluqas inside the boundaries which were before exempt from management). No account is now rendered to the Nizam, but the British Govern¬ ment pays to him any surplus it may have in hand after meeting the cost of administration, the cost of the troops of the Contingent, and certain allowances and pensions specified in the treaty. The district of Ajmer and the Merwara parganas were con¬ stituted a Chief Commissionership 9 , the Governor GeneraTs Agent for Rajputa.ua being ex-officio Chief Commissioner. The latest change has been to create Assam into a separate Chief Commissionership, it being taken under the direct orders of the Governor General under the provisions of the Act of 1854 10 . s . Article 6 of the treaty of 1853 and article 6 of the treaty of 26tli December 1860 (Aitchison’s Treaties, Yol. 5, pp. 214-224). By the treaty of 1853 the districts are assigned “to the exclusive management of the British Resident for the time being at Hyderabad and to such officers acting under his orders, as may from time to time he appointed by the Government of India to the charge of those districts.” 9 By Notification No. 1007 (Foreign Department), dated 26th May 1871. Thi s notification is also under the 17 and 18 Vic., Cap. 77, Section 3. 10 See Notification No. 379, dated 7th February 1874 (Gazette of India, Part II, p. 53). Assam includes Kararup, Darrang, Naugong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, the Garo Hills, the Khasi and Jaintya Hills, the Naga Hills, Cachar and Goalpara. Sylhet was afterwards added, but in the same year. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 13 § 8.— Non-Regulation provinces. It may here be naturally asked, why, although some of these provinces were not so geographically situated as to be capable of annexation to particular Presidencies, the others were not so annexed. In the first place, this would have made the Presidencies in some cases of too great an extent and very incompact. But there is another reason which no doubt, at the time, had still greater weight. It should be borne in mind that by the Statute of 180D the consequence of such annexation would he, to render the new territories in all cases subject to the Regulations of the Presi¬ dency to which they were attached. This it was felt would be inconvenient; the Regulations were too precise aud technical, and did not give sufficient latitude for that gradually progressive and paternal method of administration which experience has shown to be necessary in dealing with provinces newly brought under the influence of Western ideas of government. Indeed, some difficulty had already been felt with reference to certain districts of the older provinces, which could not conveniently have been disjoined from the presidency or province in which they were situated ; special Acts had to be passed to exempt such dis¬ tricts from the ordinary law 1 . Accordingly, when whole provinces like the Panjab, Pegu, Oudb, and the Central Provinces, were in the same condition, it was natural that, on annexation, they should not have been declared to be attached to any Presidency. Consequently, these territories did not come under the Regulations 2 , and became (as they are still called) 1 Some of these old Acts are mentioned in Schedule II to Act XIV of 1874. These are mostly repealed as no longer necessary under the new system of “ Sche¬ duled Districts,” which will be explained hereafter - . 2 This is quite correct, although in the Local Laws Acts, e.g., of Oudh and the Panjab, there will be found a few of the Bengal Regulations quoted as “ in force” in these provinces. This is done because such Regulations have practically been com¬ plied with, or because in the orders for settling the administration of the new provinces, it was directed that the “ general spirit” of certain Regulations should be followed, aud it is more convenient now to recognise them as in force. u LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ Non-Regulation Provinces”; and they now comprise the larger portion of the total number of districts in British India 3 . It will next be asked what at the present time is practically the difference between a Non-Regulation and a Regulation Province? The answer to this will be better understood when we have taken a brief survey of the legislative powers of the Government. Here I will only so far anticipate as to say, that as far as the | nature of the laws in force, the distinction has practically dis¬ appeared in favour of one which really is important, which is that certain parts of several provinces (whether these provinces as a whole are “ Regulation ” or “ Non-Regulation ”) are, or may be, by Act XIV of 1874, exempted from the operation of the ordinary laws, except in so far as those laws, or any of them, may he declared applicable; and that a power exists for making special Rules or Regulations for them. The only vestige of the original distinction between Regula¬ tion and Non-Regulation provinces survives in the titles, duties, and salaries of officials, and also in the fact that in Regulation Provinces certain posts are, by law, reserved to be held by mem¬ bers of the Covenanted Civil Service 4 . The origin of this difference was, that under the Act of 33rd Geo. Ill (1793), it was provided that offices under Government should be filled by Covenanted Civil Servants of the Presidency to which the 3 Colonel Chesney (Indian Polity, 2nd edition, page 193) gives a list showing that there are 111 Non-Regulation to 97 Regulation districts. Readers must beware of certain inaccuracies in this otherwise excellent book, as regards the legal position of the Non-Regulation Provinces. The author is mistaken in supposing that the Non- Regulation Provinces were excluded from the operation of Legislative enactments till 1861. They were exempt from the Regulations, but all Acts applying generally to British India, passed by the Legislative Council (which began in 1834) applied equally to these territories, provided the province formed part of British India when the Act was passed. Thus, any general Act jiassed after 1849 would apply to the Panjab, and one passed after 1856 to Oudh. 4 The question what appointments in India, generally, must be held by Covenanted Civil Servants, and what must be so held in the Judicial and Revenue Branches in Regulation Provinces, is now determined by the Act of Parliament, 24 and 25 Vic., Cap. 54. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 15 vacant office belonged. Consequently, districts not attached to any Presidency were not bound by this rule, and the Governor General could provide for their administration as he pleased. It was both natural and advisable in such cases, that Military and Political officers (who had been in many cases engaged with the affairs of a province before its annexation) should be appointed to the task of first organising and conducting its new administra¬ tion. There was nothing, however, to prevent Civilians, whether Covenanted or Uncovenanted, being also appointed, as their services became available; consequently, the Commission became a mixed one. In the Non-Regulation Districts also, the District Officer has both civil, criminal, and revenue powers, and he is called “ Deputy Commissioner, ” whereas in Regulation Districts he has only niminal and revenue functions, and is called “ Magistrate and Collector/” The Civil Judge is there a separate officer. In Oudh, ;oo, which is otherwise a Non-Regulation province, the Deputy Commissioner does not exercise Civil Powers. § 9 .—List of Districts in India. The following abstract may be useful in enabling the student to trace the history of any district in the provinces treated of in this Manual:— BENGAL. o a s Date of acqui¬ sition and former terri¬ torial desig¬ nation. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement. - 5 - o o U-S-s-S :s||| . to E • o co 5 rj o S CO is gj 3- 3420^ o.S Spq o' . o^3 cS •s> Bardwan (A. D. 1760-63) Bimkiira Ilirbhdm lldgli . Howrah 24-Pergunnalis / Jessore (Jashr) Nadiya Mursliidabad Dinajpur Malda . Rajshahi . Rangpur Bogra (Bagura) \ Pabna . Decennial Set¬ tlement, 1790- \91 made per- fmanent by proclamation A. D. 1793. / Remarks. All come under the permanent settlement. Regulations I and VIII of 1793. These may be individual estates temporarily set¬ tled in the districts. 16 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA BEN G- AL- concluded. o a e ? Date of acquisition and former territorial designation. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement. Remarks. a . sa ^ u c- i O CD > CD O O a 03 S • C O s 0.2 oM pq Old Orissa Chutiya N4gpur. After Kol rebellion 1S31-32, the South- West Frontier Agency was creat¬ ed by Regulation XIII of 1833. \ This “agency” be¬ came the Chotta (or Chuttya) Ndg-1 pur Division in I 1854 (Ac t XX). \ Bihar (A. D. 1765.) Modern Orissa (Katak Province) taken from Mara- thas, A. D. 1803. Ceded in 1838, ) 1850, and 1865. J Maimansingh Farfdpur BSkirganj Dacca (Dakha) Purniya Bhagalpur Moughyr (Munger) Tipperah (Tipra) . Noakhall Chittagong A. D. 1760 Sontal Parganas . Midnapore (Mednipur) A. D. 1760-63. Hazaribagh Lohardagga Singhbhfim Manblium Patna . Gaya Sbalidbad Darbhanga Muzaffarpuc Saran Champaran Katak . BalasOr . Pflri Tributary Mehals Darjeeling Jalpaiguri The Hill Tracts are “sche¬ duled ” and were removed from the Regulations by Act XXII of 1860. Part only permanently settled : the rest is a Government estate* under Act XXXVII of 1855 and Regulation III of 1872 and a special settlement. The Orissa of 1765 nearly coincides with this dis- trict. Parts of these were perma¬ nently settled, the other estates being variously settled (see Book II, chapter III, section 8). All are scheduled dis¬ tricts under Act XIV of 1874. Permanent settlement as in Bengal proper. Formerly one district— Tirhut. Temporary settlement un¬ der Regulation VII of 1822 (first under XII of 1805). Settlement con¬ tinued under Bengal Act X of 1867. As regards the “ Tributary Mehals ” the Khurda estate, &c., see Book II, Chapter II, Section VII. Scheduled district. Partly out of the old Rangpur district and partly the Western Dwars taken from Bhutan 1885. Temporary settlements, except old part of Jal- paigdri, which is per¬ manently settled. * As early as 1780, the Daman-i-koh was, by an Act of State, removed from the operation of the Regulations and declared a Government Estate. THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 17 ASSAM. Form of Go¬ vernment. Date of acquisition and former territorial designation. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement Remarks. / Lapsed in 1830 to British Govern- Kachar .... 1859 Temporary settlement. ment. Was acquired with Sylhet and part of Jain- 1872 Partly permanent settle- Bengal in 1765. tiya (annexed 1835) ment, partly temporary. Formed part of Garo Hills «. This was under a special Rangpur and the Regulation of 1876, which CO hills on North- terminated in 1881, a East frontier were and will probably be in first separated by future dealt with like an Regulation in 1822. ordinary district. *2 Became a political Khasi and Jaintya Hills No regular revenue system; ^ O ^ a . With the rest of J the district. 1 Mirzapur, certain tap- pas, and the part of district lying south of Kaimui Hill range. } . 1 Scheduled district. Specia law and settlement, seo Note A to Book III. it " Presidency o Jjieuteriant-GovPi provinces in 183C The “ Ceded 1 Districts.” Treaty / with Nawab of \ Oudh. 1801. Rest of Azimgarh Gorakhpur . Basil .... Allahabad . . Banda .... Fatihpur ... Hamirpur 1866— 77 | 1859—71 1867— 78 not complete. 1870-77 1872—80 Settled originally under Regulation VII of 1822 and IX of 1833, now Act XIX of 1873. All but a smallpart, which was acquired later (1840). B int-Governorship of the North- 18 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA, N ORTH-WE S TERN PROVINCES— continued. ° a Date of acquisition and former territorial designation. a _ o a a o'£ I The “ Ceded Districts.” Treaty ' with Nawab of Oudh, 1801. "The Conquered Districts,” under Lord Lake, 1803. From Nepal, 1815. < Name of present district. Cawnpore (Kahnpur) Etawa . Main puri Etah Bareli (and Pilibit) Shahahanpur Badaou . . Bijnaur , , Muradabad . Farulili&bdd . The Tarai Parganas Aligarh. . Mathura Bulandshahr. Meerut (Mfrath) M uzaffarnagar Saharanpur . Agra . Delhi districts Dehra Dtin Kumaon Garhwal Date of Revenue settlement. 1868—78 1868—74 186G—74 1863— 73 1865—72 1867—74 1864- 72 1864-74 1872-80 1863-75 1866—74 1872-79 1858—65 1865—70 1860—75 1854—70 1872—80 1860—67 1863-73 1856—64 Remarks. Scheduled district, under special law. Regulation IV of 1876. Now in the Panjab. Regulation districts since July 1871, except par- gana of Jaunsar Bawar. Scheduled district. Special law. Ordinary revenue law only partly in force. el fco <1 o h Ch Acquired by ea lapse, forfeiture,3 1 or treaty since o 1840. "g o3 pa Jbansf . Lalitpur Jalaun . * \ 1854—67 1853-69 1853-74 Scheduled districts under Act XIV of 1874. Administered on system resembling Panjab (De¬ puty Commissioner, &e.). Ordinary revenue law is however in force, and settlements were made in the usual way. OTTDH. © . o ° s S 2 Date of acquisition and former territorial designation. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement. Remarks. £ > Chief Com- ! missioner. Annexed in Feb¬ ruary 1856. All the districts , | Between 1860 and the present time. Settled under local rules of 1861 which had the force of law under the Indian Councils Act (now Act XVII of 1876). THE PROVINCES UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 19 PANJAB. e-S <«_! a ° > designation. Settlement. Treaties ia 1802 C Surat .... 1839—731 Formerly one district, and 1803 . . 1 Baroch (Broach) . 1863—77 j separated in 1865. is By grant in 1803 . Kaira .... 1857—68 Includes the Paueli Mahals o acquired from Sindia in ■2 a I860, and which are cS o a “scheduled district'* not subject to the aH Regulations. ej £ From Raj i Rao < Ahmadabad . 1851-62 ^ Peshwa in 1818 .1 Khandesh 1868-69 aT co / * Nasik . 1871—80 District formed in 1869-70 o (nine talukas from old Ahmadnagar aVid three from Khandesh). Con- tc.2 — siats of two parts, the Dangs or ghat (hilly) "l-SM tracts and the * desh’ or plain. . CO > 2 r rt ST —< — o From Bajf Rao a , Peshwa in 1818. \ •ai rt Sholapur . . . 1872-75 1867-68. Old Sholapur was restored to its Raja in 1818, but again lapsed by failure P / of heirs to Government 2 giS . ai Revision of Settlement | i “U * Kaladgf 1871—78 in 1884-85. rt « .2 £> Belgam . . , 1850-57 Revision began 1878-79. liil \ Dharwar . , 1871—80 a> 4> ~ ( Than a (Tanna) . 1851-67 Igo = CO S rr, from the Peshwa 1818. Kolaba 1851—67 A sub-division (Alibagh) lapsed in 1839. •Hr c * Ratnagiri . 1866-76 •“ a cc North Kanara 1863—80 Transferred from Madras in 1862. o -> K S ► 1860 with the Nizam. tricts : — Umrawati, EUichpur, Akola, Buldana, Basim, Wun. system; Settlement Rules of 1860—61. COORG. Form of Go¬ vernment. Date of acquisition and former territorial designation. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement. Remarks. issioner oi 1 “ Superin- nder him. Annexed in May ThoJprovince consists Two taluks have been E5 3 1834. of six taluks. separated and added to 1 J tci o> sig South Kanara in Madras Presidency. AJMER AND MERWARA. Form of Go¬ vernment. Date of acquisition and former territorial designaiion. Name of present district. Date of Revenue Settlement. Remarks. i ® . 1 Ceded in 1818 after Ajmer district and the 1 st settlement On the N.-W. Provinces the Pindar! War. parganas of Merwara 1849-50 revised s ystem. Merwara reduced united in 1812 uuder in 1S74. There is a Commissioner s'!” Ss \ 1819-20—23. one officer. and a Deputy Commis¬ sioner with an Assistant at Beawar In Merwara. 24- land REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER II. OF THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE, AND THE LAWS BY WHICH INDIA IS GOVERNED. § 1 .—Reason for describing them. As I have already alluded to f ‘ Acts” and “Regulations” of the Indiau Legislature, and shall have occasion continually to refer to such Acts and Regulations in the sequel, it will be desirable to give a brief account of the legislative powers under which Acts have been, and are, enacted for the Indian Empire. Just as in the last chapter, we learned that the organisation of, the several provinces for administrative purposes, was only accom¬ plished gradually and by a series of Acts of Parliament, so the Indian Legislature has gradually grown into its present form after several statutes for organising it have been made, amended, and repealed. The tentative and changeful nature of the arrangements provided, are due to the same causes in both instances. At first it was only necessary to provide for the internal affairs of the Company's factories, to determine what laws the settlersi were to be deemed to carry with them, and were to be bound by, in their new home, and what courts were to administer justice among them. Soon, however, the sphere widened; whole provinces were acquired and added on to the original settlements; and then came the necessity of controlling, not only the European settlers, but of providing for the government of the country at large. Trading charters had then to be supplemented by Acts of Par-] Lament, providing for the direction aud control of the East India Company (now that it was a governing body), regulating the ap-i pointment of high functionaries and subordinate agents in India determining the constitution of Courts of Justice, and giving: powers of local legislation. | THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 25 It would serve no useful purpose, even if I had space available, to describe the early history of the Government which, in former lays, as at present, was, from the necessity of the case, carried on partly in England and partly in India. § 2 .—Home Government of the present day. The “ Court of Directors ” of the Company and the “ Board Df Control,’'’ which acted as a sort of check (on the part of the Crown) on that Court, have passed away. The Home Govern¬ ment is now provided for by the Act 21 and 22 Vic., Cap. 106 (A. D. 1858), known as the “ Act for the better government of India.” This Statute transferred the government of the Com¬ pany's possessions to the Crown, and provides that all the rights )f th r Company are to be exercised by the Crown, and all revenues :o he received for and in the name of the Queen, and to be applied nr the purposes of the government of India alone, subject to the provisions of the Act. One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State is to exer¬ cise all the control that the Court of Directors of the old Company did, whether alone or under the Board of Control. A Council of fifteen members, to be styled the “ Council of India 1 ,'' is also established. The Act fixes the salary of the members ’payable out of the Indian revenue) and prohibits them from sitting Dr voting in Parliament. The Council is under the direction of the Secretary of State, and its duty under the Act, is to “ conduct the business transacted in the United Kingdom in relation to the government of India and the correspondence with India.'' It may be, and is, divided into Committees for different depart¬ ments of business. If the Council differs from the Secretary of State, the opinion of the Secretary is final, except in some matters, for the decision of which the law declares a majority of votes necessary 3 . 1 See the Act, Sections 7 and 19. s The most important of such cases is provided by section 41 of the Act itself. No grant or appropriation of Indian revenue or public property can be made without such majority. 26 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 3 .—Legislative power in England. The Parliament has full power to legislate for India whenever it thinks fit. Not only has Parliament this general power, but the local Indian Legislature is expressly barred from dealing with certain subjects which it was thought wiser to reserve for the Imperial Parliament. I may here mention that it is a settled rule of interpretation that Acts of Parliament applicable to “ British India ” give the law to the whole of those territories, not only as they happen to be at the time, but however they may be constituted thereafter. No matter how many provinces may be added to British India in future, Acts of Parliament now in force and applying to “ British India ” would equally apply to the new provinces added 3 . Such being the powers of the Secretary of State for India and his Council, and of the Imperial Parliament, we may now consider the powers and constitution of the Government of India. § 4 .—The Government of India. There is a Viceroy and Governor General with the supreme power of control and supervision over all the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors (who are the “ Local Governments”). The Governors of Madras and Bombay retain some special powers (such as that of direct correspondence with the Home Government) not enjoyed by other Local Governments, and which in some respects aJFect their relation to the Government of India ; but this it is Dot necessary to enter upon. The Governor General may also himself become, the Local ti Government of certain provinces by taking them under his direct C management (under the Act 17 and 18 Vic., Cap. 77) in the T 3 See Sir H. (tlien Mr.) Maine’s remarks in tbe Abstract of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council of 22nd March 1867 (Calcutta Gazette, 33th March 1867). Not so with Indian Acts :—if applicable to the “ whole of the territories of the East India Company,” that means the territories as they existed at the time. For example, an Act passed in 1848 would not (unless afterwards extended) apply to tin fit Panjdb, because it was not till 1849 that the Panjab formed part of the territories oi ft. the East India Company. THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 27 manner described in the last Chapter 4 . The Central Provinces, Oudh, Assam, and British Burma are examples of this. In such cases there is a Chief Commissioner who constitutes the “ Local Administration/'’ The Governor General is now assisted by a Council of five Ordinary Members 5 . This is the Executive Council. § 5 .—The first form of Indian Legislature. The first Act which directly provided for the form of govern¬ ment in India, is the 13 Geo. Ill, Cap. 63 (passed in 1773), known as “ The Regulating Act.” It provided that the Government of Bengal should consist of a Governor General and Council (four Councillors), and this was to be the Supreme Government, subject, however, to control of the Home Authorities 6 . Legislative powers were given under this Statute, to the Gov¬ ernor General, for the “ Settlement of Fort William ” and other fac¬ tories and places subordinate thereto. i Madras and Bombay had not yet any power of making Regu¬ lations. To the former of these Presidencies, powers were given by an Act of Parliament in 1800 (which extended powers similar to those which 'an Act of 1781, presently to be mentioned, had given to Bengal). In 1807, Bombay was provided for, and the powers of Madras were at the same time improved and placed on the same tooting. The chief feature of the Regulating Act as it affected legisla¬ tion, was, that all laws required to be registered in the Supreme Court of Judicature at Calcutta, in order to give them validity. This plan did not answer; and it was amended by an Act of 1781 7 . 4 See Chapter I, page 8. 5 24 and 25 Vic., Cap. 67 (Indian Councils Act), Section 3. 6 Vide the Act, Sections 7, 8, and 9 and Tagore Lectures for 1872, page 44. 7 The causes of the change were the antagonism which sprung up between the i Supreme Court and the Council. All such matters must necessarily be here omitted. ■ ’he student who desires to pursue the subject, may refer to the Tagore Lectures, 1872 Lecture III), and the standard Histories. 23 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. § 6.— The Regulations. Under this amending Act of 1781, a large body of Regulations; was passed 8 . The Marquis of Cornwallis revised and codified the Regulations in 1793, and on the 1st of May 1793, forty-eight Regulations, so revised, were passed, of which the forty-first declares the purpose of forming into a regular Code, all Regulations that.i might be enacted for the internal government of the British terri¬ tories in Bengal. That these Regulations did not exactly comply with the terms; of the Act of 1773, while they exceeded the limits of the powers given by the Act of 1781, there can be no doubt. However, Parliament in 1797 (37 Geo. Ill, Cap. 142) recognised them as in fact valid, approved of the formation of a Code of such Regu- j, lations, and only added that they should be registered in the ; “ Judicial Department,” and that the reasons for each Regulation should be prefixed to it 9 . The Code thus issued in 1793 and added to down to 1833, forms what is called the Code of Bengal Regu¬ lations 10 .” There are local Codes of Regulations also, for Madras and Bombay. § 7.— No provision for provinces not annexed formally to the Bengal Presidency. It was noted in the last chapter that the force of the Regula¬ tions was in 1800 (39 and 40 Geo. Ill, Cap. 79), extended to the 1 province of Benares and “all other factories, districts, and placest which now are, or hereafter shall be, subordinate, and to all such 1 provinces and districts as may at any time hereafter he annexed td the Presidency of Port William in Bengal.” In the course of the preceding chapter, I have noticed the im-J I 8 Tagore Law Lectures, 1872, page 80. 9 This is the reason why long, and sometimes very instructive, preambles are tc be found prefixed to some of the earlier Regulations, these preambles being, in fact' “explanatory memoranda” of the object and purpose of the law. 10 Part of this is still in force. The various repealing Acts have done awaj with all obsolete Regulations; others, of course, have been specially repealed in thi course of legislation. THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 29 portance of this provision, and also the fact that various new ac¬ quisitions of territory, though annexed in general terms to the British dominions, were not specifically made subordinate or annexed to, the Presidency of Bengal. Consequently, no Regulations applied to such provinces, nor was there any direct power of making laws for them till 1834, nor was all difficulty connected with the subject completely removed till 1861. § 8.— The second Indian Legislature. . The 28th August 1833—on which day the 3 and 4 Wm. IY, Cap. 85, was passed—brought to a close the era of the Regulations. By the 43rd section, the “ Governor General in Council” was to make Laws and Regulations for all persons, for all Courts of justice, ind for all places and things within British territory and regarding Servants of the Company in allied Native States. 1 The Act provided also certain limits to the power of the Indian 1 legislature with regard to certain subjects of legislation. In the former period, the legislative power had been to make s ' Rules, Regulations, and Ordinances ”; the term “Regulation ” was onsequently adopted as most properly describing the enactments ibsued. Under the 3 and 4 William IY, Cap. 85, the power was iven to make laws as well as Regulations; and it was thenceforward le custom to call the enactments of the Governor General in ie 'ouncil “Acts.” jS There is but little specific difference in the nature of a Regulation ,|j id an Act, except that the former were less concisely and techni- ^ illy drafted, and were usually preceded by the detailed expositions ? the motives and purpose of the enactments previously alluded ). This, in “ Acts,” has been replaced by the brief “ preamble 1 .” 1 There are also some differences in the manner of interpretation; but it is not ^ re necessary to enter on such details. The introduction to “ Field’s Chronolo- ^ jifl Index ” explains the subject clearly. The “ Statement of Objects and Reasons,” lC \iicli is always published with the proposed law while it is yet in the stage of a [Bill,” does away with the necessity for any lengthy preamble to the Act itself q ien passed. It is, however, itself probably a relic of the old exposition prefixed to [m a Regulations. 30 LAND UKVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. From 1793 to 1833, therefore, we have “ Regulations,” and from 1831 down to the present day we have “ Acts.” These Acts are numbered consecutively through the year, and follow the calendar, not the official, year. This plan has ever sincf been adhered to, notwithstanding the modifications which havt affected the constitution of the Legislature down to the present time By the Act of 1833, the Governments of Madras and Bombaj were deprived of the power of legislation, and did not regain thii power till 1861. The Act gave the Governor General a Council of four members of whom one was to be conversant with legal subjects. He wa', not a member of the Executive Council, and only sat when legislaf tion was in question. Even then he was not necessarity present nor need he concur when an Act was passed 2 . Under this Act however, Commissioners were appointed in Lidia to consider an i propose drafts of laws 3 . § 9 .—The Indian Legislature in Us third stage. Our present system is nothing more than a development of thj Legislature of the 3 aud 4 Win. IV, Cap. 85. The first impor. ant change was made by the Act of 1853 (16 & 17 Vic., Cap. 15. It will be interesting to follow, in a very general manner, tl: changes made 4 . 2 For an excellent comparison of the various Legislatures in more detail, Tagore Law Lectures, 1872, page 105 et seq. 3 It was under these provisions that Lord Macaulay came out, the result the Commissioners’ labours being the Indian Penal Code, now so famous. By t Act of 1853 a Law Commissioner in England was appointed to advise the Crown, j the recommendations of the Law Commissioners in India. 4 Acts passed under the constitution of 1834 are technically styled “ Acts of Governor General of India in Council” ; those under the system of 1853 are Acts the “ Legislative Council of India” ; those made since the Indian Councils AcID 1861 are “ Acts of the Council of the Governor General of India assembled for i purpose of making Laws and Regulations.” At the present day the draffcp proposed Acts are published in the Gazette of India, for the purpose of givflj notice of the proposed law and of invoking criticism, and in that stage draft is spoken of as a “ Bill.” When the Acts are passed by the Council and received the assent of the Governor General, they are also published in the GazeA THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. • 81 By this Act, some purely legislative members were added to the Council. These were appointed, one by each Governor of a Presi¬ dency or Lieutenant-Governor of a province. The Chief Justice of Bengal and one of the Judges, were also'made members. "While, however, the Council was thus improved in two important features,— (a) local representation of provinces and ( b ) special adaptation for legislative functions,—it did not satisfy the ideas of many who could make their opinions heard. In those days the alan of a local legislature for each province was strongly advo¬ cated, and in 1859 Lord Canning sent home a despatch, in which lot only this subject was dealt with, but the practice of the sxisting Council was criticised. Lord Canning advocated a eparate legislature for Bombay, Madras, Bengal, the North¬ west Provinces, and the Panjab. He also desired that natives cf the country should be consulted, and that they should be able o give their opinions in their own language. 0 .—The Indian Legislature as it is at present (under the Indian Councils’ Ad). In 1861 was passed the 24 and 25 Vic., Cap. 67, the “ Indian ouncils' Act,” which (as amended in some particulars by later h The Superintendent of Government Printing (at his office, No. 8, Hastings Street, ilcutta) publishes authorised copies of all Acts, which can be bought by the public a small price, varying according to the length of the Act. The Legislative jpartment is also issuing a collected series of the Acts, grouped in volumes “ General Acts,” and in “ Codes,” i. e., the Acts referring specially or solely each province. In these editions, which are of great value, tables are published owing how all the Acts and Regulations are disposed of—by repeal, &c. Only repealed enactments are printed, with the alterations introduced by later Acts passed in time for the printing). The provincial volumes, or “Codes/' Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, give all the Regulations and Acts of the Local Legis- ures, as well as the Acts of the Supreme Legislature; and all the provincial volumes itain the “ Regulations ” issued for certain districts under the Act 33 Vic., Cap. 3. ey do not, however, give the “ rules made pursuant to various Acts/* which are now . conspicuous a feature in recent Acts. These must be looked for in local Gazettes preprints. Such “ rules” are, however, of great convenience, enabling a multitude /pe tails to be locally provided for which could not be entered in the Act itself hout swelling its bulk enormously, since the “rules” areas various as are the ditions of the provinces. The Forest Officer will remember how important lace “rules” have in the Forest Acts of 1878 and 1881. 32 I.AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Statutes) is the law under which our present legislature sul 6ists 5 . The nucleus of the Council is the Executive Council of tl Governor General. 'This'now consists of five Ordinary Membe: (with the Commander-in-Chief as an Extraordinary Membi if so appointed by the Secretary of State). The Governor Madras or Bombay becomes also another Extraordinary Memb when the Council sits in his Presidency. Of the five Ordinary Members, three are officials. Civil Military (of ten years’’ standing at least), and of the remai ing two, one must be a Barrister (or Scotch Advocate) of not le than five years’ standing. The Barrister Member is general spoken of as the “ Legal Member ” and the other as the “ Fina cial Member.” When the Council sits for legislative purposes, has to be supplemented by a number of “ Additional ” Members 6 ,1 the purpose of making laws and regulations only. These Addition Members have no power of voting except at legislative meeting In number they must be not less than- six nor more than twelv one-half the number so nominated must (by Section 10) be no official persons. Provision is made for the Council meeting in the absence of t Governor General; and for the Governor General, when visiti any part of India, exercising his power without liis Council. But this power does not extend to legislation. The Goven General can never legislate apart from his Council; but the Coue may sit notwithstanding the absence of the Governor-Genei In such cases a “ President in Council ” is appointed according the Act. ■ 6 All the recent Acts of Parliament, viz., from 1855, can be found in the Colleci of Statutes issued by Mr. Whitley Stokes in continuation of the “ Law relating to lit and the East Ifldia Company ” ; the former can easily be obtained, the latter is out of print and scarce. But an edition of the Statutes is being printed in the Le lative Department. 6 When the Council sits in any province, the Lieutenant-Governor (and by, 33 Vic., Cap. 3, Section 3, a Chief Commissioner also) becomes ex-officio a M her for legislative purposes only. The ex-officio Members may be in excess of j t maximum of twelve Additional Members. THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 38 The Governor General (alone) has, however, a special 7 power o issue ordinances for the peace and good government of the conn- ry in cases of emergency. Power is reserved to the Crown (through the Secretary of State n Council) to disallow any law or regulation passed in India ; nd the powers of the Council are restricted by section 22 in espect of certaiu subjects of legislation. § 11 .—Powers of Local Legislatures. The Act gives legislative powers to the Madras and Bombay overninents; consequently, the Local Codes which show a blank ’ter lc833, begin to have Loe.il Acts from 1862 onwards. For the ;her provinces the matter is differently stated. The provisions of le Act are to be extended to the Lieutenant-Governorship of jengal, and may be extended to the North-West Provinces 8 and e Punjab as soon as the Governor General deems it expedient. 7 See section 23. This remains in force for a limited period only, and is sub- t to a “veto” from the Home Government (Secretary of State). 8 Under these provisions the Bengal Council was constituted by proclamation the 17th January^L862. No local legislature for the North-West Provinces or ijab has yet been constituted. The following passage from the Tagore Lectures for 1872 may be here quoted ,vcll describing the functions of the Councils when sitting as legislative bodies ges 122-23) The character of these Legislative Councils is simply this, that they are Dinmittees for the purpose of making laws. Committees by means of which the (eutive Government obtains advice and assistance in their legislation, and the lie derive the benefit of full publicity being ensured at every stage of the lavv- ;ing process, Although the Government enacts the laws through its Council, ate legislation being unknown, yet the public has a right to make itself heard, the Executive is bound to defend its legislation. Ml “And when the laws are once made, the Executive is as much bound by them as htpublic, and the duty of enforcing them belongs to the Courts of Justice. Such are in reality the orders of Government, but they are made in a manner which res publicity and discussion, are Enforced by the Courts aud not by the Executive, tot be changed but by the same deliberate and public process as that by which were made, and can be enforced against the Executive or in favour of individuals levei; occasion requires. The Councils are not deliberative bodies with respect to subject but that of the immediate legislation before them. They cannot enquire C 34 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The local Governor is bound to transmit an authenticated cop; of any law or regulation to which he has assented to the Governo General 9 . No such local law has any validity till the Governc General has assented thereto, and such assent shall have bee signified by him to and published by the Governor. If the assei is withheld, the Governor General must signify his reasons i writing for so doing. into grievances, call for information, or examine tire conduct of the Executive. T acts of administration cannot he impugned, nor can they be properly defended such assemblies, except with reference to the particular measure under discussion.” 9 And if the Bill contains penal clauses, it is ordered (as a matter of admin trative regulation) by a despatch of the Secretary of State of 1st December 18( that it should he submitted to the Governor General before it is locally passed ii an Act. GO A ^<3 |fco oo d; °-3 >o ® — x 5^ d tZ s3 42 ■'* o ■2=3 THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. , saoi')t:[nS 8 ;j pm; SAl'Brj Sitppjni jo osod -.incl .ioj pqqtuosse [iu.)110;) jcouj 9 AO£) jo pouno') 85 •pounoQ omg.idng *3 3 5E-- o .2 s 3 S a *£> o & x^-s C- “gf 1§1. •5 « „ b< js & 53 c o •; o § 'th 0 S -g . o yc 0 « o O TJ ' 5^ qj o « h £0 o -•-* C “ k<§5, I <1 o I eo c3 : «! 5 3-°' 3 ^ S h g a> a/ ? » 5E 's o g a a s ° cc 5 3 QJ «4H ^ J CJ-n, co O ^ O k—( J-l ~ —/“I - ^ CS H £?- S c s £ fl .13 • -* n3 „ co ^ g O- o S c o g 3 3 a -s a > g K o o r ^ B1 O O 0> -M o « > ‘ ^ o • a ; ^3 w ; <3 ' • § ^ O ^ CO n ■ ~ 0) * „ o 2 Cl, O ' 5 2 S3 c3 33 O _c 8 g g £ m hh &/} -M c3 ^ co n3 •a° Oi o CM ^ fcfi'-M 0 r S3 £ ■ Sh S3 0) C ^ '5? r : o •§ o ? ^ | ^ c 3 C r C C3 O c ; S3 Q £ s C3 o <3 ;-a H? O %j 6c's y o / >L3 0'S QJ bo o > o. ° a. >. O cs n 'O — n« - £ £ = 2 K O 7 — K *0 w a o O ^ -4—> •n ci tD O O O T a ^ Cq 4-( * r33 g s s - s & C3 5 >'■2 0 O vS^) o ■2 13 3 Q ^ O ^-5 O Cj So H c- -. 2 30 O I CD g o { f-* S-» 5 O -p _ pO «H 3 s n 2 ’0 O' 8 ^ 3 «l 9 ^ ^ ri M r- w 0J 2 ^ > 2 33 § 33 s o a 1^ 86 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 12.— Law of “ Non-Regulation ” Provinces. One section (25) of the Indian Councils Act I have reserved for notice till the conclusion of this chapter. 1 have already spoken of “ Non-Regulation Provinces,” and sj ar explained how they came into existence. We have seen that unless expressly made subordinate to the presidency, a proviuc did not come within the operation of the Regulations. Conse quently, up to 1833, no provision existed by which anything i, the nature of a legislative power existed for such places. The Act 3 & 4 Wm. IV, Cap. 85, afforded only a partis remedy. It gave it, it is true, power to legislate for all Britis territory, so that provinces which were already British territory at tl time were provided for; but nothing was said about the applicatic of such Acts, if general in their character, to provinces not at tl time British provinces, but added afterwards 10 . It soon becan, doubtful how far such Acts were practically in force. But chief difficulty was, that in the newer provinces a number of matte had been provided for by local rules, circular orders, and offic instructions, which emanated from the executive, but not from ai legislative, authority. Business could not have been carried without such rules, yet there was no legal basis for them, only sanction of practice. The Indian Councils Act of 1861 removed the difficulty, ~ by section 25 provides that “ no rule, law, or regulation whi prior to the passing of this Act, shall have been made by ” the Governor General, the Governor General in Council, the Governor, the Governor in Council, the Lieutenant-Governor, for and in respect of any such non-regulation province (i.e., te tory known from time to time as a non-regulation province) s om Tide uote,p. 2G; the remarks there quoted were made in the Council 18 reference to the Act XI of 1835, which, though applicable to all British ter was not legally in force, e.g., in the Panjab, because in 1835 the Punjab waj®c British territory. J: ; . THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 37 je deemed invalid, “only by reason of the same not having jeen made in conformity >} with the provisions of Acts regarding ,lie powers and constitution of Councils and other authorities. 1 § 13 .—Local Laws Acts. In order to remove any possible doubt on the subject, the Indian Legislature has since expressly enacted “ Local Laws ^cts,” which state what Rules and Acts and Regulations are to >e deemed to be in force in the chief non-regulation provinces, in the Panjab we have Act IV of 1872 (amended by XII of 878 ); for Oudh, Act XVIII of 1876 ; for the Central Provinces, ict XX of 1875. In 1874, also, an Act was passed (No. XV of 1874) which is ailed the “ Laws Local Extent Act/'’ and this, in a series of chedules, gives a list of previous Acts and Regulations which extend o the whole of India, or to the particular province (as the case lay be), and the applicability of which was, or might be, pre- iously doubtful. § 14 .—Scheduled Districts. As regards the extent and nature of the law in force, the old istinction of “ Regulation ” and “ Non-Regulation ” has virtually »st its meaning. Many of the old Regulations have been repealed j: superseded, and some of those that remain have been expressly pelared to apply to the Non-Regulation Provinces. Not only so, it all the more important branches of legislation—Civil and riminal Procedure, Laud Revenue, Stamps, Excise, Irrigation, the aw of Contract, the Criminal Law—have been provided for either 7 general Acts which apply to all the provinces at large, or by ecial Acts containing local details, but resembliug each other in li 1 When rules and orders were made by “Boards of Administration” or “Chief sl mmissioners” they would not have validity under the Indian Councils Act, unless :y had been confirmed by the Goveruor General, in which case they virtually j] ;ame rules made by the Goveruor General. In this way the Panjab Forest Rules rr i 1855 had validity, owing to their confirmation by the Governor General in n uncil. This validity has since been affirmed by the insertion of the rules in the ledule of the Punjab Laws Act. i • i * i 33 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. principle. But there is still a practical distinction of another kind to be mentioned, which is of importance and likely long to he maintained. There are portions of the older Regulation Provinces, and also portions of the newer Non-Regulation Provinces themselves, which are “ Extra Regulation ” in a perfectly valid and current sense. These are now spoken of as the “ scheduled districts, ” under the Act (XIY of 1874) passed to place them on an intelligible basis as regards the laws in force in them 3 . 2 TLie list may be summarised as follows :—• Scheduled Districts, Bengal. I.—The Jalpaiguri and Darjiling Divisions. II.— The Hill Tracts of Chittagong. III. —The Sontal Parganas. IV. —The Chutia Nagpur Division. V.—The Mahal of Angul (in Orissa). [Banki has recently been excluded and now forms part of-the ordinary Puri district.] North-Western Provinces. I.—The Jliansi Division, comprising the districts of Jliansi, Jalaun, and Lalitpur. II.—The Province of Kurnaon and Garhwal. Ill —The Tarai Parganas, comprising Bazpur, KasMpur, Jaspur, Rudarpur Gadarpur, Kilpuri, Nanak Mattha, and BilherL IV.—In the Mirzapur District— (1) The tappas of Agori Klias and South Kon in the pargana of Agori. (2) The tappa of British Singrauli in the pargana of Singrauli. (3) The tappas of Pliulwa, Dudhi, and Barba in the pargana of Bichi. par. (I.) The portion lying to the south of the Kainidr range, V. — The Family Domains of the Maharaja of Benares. VI.—The tract of country known as Jauusar-Bawar in the Debra Dur district. Panjab. The districts of Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Der; Ghazi Khan, Laliaul, and Spiti. Central Provinces. Certain zaminddris of Clihattisgarh and Chanda, and the Chhindwara jagfrdai " estates. The Chief Commissioner ship of Ajmer and Merwdra. The Chief Commissioner of Assam. British Burma. The II ill Tracts of Arracan, .*> r t THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE AND LAWS. 39 The districts are called “ Scheduled ” because they are noted iu the “ Schedules ” of Act XIV of 1874. None of the Acts of a general character passed before 1874, the local application of which is settled by Act XV of this same year, apply directly to the Scheduled districts; it is left to the Local Government to define by notification in each case,— (a) what laws are not in force (so as to remove doubts in case it might be supposed that some law was in force ); (5) what laws are in force; (c) and to extend Acts or parts of Acts to the district in question. Of course all Acts passed since 1874 themselves define to what territories they extend, so that there can be no further doubt on the matter. § 1.5 .—Regulations under 33 Vic., Cap. 3. In order to provide a still more elastic and adaptable method of making rules which have legal validity, for provinces, iu an elementary stage of progress, the Act 33 Vic., Cap. 3 (1870), pro¬ vides that certain territories may at any time be declared by the Secretary of State to be territories for which it is desirable that special Regulations (other than the Acts of the Legislature) should be made. The districts so declared (if not already under Act XIV) become “ Scheduled ” whenever such declaration is made, so that there is in fact a power of creating new scheduled districts in addi¬ tion to those in that Act. The Regulations regarding Hazara in the Panjab, the Sontal Parganas iu Bengal, regarding Assam, Ajmer, Madras. Certain estates in Ganjain, Vizagapatam, and Godavari districts (besides tbe Laccadive Islands). Bombay. Sind, tbe Pancb Mahals (attached to the Kaira, Collectorate), Aden, and certain villages of Heliwassi Chiefs. Coorg. 40 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, and the Hill Tracts of Arracan, &c., are all under this law. They are at once known from the old “ Regulations ” (of 1793—1833) bj their bearing date since 1870. § 16.— Resume. In order to aid the student in remembering the principal stages in the growth of the Legislature, I present the following skeleton or abstract:— (1) Originally each presidency bad its own President and Council: no formal legislature being needed for settlers who bring their own law with them to the “ factory in which they settle. (2) Territories acquired and formal government' begins; Courts have to deal with natives of the country; Legislative power necessary; given by the “ Regulating Act” of 1773, subject to supervision of Supreme Court. This does not work, and is amended in 1781, but incompletely. (3) A number of “ Regulations” made; codified in 1793; recognised as valid by Act of Parlia¬ ment, 1797. This, with subsequent additions up to 1833, forms the Code of “ Bengal Re¬ A.D. 1773. 1781. 1797. gulations/ (4) Legislature of 1834 (3 & 4 William IV, Cap. ^ AD * 85) for British India. 1833. • The “ Acts ” begin 1834 and onwards. ^ (5) Improved in 1853 by adding local members from provinces and some != Js- p ^ 3 M C -J- 3 . £ JoS . ■goo % O ® p ,—i IO fl'" 1 S 3 O 21-3 PQ g m B __ CD ^ ? o o Q Ph '£ £ ^ 35 r&s ^ §po J, SO tpq > t ^ S.S § to 00 ' a ■ 3 9* 4 J S ® S O o a _a ( ~ w ^ n 3 o ^ •43 -*-> S 03 2 "o 42 , ss ^ s ® © 6 c ct ih f»* (7) Special power given to Secretary of State to declare certain AD territories amenable to the 33 Vic., 18 ^°- Cap. 3. Thereon the head of the Local Government or Administration may propose to the Governor General in Council a Regulation, which, on being approved by him, becomes law. 42 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. CHAPTER III. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section 1.—Introductory. § 1 . —The possibility of a general explanation of land-tenures. ! The heading must not be allowed to suggest that this sectic contains a general theory of the origin of the various land-tenur< of India. Even if the means of attempting a historical generalisi tion were at hand, it would be quite beyond the scope of th: Manual to make such an attempt. But ; in fact, the materials for generalisation are as yet hard] complete. It is only of late years that attention has been turned to the study of Indian institutions by the comparative method; an though we have many valuable reports describing special localitie but few of them give any clue to the place which the customs an tenures they describe, should take in the general history of institi tions. I can therefore only hope, in this section, to give a brief accoui of the more prominent forms of customary landholding, and ende: vour to illustrate the forces and influences which have modifio the tenures, and left them, as they now are, the product of ci cumstances—the outcome of physical, moral, and political cond tions. This much is necessary by way of introduction; for tl chapters which follow will not be intelligible to the student till 1] has apprehended certain general facts about Indian landholding These facts, and the vernacular terms in which they are enshrine' meet us at every turn; and without understanding them, the fir steps in studying the land-revenue systems, cannot be take: GENERAL VIEW OF LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 43 The land, and the interests which different classes have in it, are die arena in which various revenue systems operate ; and it is only allowing the natural order of things, first to consider the land and iow it is held, and then to describe the systems on which the Gov- :rnment regulates and secures, at once its own revenue-interest in die land, and the rights of all classes of landed proprietors and cultivators. At first sight, the land-tenures of India may seem to present i vast series of local varieties which have nothing in common. Mo doubt, when we consider the different local circumstances of die different provinces, we must be prepared to expect much real diversity, at any rate in details. And this diversity is made more prominent by the almost endless variety of local nomencla- ure. ; Nevertheless, amid all this diversity,—notwithstanding the Babel >f tongues and dialects, we are able to trace certain features, which jigain and again appear in the most dissimilar portions of the iimpire. We are able, in fact, to take note of certain customs of ^ndholding which marked the establishment of the different Aryan- jrlindu tribes wherever they went. These customs were modified, >ut not obliterated by later Muhammadan and other conquests; thd they themselves, as well as the results of the Muhammadan ystem, are so easily traced and so generally surviving, that we may ,ake them as the starting point for a practical study. And I have ittle doubt, that when Indian land-tenures have been fully investi¬ gated comparatively t these general facts will also furnish the basis >f a theoretical study, which will result in their being traced to heir explanation on a common principle of historical develop- nent. § 2 .—The division of land into “ villages.” > The first feature which strikes us is, that, with the exception I a very few localities, every district in India shows the culti¬ vated, or rather the occupied, land, as grouped into local areas 44 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. called “ villages 1 .” The varieties latent beneath the general nan may be many; but on the map, the local sub-division—the fi:‘ general unit above the individual field or holding—is the villasi Each village has a local name, known limits, and an inhabited sij in the midst, with or without outlying hamlets. The places where there are no villages, are to be 'found : hilly country, where the hill sides are clothed with tropical veg' tation. In these, the cultivation will often consist of limit permanent clearings or gardens, and each garden will have a clustjj of two or three houses on it. The rest of the cultivation is of temporary character. The settlements in the hills of Kanara are this kind. A similar state of things is to be found in the Himifi layan districts, where there is neither tropical vegetation nor (as rule) any rich soil; but the nature of the ground is such thatE large continuous expanse of land fit for cultivation cannot be foun hence the village can rarely be more than a hamlet—a cluster of.; few houses in one place. § 3.— Size of villages. The size of villages varies in different parts of India. In t Panj&b the average size is nearly 900 acres; in the Central Pr vinces 1,300 ; in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (the lai being more densely populated, highly^ cultivated, and consequents much sub-divided) it is only 600 acres, on the average 2 . § 4. — Two types of village . Indian villages may be grouped into two broad classes, whic) before I describe their differences, I may at once characterise, f convenience of reference, as the joint or united, and the non-uniti village. 1 Tlie “ village ” is the “ mauza ” of our Revenue literature. Elphinstone a other authors often call it a “ township.” It need hardly he explained that throug out this hook (and in all others dealing with Indian land revenue systems), the te “ village ” is used in the Indian sense, which in no respect resembles that vvh: attaches to the term in England. 2 Stack’s Memorandum on Temporary Settlements (Government of India), 18 page 8. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 45 ■ The essential feature of the joint village is, that all the land 'nside its limits, whether waste or cultivated, belongs (either as the Result of its natural constitution, or of our revenue system) to the ntire body of village “ proprietors.” The details of these matters will come before us at a later stage. Here I must confine my narrative to general features. In the joint-village, the management of affairs is by a “ pancb- -.yat ” or committee representing the heads or elders of each sec- ion: if there happen to be no sections, the ‘panclr’ may be a ingle individual. The village also is assessed by Government in one lump sum, or which the whole body is jointly responsible. ; Consequently if one man fails, or dies without heirs, the co- >roprietors pay up for him and take his lands, which they hold in ommon or divide among the sharers, according as the village is fn me or other stage of joint or several management. Outsiders cannot purchase land without consent of the body, ,nd there is a right of pre-emption to the other sharers, if one rishes to sell. In the non-linited village, on the other hand, no one has any laim to anything but his own holding : the village of course nakes use of the waste for grazing or wood-cutting, but the State • an grant it away to any one it pleases. The village again is managed by a single headman (called ‘patel” in Central India, “mandal” in Bengal, “muqaddam” jU Northern India, and by various names, according to varieties of dialects, in the South). This headman is partly, at any rate, ippointed by the State, though the office, like everything Hindu, lecomes hereditary by custom. I The headman realised the Government revenue from each I iolding, and this was done by dividing the grain produce before t left the threshing-floor. In later times, when the governing lower demanded a lump sum as revenue from the village, the leadman apportioned the burden among the landholders. Each Had then to pay the allotted share, whether light or heavy, but 46 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. there was no joint responsibility of the village as a body. If or man failed or absconded, the others had nothing to do with it: th headman arranged for the cultivation of the vacant holding. There was no objection to outsiders coming in on the sand terms as the rest, and there was no pre-emption right. These are the salient points of contrast between the two type but there are also some further details to be given which had besj be separately described for each type of village. § 5.— Origin of two types of village. It will naturally be asked, how it came to pass that thei two types of village existed. Most authors admit that it is partly due to the colonisation of India by different kinds of Aryan tribes. The original inhabitants of India were in all probability pai toral races, but it is impossible now to form a theory of what the customs in regard to landholding may have been. We have no only relics of those races, in the Gonds, Bhils, Paharias, and othdj such tribes, who are still to be found in the hill ranges and in tl remote and less civilised corners of the country. Their institutior can now only be learned from a special study of the tribes, an they have so long ceased to have any bearing on the general lane tenures of India, that, in a general sketch of this kind, an allusion to them would be unnecessary. But to these tribes the Hindu races succeeded, before the daw of history. The first immigrants are represented by the Hindi, of Bengal, and some of the southern races, who, however, are proba bly mixed races, formed by the fusing of the Hindu tribes wit the aborigines 3 . They originally occupied Northern India aui moved southwards at a later date. But this race was in its turn disturbed by other tribes of Arya origin and Hindu religion, but who were more martial in cliaracte and whose institutions were of a different character. 3 See Standing Information regarding the Madras Presidency (edition of 1873 page 77. Campbell, Modern India, page 7. GENEEAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENUEES OF INDIA. 47 It was the first race that gave rise to the ‘ non-united village 3 ppe of landholding ; it was the second group of tribes that brought aose habits of apportioning the land among tribal groups, which, ided by the principle of joint-succession and inheritance, re- ulted in the joint-village. These same tribes, too, brought those eudal customs of ruling which we shall have occasion to notice, |s having a great effect on landholding customs in India. Wherever, then, we have the non-united village still surviving s such, and not as a decayed form of the other (for such a decayed ?rm is possible, as we shall presently see), we have communities in |/hich the older Hindu race and its institutions were not completely ‘isplaced. Where we find, as in the Panjab and its vicinity, that {he joint-village is the predominant type, we conclude that the liter Aryan races, more or less completely, drove out the older {aces and established themselves 4 . Joint villages, however, are 1 ot alone due to tribal settlements; they may arise in other ways, Jnd often in the midst of the non-united ones. Moreover, villages i riginally non-united may become joint by the effect of our own Levenue Settlements. § 6.— Non-united villages and ilie Hindu Raj. The earliest form of landholding as we can still trace it in lengal, in the old Oudh kingdoms, and in the districts of Central, j outhern, and Western India, is the non-united village, the charae- I 4 It is not a mere theory, this double immigration of Aryan races. “Indeed,” Hiys Mr. (Sir G.) Campbell (Modern India, page 8), “ we are not without a historical jlimpse of the facts. We have very good and accurate accounts of Northern India |s it was in Alexander's time; and we find that, in addition to the H indu kingdoms * * * he found settled or encamped in the Panjab, great tribes of a urely republican constitution, far more warlike than any others which he en- limntered. The best account of them is to be found in Heeren, in the volume on the I ersians, page 316. Heeren represents their constitution as aristocratic or under re government of their optimates * * * . Alexander treated with 300 deputies i a tribe, but it by no means follows that these optimates were other than elected eputies. On the contrary, it is evident that they were the ‘ Panches ’ or delegates of le people with whom we treat in the same country at the present day.” 48 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. teristics of which I have stated. Bat the progress of the histol of landholding is so dependent on the Hindu theory of State goJ eminent, that I must give a description of the Hindu kingdoiij These kingdoms contained within themselves the means whereli the non-united form of village might be replaced by the joint fori. And in fact, it may be here stated at once, that while we as sill generally, the non-united village as typical of the older Him! system, and the united or joint-village as belonging to the syste of the later military races,—Rajput, Jat, &c.,—it is also true, th joint-villages may, and do arise out of \ the older Hindu Raj and i institutions; and joint-villages have arisen in quite recent timt| and may now arise, neither out of the old Hindu Raj, nor yet out later tribal customs, but simply by the principle of joint-successio common to Hindu and Muhammadan alike; so that, given one ma rich enough to get an estate for himself to begin with, his heirs, in| few generations, will form several joint-villages out of their branch Under the first Hindu races, then, the country was portion' out into a series of small kingdoms. These, generally, were feudal subordination to some greater Raja 5 and the minor rule received the “ tilak ” or mark of investiture from the over-lord. The Raja was always of the Chhatri (Kshatriya) class ; th arrangement seems to have been as much a natural institution as w; the Brahmanic priesthood itself. It is very remarkable, howeve that the ruling family may be altered and one conqueror succet another, without the form of the State undergoing any change 0 . , The form of society described in the f Laws of Manu ’ was til form we are now describing ;—the Raja, and under him the village! each with its headman, and some intermediate officials, superviso of a hundred or a thousand villages. 5 Whence the title Maharaja Adhiraj. The Chinese pilgrims who travelled India in the 5th century, saw the State barge of the great Kanauj Raja "belt towed along by eighteen feudatory princes. 0 See some valuable remarks in Benett’s Gouda Settlement Report, 1878, pars 65-G6. Gouda was an ancient kingdom, and was repeatedly subject to changes dynasty, even Path an rulers appearing iu the series; but still the Raj remain unaltered till the wave of Muhammadan conquest passed over it. GENERAL VIEW OE THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 49 No joint-village, claiming a right over an entire area allotted any tribal custom, was known to the author of Manu’s Institutes, e Raja with his general right to a share in the grain, with a wer of collecting taxes, with a right to the waste; and individual idholders, each deriving his right from the fact that he had cleared ; land, and reclaimed it from jungle,—that was the only form own at that early date. In Oudh, the memory of the early Hindu kingdoms is still tinctly preserved to us The kingdom of Gonda has been de- jbed by Mr. W. C. Benett in the Settlement Report of Gonda trict published in 1878. Here we find the non-united villages, each landholder claiming y what he had cleared or brought under the plough, and the heredi- y headman collecting the Raja’s grain-share for him. Besides s share, the Raja took taxes of all kinds—on roads, on ferries, on xl-cutters who came from other states ; besides many ‘ benevo- ces.’ The Raja had a right of disposal of the waste, in all cases where, i grant or otherwise, a right in a defined area was not alienated. I y fairly take Gonda as a representative. Here the villages were i die non-united type; all the villagers wanted and all they claimed ji! the free use of wood and grass. This they enjoyed ; but when were satisfied, the rest of the produce went to the Raja. It t Iso remarkable, that in the case of timber , the right of the villages limited. A man might take a beam for his house, but if he left country, he was bound to leave the timber in the house, which eueated to the Raja. In Gonda, too, we have also an indication oi he very common right to “ reserved ” trees of a specially valuable 1. The Raja treated the Mohwa (or Mahua) tree ( Bassia folia) as his, and in many cases retained his right even when land on which it grew was in private occupation. Here we a custom to-which no doubt is due the State right to teak ''Burma, to sandalwood, teak, blackwood, and other trees in other _;s of India. ,Uli The right to the user of the waste was confined to the Raja’s D 50 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. own subjects. If a stranger came to cut wood in the Raj forests, lie was subject to a tax (tangarahi = axe-money). These privileges of the Raja, suggestive as they are of cons id able powers of disturbance, did not directly affect the village la holders, who continued to hold each man his own field, giving customary share of the crop to the village artisans, and the priest,: dividing the rest between himself and the Raja. It was just the same in the neighbouring kingdom of Utrau In this we find exactly the same customs : the villages are ao’oree'ates of cultivators under a headman who received cert allowances for the management. The Raja took his grain-slia and the rest of his revenues were derived from the numerous ingenious taxes already alluded to; there was the same tax exac for “ kaprahi,” or clothes for a new-born heir; the “ mundan/ further levy, when the child's head was shaved for the first tii the re kutahi,” to repair the fort; and the “ ghorahi" or “hathia to pay for a horse or an elephant. The wood cut from jungles was taxed, and road fees, bridge tolls, and trade t; were exacted. The escheat (gayari) of property which had heir, was also recognised. What is also remarkable about the Utraula Raj is that chs in the dynasty did not, till the Muhammadan power at Luck interfered, alter the customs much. Thus, in the middle ol sixteenth century, we find Utraula, then held by a Rajput E attacked by an Aghan, who appears to have been following Emperor Humayiin, but who displeased that monarch, was missed, and had turned freebooter in consequence. The chang dynasty seems to have had no effect whatever on the local cusl of the Raj. The Raja, indeed, accepted a sanad of the “ zamind of his “ pargana," showing how in places less remote, and w the rule of the Mughal pressed more closely, the Raja < petty State sinks into the mere proprietor of Iiis estate 7 Utraula is now a pargana of Gonda district. So tliat originally Goucb Utraula were two small neighbouring states ’or kingdoms. See Oudh Gaze Vol. VII, p. 373, &c. GENERAL VIEW OE THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 51 lited rights, his kingdom becoming a revenue sub-division ler the Imperial system. All that the Emperor did in this e was, however, to exact a certain revenue or tribute pay- nt. When the State was dismembered later on in its history, : separate portions had all the attributes of the original state, h paying its share of the tribute to the Central Govern- ut. How it was that joint-villages arose in the midst, or her on the ruins of the earliest form of Hindu society, I will ■lain presently ; meanwhile, having so far accounted for the -united village, let me briefly review the history of the second ater group of tribes which, as 1 have said before, followed after .ng interval, and, in many cases, displaced the earlier system of (holding. § 7. —The later ‘ military ’ tribes.—Settlement as a people. iThis second immigration finds its modern representatives in the t tribe of Rajputs and of the Jats, who are probably of similar in, and in fact claim for themselves that they are Rajputs who to some extent, lost caste 8 . cj|Ct is remarkable that these tribes have given rise to two dis- ; forms of dominion over land, both of which are very clearly ‘able in different parts of India. n some places they settled as a people , occupying broad tracts ountry (as we shall notice in the chapter on Pan jab Tenures). jg|:her places they appeared merely as conquerors, a small band of 4d invaders who took possession of the Government, and :ed tribute, but were not numerous enough to displace the nal inhabitants and to colonise the country, hey produced a totally different effect on the land-tenures r each of these two conditions. Where they settled as a people, .ibe took up a whole area like the “ mark ” of the Germanic id> 8 Campbell, Modcru Iudia, p. 9. 52 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OR INDTA. tribes of Europe 9 and divided it out into minor allotments sections of the tribes, and then ag-aiu into the ultimate lots individuals or families. And as these people would be allconnec together, and near relatives would be grouped together on the s: lands, the institution of a “ village/'’ the whole claimed absolm by a joint body of ancestrally connected tribesmen, readily ari These tribal settlements may be found all over the Pan jab the complete exclusion of the older races who were either redi or took refuge in the Himalaya. They went also south (though a later period), and traces of joint-villages may be found in B and in the western districts, especially in Guzarat. They ma; found again surviving as the Vellalars and others who own jc villages in the Tamil country, where what is called the “ min tenure is found 10 . § 8 .—Tribal con quests .— No settlement as a people. But w'hen the Rajputs (or tribes like them) started m in smaller bands for plunder or conquest, they established qui different order of things. In such cases their chief leader tool kingdom as Raja, with a portion of the country allotted to him ; royal demesne; the minor chiefs had their smaller estates, am ® We can see this process most clearly exemplified in the frontier distri the Paujab; here tribes came in at a much later date than even those describing. Hazara will afford especially a clear instance of the ilaqa or territory sub-divided out among the clans and sub-sections. The institution Teuton “ mark ” and the Anglo-Saxon “ vill ” or township is traceable to a origin. If the student will take up Mr. Joshua Williams’ “ Lectures on Ki Common ” (London, H. Sweet, 1880) and read Lectures 4, 5, and 6, he will find t description there given, might almost have been taken from a North Indian Sett Report. 10 The Tamil country is south of Nellore, along the eastern portion of li See Standing Information, Madras, p. 82-3. But I am in no way disposed to admit that “ minis! ” really implies the rif sharer in a joint-village. Words of similar import and origin are constantly describe a ‘ heritable’ but separate interest in land. In the Dakhan there are holdings not necessarily connected with joints illages; and the words wall wirasat are used in the Himalaya to indicate ownership rights in laud whei) villago communities are unknown. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 53 vidual followers. settled down among the population of the otry, but formed no kind of joint-village community. If they 1 land, they held it on the terms of being owners of as much as Y got or took, and no more 1 . They paid no revenue to the te at first, but military service and even pecuniary aid (on :ial occasions) were always required. We can see this state of things in Ajmer at the present day. Hindu States in the Himalaya also are all on this model ; the r is a Rajput, and there may or may not be subordinate Thakur’s, As or other feudatory estates under him. He takes from all the iges (who are the original population) his grain-share; and Rajputs are not found in numbers, nor do they form joint- ages. Exactly the same thing happened in the West Coast of Iras, consequent on the invasion of the Nairs of Malabar. This brief outline will, I hope, serve to make it intelligible how 1, that we have Ilajput joint-villages in the Panjab, for example, i a Rajput State organisation, totally without joint-villages, in jier and the Himalayan states. ii 9.— Other origins to joint-villages.—Descendants of farmers I of revenue and grantees. j[ have now a somewhat more intricate task to perform. Having ijm how the non-united village arose, and how the joint-village, ' >me places, may be traced to settlements of later and more ii dal tribes, I have yet to explain how the joint-villages, as we ‘hem now, may arise in other ways also. !| tl n Ajmer this appears very clearly; there the scanty and uncertain rainfall is permanent cultivation impossible, without a well or more commonly a or “ band ” of some kind. Anybody willing to construct a work of this kind nly to take the permission of the llaja on the royal or khalsa land, or of the chief } estate, and then he erected his band or suuk his well, and became practically •oprietor of it and of the land watered by it. All unoccupied land remained at sposal of the chief or the Raja, as the case might be. The different landowners i'ere settled together, of course formed groups, and got local names as villages, cy never formed a community, or laid claim to the waste as their common rty. !l(! 54 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. One—and this operates in quite modern times—is simply tha' a powerful individual who, no further back than the Mughal (or. the Panjab, the Sikh) times, got possession of certain villages Revenue-farmer. lie established himself there, and the pres village joint-proprietary body are simply the descendants of original farmer or grantee . Villages may arise just in the se way, from a grant of waste: the present owners are descendant; a grantee of a few generations back, as in Sirsa, in the Panjab. But there is a more curious origin for joint-villages than th Such estates may spring out of the old Hindu kingdom, (1) the effect of grant of the Raja; and (2) by the division dismemberment of the Raj itself. § 10 .—Birt or grant by the Baja:—the ce zammddn birt The.earliest form of grant made by the old Hindu Raja is “ birt,” which might mean an actual grant of waste land, the g of a right to settle and occupy land, or a grant of the king’s shai revenue of villages already occupied. As might be expected, al number of these grants were “ jangaltarashi,” made on favouij terms (rent- free for a period, probably) to encourage the improver of the waste; others, which the Brahmans took care to represser irresumable, were for religious purposes: and some were jivan- granted to favoured individuals and younger members of the R family to afford them maintenance. Tbe term “ birt ” consts occurs in Oudh Revenue history, and occasionally elsewhere; it tainly represents a general and widespread institution of the H system of Government. The “ birt ” was a permanent and 1 able grant, but a grain-share, though a reduced one, was payable to the Raja. A fee was also taken for the issue of the But such grants would not have modified the customs of holding had it not been that they were afterwards ap differently. If we refer again to the case of Gouda, we shall not feature, which also occurred in the history of other districts, i GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 55 iversally. Certain powerful families, in possession of one or more lages, raised their position either with the consent of the Rdja by their own unaided influence, to the extent that they became ssessed of the superior right throughout their estates. Very probably a grant of the nature of a jagfr or assignment of i revenue for military service, began the process, although a jagir int did not give up any of the Rajahs rights except to the revenue grain-share. The estates which thus grew into independence, istituted what Mr. Benett calls “ village zammdans.” In after-times, when the Raja was out of possession, he granted It “ zamindari” rights by “ birl;” but Mr. Benett thinks he ild not have borne the humiliation of doing this, while he was power. The superior position consisted in this, that in the zamindari, grant may or may not have excused the payment of revenue, L it gave up the Raja's right to the waste, and to taking taxes tolls. The “ zamindar 2 ” took them; and thus, in fact, he iblished an estate of greater or less size, in which he was in a ition exactly equivalent to that which the Raja had, and he was ler of the land besides 3 . Such estates had a power of development and stability which wauting to the Raj itself. In the first place, the Raja had enlly close connection with, or hold over, any lands but those fii formed his personal and family holding. For the rest, he the general right to a share in the produce and the other rights j en of. As long as the royal family maintained the full power '' le Raj, these rights all centred in one person, descending to i See a detailed note on this term in the next chapter; here I do not wish to | the thread of mj narrative by explanation. I therefore only say briefly that the ( has nothing to do with the “ Bengal zamindar;” it only implies that superior (' interest in the land or estate whereby the owners claim the exclusive lordship entire land in their estate, and are exempted from royal claims to the waste and ious local imposts which others pay. And it is remarkable that here the graut distinctly disposed of the Raja’s Ilf laud and other rights; the formula is “ sa-jal, sa-kat, sa-path,” i.e., including jj lit over water (ferry and fishery rights), over the forest aud waste, and over 1 ids (for tolls, &c.)—Gouda Report, para. 86, p. 50. i • r 50 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. to the oldest son only. But if the Baja died childless or was d feated by foreign or domestic enemies, and driven out, his esta dissolved at once. It was otherwise with the zammdari familie these not being indivisible, but succeeding jointly 4 , were able to he on to their estates, bring the waste under cultivation, and divide out among the various family branches, all of whom were impell by common interest to assert their claim and present a united fro to any enemy. The families would then expand, cultivate me waste, purchase additional lands, and so become powerful enough maintain their position under successive rulers, long after the R from which they sprang had, as such, disappeared. In the old Utraula kingdom in Oudh, the growth of the zamiudan estates is very curiously illustrated. When the State w reduced to subjection by the Muhammadan power, the Baja w made to pay tribute, and was left with certain villages as 1 own, while the Lucknow Government took the Baja’s share revenue from all the rest; but though the Baja lost the revenue f the villages, he still retained a certain lordship over them, and th it was that he began to raise money by selling or granting (for consideration) the complete zamindan right in one or more village this gave not only the internal management and headship, but al the right to all the waste and other “ manorial” rights in this are The title thus created was (as before) known as the “ birt zanh dan ” and became prevalent. In Gonda, it will be remembered, the grant of this comple right inside a given area or estate was very rare, and where existed was of later date, after the Baja had lost his original pof tion. But in Utraula such villages arose numerously in the wi I stated. In this State also there were many villages assigned jagir to the Muhammadan soldiers who had helped the Afgl* 4 The only trace of primogeniture being the “jethansi”—the eldestson gettinf larger share. The same tiling is observable in Kangra among the Kajputs (the jel unda) and the Sikh jdgirdarf families in the Cis-Sutlej States of the Panjab. ( Ajmer it would seem (and this may be true everywhere) that a sole succession!! primogeniture is a later development than the custom of a larger share to the eldii GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 57 vader to conquer and possess himself of the Raj. These “ jagirdars ’> |iid no revenue, and only a small yearly tribute besides the obliga- ion to render military aid. Naturally enough, the families of such ran tees soon became joint owners of tbe villages, the original rs being their 1 tenants. I must here briefly notice a very curious feature in some of these zamindan villages/'’ When the property was divided, as joint •operty usually is in the course of time, the family did not take— le branch, village A, and the other village B, and so on ; but a plot as taken out of each village for each section. Consequently, in later mes, the village ceased to be a singly-held group, capable of being eated for revenue purposes as one estate or mahal : the village :came a mosaic of little pieces, each of which belonged to a different fate. This was the origin of the distinction between the khetbat ” and “ pattibat ” distribution of lands in Faizabad and her districts, which we shall meet with again in the chapter on the udh Settlement system. § 11.— Joint-villages arising from dismemberment of the Rdj. I have said that the old Raj was indivisible and descended by ■imogeniture, and so it was in Strict theory. But all the States d not retain the principle of indivisibility. In some kingdoms the ;ecession was strictly to the eldest son, who took the entire king¬ pin and all that pertained to it. Younger sons may have been [lowed life-interests in the revenue of certain lands, but these Iways in time became re-absorbed in the State. In such a king- |>m, if the Raja died heirless or was absorbed by the Muhammadan }>wer, the distinctive features of the Raj simply disappeared, nd the villages remained as a pargana or other group in the j'ughal kingdom, and the old Raja became the “ taluqdar.” But B some kingdoms, on the death of the Raja, the estates were at once iuivided among the family, and if the division was carried far nough, the result would be the creation of a number of small Jintly-owned and independent estates—in fact a number of joint- tillages. There is reason to believe that in parts of Oudh and the 5S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. North-Western Provinces, where there are groups of joint-villag< belonging to the higher castes and not occupying a sufficiently lav area of country to suggest a tribal settlement, the villages are d to the dismemberment of ancient kingdoms. In the old Gonda kingdom of Oudh, for example, as it is Kangra, the Simla Hill States, Ajmer, &c., to this day, the Raj always indivisible; the eldest son succeeds alone, younger so receive a maintenance or a life-grant of the Rajahs grain-share certain villages, and these lapse and return to the Raj. Here, the there may be the occasional appearance of a zammdari or joint-villa by the growth of a powerful local family or a grant; hut the whc country does not change: the villages remain for the most part they were, and the Raja dies out, or succumbs before the mode power and accepts his place as a taluqdar, or jagirdar, the nt Government taking from the. villages part of the revenue-slia he would otherwise have had. In Rai Bareli 5 , on the otb hand, on the Raja Tilok Chand’s death, the family sub-divid the domain, and it was all split up into a number of pet estates, which would in the end have been further divided ai the individual families become the joint-proprietors of so mai villages. In the course of time, however, some of the branches agre to sub-divide no further : and so the district remains, showing, think, some 60 fairly large estates, and 537 estates consisting single villages. Time and the Muhammadan conquests have course produced a certain admixture, but the general position the Tilok Ckandi Bais cannot for a moment fail to be discerned. I have given all these details chiefly from the districts of Oud because Mr. BenetGs reports describe them with remarkable foi and perspicuity, and there can be no doubt after comparing t information (though of a less complete character) we possess fix other sources, that the description is generally true of the older foi of Hindu ltaj wherever it occurs. Locally, the history will va 5 la this district of 1,735 Villages, 1,719 were held by Tilok Ckandi Bais, some them in groups forming taluqas, others in singlt.villages owned by families. 1 origin of all this from Raja Tilok Chand is traced by Mr. Benett (Clans of Rai Barel see also Gazetteer of Oudh, Vul. Ill, .sub voce (Rai Bareli). GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 59 fji detail. A remarkable instance of the history of the influence of jjhe Hindu Raj on landed interests in Chutiya Nag-pur, and of the mileversement of rights which followed, will he found in some etail in the chapter on 'Bengal Tenures. § 12 .— Resum4. Having thus endeavoured to give an explanation of the origin ,f the two kinds of village in some detail, I may summarise the ubject in the following diagram or table :— r Characteristic of the earliest ; The non-united village. Hindu tribes, a net of the kingdoms p formed by them. f (i) is established by settlements of later and more martial Hindu tribes (who also, under other cir¬ cumstances, establish a peculiar form of feudal rule over other tribes) ; (ii) results from grants made by the Hindu Raja of the older type ; (iii) from the dismemberment of the Raj ; and (iv) from the joint succession to estates founded by grantees, \revenue-farmers, &c. Lastly, the British Revenue Settlement has affected the ori- inal constitution of the villages. Throughout the North-West 'rovinces and the Panjab, the villages have become joint, whatever ieir early history may have been, because the system makes lem so. Throughout Madras and Bombay, all or nearly all have unained or become non-united because the system does not -quire any joint responsibility. § 13.— heading features of joint-villages. Where the tenure is really joint, it is so, very generally, on the isis of the shares which result from the Hindu aud Muhammadan The united village 60 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENCHES OE INDIA. law or custom of inheritance, all the sharers being 1 descended fro a common ancestor. In some cases the measure of interest nc appears to be based on a division of the soil into a certain numb » of ploughs. A “ plough” is not a definite area of land, b| represents a certain share in the whole village 0 . Perhaps in ; early stage, the whole body of the settlers threw the whole procee of cultivation into a common stock and divided the profit or lc according to these shares. But the allotments represented 1 villages, soon came to be separately held, though within itself t village represents a*joint ownership. In those cases, where the village community is derived from ; original tribal settlement, it is by no means clear how far the esta was joint. It was a well-established custom that one memb could be required to exchange his holding periodically with a other. The object of this was to reduce inequalities in the val or profitableness of the holdings or allotments, by periodical redi tribution. When this stage was reached it is clear there was : joint-stock management of profit and expenses extending over t entire group or settlement, for otherwise redistribution would ha been unnecessary. The lots within themselves were no doubt joint held by the family or families who held them, and the differe holders of allotments could of course unite to furnish defen against a common enemy. Whether the joint-village originated in a tribal settlement, is merely a joint body of owners descended from a single revenr farmer, or a separate member of some princely house of old daj the present constitution is the same. Whatever may have been the method or principle of coparc nership, the purely joint tenure rarely survives for any length time : families obtain separate record and possession of their shai 6 Thus, a village might be divided into 32 ploughs, of which 8 were held by c family, 4 by another, 10 by another, and 10 by yet another. But in these ca I should be always doubtful whether we have a really joint-village. A mere group associated settlers, each bringing a certain power of cultivating land, would in naturally show this form of landholding. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 01 if the process is carried still further, to the separation of indivi¬ dual holdings. Theoretical ancestral shares also get forgotten, {id their place is taken by de facto holdings, the natural result of i{ie greater wealth of one cultivator, the inequality in the value of ,iod and its produce, and other such causes. In short, even those ijllages about whose joint character and original ancestral bond of union there can be no question, constantly tend to show the opera¬ tion of that process which is known by jurists to be a necessary lie in the history of property—the transition from joint to several. Consequently in one village we may find that the land is still n'intly held, in another that it is partly in common and partly in ij veralty; in another, circumstances have led each coparcener to get is share divided out to him, and then the joint tenure is a thing ii the past, and is only maintained by some more or less slender Ifireads. Still, however, the village body is the exclusive proprietor I' all the land inside its limits, and until split up into actually iparate estates on the revenue-roll, it remains jointly responsi- 1 e for its revenue, and it maintains a certain unity in other ways, iif. we shall see hereafter. | Notwithstanding the inherent liability of such communities a change, to lose their ancestral shares, and hold laud in lots modified i 7 custom or by necessity, still a common ancestral origin is an Important feature in the village history, and a genealogical tree owing all the ramifications of the family, is often among the most important of the records of a village settlement. i; I have already mentioned that in the joint-village, the entire area ithin the village boundary, whether waste or cultivated, belonged i its owners. The community consequently, at first, jealously i icluded outsiders. If the proprietary body needed more help than S3 own members could supply in clearing the primeval jungle, ' ey called in outsiders to help in the “ buta-shigafi ” or clear- ( g; but such helpmates, however privileged their position as * gards permanent occupancy and exemption from rent, did not E come members of the community: they had no voice in .e management, nor any claim to a share in the common. 62 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Occasionally, however, circumstances made it desirable or nect sary, actually to take an outsider into the community itse but then, as usual in the early stages of development, sor device was made use of, to salve the public feeling and mask t admission. § 14 .—Joint responsibility. The whole body is responsible jointly for the revenue, ar this burden is distributed and recorded at settlement according i the village constitution: the details of this will appear in Book II In the same way, expenses are incurred for various common pu poses, such as entertaining guests and visitors, repairing the villa; walls, or the temple or mosque; such expenses are shared by t whole body, which levies a local rate for the purpose. The count of elders, the panch, with the aid of its accountant, prepares' accoun of this expenditure, and the whole body audit it. This proce is called the “ bhjharat ” or annual audit of accounts. § 15 .—Village officials. The village also has a staff of officials, and also of artisar besides farm labourers. The headmen—lambardars as they are called in the countri where the joint-villages are commonest—are the heads of the sectio) of the village and form the “ panchThey are elected by tl village under a certain control of the Government officers, who mu see that proper men are appointed, since the payment of tl Government revenue depends on them. The patwari is the village accountant, who keeps the accounts i between the Government and the people, and as between the peop themselves, revenue payer and lambardar, landowner and tenan he also records such statistics as the Government require, ai takes note of all changes in proprietary right, succession, salt mortgages, and so forth. The watchman (“ chaukidar,” “ goraft/’ “ dauraha,” “ sirkar and many other names, according to locality) is guardian of ti GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDTA. 63 mdaries, and is also the village messenger. In some cases, there i messenger besides the watchman. He keeps watch at night, lertains who comes into and goes out of the village, is expected trace stolen property, and give an account of the bad characters the village. § 16. — Village artisans. The artisans vary according to locality, but there are always ae who are universally found. The carpenter, the potter, the ther-worker or cobbler, and the blacksmith, are indispensable ays; as there is always house-building to be done, well-gear to made up, shoes for the villagers, leather-work for cattle- ness, iron-work for the plough, and other agricultural tools in leral. The potter also makes the water-jars and household sels, so that he is indispensable also; and in the Panjab districts ere the Persian wheel is used for raising water, the potter has nake the “ tind ” or earthen jar, a series of which, fixed on the e-ladder that passes over the wheel and down into the well, is aired to complete the water-raising apparatus. There will, usually, be a village water-carrier, also a washerman, j. a “ nai ” or barber, who shaves and also carries messages con- jted with marriages, betrothals, &e., an astrologer, possibly also instrel. In South India, dancing-girls, who lend their services veddings and festivals, are also counted in the village staff. So r be the dharwai, or person who weighs out grain, and the village iey-changer. All these have their recognised position in the xge, and their perquisites and remuneration in grain and other- l i . 7 7 The following is a list of village servants as recorded for the Gujranwala let of the Panjab. This will serve as a fair general sample of bow these people aid. Their occupation, as well as the right to serve the village, is often heredi- L. The blacksmith (lobar). His dues are 1 bhari or wheat-slieaf in each harvest, tai in money on each plough, 2 seers of molasses (gur), and also one jar of cane juice daily, while the press (belna) is working; and he is allowed to one day’s pickiug at the cotton-tield at the end of the season. 61 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Besides the village artisans, there may be tradesmen sett in the village, as the seller of brass pots, the cloth mercer and grocer; but these do not form any part of the recognised vill; staff. There are also certain menials, sweepers, grain-cleaners persons of low caste who take away dead cattle and have a right their hides, and so forth. A number of these work on the fields, and are divided into t classes, those who work for the whole season, and those v work only at harvest or on some special occasion, as when sugarcane crop is cut and sugar is made. The lower grades of village artisans often help on these occasi and get paid accordingly. The remuneration usually consists oi small part of the grain, and perhaps a blanket, a pair of shoes : some tobacco. § 17 .—Land how held. In the Panjab we shall find that a large proportion of village proprietors cultivate their own land. In other parts, hi 2. The carpenter (tarkhan). He makes the well wood-work, handles for t beds (ch&rpai), stools, &c. His dues are much the same as the lobar’s. 3. The kumhar or potter. 4. The “ rera” or grass-rope maker; the ropes are necessary to form the b: over the well-wheel which carry the water-pots. He gets one “ bkari ” aud four t of grain per well. 5. The “ chura” or sweeper. He cleans the corn, cleans the cattle-sheds, makes the manure into cakes for fuel: a place for drying these cakes is oft recognised common allotment outside the village site. 6. The “ mochi” or cobbler and chamar, who also has certain rights conne with the skins of the cattle that die. 7. The “ hajjaro” or “ nai.” He is the barber, but also carries messages j proposals connected with marriages and betrothals, and serves also at funerals. 8. The “ dhobi” or washerman. 9. The “ jhewar” (this is a local term), equivalent to “ bhisti ” or water-ca) Besides there may be the village astrologer and musician (mirasi) and va religious office-holders—the purohit, or brahman, a fakir who keeps the taky village place of assembly ; the “ maulvi ” for the mosque service, a “ bbai ” temple called dharmsala, a“sadh”at a thakurdwara, a pujari at shivala (t« of Sira), and a mukant of a “ devidwara.” P GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 65 the land is very commonly let out to tenants. These we shall to be of various classes, which will be noticed when we come tudy the tenures of each province. § 18.— Classes resident in the village. Thus if we place together the different classes of persons who concerned in the constitution of a joint-village, or at least 1 part of it, we shall have the following table of residents :— l. The co-sharers in the proprietary body—the heads of the families being the “ panch ” or committee of management and perform—all or some of them—the functions of “ headmen.” J. Tenants who hold lands under the proprietary body, either permanent and hereditary tenants (perhaps dating from the very foundation of the village, and enjoying a certain privileged position) or tenants-at-will. i. The village officials (accountant, watchman, &c.) i. The village artisans. . The resident tradesmen (who probably pay good rent for their houses, and some small taxes or dues besides). . Menials and farm labourers. § 19 .—The term “ sir -land.” [ere I will take occasion to explain a term which will con- ly be made use of in speaking of village lauds—the term ’* or special holding. When a village is managed jointly, that len all the land is cultivated by tenants or otherwise, and the 3 ! proceeds are thrown into a common stock, then no one has any d holdiug. But the plan does not usually last long. What a ch more common is that each sharer in the body lias a certain n >f land, which he cultivates himself with his own stock or by t; wn tenants ; but howev.er that may be, he gets the whole pro- of it for himself. The rest of the land will then be held in ion. Occasionally the proceeds of this common portion are E 66 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. sufficient to pay the jama’ or revenue assessment of the village : the expenses also ; in that case they are so clevotecl; and then e holder has the whole produce of his “ sir ” land to himself. If proceeds of the common lands do not suffice, then a rate is ler on each sharer to makeup the deficiency 8 . “ Sir ” land is always much valued, and under our modern i laws if an owner is dispossessed of his land, he stills has a righ remain on his “ sir” as permanent tenant of it; nor can a right occupancy grow up on “ sir ” land again« the owner, in favour tenant who is employed to cultivate § 20 .—Decayed condition of joint-villages in some districts. When the village community is in full survival, all these tures may be distinctly noticed. But there are many district which the village community is found in a state of decay, original proprietary body have not been able to maintain t exclusive privileges; their lands may have passed out of their hi by sale owing to poverty and the necessity of raising mone; meet the State revenue. In that case, the village tenants, anc outsiders, whom there was nothing to prevent from coming in, grown to he equal in position, and no longer admit the rigl the old proprietary body to the waste and to what would been the common. In some cases the old body still furnishe; village headmen, its members all call themselves by name; dicating that they were once the superiors, and possibly still re some small rents and perquisites—the relics of their former rig 8 The term “ sir ” is also used in other cases. For example, the zai or revenue agent in Bengal origiually had his “sir” or special lands, as guished from the rest of the lands in the estate, over which he had only of general over-lordsliip. The “sir” might be excluded from the area on revenue was assessed. So, when the Rajas in Oudh were reduced by the M mudan conquerors, the Nawab took the revenue from the villages that thi once had, but by way of compensation, or to reward the Raja who became ti and accountable to the treasury for the revenue of the taluq, a certain 1 of villages were left to the Raja revenue-free for his subsistence, and such were called his “ sir ” or “ naukar. ” GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 67 [n South India such a state of things is now commonly found ; of course a raiyatwari system, whereby Government deals with holding separately,- and cares nothing for any theoretical y of the whole village, tends to facilitate disintegration. iany such villages now Government treats the waste as at its )sal, and only so far recognises the old proprietary claims to to allow a preferential title to bring it under cultivation 9 . 21 .—These communities have heen a main factor in shaping the revenue system of Upper India. tillage communities of the joint class were so universal, had so completely survived all changes of time and govei’nment re North-Western Provinces, and still more so in the Pan jab, they served as the point de depart for a special revenue sys- Such communities are also found in the Oudh districts and e districts of the Central Provinces bordering on the North- ;. But traces of them are also to be met with in Berar, in h India, and in some parts of Northern Bombay. Why it was these communities in some parts managed to survive all the mts of Muhammadan rule, of Maratha plundering, or of Sikh |iest, and in others faded out and only left a memory in a few terms or half-forgotten customs, is one of the most'curious E 3ts for historical enquiry. But it is certain that the extreme „ of decay into which the institution has fallen in some e( of India has given rise to much questioning as to whether „ resent villages were ever of the joint class, or were not rather Dn-united type. i § 22 .— The toast e included in village areas. . ! ifore leaving the joint-village, I must, however, add some H g # , ;r details regarding the waste included in its area. In a tk ^ other places (us in the Chingleput district), the joint claim to the waste ^ nd so strong, that Government wishing to maintain its own revenue system, ’ there is no village common laud, thought it right to compensate the proprietors for their waste rights; and then the waste beoame entirely at osal of Government. 68 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. Manual primarily designed for Forest Officers, this question h; great interest, because it is on the question whether or not waste, scrub, and forest of a given district is or is not really eluded in the bounds of a village, not only as a matter of geogra cal location, but as being the common property of the village pro] tary bodies, that the power of Government to constitute f< estates, whether for fuel and grass, or for timber, often depend This question of the waste or uncultivated part of the vil land also shows us a point of difference between the English “ \ of old times and the Indian village. If the reader will ref the 4th lecture of Mr. Williams' series alluded to in a prey footnote, he will find that not only the arable land is divide known principles, but the right to use the waste, especial! respect to the pasture and the yield of hay for storing,' matter which comes into great prominence. In India, in the majority of cases, the village grazing is a s what secondary matter; plough-cattle are the chief, if not the stock that is kept. Cattle are not kept for slaughter for 1 and hence the grazing, though necessary, is of limited importa Moreover, outside the waste which the village regarded as a] priated as the common property of its own members, there was ill more unoccupied waste, on which cattle could wander at will 1 wood for the requirements of the household, and for making as< cultural implements, he cut without let or hindrance. The ulli tivated common inside the village boundary, was then ret | . 10 The long-continued difficulty in the Madras Presidency, regarding the c tion of public forests in many of the districts, took its origin, or, more p speaking, derived its support, from doubt and uncertainty as to what was status of the waste. In districts where the revenue system deals with an a«s: levied on the individual plots of cultivation, the boundary of the village an it really includes (important as-it is for many purposes) has not the sign which it has in "countries where the joint-village exists, and where evei included inside the boundary is recognised as absolutely the property of the body. Hence policy has vacillated, and opinion been divided, whether tin was the property of the State or not. 1 But in the sequel notice will be taken of a curious custom of “ grass re: in the Himalaya. (an GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 69 so much for pasture, as for land which in future could be g-ht under the plough and so increase the wealth of the com¬ ity. So long as this desired object could not be attained, it antilled and not managed in any special way; and in fact is not practically distinguishable from the waste outside the daries. When our settlement operations began, it was always >sary to determine what waste was really part of the village e and what was unoccupied and ownerless, i.e., lying at the sal of the State. n the North-West Provinces, where the population was denser the villages were located closer together, the whole of the ; was found, as a rule, to be justly claimed by the villages ; the boundaries of the estate of one community ran con- usly to those of the next. i the Panjab, and also in the Central Provinces, it was not so ; |>cations were further apart, and it was out of the question to >se that the whole of the often vast expanse of scrub jungle, , and waste that intervened, was really part of one village on de, and of the other on the other side, till the boundary lines e two estates met at a g’iveu point. But it was difficult, as (for of course there were in some cases, facts which afforded [ice on the question), to say what were the limits of the village on; and accordingly an artificial but equitable rule was invented ;ich a certain area of waste proportionate to the cultivated area lotted and demarcated'as belonging to the village, while the as distinctly marked off as State wastes It was to this proce- c hat the often extensive “ Rakhs,” as they are called in the 'h, are due. These have now proved of great public benefit as * ing lands on which plantations can be made, or in which, u lserving the natural growth, important supplies of grass and ■ can be obtained; while, in the early days of railway con- tk e ion, enormous supplies of wood-fuel were drawn from them, to e consequence of the recognition of villages as proprietary is, that throughout Upper India, the status of the waste, any yet remains, is in most cases beyond dispute. 70 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 23 .—The non-united village. The villages of the non-united type are found chiefly, but exclusively, in Central and Southern India. The plain countr the Dakhan districts of Bombay contains hardly any other f of village : so it is with many parts of Berar. In the Cer Proviuces also this type of village was prevalent, but the reve system, as we shall afterwards see, has created a special propriel right, so that the fact of the villages having been originally j united, is now of no consequence. The village system of Be: has long fallen into decay; but it is probable that the vill: were of this type; and in Oudh and the North-West Provii wherever the dismemberment of the old Hindu kingdoms or growth of grantees’ ^families did not result in joint-villages, form of landholding can clearly be traced, though at the pre day, the Revenue system has made all villages equally “ joint. In Madras we meet with both types of village; but the united type is apparently commoner in the north and centre, \ the best surviving forms of the joint community are in the sout districts. Indeed, in many countries where the non-united typ village may be said to be the generally prevailing one, there nevertheless here and there joint-villages, which have evidc arisen among, and over, the non-united ones, or perhaps coeval with them, owing to the causes, which I have already b: noticed, and which will again appear in more detail in the sequ § 24 —Leading features of the non-united village. In this non-united form of village there is, as I have sail appearance of a village estate within which all the land cultivat well as waste is the property of a joint body. There is no but an aggregate of residents, each occupying his own land owning no liability for his neighbour’s revenue payment. In villages it usually happens that the cultivators are of different c GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDTA. 71 races.- In some villages it appears that originally an exchange or ;stribution of holdings was euforcedby custom. This does not, rever, indicate that the village was held in joint-ownership, but bly that the co-settlers recognised a certain bond of union, \ . . _ uise mutual protection and society are under any form of life ;ssary to mankind, and especially so in India. The bond of m centred in the recognition of a headman of the village atel” is one of his most widespread designations), who was ly the representative of the State and partly of the village • and >se office was practically hereditary. • The headman and his family were usually, if not always, the ers of the village site, which, in troublous times, was often ed or banked rouud and served as a fort 2 . A right to a se-site in this enclosed space is still the prerogative of the patel’s ily : outside and clustering around it, are the sites of the other ige residents, the cattle stalls, and so forth. The description given of the village accountant and the watch- tlie village artisans and menial servants in a joint-village, ies equally to the non-united village. These persons are all re¬ iterated by customary dues,—iuthe early days of the community, ly by the privilege of selecting and cutting some portions of standing crop, partly by the prior right to certain weights out ite heap of grain produce at the harvest, before the cultivator’s the ruler’s shares were divided. But in these villages the hereditary families of officials often got tin lands, which were, originally or in theory, held as remuneration heir services 3 . These often were the best lands in the village.* y are called the “ watan, ” and' are looked on as one of the ugest forms of family property ; for the joint succession, which It is still often spolcen of as tlie “ Garin ” or fort. See the chapter on Central inces Tenures (Book III, Chapter II, section 4). This did not always happen. I n the Central Provinces the officials were rarely ,andar.” But iu Niniiir and the country adjoining Bombay the institution jnes commoner. In some places even the artisans and menials had petty tan” holdings. 72 LAND REVENUE AND I,AND TENURES OF INDIA, is the universal feature of native law, places the whole of a pat< heirs jointly in possession of the “ watan,” though only riage and succession had not been quite peculiar and excep- >al, all these estates would have by this time become separated !» villages jointly owned by descendants of the ruling families. Malabar landlords regarded their holdings very much as the lium'” estate is still regarded in Rajputana; it was a hereditary j.te, against the alienation of which a strong prejudice pre- red. i n § 3 .—The Muhammadan Conquest. The Muhammadan tribes from the North-West, who succes- ly overran India, though different in character, brought with , n one and the same system of law and government. But they j e themselves but recent converts to the Moslem faith, and con- j ientl} r did not display that strict and zealous adherence to the 4 It is a curious feature that so often princes of Indian states should he much It anxious to cling to bhumiya lands, or “ watan ” lands, or to zamiudarf lauds, , -ding to circumstances, than to others. It seems as if they foresaw the uncertainty ieir tenure as chiefs: a man might be up to-day and down to-morrow. But 1 leculiar feelings of the people and their strong sense of hereditary right to such |j jes as are alluded to in the text, would secure the holders in them. Thus, the ;e, ever fearing deposition from his chiefsliip, would feel that he had a refuge of a anent character in these hereditary estiftes, which were vested not only with the est degree of stability known,—the nearest approach to a proprietary title that life ideas developed,—hut also with a sort of dignity in the eyes of the people •|ii rendered them worthy of being held by chiefs. 80 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. law of the Prophet which the true Muhammadans—the Aral would doubtless have enforced. The necessities, too, of a powerful, but comparatively small, 1 of conquerors, compelled them to deal with the institutions of conquered people very much as circumstances dictated, and according- to the theory of their own somewhat peculiar law. § 4 .—Its effect on the land-tenures. The laud-tenures of the people themselves have been affe by these conquests to a varying extent. The joint-villages ] always been stronger, as a rule, than the others; they may . changed hands, one race of proprietors may have given waj another, but the form of holding has remained unchanged. But the non-united villages fared worse. In Bengal, the 1 holders have sunk to the position of tenants with or wit certain privileges which will be described presently. In other ] they have been variously affected. In general it may be said later changes in the land-tenures have been mostly changes in family or caste which possessed the land. There were two principal means by which proprietary hold were affected : one, the grants made by the State; the other 1 arrangements made for farming the Revenue. The first began to take effect at a very early date. It w easy for a ruler to put a man in possession of a tract of . and say ‘realise for yourself the Raja’s share; that will suj your family, or will pay for the troop or the company of soldiers which you have to maintain.’ All Oriental Governm whose treasury has never been very steadily replenished, have ad( this method rather than he burdened with the regular paymeni cash pension or salary. The grantee so located had means of £ ing into the position of owner of the land, and of crushing on original landowner’s rights, as we shall see abundantly j)rov< the course of our study. Revenue-farming did not become common as long as the 11 Revenue consisted of a share in the actual produce. But wl 1 GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 81 me common to take a cash revenue, then if the headmen regular officials of the country failed to collect it, the plan y suggested itself, of agreeing with a contractor to make good le treasury a specified sum for each village or group of villages. 1 a plan was specially characteristic of the decline of the Govern- t; it was resorted to when its hold over the country was not firm. Owing to the large powers necessarily entrusted to the mue-farmer in arranging for the cultivation, he had great rtunities for getting hold of land, and of substituting himself ns descendants as actual owners of the villages. § 5.— Revenue-collecting arrangements under the Mnghals. Vt first, then, the village-tenures were not affected. In days of strong rule, a settlement was made, and a properly rolled staff of revenue officials collected the revenue assessed he settlement authority, from village to village, through the men and village officers ; the village communities under such ■stem maintained their position without difficulty. But in :ourse of time, as the Mughal rule became weaker and more ganised, it was found convenient in parts of the country to ge the system and place large tracts of country in the hands jfieers called zammdars, who collected a fixed sum as revenue, engal this system developed most. It may be that it was sitated by, or at all events connected with, the decay of the l^e institutions ; but however this may be, in Bengal the jje landholdings disappeared before the zammdar, who became r. In Bihar, where the villages were often of the united int type, this-result did not happen to the same extent, or, y rate, not in the same way. |.s the rise of this system is explained in the immediate 1, which should be read as a continuation of this chapter, 11 not further allude to it. But it ended in completely obli- I ng the original landed rights, in the zammdar becoming the rr, and the former owners being sub-proprietors, “ dependent F 82 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. taluqdars,” and permanent leaseholders, or even “ tenants,” witl any privileged position. In Oudh, the first result of dealing with the old petty ki doms seems to have been that the Raj became the pargana; and Lucknow rulers simply sent revenue collectors to take from the lages the revenue which would originally have gone to the R In other respects they did not much interfere with the dignit; the old ruler. They allowed a certain number of villages, the reve of which still went to the Raja for his subsistence, and these k still form what is called the sir or nankar, and give so much C profit. Besides this, the Raja still received tribute and cesses f the villages, administered justice among them, commanded militia, and took as escheats, estates that had no heirs 6 . Afterwa when the Lucknow Government grew more corrupt, and when cumstances had brought about a change from a grain revenue payment in cash, it became the fashion to farm out the revenue areas called taluqas, and thus the taluqdari system—somewhat; logous to the zamfndari system of Bengal—came into vogue, was very natural that in many cases the surviving representative the Raj should have become recognised as taluqdars; and these allowed to engage for a certain rental or revenue to the State ' sury, hut without much or, indeed, any control as to what they from the villagers, or how they treated them, so long as the si lated revenue came in. These taluqdars, under British rule, be< the “ owners ” of the estates, but with many and complic provisos regarding the rights subordinate to them. § 6 .—Muhammadan Jdgirs and Grants. The grant of land, or of the Government revenue on laud also a common feature of the Muhammadan rule. The chief for such grant was the jagir, which was an assignment of the rev( of a tract of country for the support of the grantee and a mil force with which he was bound to come to the aid of the sover 5 It was during this stage, that zamfndari rights were sold or granted, creating joirt estates and hastening the dismemberment of the Raj. GENERAL VIEW OP THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 83 )eing summoned. The jagirdar might be the owner of some of lands, originally; he may also have brought large areas of waste er cultivation at his own expense. His position, therefore, is one ; is likely to grow and vary. In one place he may appear as the raer ” of the whole jagir; in another he may be only their chief, ,ent with collecting his revenue or share in the produce. Grants :d “ mee’afi'’'’ and “ inam ” of various kinds were also made: e were generally proprietary and involved no revenue-payment. § 7 .—The Maratha Conquest. The Maratha power, which arose with Sivaji in the latter half he seventeenth century, did not always affect the land-tenures. :e rulers were thrifty : they did not make many State grants ind, but sometimes recognised existing revenue-free lands or tan ” holdings, but imposed a “ jodi ” or quit-rent on them, h was often heavy enough. When their power was well estab- d, they recognised the advantage of dealing direct with the gers through their hereditary headmen, aud rarely employed lemen and farmers, who, they knew, would always manage fcercept a good part of the receipts. No doubt, individual culti- s were ejected and changed, but the general customs of land¬ ing were, perhaps, less affected by Maratha domination than by ; ither. The truth of this is proved by the exceptions; for there e( districts where the Maratha rule was never more than that j ( temporary plunderer, and where it was perpetually in contest powerful neighbours. In such districts it was necessary ,rm the revenues of certain villages, and then the “ mal- •” (or the “kliof'’ of other parts), as is always the case, j or worked himself into the position of proprietor of the .j e, crushing down the rights of the original landholders. , vi ' are districts in Bombay where the “ khoti ” tenure is to this day j darly recognised one, being really nothing but a sort of supe- ight over certain areas, which has now become fixed in the es of khots or persons originally put in to manage the land irm its revenues. 84 LAND REVENUE. AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Throughout the Central Provinces, where such farmers wer employed, their families constantly grew into the proprietar; position, and were recognised as proprietors of the villages at on settlement. § 8 .—The Si/c/t Conquest. The Sikh Government cared nothing for the land-tenure, am only for its revenues. Where the village community, so universe in the Panjab, was strong, it paid up the demand and its custom, were unchanged. Nothing is commoner in Settlement Report than to find allusions to the confusion introduced by the grindin Sikh rule into the land-tenures. This is true, however, rather of tb holders of the land than of tenures. No doubt, in many districl and throughout the village estates, one man was ousted and ar other put in, without any regard to title, and only for the sake < getting the revenue, in the most arbitrary way. Afterward perhaps, the old ousted proprietors would come hack, and get o to their land again as privileged tenants, or would be allowed son small rental or malikana in recognition of their lost position : ar thus many cases of “ sub-proprietary rights ” under a supe imposed new proprietary layer, and some cases of the “ talu< dari ” tenure arose; but I am not aware that any new form < land-tenure owes its origin to the Sikh dominion—anything lil the growth of the zamindari or taluqdari tenure under the Mugh system. The Sikh rule became centralised under Ranjit Singh, so th all the smaller chiefs, as a rule, were absorbed, and became the pr prietary holders of villages merely, or were regarded as “ jagirdars (for the Sikh system recognised the “jagir”). Some few stat survived under the suzerainty of the Maharaja. In the Cis-Sutlej States the smaller Rajas retained their i: dependence under British protection. At first a number of the were independent or sovereign states, but they were afterwar reduced to the condition of jagirdars. In the Ambala division of the Panjab, the customs of the jagirdars as over-lords and conquerors of the original village coi GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 85 : i uni ties which survived the conquest, but became proprietors in he second grade, are curious, and have been all defined at settle- • dent. The “ jagirdar ” was originally the leader or chief of a misl ” or fighting corporation; every member of the misl misldar) is entitled to some share in the profits. In jagirdari a ullages a “ sirkarda ” collects the rents or rights of the jagirdar nd distributes them among the graduated ranks of the body, ii rst to the chief, and next to the “ zaildars,” or subordinate hiefs, whose families form so many “ pattis ” and receive each he proper fractional part of the zail share ; below them, the “ rank r ,nd file ” (the tabiadar) are entitled to some still smaller fraction f the revenue. § 9 .—Result of the changes. It will now, I think, be apparent, that while the customs of ,'illage landholding were originally simple, the effect of the different orms of rule has been partly to obliterate old tenures and create . iew ones, and partly to introduce confusion among the persons p! ntitled to the tenure right, by successively displacing the , ilder proprietary bodies and allowing later and more powerful suc- :essors to take their place, the tenure in form remaining the ame. In either case the result has been to leave a series of pro- j irietary strata, in which the upper ones are, de facto, the pro- irietors, but the lower ones each in his turn have certain claims, which ought not to be ignored. When all the facts are taken into ionsideration, it will appear that the attempt to provide legally : or the proper position of these various shades of proprietary fight in our modern Indian law, is no easy task. In some cases, we have only the direct occupant to deal with, and ohe interest he has in his own field or holding is defined by law without much difficulty. It has been practically and simply laid lown in the Revenue Code, in Bombay, and in British Burma has ilso received definition, though a somewhat complicated and techni¬ cal one. It is in countries (like Bengal, Oudh, and the Central Provinces) 86 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. where we have to deal with a series of concurrent interests that th greatest difficulty arises. And it is easy to see that the different parties may have preserved very different degrees of right. 1:1 some cases the now dominant proprietor may have clearly dis tanced all rivals; the people under him have sunk past revival., int being tenants. But in others the claims of the present and forme proprietor may be very evenly balanced, and it may not be easy t say who is really best entitled; or again, granted a clear predom inance of one, there still may be so much to be said for the other that some practical form of recognition is equitably a necessity though under what name may be doubtful. § 10.— Proprietary right in India. And here it will be proper to call attention to the difficulty which surrounds any legislative definition of “ proprietary right ’ in India. In the first place, if you do find a person who is now ii a position which you generalise as that of “ proprietor/-’ what art the precise characteristics of the position ? The native idea had nol formulated such a thing as the status of a “ proprietor.” Custom indeed, had produced the strongest feeling on the subject of the ancestral right to hold land 0 . The people who, as accidental groups 6 Considerable controversy has arisen as tothequesfciou whether “rights ofproperty’ 1 did or did not exist under the Native rule. The author of a little book (published by Allen & Co., London, in 1869) called Notes on the North-West Provinces, tries to show that under the Native systems an idea of private property iu land always subsisted. He urges— (1) that people were notoriously attached to the land ; they had definite customs of holdiug, and clung to their holdings most tenaciously, often in spite of all sorts of exaction and oppression; (2) that there are vernacular words to indicate lands cultivated by an owner (e.g the “ sir land,” a man’s special holding for his own benefit (not for the common stock); also the terms “ vvarisi ” and “wirasat” and “ minis,” implying hereditary right, also the terms “ malik” and “malikana,” indicat¬ ing ownership; (3) that the share of the king or the Government is in the old law ( Institutes of Manu) fixed at one-sixth of the produce, and that it was customary to consider the rank, family, and caste of the landholder in fixing the amount of revenue. Further, that Manu recognises the rest as belonging to the GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 87 ssociated for protection, or in other parts, as fellow-tribesmen, T iad first settled down on the area selected, who had cleared the land i i'ith much labour, had faced all the risks and difficulties of the ■rsk, and had built their village home, were looked upon as having in strong claim ; but at a later time by the force of events and in n ' landowner, and distinctly asserts a right of ownership in the person who first cleared the land (see Elphinstone’s History of India, 6th edition, p. 79); : (4) that land was always transferable by custom, and often, if a powerful man ousted violently some customary landholder, he, by way of conscience- money or compensation, allowed him a malikaua, or payment in recognition of his overridden proprietary right. All this is perfectly true; but I do not understand that any one contends that the ative idea did not take strongly to the notion, that particular persons were by cus- >m eutitled to hold land. This is clearly proved by the fact just stated, that when a rstomary holder was dispossessed, he often got an allowance called malikaua—a sort i. f acknowledgment of his right. What is meant by saying that there was no “pro- erty” under Native rule is, that no Native system of law ever defined in tvhat wuership consisted, nor allowed a fixed and definite principle whereby the ri«-ht i ould be enforced by public authority. A number of the very terms used above are ,, f Arabic origin, and show that they do not belong to the ideas of the country. We ave only to trace out the history of a village and its division of crops, as has been J 3 admirably done by Mr. W. C. Benett, C.S., in his Gouda Settlement Report (1878, D jara. 83), to see how little a definite idea of private property had grown up. I Nor was the system of Government generally favourable to the development of roperty. The power of au Eastern sovereign is not limited, save by his own sense of ight and by motives of prudence. As a matter of fact, he treated every one on the jmd, whether owner or tenant, exactly on the same footing. If he actually ppressed his revenue-payers beyond endurance, he killed the bird that laid the Golden egg, and the people resisted or fled, as the case might be : that restrained him, J mt nothing else. It was custom, clearly defined and strongly held no doubt, that s Sailed the laud which the clearer of the primeval jungle cultivated, his “ wirasat” or Inheritance; but that does not mean that the public mind could define, and public j Authority enforce, the distinction between the different classes of rights. Moreover, i if the ruling power takes a revenue which, is so large that it absorbs the ‘ rent ’ br the landowner’s profit, then virtually there is nothing left worth calling a pro¬ prietary right in the land. II The same author is never tired of speaking of our Government as the' “great land¬ lord ” taking rent from the actual proprietors—a position which it does not hold, nor has ever pretended to. The system of taking revenue from the land brings the Government, indeed, into close contact with the people; and Government, being the only great, at any rate the chief, capitalist in the country, undertakes many works of improvement, or grants advances to proprietors to make smaller improvements for -ithemselves, and allows remissions of its demand in very bad times. But this it does jfor the welfare of the people, and for the better securing of its own revenue—not at 83 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. process of time, over the original villagers, a new interest gre' up. In Bengal, for example, by the time British rule began, tl villages were found to be under the complete control of certai powerful individuals whose title was incapable of any theoretic: all as a landlord. In no case is our revenue assessed so as not to leave a fair, if not liberal, rent to tlie landowner. If we look to Native sources of law, we shall find no idea of property in our sen of the word. In the law of Manu, for example (to go to Hindu sources), we find stated that the laud is the “ property ” of him who first cleared it (see Jones’ tran lation, Chapter IX, v. 44 et seq .); hut soon after we find that if the owner injure the land, or fails to cultivate it in due season, the Icing is to fine him heavilj The king’s right to a share in the produce is accounted for by saying that it' the king’s due in return for the protection he is bouud to render to the cultivator but that does uot limit his practical authority. The Muhammadan law does not give us any greater help. The sale of land spoken of, so that some kind of exclusive occupation must have been contemplated but then the Muhammadan law was never applied strictly in India. The Moslem as conquerors, were obliged to take things as they found them, and be content I 1 take their revenue, leaving the Hindu customs as they were, and not enforcing ap theory of the law. The strict law contemplated imposing a laud tax on couquere people, which is called “ khiraj.” The tax taken from believers was called by different name, was lighter, and was only levied in respect of actual product whereas the khiraj was (like our revenue at the present day) levied on the lar according to its capabilities, irrespective of its being fallow or productive. Howevej in time, the khiraj came to be taken in two different ways—in money, or in kind in the latter case, of course, it could ouly be a‘share of the actual produce, and t was like the “ believers’ ” tax. The khiraj levied in money was called “ wazffi khiraj,” and was par excellence the form of tax to be imposed on conquered ui believers. In this case the theory of the law would be, that the conqueror left tl land to the conquered, being content with his tax, but resuming his right when tl tax was not paid. It is said, however, that even when the share in the produce onl was taken, the theory of the law still was, that the ruler was the proprietor of tl laud. This theory may have been of tribal and patriarchal origin, regarding in fa< the Ruler, as Father of the Faithful, the head of the family of true believer sharing the produce with them, and the land being, as it were, in his name. VVhei ever he commuted the share to an actual fixed tax, he gave up the relationship b which he was “proprietor.” But here, again, is a theory totally unlike the Wester one of ownership. The controversy is very well summed up in the following extract :— “ The long-disputed question, whether private property in land existed in Ind before the British rule, is one which can never be satisfactorily settled, because it i like many disputed matters, principally a question of the meaning to be applied 1 words. Those who deny the existence of property mean property in one sense ; tho: who affirm its existence mean property in another sense. We are too apt to forgi GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 89 ofmition perhaps, but whose power and influence were very great: lere they were—a very stubborn fact indeed, and one not to be ot rid of. And then came the question to which I have already alluded— /"hat was to be said for the lower strata of proprietary right? < hese could not be actually restored and the upper proprietary rade be reduced aud ejected: how then were they to be dealt ith? |( The question would not, indeed, have been so difficult to dispose : if the different lower strata could always show proof of the rights |iey once held, or the practical immunities and privileges which I iey enjoyed. But in the great majority of cases the ancient rights ad grown dim, and the means of proof were both uncertain and ifficult to obtain. Ignorant agriculturists are the last people in the orld to understand what is, and what is not, evidence. They may lave long-cherished memories of a position that they think they aght to occupy, they may have strong moral grounds for claiming mt property in land as a transferable marketable commodity, absolutely owned and |issing from hand to band like any chattel, is not an ancient institution, but a |iodern development, reached only in a few very advanced countries. In the greater art of the world the right of cultivating particular portions of the earth is rather privilege than a property,—a privilege first o f the whole people, then of a particular ••ibe or a particular village community, and finally of particular individuals of the omraunity. “ In this last stage land is partitioned off to these individuals as a matter of lutual convenience, hut not as unconditional property; it long remains subject to iisrtain conditions and to reversionary interests of the community, which prevent its ncontrolled allieuation, aud attach to it certain common rights and common urdens.” The author then goes on to remark on the important fact that conquerors, enerally, cannot cultivate the whole land themselves and willingly leave the actual ossessiop and cultivation of the land to the people who originally possessed it and re attached to it by many bonds. Hence we have a widely prevailing distinction 'etween the levying of a revenue or customary rent for the land (asserted by the bnquoring State) and the privilege of occupying the soil. And in cases where the Original cultivators had a recognised organisation like the village communities of Northern India, their hold on the laud became such, that it is very natural to call it Iroprietary. (See Sir George Campbell on Indian Tenures, in the Cobden Club papers.) 90 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. something, but what exactly that something is, may be extreme| doubtful. § 11 .—Its limitations. The proprietary right .recognised by the British law under the somewhat conflicting circumstances, is far from being absolul But it is not only limited by the various sub-proprietary ai tenant rights below, of which we have been speaking ; it is necessari limited in another direction by the Government rights above it. All landed property, not freed by Government from payment, 4 held to be hypothecated to the State as security for its revenue i And when land is sold under this lien, all encumbrances and mor gages on it are liable to be voided. In some provinces all mineral rights are reserved also to tl | State 8 . The consequence is that the Indian “ proprietary right ’’ is thing sui generis. Such a term is not used in English text-book; But I have nowhere found in Indian authorities any attempt tlj define this right. It has been suggested to me that the bet definition would be “ a transferable and heritable right to th ] rental of the soil.” But there is, I think, notwithstanding thI hypothecation to the State, a real though restricted right in the so: itself. The owner can claim compensation if it is taken up foj public purposes, and that compensation will be higher according tl 7 It is so in practice, whether stated in Provincial Revenue laws or not, since th land is always saleable by order of the Revenue authorities for arrears of revenm either at once or as the last resort, according to the law locally applicable, lit the liability of the land as hypothecated is declared in so many words in Madra Act II of 1864 (section 2), and virtually so by section 56 of the Bombay Cod( IS 1 /!), section 146 of the North-Western Provinces Act (XIX of 1873), and sectio 46 of the Burma Laud and Revenue Act (II of 1876). 8 In granting proprietary right to the Bengal zamfndars this reservation wa not made, but it is so in other cases, as expressly appears from several of the model - ) Revenue Acts (Panjab Act, section 29; Central Provinces Act, section 151; Ajrne Regulation, section 3 ; Bombay Act V of 1879, section 69; Burma Land Reveuu Act, section 8, &c.) The reservation is not mentioned in the Acts of the North Western Provinces or Oudli, or in Madras. The subject is fully discussed in in; Manual of Forest Jurisprudence, Chapter III. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 91 t 3 intrinsic value of the land, although the owner may have had r share whatever in producing or enhancing the value, as where his lad has risen in price, owing to its proximity to a railway or t a town in which trade and population have largely developed, 'he land can also be sold and mortgaged. Under such circum- fmces, I do not think a definition which goes only to the rental, i sufficient. If we remember the Roman law definition of full joprietary right, we shall consider that the right in India is a eaking of cultivated and appropriated lands, which would other- ise be in the hands of some other owner. II. —The Government recognises no proprietary right between self and the actual holder of the land (/. e., it creates or allows no Toprietary right in a whole area over the heads of the actual laud- [olders). This is the simple form of raiyatwari holding under the ombay and Madras systems ; and in Burma. III. —Government recognises one grade of proprietor between 92 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. itself and the actual landholder. It settles for its revenue with t j proprietor and secures the rights of the others by record. IV.—Government recognises two grades of “proprietor” betwt the landholders and itself. This is the taluqdari tenure 9 . In 1j Pan jab and North-Western Provinces the settlements get rid of t where possible, by dealing direct with the villages, and granting the person possessing the taluqdari or superior right a cash alio i ance : but the tenure exists in Oudh and elsewhere. § 13 .—Remarks on these classes. The full understanding of these forms of tenure cannot be attai ed till progress has been made in the study of the local developme.. of the system in each province, but I hope that what is here said w serve to introduce, as it were, the terms which will be constantly i use in the sequel. The first of these proprietary tenures is only occasional, ai presents no difficulty in understanding it. The second we shall meet with in Madras and Bombay, whe' we shall see how they grew out of the non-united village, who! constitution had never been seriously interfered with by the Ma atha and other conquerors, except in some special cases, where tl second or double proprietary tenure arose in consequence. The third of the classes finds its most perfect exemplification the zamindar of the Bengal permanent settlement 10 , and in the ma i guzar of the Central Provinces, in both of which cases we find new proprietor—the result of the revenue system, super-imposo on the origiual village-holding. The village communities of tl North-West Provinces and the Pan jab are brought under this clas perhaps more theoretically than practically. Each landholder wl has his share secured to him by record, or actually divided oi to him in severalty (as is so often the case in these commun ties), is really owner of the share and pays the revenue on it, t 0 There may he possibly more than two grades, but the case would be precise analogous. 10 Also in the permanently settled portions of Madras. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OK INDIA. 93 i dependency as does the “ registered occupant ” of a severally limbered lot or holding- under the Bombay system; hut the form i not the same: the Government does not settle with the indivi- ual sharer for any revenue, but agrees with the whole village for lump sum, and regards the whole village jointly as proprietor, 'he several holders are only bound to pay the share which custom i personal law directs; but that is a matter of internal concern 1 the village, not to the Government. As regards Government ad the liability for revenue, the village body is the proprietor termediate between the individual landholders or sharers and ie State. The fourth form is found in its most perfect condition in Oudh, ie grades being (1) the taluqdar, (2) the village proprietary >dy—the individual landholder. § 14 .—Uights subordinate to “proprietary” rights. I have remarked that the proprietary right recognised in India limited in many cases by the existence of inferior rights, which ;e the relics of former ownership once exercised, before the days hen conquest, or the exactions of some State grantee or revenue irmer brought misfortune to the village and forced the owners to y, or to stay on their own lands in the humble position of tenants, remarked also that the British law had to find some just method £ recognising and giving effect to such rights, and that this was a ifficult problem because of the want of certainty which marked tie evidence as to what the original position of claimants really was. It is, of course, a question of local circumstance and history how ir, in any given village, such rights exist, and if existent, to what xtent they have survived; but in many of the districts it is ot difficult to find cases in which the old owners appear, linging desperately to petty holdings or privileges, which to their linds keep up (and do indeed afford evidence of) an original con- ection with the soil. Some of them have made terms with the iew proprietor, aud appear as his permanent lessees at favourable r fixed rents; others are treated as ‘ hereditary tenants; ’ but 94 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. whatever the form, the permanent tenure and the favoura.j terms are to be accounted for only as relics of an originally higlu position and closer connection with the land. It follows also, that wherever a settlement was made will and the proprietary right conferred on, some headman, zamindi or other individual, over the village landholders generally, the I were almost sure to be some others whose rights, though in a sulx dinate grade, have to be taken care of. The more f artificial 5 t position of the proprietor acknowledged by the settlement is, tl more will this be the case. In no form of settlement derived from Bengal, has this ever bei1 forgotten. True, for example, that it was the object of the Perm nent Settlement to concede a high position to the zamindar; but was never intended, for one moment, to help him to crush out an existing subordinate rights. The early Regulations do not, indeeo bring the subject as prominently forward as the later ones, merelj because it was taken for granted at first, that our law courts coul afford sufficient protection ; that directly any attempt was made 1 depose a subordinate right-holder, he would complain and receiv a speedy remedy. It was also intended that all such tenure righl should be registered. The Judges of the High Court of Calcutt who discussed the history of Bengal tenancy in the great red case of 1865, all agreed in this, that, though the “ zamindar • was recognised as proprietor, his right was by no means unlimitei with regard to the “ raiyats ” under him 1 . The great difficulty has always been to knowhow, logically am equitably, to define and place in due position, the rights which now appear in the lower “ strata ” of proprietary or quasi-pro , prietary interest. In general the question has been solved by admitting some o 1 the rights to be of proprietary character , but secondary degree; anc declaring the others to be tenancies, but with privileges as regard: 1 “The Regulations,” said one of them, “teem with provisions.quite incompatibt with any notion of the zamindar being absolute proprietor.” (Bengal Law Reports Supplementary Volume of Full Bench Rulings ) GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 95 nn-liability to ejectment, and with a limitation of rent charges, viich is the necessary corollary to fixity of tenure. In practice i has not been always easy to draw the line between the two, \ th uniform accuracy; and our future enquiry into tenures will sow some differences in this respect, which it is, however, very tsy to account for. § 15.— Sub-proprietors. One mark of the “ proprietary character ” has always been that te holder pays nothing but the Government assessment ; unless in- ced by custom, he also pays some feudal or other dues to a superior phich are hardly of the nature of rent). Another is that the hiding should not only be heritable—for that a fixed “ tenancy ” ■sways is—but also freely alienable by g’ift, sale, or mortgage. Where all these features are observed, the tenure would be of i e proprietary class, and spoken of as an “ under-tenure,” or “ sub- "oprietorship,” and in the vernacular as “ malik maqbuza,” or ■ her term which carries with it the indication of a “ proprietary” laracter 2 . Who were the persons entitled to this position, depended, as I tve already remarked, on the facts and on the history of the estate. i Bengal, no doubt, in a large number of instances, those who— -rectly the zamindar’s position was recognised by law—became tenants ” or “ raiyats,” were originally the soil-owners of the de- iyed and forgotten village groups. Among these, the most power- il and more well-to-do succeeded in securing soiffe permanent osition under the zamindar; and although such position was isignated by a new title derived from Mughal law or revenue in- iitutions, still it practically secured something like the old landed iterest. In provinces where the village communities survive as the pro- rietary body, or where other forms of superior proprietorship have 2 Extending most commonly to the individual holding only, hut in some cases s in the Central Provinces) extending to the whole village, which may be the ibjeet of a joint sub-proprietary right under the “ malguzar ” proprietor. 96 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. been recognised, it will be remnants of original tribes, conquered /a the ancestors of the present owners, descendants of State grante purchasers, settlers, and others, who constitute the sub-proprietoi i But it is obvious that these rights may be very various in ch. acter and extent. On the one hand they may rise to a right dist. 1 guishable only by insignificant features from the upper proprietyi right, or on the other, may be so little proprietary as to be prac • cally undistinguishable from “ tenancies.'” § 16 .—Method of distinguishing different kinds of right. The early law of Bengal did not lay down any principles, n did it prescribe any authoritative enquiry into and record of t actual incidents and customs of such rights. As I have observ already, it was thought that the easy and obvious method for sol ing a dispute was to go to court and prove the facts. But even the courts were less distant, their procedure less costly, and the language less strange to the ignorant peasantry, the courts ther selves had no guide, either as to the incidents of tenure to proved, or the consequences of them when proved. A record ( facts, such as could be prepared only in the field, by the Settlemei Officer, was therefore as much needed as a guide to the courts as was for the protection of the people. How this difficulty was gradually overcome in the permauentl { settled districts, will be further explained in the chapter speciall ; devoted to Bengal. With regard to other provinces, where tli system of Bengal was pursued in a modified form, the lai afterwards enacted that the Settlement Officer was to determin T i who was the actual proprietor to be settled with ; and that done, h was to protect the inferior proprietary right, if necessary, by J “ mufassal ” or sub-settlement, and in any case, by a practical! > authoritative “ record of rights.” In many cases, however, the necessity of providing for inferio : rights does not stop with the recognition of sub-proprietors entitle! i to a sub-settlement, or to sub-proprietors of holdings merelj i recorded as such. It is obvious that, on investigating the facts ii GENERAL VIEW OP THE LAND TENURES OP INDIA. 97 ny particular locality, the evidence in favour of former rights nay be stronger or weaker, till at last it is very difficult to say vhether the right to be allowed, can properly he recorded in the iroprietary class at all. Practically, when it is weak, but still ecognisable, the claimant is more conveniently treated as a tenant vitli privileges. And this leads me to say a few words on the ubject of tenant right. § 17 .—Tenant Right. All tenant right in India arises in one of three ways. First, I nay place the case just alluded to, of right that may really have >een proprietary at some former time, but is now so faintly visible hat a privileged tenancy is practically the most reasonable posi- ion that can be assigned to it. Secondly, there are cases of real ■t tenancy,” but where th custom of the country, and the general 'eeling, assign a privileged position to the tenant. A good sample of such a case is to be found in the case of village com- nunities where the “ proprietary body/'’ being unwilling or unable !;o do all the work of clearing the jungle and founding the village, ■ailed in some others (possibly of a different caste or class) to help hem. These persons were, of course, privileged,—in some cases so nuch so that some settlements have assigned them the place of sub- >roprietors : but at any rate their tenure was hereditary; and the rate :>f rent, if it was extended at all beyond the amount of the Govern- nent revenue, was fixed and nominal. The third case is where our aw has stepped in and provided that any tenant who has continuously ield the laud for twelve years (which in earlier days was the usual ndian “ period of limitation”) shall have a right of occupancy, i.e. } ihall not be removable as long as he pays his rent, and shall only lave his rent enhanced under certain rules and on certain fixed grounds. The first two classes are purely natural; and I am not aware hat the propriety of protecting them by law has ever been called 11 question. It is true that the difficulty of drawing the line letween rights of this class and those previously called “ sub- G i 98 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA, proprietary ” is such that there may have been some variety < practice ; but this does not affect the question of admitting th; the right is to be recognised. But the third class has given rise 1 much difference of opinion. It is perhaps needless to remark th; bhis class of twelve years’ tenants was not arbitrarily created or i pursuance of a bare theory. It arose in the North-Western Pro' vinces and was copied 3 in Bengal. § 18 .—The twelve years’ rule — Bengal. In Bengal such a rule would readily commend itself. It ha been explained that the zammdar acquired his position over th heads of the original soil-owners; so that a large proportion o : those who were now “ tenants ” once really enjoyed permanen 1 t rights in the land. But under the influence 'of the Mughal rule their position was in effect not different from others who wen really tenants. For in those days no question of eviction as regard; the actual cultivators ever arose. There was no competition foi land. The competition was to get and keep men to till the soil All that were on the land, whether originally ancestral proprietors or not, were retained as a matter of course, and all paid the cus-: tomary rent. In course of years the population increased, land became valuable, and then competition became possible. Then for the first time the question arose, could this or that tenant be turned out, and how • could his rent be raised ? The answer was to be | found in searching for the facts ; in the course of that enquiry the original position of some of the raiyats came to notice as being the ; real original village proprietors, while others appeared to have t an origin which really depended only on the contract of the parties. . It was then decided that it would be only equitable to confirm 1 the position of those in whose favour these special circumstances i appeared. But it is not always easy to prove facts which are nevertheless true. The peasantry were too ignorant to preserve ■< evidence of their rights : and hence the rule was invented as one v . 3 See Report of Select Committee on the Rent Act (X of 1859). ( GENERAL VIEW OP THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 99 kety to do general justice, that a person who had held for twelve 'jars—the then usual period of limitation—should he saved from ie burden of further scrutiny and declared irremovable. And s a right of occupancy without a regulation of rent would he ilueless, certain rules were laid down as to enhancement. Looking to the facts of Bengal tenure, there is no reason to ippose that the twelve years’ rule was unjust, or that it unfairly mited the rights and profits of the proprietors ; indeed, there has aen of late considerable apprehension that the protection to ce cultivator is not sufficient 4 ; that considering the immense ifference at the present day between the permanent assessment £ the estate and the actual rental of it, the people who pay those jnts ought to share much more largely than they do, in the benefits ■hich arise out of the land. § 19 .—In other Provinces. But even in the North-Western Provinces,—where this rule /as first invented, and where the argument stated in the last aragraph could less commonly be applied, there was still another •round urged; and that was that all tenants, if of reasonably >ng standing, and if resident on the land, ought, according to the rue and ancient custom of the country, to be protected from viction at the pleasure of the landlord. This extension of the welve years’ rule is obviously more open to question, and conse- uently the general introduction of the rule into other parts of ndia has given rise to a fierce controversy. § 20 .—The case as stated on hotli sides. There have been always officials ready to take either side, since n either side a plausible argument may he advanced. Those who favoured the landlord’s view would urge that it w'as nfair to the zamindars and other proprietors now saddled with the esponsibility, strict and unbending, for a revenue that was to come 4 At the time I am writing a special Commission has just investigated the subject, ud n draft law for Bengal is uuder consideration. i 100 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. in good years and bad alike, to tie their hands, to refuse thei permission to get the full benefit of their lands by creating a artificial right in their tenantry; such a rule would be to virtual! deprive the landlord of the best share of his proprietary rights. 1 it was wise of Government to recognise the proprietary right a I all, it must be wise also to recognise the full legal and logical coi sequences of that right. True it might be, that.in old days tenant were never turned out, but that was the result of circumstances, no j of right; and if the circumstances have changed, why not le the practice of dealing with tenants alter too ? The proprietor t are the people we designed to secure, in order to make them th fathers of their people, to whom we looked for the improvement o ( the country at large, and for the consequent increase of the genera wealth. Why would'we doubt that they will act fairly in thei ij new position ? On the other side the advocate of the tenant would reply : th' new landlords confessedly owe their position to the gift of Govern 1 ment; why should they get all ? why should not the benefits con J ferred be equally divided between the raiyats on the soil and th “ proprietors ” ? The raiyats are the real bread-winners am i revenue-makers, more quiet and peaceable, less liable to politiea i emotions, and more interested in the stability of things as they are 1 Many of the tenants we know to have been reduced to that con j dition from an originally superior status. And even if the tenan 1 had no such original position, as far as his history can be traced, stib the custom of the country is all in favour of a fixed holding. If i i powerful man ousted a cultivator, it iVas by his mere power, nol . by any inherent right, or that the public opinion would have sup- j ported him in so doing. But as a matter of fact no cultivatoi ever was ousted; he was too valuable. In the rare cases in whict 1 he was ejected, it was either because he failed to pay or to cultivate i properly (which is still allowed as a ground for ejection), or else ill was to make room for some favoured individual, which of course * was an act of pure oppression: why should not the law still protect the tenant from such evictions ? GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 101 The question is in truth not one which can be theoretically letermined, because the idea of landlord and tenant, as we conceive he terms, and the consequences which flow from it, have no latural counterpart in Indian custop. We have the double difficulty to deal with, the vast number of ‘ tenants/"’ who have a valid claim to be considered, because heir position does not really depend on contract, and also the ase of tenants whose origin is not doubtful, but whose posi- ion has been seriously affected by the new order of things—a ompetition for land instead of a competition to get tenants and reep them. All we can do is to make the best practical rules for ;eeuring a fair protection to all parties. The principle of Act X of 185 9 5 was adopted, reasonably enough is regards the zamindan estates that were settled under the old Bengal system, but more doubtfully as regards the North-Western Provinces, where the village communities survived. In the Central Provinces Act X was put in force, but under certain special con- litions, which will be alluded to in the sequel. In the Panjab md in Oudh it has not been adopted. There it was sufficient to provide for the special case of those tenants who had a rc natural ” or customary right to be considered hereditary. Even in the Panjab, however, the tenaut-rftj'ht controversy was for a long time carried on. In the provinces where the Government deals directly with the occupants of the land, tenant right has given no trouble. But of course tenancies exist. A man may contract to cultivate land as a tenant-at-will or he may have something of a hereditary olaim to till the land, as much under a raiyatwari system as any other. But the question of subordinate rights never becomes as difficult of solution in such countries, as it does in those where the recognised proprietor is a middleman between the cultivator and the State. S • I 5 This Act is now generally repealed, though it survives in certain districts; but the twelve years’ rule has been retained iu the Acts which superseded it in the different provinces. • 102 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section III.— Land Tenures of a Temporary Character. § 1 .—Shifting cultivation. An account, however elementary of Indian land-tenures, wouL be incomplete without some notice of a customary holding o I jungle land which is widely prevalent in parts of India, bu which is of such a nature that it is very doubtful whether the tern i ‘ land-tenure J can with propriety be applied to it. I allude to tin practice of temporary or shifting cultivation of patches of forest \ which has in some districts proved an obstecle, or at least a souro t of difficulty, in the way of making arrangements for the preserva tion of wooded tracts as forest estates, a work which modern scienci recognises as essential for almost any country, and especially rJ great continent like India with its climatic changes and seasons oil drought of such frequent recurrence. In the jungle-clad hill country on the east and north of Bengal, | in the Ghats of the eastern and western coasts of the peninsula, in j the inland hill ranges of the Central Provinces and Southern India, there are aboriginal tribes who live by clearing patches I of the jungle, and taking a crop or two off the virgin soil, after which the tract is left to grow up again while a new one isS attacked. • This method of cultivation seems to be instinctive to all tribes 1 inhabiting such districts. It seems to be the natural and obvious i method of dealing with a country so situated. The details of the custom are of course various, and the names t are legion. The most widespread names, however, are “ jum ” in Bengal 6 , “ bewar ” (often, hut incorrectly, dahya) in the Central : Provinces, “ kumri ” in South India, and “ toung-ya ,J in Burma. In all cases the essence of the practice consists in selecting a . hill side where the excessive tropical rainfall will drain off suffi- i c “ Jum ” is the general name used inofficial reports, but iu reality this name w must be entirely local. In fact no one name can be applied. Iu the Garo hills, 1 in Chittagong, iu Goalpara, iu Soutalia, and no doubt in every other district where h this method of cultivation is practised, there is a ditl'ereut local name. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 103 ieutly to prevent flooding of the crop, and on which there is a sufli- ient depth of soil. A few plots are selected and all the vegeta- ion carefully cut: the larger trees will usually be ringed and left to lie;—standing bare and dried, there will be no shade from them hurt- ul to the ripening crop. The refuse is left on the ground to dry. At he proper season, when the dry weather is at its height, and before he first rains begin and fit the ground for sowing, the whole mass ,vill be set on fire : the ashes are dug into the ground and the se’ed is ;own,—usually being mixed with the ashes and the whole dug n together. The plough is not used. The great labour after that .•onsists in weeding, and it is the only labour after the first few lays of hard cutting, to clear the ground in the first instance, are lover. Weeding is, in many places, a sine qud non, for the rich soil would soon send up a crop of jungle growth that would suppress the hill rice or whatever it is that has been sown 7 . A second crop may be taken, the following year possibly a third, but then a new piece is cut, and the process is repeated. § 2 .—Nature of right to which such practice gives rise. When the whole of the area in the locality judged suitable for treatment is exhausted, the families or tribes will move off to an¬ other region, and may, if land is abundant, only come back to the same hill sides after twenty or even forty years. But when the families arc numerous, the land available becomes limited, and then the rotation is shortened to a number of years—seven or even less—in which a growth, now reduced to bamboos and smaller jungle, can be got up to a sufficient density and height to give the soil and the ash-manure necessary. In its ordinary form, this method of cultivation may give rise to some difficult questions. It obviously does not amount to a permanent, adverse occu¬ pation of a definite area of land; nor does it exactly fall in with any Western legal conception of a right of user. In some cases, 7 But tliis is not always the case, where the hill land has long been subject to this treatment, or where the soil is peculiar; in the Garo hills, I am told, weeding is not required. 104 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. it may be destructive of forest wliicli is of great use and valui I iu others the forest may he of no use whatever, and this metkc of cultivation may be natural and necessary. The progress < ] civilisation and the increase in the population always tend 1 bring this class of cultivation into the former category, an 1 then it is very difficult to deal with. It is impossible not to fe< * that whatever may be the theoretical failure in the growth of strict right, the tribes that have for generations practised thi cultivation from one range of hills to another, have somethin: j closely resembling a right ; they have probably been paying Government revenue or tax—so much per adult male who cai i wield the knife or axe with which the clearing is effected— which strengthens their claim to consideration. In creating forest i estates for the public benefit, the adjustment of “ toung-ya,’ “ kumri,” or “ jdm/ J claims has now become a matter ol settled and well-understood practice. In the Western Ghats, ii is becoming a subject of difficulty 8 , but the discussion of the t question would be foreign to my present purpose, which is merely to describe what is in fact a form of land occupation ov quasi-tenure. 8 Already, in the Konkan, whole hillj sides have been reduced to sterility, while ! the soil washed by the heavy monsoon rains off the bare hill side, has silted up aud rendered useless, streams aud creeks which were once navigable. The difficulty is that the tribes are always semi-barbarous, aud the task is to induce them to over- i come their apathy aud take to permanent cultivation. Unfortunately, sympathetic officials, properly alive to the necessity of kindly treating these tribes, are usually * totally blind to the real danger of destroying the Ghat forests, or what is worse, j professing to believe it, the belief has no real hold on them. To abolish this destruc- 1 tive cultivation, serious and sustained effort is necessary; to get the people to settle 1 down, and to procure for them cattle, ploughs, and seed-grain, requires liberal ex- \ penditure. It is difficult to find officers who have the time or the zeal necessary for the first, and financial difficulties are likely to be in the way of the second. An easier course is to draw harrowing pictures of the suffering caused to the tribes I by stopping their ancient cultivation, and to denounce the efforts of the Forest Administration ns being harsh aud without recognition of the “wants of the people.” 9 It is unfortunate that the very forests at the head-waters of streams, with dense growth and steep slopes, which forest economy most imperatively calls on us to preserve, are the very tracts in which this temporary cultivation is most in¬ sisted on. GENERAL VIEW OF THE LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 105 § 3 .—Peculiar customs in Burma. Mr. Brandis, Inspector General of Forests to the Government of ndia, has been the first to notice and describe a curious system of toung-ya” cultivation found in Burma (in the hills between the Jittangand Salween rivers), where the pressure of tribal populations las confined each village or group to certain definite local areas. In hese the forest is most carefully protected from fire, so as'to favour he restoration of the jungle as much as possible, and the whole is vorked on the toung-ya method, in a peculiar and well-devised irder of cutting, which is determined strictly according to local ■ustom by the tribal council. This will be more fully described n the chapter on Burma. Here we have this method of cultivation developed in a manner vhich must in time be recognised as a regular system of land- idding. I will now pass on to sketch the first beginning of our revenue lealings with the people which took pl^ce in Bengal, and show how the other systems gained a footing in different provinces. As in doing so I must almost at the outset allude to village lands and village owners, State grantees, and State revenue collectors, I trust that the brief sketch of tenures now given will have been sufficient at least to make the passages in which such allusions occur intelligible. 106 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. CHAPTER IY. A GENERAL VIEW OP THE DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. Section I.— Introductory. § 1 .—The rationale of Indian land-revenue. Every one who has been in India, even for a short time, is aware of the fact that a large portion of the Government revenue is I derived from the land. In all cases that revenue is now taken ii money. Under the earliest Hindu Rulers it was, and in some Native States still is, taken in kind. But whether it is grain or money the principle is the same. A portion of the produce of every field belongs to the king;—unless the king' chooses, as a favour, or as reward for services, or to support some religious institution, to , forego his claim *. I do not propose to discuss the theory of this method of obtain¬ ing a State income. It may be admired or reprobated; but at any rate it has this advantage, that it is universally understood by the people, and has the sanction of absolutely immemorial custom— facts of no little practical importance in a country like India. It is therefore, when fairly assessed 1 2 3 , realised without difficulty; ' and there is certainly no method of taxation by which, under the 1 In which case there is a revenue-free, or “lakhiraj,” grant of some kind. 2 There have, no doubt, been many instances (almost, I may say, as a matter of course) in so vast and intricate an operation as our land settlements, in which assessments have proved excessive and have resulted in much distress; but over-assessment always can be, and always is eventually, remedied. There are also other difficulties, such as that which arises from the unbending regularity of the demand, which may cause the improvident to get into the hands of money-lenders. These, however, are questions of social economy; they have nothing to do with the revenue itself. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 107 iisting conditions of the provinces, we could raise an equal amount E revenue with equally little trouble or popular opposition. Nor do I propose to enter on the question, how the State ernes to be entitled to take a share in the produce of land. In :ie last chapter I sketched the position of the Hindu Rajas of early ays, and indicated the changes induced by subsequent conquest, endeavoured also to show that it is idle to discuss the question diether it is as paramount owner or landlord of the soil in India, hat the State takes its share 3 . Such a question is not capable f solution, for the simple reason that at no time did the ideas diich we of the West associate with the term “landlord" or “ pro- >rietor," enter into the legal system of the country, either Hindu ■r Muhammadan. Even in the West, the idea of “property," as ve now have it, is one of gradual and slow development. The State at all times claimed a share (often a very large share) >f the produce, and at all times granted and disposed of waste ands as it pleased : often, too, it has exercised very wide powers in he location and ejectment of the actual holders of the soil. These lowers, had they been exercised in Europe, might have been held to be only explainable on the ground that they were the act of a ‘ dominus,” or owner; but having been exercised in the East, we cannot apply these ideas to them. In the absence of any Eastern criterion of proprietary right, we can only say that the people did what was the custom, and the king- did what he chose—at any rate, within those limits which the nature of things sets to the exercise of arbitrary power. From the very first our Government has wisely avoided theoris¬ ing on the subject. The earliest Regulations of 1793 contented themselves with asserting just so much, and no more, as would serve for a practical basis of the system they formulated : namely, that “ by 3 la Regulation XXV of 1802 of the Madras Code it was asserted that the Native Government “had the implied right and the actual exercise of the proprietary possession of all lands whatever,” and this was still more clearly stated in the Regulation XXXI of 1802, since repealed, as being vested in the Government of Fort St, George “ hy ancient usage of the country.” The proprietary right was then conferred hy Regulation XXXI of 1802 on all zanilndars and other landholders. ' 108 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. ancient law the Government was entitled to a share in the produt of every bigha of land/"’ that share to be fixed by itself 4 . The only other rights which Government has reserved, whic • may, if the reader pleases, be traced to a theory of original prc prietorship, are (1) that Government in recognising or “ conferring a proprietary title (in the modern sense) on the landholders, re served to itself the right to secure the practical interest of th other classes of persons interested in the land, by making regula r tions for the protection of raiyats, under-proprietors and actu; cultivators of the soil 5 : in other words, that Government had powe » to distribute the rights in the soil and in its rental as it thought fit consistently with facts and with the general principles of equity (2) that Government has the right to dispose of waste lands no | occupied by any one; and (3) that it has also the right to sell al d lands (in the last resort) to recover arrears of revenue which canno < be got in by other means. There are other Government rights of course,—the right t( \ escheats, the right to mines and quarries (when not specially in¬ cluded in the grant of proprietary right to others), for example ii but these do not concern my present purpose. § 2. —Early practice in respect to land-revenue assessment. Under the Native Governments, the State share in the produce, | whether represented by an actual share of the grain, or by a money equivalent, came to be fixed, like everything else in India, by custom. But the custom was from time to time affected by the necessities of the ruler, and by the interference of the agents whom he employed to assess or realise his revenues. In India, as we have seen, the village is, as a rule, the natural unit of land-grouping. The first form in which the revenue was 4 See preamble to Bengal Regulations XIX and XXXVII of 1793. The same j phraseology has been re-adopted in modern Acts—for example, in Act XXXIII of 1871—and it holds good for all revenue systems. The Bombay Revenue Code (section 45) makes the same declaration. 5 See section 8 of Regulation I of 1793 (first clause). ( DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 109 nllected was by simply dividing- the grain-heap at the threshing- oor, between the village servants, the cultivator, and the Raja, 'his I shall describe more in detail in ti subsequent chapter. V T hen this stage was passed, money revenue was assessed by aluing the Raja's share of the grain at current rates. And there /ere various transitional stages, caused by the difficulty of superin¬ ending the division of grain-heaps over a vast number of separate illages, which resulted in substituting an appraisement of the crop nd fixing an estimated amount to be made good - , and so forth, lut omitting these stages, and coming to the time when the layment of revenue in cash became tolerably general, the practice if assessment varied according to circumstances. If the village vas “ joint,” a lump sum was fixed for the whole estate, leaving he sharers to distribute the burden according to their own laws md customs. If it was a “ non-united ” village, either each holding •vas assessed, or the village headman distributed a lump assessment iver the holdings separately, according to custom. Under the strong government of Akbar, there was something not unlike a settlement of our own day. The amil, or local superin¬ tendent of revenue in a pargana (or revenue sub-division of a dis¬ trict), collected a certain share of the produce, or the money rates assessed at the settlement. In later times, the revenue officers aided some further payments as “ cesses ” for particular purposes, ind the village distributed the burden of these among the different landholders, through its managing committee or headmen, accord¬ ing to ancestral shares or according to local custom. . § 3 .—Native methods of revenue collection. The necessity for a revenue as large and as steady as possible is one that presses not only on a Mughal Emperor and his Deputy, but on every Oriental Government; and the more so as it seeks to maintain large armies for foreign conquest, and aims at the con¬ struction of large public works,—roads, canals, and ‘sarais' (or travellers' halting places)—which are usually the objects to which Oriental Governments turn their attention. As long as the Govern- 110 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. men! was firmly administered, it attained this object best by moderate settlement and a fixed respect for the landholding custom of the country. • But the time always came when the dynasty began to decliia and then wasteful expenditure of every kind became prevalent; th necessities of the king became greater, and his hold over his agent less. Theu it was that the revenue was augmented by arbitral ? exactions; the original village-owners were ousted or fled. Revenu farmers got hold of the village, and either got in new tenants o mercilessly rack-rented the old village-owners. The revenue con «: tractor got as much out of the villages, and paid as little to th treasury, as he could. The rates of the original settlement (whethe Akbar’s in Hindustan, or Malik ’ Ambar’s in Central India) hat ■ become customary, and were consequently well known ; but the} f'J were added to by cesses till a compromise was effected, and the resul n became in its turn the customary rent. In course of time new cesse:^ were added and a new compromise effected, and so on. To wha ] lengths such a system was carried, and in what different forms i(j depends very much on the locality and its institutions, and on tht <1 character of the Native rule. In Northern India, the villages well fl strong and often managed to hold their own; if the land ever changed hands, the village institutions survived and did not form or become absorbed in, some different kind of estate. In othei parts, as in Oudh, “ taluqdars ” arose as the outcome of the revenue difficulties of the State. In Bengal, again, another plan of revenue¬ collecting received a wide development which was probably facili¬ tated by the complete decay of the village institutions. However this may be, it is always the decline of the Native Government that introduces confusion, and that leads to results which have largely affected the revenue system introduced by the British Government. Section IT.— The Bengal System. § 4 ,— Th e r ise of the zammddn system. The great Province of “ Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa ” was the . first to come under British rule, and it happened that these terri* DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. Ill ries exemplified in a striking manner the general course of events hich I stated in the last paragraph. The Mughal Government ul ceased to he able to control its local agents efficiently, and the venue suffered accordingly. In time, however, the general cor- iption of the revenue officials and the lack of power to control lem, almost naturally led to the invention of a system whereby, istead of trying to make the collections through the agency of llage officers who had ceased to have any authority, or to keep hailed accounts with local farmers and amils who were perpetually 1 the watch to embezzle what they could, the State appointed cer- in great managers or agents, who became responsible for the real- ation of the revenue of large tracts of country. An official so , (pointed was called a “ zammdar 6 .'” 6 1 hardly kuow whether it is best to call them “revenue agents” or “revenue rmers.” On the 'whole I prefer the former term (though it sounds awkward) I'cause, as a rule, they did not hid or bargain for certain terms, but the revenue of e zamfndarf was known by custom, as the result of the old “amili” assessments ; id the zamfndar rather took the responsibility (for a certain remuneration) of nlising the assessment, than farmed the revenues. When the Government grew (Ore and more corrupt and feeble, the usual consequences of declension rapidly veloped. Regular revenue management under State control gave way, and the nundaris were put up to auction and sold in the most reckless fashion. The reader may be put bn. his guard at the outset, as to the meaning of the verna ■ dSr terms used in speaking of landed interests. Zamfndar is a term likelw to Infuse him. In speaking of a Bengal settlement, zammdar is the revenue official lade “ proprietor ” under the Bengal system) who received a “ sanad ” or written mmission of appointment to realise and make good to the State, less certain deduc- ms for himself, the revenues of a large tract of country. In other parts, zamfndar (“holder of land”) has come to mean the complete and elusive proprietor of land generally ; and it is so used in speaking of teuures, as, r example, “ zamfndarf tenure,” where wemean that the land has one man (or one dy of men) as its owner. Still more generally used, zamfndar is colloquially applied any one who gets his living from the land. If you meet a man going along a llage road and ask who he is, he will probably answer—“lam a poor man, a mfndar.” m The term “ ra’fyat” (raiyat) also is not precise; it means a tenant—one who pays nt to a landlord—in such phrases as the “raiyat’s rights must be protected or j means' the actual cultivator, in such a phrase as “ a raiyatwarf settlement.” ; In its etymology it means simply “protected;” so that any inferior may lloquially describe himself as a raiyat,—“your humble servant.” j Asami is a term of the same kind. With reference to a landowner, it means his naut; but colloquially, and speaking to a superior, it may be used by an owner of I 112 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. The Government fixed a certain revenue which the zamindar w o expected to realise from a given tract of country or “ estate ”■ often of great extent—and allowed him a tenth as his person remuneration and some further allowances for special purposes. In the earlier stages of the system the zamindar was still, to considerable extent, controlled by the superior revenue officers the State; it was the duty of the latter to see that the people we not oppressed, and that the collections were duly accounted for to tl treasury. But as the Government fell further into decline, tl power and independence of the zamindar grew apace. The la Mughal rulers now and again made desperate efforts to repress <] even to get rid of the zamindars, but always without success. The institution was, in Bengal, like a plant which, when it h; once taken to the soil, there is no getting rid of. The zamindt'l became not only indispensable to the revenue system, hut he gradi ally took such hold on the tract of country under him, that :| grew more and more, as time went on, to he looked on as “ hi estate/'’ and he became, what we must call for want of a better tern “ the proprietor/’ In fact, we have here a most striking instance of the way i : which the land-revenue systems of conquering Governments tend t modify the land-tenures. § 5 ,—Progress of the zamindar. Let me then briefly trace the progress of this Bengal institution which so rapidly grew at the expense of the old village soil-owners < The zamindar was either a man of local influence, a court favourite, o. a man who once was a paid revenue officer. But very often he was one of the local Rajas or Chiefs, who had been conquered or reducer i to vassalage.by the Muhammadan power. That the zamindar baci \ originally anything like a proprietary right cannot be asserted, foi liimself—he is your “ asarai. ” Etymologically it means only “ such an one,” for asam \ is the plural of ism, “a name.” The use of these terms may afford a significant hint 1 how little our inherited and developed uotious of a “ landlord ” and “ tenant ” have any real equivalent in Eastern speech. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 113 (is chief reason, among many, that he did not, in theory, get one frthing of reut from any one. He was bound to pay in the whole c what he realised from the landholders, less only the percentage, id the perquisites, which the State allowed him for his trouble and lsponsibility. On the other hand, the zamiudar had many ways of s tting money out of the people, and many ways of getting hold, 1 st of one field and then of another, and so gradually improving Is position, till he became the virtual “ owner ” of the whole estate. detailed account of this process I must reserve till I come to ;.eak more particularly of laud tenures in Bengal. When the institution of zamindars was first originated, this inclusion was not foreseen, far less intended. At first, as I said, the unindar was strictly controlled. The Government maintained the fieial qanungo or pargana officer to supervise and control him. ver the qanungo, again, was the “ karori ” of a “ sirkar ” or district, : the “ amil ” of a “ chakla,”—according as one or other form of seal division was in vogue. But the same power which enabled the mnndar to override the original rights of the village landholders aabled him soon to reduce the pargana officer to being his mere reature. When our rule began, the qanungos existed only in name ; ;ie pargana divisions had fallen into disuse; the “zamfndar” and the division of the district into zamindans) was everything. § 6.— Jdgirs. In some parts of the country there were no zamindars, but the ight of collecting the reveuue was granted to noblemen or military etainers for the support of certain military contingents. This was specially the case when the country was remote, and force likely to ie required in collecting the revenue. The grantees were called ' jagirdars : ” they usually were allow’ed to take the whole revenue diemselves, and rendered an equivalent to the State by maintaining peace in their district, and by bringing to the royal standard a pertain prescribed force properly equipped. In the decadence of royal power, however, -this condition often fell into abeyance, and the jagirdar absorbed the lands in his jagir just as the zammdar H 114 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. (lid on bis estate. In a few instances grantees, called taluqdars ■' acquired a similar though less dignified position. In Oudh, a i we shall see, the institution of taluqdars became exceptionally de • veloped. § 7.— 'Early management of the East India Company. To the Native rule in its last stage of decrepitude, succeeds 1 the government of the East India Company ; but at first, whethe i owing to want of experience or other causes, no attempt was mad< i to displace the existing system. Even when in 1770 the Company’! 4 servants did attempt to take the revenue management into thei: 1 own hands, they fared no better. They tried annual settlement! ! and farms : they put in managers of the “ estates ” and ousted man) zamindars, but the revenue came in irregularly and much misery and disorder resulted. The task of improvement was not an easy one : but it is a fact worthy of notice, that even at that early date, the . zamindar had attained a position so far removed from that of a mere t official, that he was able to complain loudly of being ousted, as having long since acquired a hereditary and quasi-proprietary t position. This is recited in detail in the 24 Geo. Ill, Cap. 25, ! section 39, and it was the declared object of that law to restore 1 the zamindars under such guarantees as would prevent their oppress¬ ing the “ tenantry.” . Consequently there was the double call to have recourse to the zamindar : first, there was the actual de facto position which he had acquired; and next, there was the absolute necessity for proceeding on the plan, which had by that time been in existence for several gener¬ ations, of finding some person who would be directly responsible for the revenue of each suitable group of villages. The only alternative would have been to devise a system of dealing with each village or of collecting a revenue direct from every petty landholder. Such a system, at that date, and under the existing circumstances of Bengal, could never have eveu suggested itself ; it was wholly foreign to the Native system of government DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 115 which preceded ours, and there was no kind of official machinery by which such a plan could have been worked 7 . The zammdar being 1 thus established as the necessary and natural intermediary between the State and the cultivator, the final step was to secure and declare his legal position. Now the first object of the Government, as regards its own interests, was to secure its revenue and get it paid as regularly as possible. It was then considered that the best way to at¬ tain this object was to settle the revenue demand, at such a moderate figure that it could be paid in good seasons and bad alike, and to declare that this moderate sum was no longer liable to annual or other frequent variations, but that it should be fixed either for a term of years or for ever. But this was not enough; the person who became responsible for diis fixed demand to be paid with continuous regularity, must be secured in such a position, with reference to the land itself, that he night be willing to improve it and to expend money on works of unbankment, irrigation, drainage, and the like, which would liminish the risks of failure from bad seasons, and thus at once secure the regular payment of the State share and enhance his own unfits. This object required some legal action to be taken with •eference to the actual tenure of the revenue-payer. He must be 10 longer liable to be turned out at the caprice of the Government ifficers, he must be attached to the land, be permitted to raise noney on the credit of it, to sell it if he pleased, and pass on his uterest in it by succession to his heirs. But what was all this but to recognise a proprietary right in she land, and to vest it in the person who engaged to pay the •evenue? The revenue share was to be moderate, and subject to 10 enhancement for the term of engagement; the surplus was to 7 That such a system should afterwards have been thought of and put into prac- ice in Southern India does not in the least invalidate what is said in the text of Bengal. Revenue systems are always the outcome of existing facts and institutions. Yhile, for example, in Bengal the “ raiyatwari ” idea was an impossibility, in Bombay he Mardtha system not only rendered it conceivable, but left it in actual existence. 116 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. be solely enjoyed by the engagee ; he was to be at liberty to sell mortgage or let, or give away the land,—to do what he liked witl it in short, and to pass it on to his heirs and successors : why tkei he was owner of the land ! The short word “ owner” expresses 01 ■■ includes all this, according to our Western ideas 8 . Thus the prac tical history of the zammdar's growth, and the logical necessities oi \ the British system, both tended to the same result. § 8.— The rationale of the Bengal system developed. The conclusion at which the Government then arrived, was that the revenue engagee must be declared the owner, and whoever if \ practically owner is, vice versd 3 the person to be selected to engage : for the revenue. This principle now fixed in the every-day language of the people. - wherever the Bengal settlement or a derivative system, has taken root, t The terms “ revenue-payer” and “ owner ” have become synonym- > ous. In Upper India, to say that a man is a malguzar (literally, a payer of revenue) is to say that he is a proprietor of the land on which he pays ; and to say that he “ pays four annas revenue ” ( i.e ., four annas in every rupee,—one-fourth of the whole sum assessed) is exactly the same as to say that he is proprietor of one- fourth of the estate 9 . The idea, then, of recognising the zammdar as owner of the land, in order to secure the revenue and promote the well¬ being of the country, is at the basis of the Bengal revenue sys¬ tem. Accordingly, in the Bengal Regulation II of 1793, we read that one of the fundamental measures essential to the attainment of the object of Government was to declare the pro¬ perty in the soil to be vested in the landholders 10 . This property was “ never before formally declared to be so vested,” nor were they (the landholders) “ allowed to transfer such rights as they did 6 I have already discussed in the previous chapter the nature of this proprietary right or ownership, and stated how it was limited : see page 86, ante. 9 Thomason’s Directions, para. 79 ( = 94, Panjab edition). 10 Here we see the “ zamindar ” = holder of land, literally translated. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 117 >ossess, or raise money on tlie credit of their tenures, without the irevious sanction of Government 1 .” § 9.— It is modified in being applied to other provinces. One of the first questions, therefore, that a Land Revenue Settle* nent is concerned with under this system (or its derivatives) is, who is he proper person to recognise as proprietor, and to admit to engage lor the Government revenue ? It will be seen in the sequel, that the lifiEereut conditions and existing facts of landholding in Bengal, in Orissa, in the North-Western Provinces, and afterwards in the Central Provinces and Oudli, led to different answers being given to diis question, and consequently to important variations in theRevenue md Settlement systems of these Provinces. They, however, all spring out of the Bengal system as the parent stock, following their special evolution in a manner which is eminently curious and instructive. In Bengal, as I said, there were a few other great men—grantees of the State—who acquired a similar proprietary position and were settled with for their own estates. The “ jagir ” and “ taluqa” grants were, however, few, the “ zammdars ” almost universal. When, therefore, Lord Cornwallis came out in 1786 as Governor General, with instructions to make a settlement which should grant a solid interest in the land to those entitled to it, and which should secure them the fruit of good management, he found nearly the whole country in the hands of the zamindars, and the settlement, owing to this characteristic feature, came to be spoken of as the “ ZAMINDARI SETTLEMENT ” of Bengal. § 10.— Mistaken notions about the Bengal Settlement, It will now, I hope, be clear to the student, that the popular and oft-repeated idea of the Bengal Settlement, as carried out by Lord Cornwallis, namely, that it was a proceeding whereby the 1 See preamble to the Regulation ; also section 9, Regulation I of 1793. 118 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ Muhammadan tax-gatherer of the country was suddenly converted <■ into a proprietor/’ is very far from being accurate or sufficient 2 . It was uot as tax-gatherer that Lord Cornwallis recognised him, but as the local magnate in the position to which he had gradually advanced, and in which he practically stood, in the end of the eighteenth century. And even if the facts had been less strongly pronounced than they actually were, there were two very weighty , considerations which would have led Lord Cornwallis and his advisers to look on the zamindar as the real proprietor. The first is one which I have already sufficiently noticed, ij namely, the difficulty of adopting, or even devising, a different sys- . tern. Any attempt to put back the zamindar into his original but long outgrown position, would have ended in utter failure. It . would not have harmonised with facts. The earlier institutions of the Province were in most cases dead beyond resuscitation. There was no machinery for dealing directly ; with the cultivators, even if the ideas of the time had suggested I such a plan as possible to the Collector. The village system had ', broken up, and the headmen existed only in name. As to the local n revenue officers, without whose aid detailed revenue management is i under any circumstances impossible, they had become useless. I The whole system, originated in the palmy days of the Mughal power, was now in its last decrepitude. There was then no other course but to continue to follow, at least in its general lines, the system which we found in existence. There were the official lists • of estates, and the zamindar of each, responsible for a certain reve- * nue. It would be possible to check his proneness to rack-rent the people and levy extra cesses; steps might be taken to secure the welfare of the “ tenants/’ but it was impracticable to dispense with the zamindar himself. 2 It should always be borne in mind, in criticising the acts of our early ad¬ ministrators, that we now approach the subject with the accumulated experience of a century, and with the habits of looking at things and of tracing the history of institutions with which Maine and other authors have made us familiar. No such ■■ experiences were available to Lord Cornwallis and to the Court of Directors at A home. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 119 The second reason was, that the Court of Directors, no less than Lord Cornwallis himself, entertained the ideas of agricultural pros¬ perity common to English country gentlemen of the time. Nothing, it was considered, could be better for the country than.the nstitution of a landed aristocracy, which would possess wealth to improve the lands and keep together the tenants under a happy pond of paternal influence. The Rajas and other powerful monied men, who were the zamindars, seemed just to fill the place of such m aristocracy. This feeling no doubt largely influenced the method pre¬ scribed for making the settlement. Elaborate enquiries, extending iver a period of four years, were made before Lord Cornwallis would agree to sanction the Settlement. But these enquiries boie wholly on the question of the revenue assessment and extended to finding out the proper rental of the estates ; no effort was made to determine the true extent of land in each estate, or whether the zamindars had more land than they were really entitled to ; no investigation was made with a view to discovering and protect¬ ing, by any system of record or registration, the rights of the culti¬ vators on the estate. To interfere with the landlord by calling in question the boundaries of his estate, and by making a survey; to make inquest for possibly overridden claims; to set up the rights of tenants in open opposition to their zamindars,—all this seemed to be directly derogatory to such an idea of property as was entertained. § 11 .—Intended character of the Bengal Settlement . . In Bengal, therefore (originally), no survey was made; no boundary marks were erected. The Collector had simply lists or registers of the zamindars’ estates by name, and a description (often very vague) of the boundaries and of the amount of “ land tax” eacli had.been accustomed to pay : that was all 3 . He then 3 See this further described iu the chapter on the Bengal system. 120 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. settled with the zamindars for the amounts, and recognised then !j as landlords. As to the original rights of the village land-owners, as far a - they survived, there was no intention to do injustice, or to ignonl them. But it was conceived that the Government moderatioi 's towards the zamindar would immediately react to the benefit of tin 1 tenantry, and would take away all pretext for rack-renting am oppressing them. There were the Regulations directly declaring ; : the zamindar’s incapacity to levy unauthorised dues and exactions i and the Civil Courts were open, to which every subordinate land . holder could resort and claim what he conceived to be his due 1 but the Revenue Collector was not the person to interfere with tilt “ sacred rights ” of property. He had only to receive the fixec '1 revenue and nothing more. § 12 .—Principle of a middleman between the cultivator and the State. Thus the historical position of the zamindar, backed by the necessities of the position in which the Government found itself, and supported by the views natural to the time on the subject ,i of lauded rights, united to produce the Bengal Settlement of 1793. But they produced a still further result; they tended to fix the principle that the Government could only deal with the land 1 through recognised proprietors intermediate between the “ryot” and the State. This principle, though at the present day it has little practical importance, can be traced through all the original legislative measures on which those systems were founded, and still more clearly in all the discussions which a few years later arose in connection with proposals to deal directly with the individual culti¬ vator and establish, for certain provinces, a different revenue system. Forty years after the settlement proclamation of 1793, when experience had been gained and those revised Regulations passed, ( on which our North and Central Indian Settlements are all DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 121 ither directly or indirectly based, the principle was still recognised, 'here was not, indeed, in these provinces, any possibility of applying- he idea of a g-reat zamindar proprietor, because no such zamiudars sisted; but the principle led to the recognition of other forms of roperty in land, varying according to the province, as we shall pre- antly see, and these were equally forms of middlemen’s estates with . hich Government dealt, over the head of the individual landholder. It is, in fact, the distinctive feature of every form of settlement -hich traces its origin to the Bengal Regulations, that there lust be some one to engage for the revenue letiveen the numerous ical cultivators or holders of fields and the State ; and that person lust be recognised as “ proprietor,” to enable him to maintain his osition aud secure liis power of paying regularly. It was the ery different selection of the person who was to occupy this posi- ion, which the different circumstances of the several provinces ictated, that led to the variety of settlement systems which we ave to study. § 13 .—The Bengal Settlement made “ Permanent .” In thus describing the steps which led to the establishment of ic “ zamindari ” revenue system, I have avoided complication y keeping out of sight, for the time, the important feature in lis settlement, that the assessment was made permanent, and that 1 consequence of this salient feature, the Bengal Settlement has een specially distinguished as the rermanent settlement. To lis point I now proceed. The fact that the settlement was made permanent does not i any way affect the considerations which I have stated. In point : fact, though permanency was aimed at, as being the ultimately ecessary complement of the advantages to be secured to Govern, lent, and conferred on the landholders, by the settlement, it as so far from being essential to the system that it was not at rst contemplated. The earlier despatches of the Court of Direct¬ ’s, while pointing to the necessity of making such a settlement as 12 ?. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. would not necessitate constant changes, nevertheless directed tha the new settlement should be for a term of ten years 4 . I mentioned that the Court of Directors were struck wit two great principles which they regarded as necessary to seeur alike the revenues of Government and the welfare of the people- proprietary right in the soil was to be conferred, and the Govern ment demand was to be fixed and moderate. The first of tkes principles led to the selection of the Bengal zammdar as proprietor the second led to the settlement with him being declared permanent The demand of Government was to be so moderate as to leave a fai share of profit to the revenue-payer, and all capricious enhancemen was to be declared impossible, so as at once to make landed propert secure aud encourage thrift and investment of capital. It was alsc perhaps, a natural consequence of the idea of creating a laude aristocracy, that the tendency should be to fix the land revenu for ever, as & permanent land-tax. The ten years' settlement wa evidently only admitted as a compromise, possibly rendered neces; sary by the state of affairs, but not as a final arrangement. 4 It must not be supposed, as some works on the Settlement would lead us I conclude, that Lord Cornwallis was tbe sole author of the system (which is no 1 i associated with his name because it was carried out under his supervision) or that 1: outran his instructions. The Court of Directors had long been dissatisfied, as we they might be, with the previous revenue administration. It had, inevitably perhnp consisted of a series of experiments and failures, in the course of which many zanm dars had been ousted. Had the zammdar been, really, only a. tax-gatherer, it wi obvious that his retention or ejection could not have raised any question of rigli I3ut, in fact, his position was far beyond that, and consequently the terms of tl 24 Geo. Ill, Cap. 25, section 39 (already alluded to) are not to be wondered n There had been injustice to vested rights in the ejections, and the Court of Directo: took the initiative in demanding that the zamindars should be restored and the position secured. At the same time the Court strongly insisted on the making of moderate and fixed assessment, which they considered ought to be the fixed aud m alterable revenue of their dominions, but which, for certain special reasons, the consented to introduce for ten years in the first instance. Lord Cornwallis, then, di not originate the idea of a zaimndarf or a permanent settlement, nor was he eager t carry it out; on the contrary, he began by cautiously making enquiries, and li continued the annual assessments for some years before he sanctioned the Deceunii Settlement, and made it permanent.—See Cotton’s Memorandum on the Revenu History of Chittagong (Calcutta, Bengal Secretariat Press, 1880), pages 49-50. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 123 > 14.— Feeling among Bengal officers regarding permanency of the settlement. The officers who had made the enquiry as to the possible sessments in 1790, were all of them favourable to the grant of oprietary rights to the zamindars; and some of the ablest, for ample, Mr. Law of Bihar (uncle of Lord Ellenborough) and ugustus Brook of Shahabad, were favourable also to a permanent ttlement. But this feeling was not universal. In the coui’se the enquiry which preceded the settlement, the Collectors :came aware of the existence of rights of other people besides e zamindars, which were not defined or provided for; they lew that they were truly ignorant of the real extent of the lands be assessed, and that they had no means of testing the equality the assessments. They were prepared to see their conclusions ied for ten years as at first ordered, but they were aghast at the ea of making “ permanent ” a settlement based on such im- :rfect data. Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord Teignmouth) was nong the ablest oqtponents of the permanent settlement, and his eighty and well-reasoned Minutes may still be read in the “ Fifth eport” to the House of Commons, which has been reprinted ore than once. The despatch, however, of the Court of Directors September 1792 5 settled the matter, and Lord Cornwallis sued his celebrated proclamation which (enacted into law as egulation I ol*1793) declared the settlement permanent 11 . § 15.— The merits of the Permanent Settlement. This feature has been the subject of much controversy; but le more generally received opinion is, that it was a grievous mis- ke to make the settlement permanent, and that the expected 5 Despatch of 20th September 1792, to be found, I believe, in Appeudix 12A o^ e Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1810. 6 See Campbell’s Modern India, page 305 (3rd edition). Here the author re- esents Lord Cornwallis as anxious to press the permanency of the settlement, and eaks of the Court of Directors as giving a “qualified and reserved ” assent; but ere is no reason to think that Lord Cornwallis was anxious to press the matter, explained in a previous note. 121 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OK INDIA. benefits have not accrued either to the land, as regards its improve¬ ment and the development of agriculture, or to the tenants, as regards securing them moderate rents, and the opportunity for bettering their social condition. It is, however, no part of my object in this work to discuss the arguments which, have been advanced on either side, or to advocate or condemn particular measures. Indeed, if this book should fall into the hands of any one whose duty it will afterwards be to introduce a settlement into some province where no] system has yet been fully developed, I cannot give a more useful; caution than to beg him to beware of becoming the advocate of any system whatever. By all means appreciate the facility of manage¬ ment which the North-West joint-community settlement undoubt¬ edly offers; by all means admire the perfection of the Bombay survey; but do not suppose that any system is essentially perfect, as if it were a divine revelation, and that its introduction per se must be a blessing. To a non-Indian reader such a caution may appear strange or unmeauing ; but nobody, with even a short experience ■ of India and of official literature, can have failed to perceive the influence which systems have over the officers who administer them. The North-West system especially seems to have had this effect ! on officers trained under it. The history of the Central Provinces and of Ajmer, and, I may add, of Berar, should read a lesson in this respect. We have still provinces—Assam, and the distjjjcts of Burma— where no artificial system has yet been worked out, where we have simply taken up the old customs, shorn them of their pre -1 ventible abuses, but worked on their original lines as far as possible. This arrangement may not be, probably cannot be, final. But I can conceive nothing more likely to be fatal to the future well-being of such provinces, than for an administrator to become enamoured of a system as a system, and to insist on its introduction, regardless of the square pegs which will not fit, without undue forcing, into its round holes. Extreme caution, a demand for the most perfect available information and the most extended experience, a readiness to adapt and to modify, and to have no “ Procrustean ” beds, are tbe / different land-revenue systems in indta. 125 sons which I think an intelligent survey of the revenue history of lia will enforce, with no uncertain voice, on any candid student. I am not then to advance any kind of argument pro or con permanent settlement, but I may offer two remarks. One is, it the permanent settlement of Bengal has been, often attacked if the policy of the selection of the zamindars and making 3 m proprietors, and the policy of declaring the assessment per¬ cent or fixed for ever without liability to enhancement, were one d the same thing, or at least necessarily and inherently con- cted. It is not so; either one may have been good or bad thout reference to the other. My other remark is that in considering the advisability of lermanent settlement, it is essential completely to separate the itinct questions Cl) whether the fixing of the revenue is, as a inciple, in itself right, and (2) whether in any given state of. ings our experience is wide enough, and our knowledge complete ough, to warrant us in introducing it. This caution may not unnecessary, since the question of a “ permanent settlement 13 t some of the provinces not under the old Bengal system, is not ad hut only sleeping, as will appear hereafter. § 16 .—Origin of the other Revenue systems. I must now hasten to describe the circumstances that led to ie adoption oi* the other Provincial Revenue systems. These all dong to two great classes. The first class is that which includes the malguzari settlement : the Central Provinces, the village settlements of the North¬ western Provinces and the Panjab, and the taluqdaiu settlement : Oudb. In all these, the principle of a middleman between the iltivator and the State is maintained, though in the case of the illage settlements, the middleman theory is, if I may use the brase, reduced to a minimum, since the middleman is only an leal body—the jointly responsible community. But this class is ssentially, in its theory and in its history, a derivative of the irliest or Bengal system which we have just been considering. 12G LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The second class includes the raiyatwar! settlements whic have an altogether different history, and which are based on totally different principle. The settlements of the Madras ar Bombay Presidencies and of Berar represent this class. It will be best to pass over, for the moment, the modifieatioi of the Bengal system and speak first of the raiyatwari systen since the history of this will show that it had no small influent on the direction which the modifications of the Bengal system tool Section III.— The Raiyatwari System. § 17 .—The Raiyatwari Settlements commence in Madras. The raiyatwari system really depends more on the constiti tional peculiarities of agricultural society than anything else, aD •therefore, as regards Bombay, and to a less extent as regards Madra it may be said not so much to have been introduced as to hai existed naturally. In Bombay it was the system of the Marath Government which preceded ours ; and although this was not tl case in Madras, still in many districts the facts of land-tenui were such, that its adoption may be regarded as to some extent necessary conclusion. Speaking of it, however, as a British system of revenue manago ment, the raiyatwari settlement—historically associated with th name of Captain Munro (afterwards Sir Thomas M*mro and Govei nor of Madras)—was finally introduced into that Presidency i 1820. This, however, is a date considerably later than the permanen settlement of Bengal, and it is the history of the intervening yeai that is so instructive. It happened that the northern district of Madras, which were among the first to come under British rule had long been subject to Muhammadan dominion, and therefore tb Mughal system of zamindars was firmly established and ha produced its usual consequences, in obliterating the tenures b which land had been originally held. But here the zamindars did no manage their own lands; they invariably farmed them out. More DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDTA. 127 /er, all the land was not, as in the Bengal districts, under zamm- ars. Throughout the districts there were also lands called “ haveli nds,” managed direct by the Government officials. These districts nne under British rule about the same time as Ilengal, Bihar and rissadid 7 ; and they were at first managed by leases or short ■ttlements of three to five years. § 18 .—Attempt to introduce Permanent Settlement. But hei’e, as elsewhere under such a system, the management fell ito confusion, and as by that time the permanent zammdan settle- ent had been introduced into Bengal, orders were issued to introduce into Madras also. This was at first resisted, bat in 1799 peremptory ■ders came, and the result was that the zamindars were accepted ; settlement holders, and as for the haveli lands, they were dually parcelled out into estates called “ mootahs ” (muttba) id sold to the highest bidder ! Madras Regulation XXV of 1802 ilready alluded to) followed, and declared the zamindars and lootahdars proprietors, and granted sanads or title-deeds of “ mil- iat-i-istimrari ” or perpetual ownership. The same result happened ith regard to the “ jaghire ” (jagir) lands around Madras itself, hich had been acquired between 1750 and 1768. In 1791 they ere settled by Mr. Lionel Place. This gentleman found village immunities surviving, much as they survive to this day in North- •n India, and he effected joint settlements 8 . On the issue of the ermanent Settlement orders, however, these settlements were can- died, and under the Regulation of 1802 the lands were parcelled it into “ mootahs ” and sold. Meanwhile, as time went on, other districts—those to the south 7 See the table at the end of Chapter I which gives the dates of acquisition of ie different territories. 8 All over India, aud especially in Central, Western, and Southern India, the (Terence of the form of village community which was described in the last chapter is had an important influence on the revenue system. The joint-community iturally suggests a settlement with the body (as one) for a lump assessment on the hole village. The other kind of community—each landholder being separate— aturally also suggests a settlement with each individual cultivator. 128 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. and west—were acquired (1792-1801). Here, in some cases, lands were held by chieftains called polygars (palegara) with whom zamin- dart settlements were concluded. . But there were many other lands not so held. The tract known as the Baramalial (Salem district' formed a notable instance of this. A Commission was appointed t< settle it, one of the members being Captain Munro. The villagi communities here had, either owing to the grinding rule of Tipi Sultan, or to natural circumstances 9 , fallen into decay, if indeed thej really had such a constitution at any time. The settlement was therefore made with individual landholders ; but pursuant to th< peremptory orders of 1799, these settlements were quashed, an< the lands as usual parcelled out into mootahs and sold. Thi. arrangement, however, failed so completely, that the Governmen was practically obliged to return to the raiyatwari method. But the final establishment of the system was, perhaps, due to tin settlements of Malabar and Kanara; here, though circumstance prevented the growth of joint-villages, there never was anythin' resembling-the Bengal zamindari system, and indeed the levy o laud-revenue itself was a novelty. -As Munro was engaged oi these settlements, he of course adopted the individual or raiyatwar method, of which he was the zealous and able advocate. During all this time correspondence went on, and in some place the individual settlements were carried out, in others the joint-vil lage settlements whereby a lump sum was paid by the village jointly, the landholders apportioning the burden according to tliei own customs 10 . In 1817, however, the Court of Directors came t< the determination to adopt the raiyatwari system. A visit t England made just before this by Captain Munro, probably ha much to do with the decision. Munro had already published able Minutes on the raiyatwai system, and it had come into general favour ; so that when i 9 For details see tlie chapter on Madras in Book IV. 10 In 1808 this was approved of by the Court of Directors, and at one tin seemed in a fair to become a settled institution. I DIFFLUENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 129 the spring of 1820 he became Governor, its triumph was finally secured 1 . The zammdan settlements that had been made were of course •etained, and now about one-fifth of the Madras Presidency is mder such settlements, which in all cases are permanent. For the est, so many of the artificially created mootahs had failed that there vas no difficulty in assessing the individual lands, and the joint ettlements, where they had been made, in most cases gave way, by n easy process of sub-division, to the assessment of each field. § 19 .—Features of the raiyatwari system. The essence of the raiyatwari system is that the land is surveyed, ach field or holding separately demarcated, and an assessment fixed n it; the holder of the field—the raiyat—whoever he is, holds it n the simple terms of paying the assessment to Government irect. Fie is under no joint liability with his neighbour for any jvenue. There may of course _be two or more joint-owners of any eld or “ survey number,” but there is no joint responsibility of a roprie/ary body for the entire revenue of a village or other assess- icnt group. Indeed, in Madras, even joint-owners are only held able, each for his own share. The term “ raiyatwari ” settlement is not exactly satisfactory . >r it is not so much that each raiyat is settled with, but that each ;ld or “ survey number ” is assessed with a fixed revenue. The >lder, whoever he may be, is then maintained in possession on the >le condition of paying that revenue. No enquiry as to subordinate and superior rights is necessary, very man in actual possession of a field is recorded as “ occupant ” inless, of course, he admits that some one else is occupant, and he either his partner or his contract-tenant or servant). If some le else considers he has a better title than the man in possession, 1 At the same time, no Regulation was ever passed introducing the system, and ;re is no general land or revenue law to this day: only individual enactments thorisiug survey and demarcation, and providing for the recovery of revenue ears. I \ 130 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. lie must go to court and get a decree, when the revenue officer wil alter the names by a proper entry in his registers—that if all. Even on the West Coast, where the conquering landholders hac in bygone days occupied the lands and cultivated them by mean of the aboriginal tribes whom they had reduced to serfdom, th< Government took little note of the difference ; the registem landholder might be the landlord, or might be a person paying ; rent to a superior. The settlement only enquired who in fact was ii possession as the payer of the assessment, and registered bin accordingly. The further peculiarities of the system, such as the liberty whici it affords to any landholder to give notice and relinquish any field and also to apply for and take up any one that happens to he vacant will be described more in detail in the sequel. In Madras, the occupant is regarded by custom (for there is a yet no law on the subject) as the owner of his holding. The reader will not fail to remark that the practical result of thi individual dealing is that those perplexing questions of sub-pro prietary right and tenant right which arise under the Bengal system are to a great extent, if not entirely, avoided. To put the same thing in another way, since in the raiyatwai system, the question is always with the person in actual occupatio of the land, there is little room for subordinate rights; wherea under the Bengal system, as the person selected to be proprietc (whether zamindar, taluqdar, or malguzar) is rarely or never i actual occupation, there is always a series of questions as to wbt is to he said for the people who are. And to sum up briefly; the main characteristic—the diametric; difference—between the two systems is this, that under the on Government will in no case deal with the cultivator direct; und< the other, it will under no circumstances deal with any one els Then also it happens that under the one system there may be > series of proprietary or quasi-proprietary titles; under the other, tli is to a great extent avoided. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 131 § 20 .—The system as developed in Madras. The subsequent history of the Madras raiyatwarf settlements s not show a very favourable state of things. The system, as still •kcd, has not received illustration in any general law, and it is ibrous and complicated to the last degree. Moreover, in almost ry separate district different customs and practices, shrouded i technical, and often purposeless, local nomenclature, may he nd. § 21.— The Bombay system. It is to the Bombay Presidency that we must turn for the best lern development of the raiyatwari system. Here the survey been perfected to a remarkable degree, and the practical work- has been simplified in a manner which leaves its detail in strik- contrast with that of Madras, although its underlying principle xactly the same. The Bombay territories came under our revenue administration ly years after Bengal and Madras had become British territory. :re never was any appearance of the great “ zatmndars,” so that Bengal system could not have been thought of. The bulk of villages in the Dakhan districts were of the non-uhited type, le in certain parts there were a few “ narwa,” “ bhagdari ” and 3 r estates jointly held by communities connected by a tie of lent. In Guzarat, also, the immigration of martial tribes of the put type have left traces of an f over-lord ’ or taluqdari tenure r the villages, while in the Konkan •' khots ’ or revenue farmers he Maratha rule have acquired rights over the villages of a ewhat peculiar character. A portion of these territories had originally been settled by lik ’Ambar, the best representative of the power of the Muham- lan kings of the south in their palmy days 2 . This Minister been at much pains to secure aud acknowledge a proprietary it, and this tended to preserve the ancestral communities, where 5 He also settled most of Berar. 132 LAN L) HE VENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. they existed, since ancestral holding is, in all Eastern countries, I strongest form of connection with the soil. In his time, joint-v lage assessments were apparently more frequent; and although 1 Maratha system had superseded that of Malik J Ambar, and v; essentially a raiyatwan system, it had not obliterated altogeti the traces of the former joint-village assessments. It is therefe not wonderful that the opinion should have been advocated that, i Bombay, the existing status of the non-united villages was in ma» cases, if not universally, due to the decay of an original joint conn tution, rather than inherent in the nature of the groups the- selves. At first, indeed, the matter did not come prominently to noti , because, during the early years of our rule, the territories were p- vided for by the usual tentative arrangements for farmiug 1j revenues on short leases. A short experience, however, during win grievous hardships were inflicted on the districts, sufficed to makes at once, and for ever, discard the attempt, and set about finding better plan. § 22 .—Attempt to introduce a system of settlement with village jointly. The raiyatwan system was then much in vogue, consequent i Sir Thomas MumVs action in Madras. But Mr. Elphinstone, e then Governor of Bombay, took the view above alluded to, about e joint system, and was anxious not only to maintain it wherevert could be found, but even to create it in the case of those commr- ties where the connection had completely died out, securing, inde., the rights of each cultivator by record, but establishing a jet responsibility and settling with the original “ patels ” or headnn of the village as representatives of the body. It is no easy thing, however, to create a joint responsibilf where it does not in fact exist. Although long years of custo may have taught the cultivator to submit to an annual adjustmt of his individual burdens and liabilities by the headman, it s DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 133 ver laid him under any responsibility in case one of his neigb- >urs failed 3 . The plan of settling- for a lump sum with the village as a body advocated because it is said to facilitate revenue management ; enables Government to deal with fewer units. The Bombay 3 The account of the Bombay system in Campbell’s Modern India (1858), though ■ing a good description of Mr. Elphinstoue’s views, is uovv too much out of date to otherwise useful; for the Bombav system has since been altered and perfected in a y that has completely outgrown a description penned more than twenty years ago. b account is also to some extent marred by the author’s apparent prejudice in favour the joint responsibility and village settlement with which he was familiar. His ections to the Bombay system (notably the costliness of the village officials and the ognition of rights to rent-free holdings) are mere accidents of the place, and do ; touch the principles of the system. As a matter of fact, mauy of these evils have ■n removed or greatly mitigated. He also speaks of the joint responsibility as if it s an easy thing to introduce. But in fact it is not so. To establish it artificially ir whole districts, and tell the people “ the system is convenient to your rulers, 1 when you are wiser you will see that it is also calculated to promote your own crest,” is beset with such difficulties as to make it impracticable. The people iitively decline to undertake that the solvent members shall be responsible for the 'aulting ones. What becomes of your system then ? I have elsewhere pointed out : futility of comparing revenue systems in point of iuhereut merit, becauso every torn may he good or the reverse according as it fits theyVrefs. But even admitting f superior facilities which the joint system offers to revenue management, the origin- irs of the Bombay system claim for it certain counterbalancing advantages. By along up the land into small holdings, and allowing every occupant to keep as ny of his “ numbers,” or give up as many, as he thinks desirable, the small farmer mabled to contract his operations or enlarge them according to the capital and ck at his disposal. The revenue being fixed for a long term of years, the farmer ;s all the benefit of a loug lease without its disadvantages. Nor does the Govern- nt really lose, because taking its revenue, uot from one estate, but from the whole in try, that revenue must, under any system, fluctuate with the circumstances of ; country at large. With farmers of large capital, the long fixed lease may answer t; but with those of small means, the risk and responsibility which have to be -ofl ngaiu3t,the security of profits, are more to be considered, and such risks are )ided by giving the villager the right of holding hisl and from year to year only, if pleases. In the North-West Provinces every village is allowed an area of waste, which it i bring under cultivation without the total assessment of the village being a-eased. Under a raiyatwarf system, any uncultivated number that is taken up luia be paid for, but in practice this does not interfere with the extension of cultiva - n; and as a matter of fact, though the North-West assessment does not increase ten the waste of the village is made to yield crops, still that assessment is origin- y fixed after taking into consideration the capabilities of the estate, and its pro- blo average yield for the whole term. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. m officers do not, however, admit that there is any difficulty ii dealing- with thousands of separate cultivators 4 . The difficulty only seems g-reat to those accustomed to de<. with one or a few revenue-payers. At any rate, if there is diffi culty, it is obviated by a perfect survey, a clear and complete record of each lot or field and the revenue assessed on it, and: thorough control over the village accountants and revenue officer of small local sub-divisions of districts. It was no doubt this inherent difficulty of creating a join responsibility, where it did not, naturally or in fact, exist, tha ; led to the abandonment of the attempt, and the universal intro duction of the separate field or “ raiyatwari ” system. As a matte of fact, a sort of joint responsibility is kept up in certain village; where the shares have survived to this day. § 23 .—Progress of the system in Bombay. The defects of the raiyatwari system, as followed in Madras acted as a warning to the Bombay authorities, and in 18-17 three o: the ablest Settlement Superintendents met and agreed on a completi scheme for the survey and assessment of the village lands. This It is also urged that the village officers collect the revenue from each separat' holder just as easily as they do fi-oui a joint body, who, though together respoii . sible, still ultimately pay separately (according to known shares; and as unde the Bombay system every occupant is furnished with a receipt book, which tin patwari (or pandya or kulkarm) is hound to write up, there is no room for fraud To any one who wishes further to study the pros and cons of both systems and the improvements which the Bombay authorities made on the Madras system t< •remove objections, I cannot do better than recommend the perusal of the abb “ Appendix I ” to the “Official Correspondence on the Bombay Settlements” (reprim of 1877: Bombay Government Press). 4 In the Bombay and Madras Presidencies the number of raiyats and averagi size of holdings as follows;— Presidency. Number of raiyats. Average size of holding. '< Madras. ..... 2,569,100 . 8 acres C Northern division 8acres V Bombay (exclusive of Sind) . 1,382,800 } Central do. 32 „ >9 „ (. Southern do. 23 „ ) / DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 135 isulted in the well-known “ Joint Report” which has (1877) :en reprinted in the Bombay Secretariat 5 . At firsk the settle- ent was carried out under executive orders. It was not till 1865 at a local Act was passed specifically legalising it. This Act has its turn been repealed; and the whole system has now been com- stely formulated in the Bombay Land Revenue Code (Bombay 3t V of 1879). Under this system there is very little mention a settlement (although the term does occur in the Code). There really a survey and assessment only. There is no procedure :e that of Upper India,—offering a certain sum as the assessment i the whole village, discussing the matter with the village pro- ietary body, and perhaps making a reduction and coming to terms th the representatives, who then sign an agreement to be respon¬ se. Under the Bombay system, every acre is assessed at rates :ed on almost scientific principles, and then the occupant must y that assessment or relinquish the laud. § 21 .—Outlines of the Bombay system. The system will be described more iu detail in the sequel, but re I may generally indicate the outlines of the procedure. A certain convenient unit of division is selected to form the survey number ” or “ field.” Every field or lot is surveyed, and then the work of classifica- m begins. The soils are classified, and each field is examined, d a sort of diagram made, which shows its soil and the defects lich reduce its value. It is thus ascertained for every field, what iss it belongs to and what is its relative value, or, in other jrds,—taking the maximum rate for the class as one whole or steen annas (on the Indian method of reckoning)—whether the Id can be assessed at the maximum or, at something less, at i annas, at 12 annas, and so on, down to a minimum. Thedepart- ent charged with this work becomes highly experienced in the 5 Alluded to in the previous note. 136 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES IN INDIA. process, so that it can be performed with the greatest aceuracj and fairness. Cultivation is usually classed into wet and dry the process just described treats land only on its dry aspect; i there is irrigation, then an additional rate may be charged, wliicl will be higher or lower according to the goodness and value o the tank or well; the rate is only applied to such laud as is realh capable of irrigation from the source in question. Next, the Settlement Officer begins his work as assessor; he ha before him the facts of soil classification on its unirrigated aspect and the details of the means of irrigation where they exist; In has to fix what are to be the full or maximum rates for dry soil and what are to be the additional rates for irrigation. These rate; he calculates with the aid of all the data he can collect, regarding former history, the general situation, climate, proximity to market &c. The application of the rates to each field, is easily effectec,' by aid of the fractional value assigned it by the classers. In Bombay (just as in Madras) the occupant of such a survej number holds it on the simple terms of paying the revenue; if hi admits that he is (or is proved by a decree of Court to be) holding on behalf of some one else, as a tenant, or in an inferior position then the “ superior holder’s ” name is entered in the register, nol his : he becomes the “ inferior holder,” and it is the superior whc is entered in the register as the “occupant” responsible for tin assessed sum. Any one who is recorded as the responsible holdei can simply resign (if he does not like to pay the assessment) anj field in his holding. The assessment is fixed for a period of thirty years, so that a man who elects to hold continuously, knows foi certain that during that long period, all the profit he can mala will go to him. m ■ At the beginning of each year, he can signify to the rnamlat- dar (or local revenue officer of a taluq sub-division) what fields he wishes to hold and what he wishes to give up ; as long as he does this in proper time, he is free to do as he pleases. If he relin¬ quishes, the fields are available for any one else; if no one applies for them, they are usually auctioned as fallow (for the right ol DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 137 •azing) for the year, and so on, till some one offers to take em up for cultivation. Nothing whatever is said in the Revenue ode about the person in possession (on his own account) being owner ” in the Western sense. He is simply called the “ occu- int,” and the Code says what he can do and what he cannot 6 , le occupant may do anything he pleases to improve the land, but ay not without permission do anything which diverts the hold- g from agricultural purposes. He has no right to mines or inerals. These are the facts of the tenure; you may theorise on them you please; you may say this amounts to proprietorship, or this a “ dominium minus plenum or anything else. The question of tenancy is just as simply dealt with. I have ated that if it appears that the occupant is in possession in half of some one else, that some one else is recorded as the superior holder/’’and he becomes the “inferior holder.” What rt of “ inferior”—whether a tenant or on some other terms—is a inple question of fact and of the agreement or the custom by hich he holds 7 . If an occupant dies, one (the eldest or responsible) heir must be itered as the succeeding occupant who has to pay the revenue r there can only be one registered revenue-payer for each field ith a separate survey number; though of course there may be veral sharers (joint heirs of the deceased owner, for instance) in number. Which of them is so entered, depends of course on nsent, or on the result of a Court decree, if there is a dispute. 6 The “right of occupancy”— the right to he an occupant is itself declared to a transferable and heritable property (Code, section 73); but that is quite a Terent thing from saying that the occupaut is the proprietor of the soil. In the icial language of the Presidency, the occupant is said to hold on “ the survey lure.” 7 There is also no artificial tenant right. In Bombay, as in all other provinces, ere are jagir and other “inain” holdings which are revenue-free, or only htly assessed, and occasionally other tenures in which there may be a superior lder drawing a revenue from the estate: there the actual occupants are sub- eupnnts, not tenants, as they do not hold in consequence of any contract with the perior. 138 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Sharers can always get their shares partitioned and assessed sepa- rately, as long as there is no dispute as to what the shares are. Section TV. —The System of Upper India. § 25.— Systems derived from that of Bengal. Such are in outline the two great rival systems of Bengal and Bombay—the system of settlement with middlemen-proprietors, and the system of settlement with individual occupants, or rather the assessment of separate fields, and the recognition of each occu¬ pant in possession, so long as he pays the assessment. I must now return to describe briefly, and in outline, how the first of these systems (that which originated under the Bengal Regulations) branched olf into several other systems, and de¬ veloped successively into that of the North-Western, Provinces (afterwards applied to the Panjab), that of Oudh and that of the Central Provinces. The permanent settlement law of 1793, which applied to Bengal Proper (Bengal, Bihar and Orissa 8 ), was extended by Regulation I of 1795 to the province of Benares, so that the districts of that province (now in the North-Western Provinces and comprising the modern districts of Benares, Ghazipur, Mirzapur (except the southern portion), two parganas of Azimgarh and Jaunpur), were permanently settled like Bengal. These districts are now under the modern North-West Provinces Revenue Law, which has improved their surveys, perfected their records of rights, and im¬ proved the processes of revenue and rent collections; but this does not touch the permanency of the assessment made in 1795. § 26.— System required for Ceded and Conquered Provinces .— Pegulation VII of 1822. The necessity for some modification in the Bengal system came to notice as soon as the districts beyond Bengal were added to the British dominions. 8 The old Orissa (1765) consisted of the present Meduipur district and part of Hugh'. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 139 The first among these were the “ ceded provinces 9 ,” Allahabad, Jorakpur, part of Azimgarh, &c. (lSOl), and the districts “ con- inered ” during* the Maratha war (1803), Etawa, Aligarh, and fliers, with part of Bandelkhand, and in Bengal, the districts of aodern Orissa,—Katak, Balasur and Purl. In these there were no zamlndars, and in many of them the rig'inal system of landholding by village communities, of the )int -type, had survived. Orders were at first issued to settle bese North-West districts permanently : but the Commissioners ppointed to the work objected, and even resigned their appoint¬ ments. Then the Home Government interfered and prohibited ermanent settlements : after this, the usual plan of tentative evenue management, by farming the separate village estates, allowed. The Orissa districts bad been settled, and the settlement was /galised by Regulation in 1805. In 1817 the working of the Orissa sltlements was specially enquired into, and as about that time the rst short settlements of the ceded and conquered districts in the forth-West were falling in, the whole subject of revenue settle¬ ments was carefully re-considered, ammd the Regulation VII of 1822 /as passed, which became the basis of the modern Upper Indian ettlement Law. The lmistoiy of the. settlement of the Orissa istricts under the law, does not pm*esemmt any special features calling mr notice in this preliminary sketch. Some remarks in it will be made in the chapter devoted to Bengal. IIem*e it is more important m commsider Regulation VII as the basis of the settlements of the rovinces of Upper India generally. The first of these provinces to be settled under this law was the Jorth-Western Provinces. § 27 .—Features of the Regulation VII system. Regulation VII of 1822 was, in fact (in 1S25 hy Regulation X), extended to all parts of the Presidency which had not been 8 See Chapter I, page 17. 140 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. permanently settled; and the opportunity may be conveniently taken to state its leading features. The Regulation still went on the original principle that there was to be the recognition of a proprietary right in the land, and a settlement with the proprietor, and the assessment was to be moderate, but it was to be fixed for s term of years only, not for ever. But it was no longer to be left to tradition, or to old Native records, to establish what were the limits of each f proprietor’s estate : nor were rights which might exist, besides those of the persons acknowledged as proprietors, left to the chance of theii being vindicated in a distant Civil Court. The three main features of the new Regulation (ijshich have survived all changes, and have never been allowed to disappear even from the most recent Revenue Acts) are— (1) That every estate is carefully demarcated and the fields and holdings in it (after determination of all boundary disputes) regis¬ tered. (2) That all rights are enquired into at the settlement and authoritatively recorded ; not only the rights of the person considered to be proprietor, but the rights of all who are now interested in the soil or its produce, subordinate proprietors, tenants, and so forth. 11 there were several persons together forming a proprietary body the principle on which the shares, or according to which the burdens and profits of the whole were distributed, had to be ascertained and described. A record was to be drawn up (called the wajib-ul-’arz) showing all village customs affecting the way in which the persons interested in the land shared in the profits, in the village expenses and in the revenue burden ; what customs affected transfers and succes¬ sions in case one person on the estate sold his land, or dying, left it to his heirs; and all other matter affecting the constitution ol the proprietary body. (3) The assessment of the revenue was to be no longer a mattei of tradition—a blind following of what was recorded in the revenue- rolls of the older Native Government. An enquiry was to be made DIFFERENT I.AND-REVENUE SYSTEMS TN INDTA. 141 into the real yield of the lands, and a fixed shave of that, valued in money, was to be taken as the Government revenue. It is true that Regulation VII of 1822 could not be worked as it was originally framed ; the Collector was expected himself to con¬ duct the enquiries of the settlement, and this was impossible : it became necessary to provide some further machinery. Also, the method of assessment by ascertaining the produce of each field, proved impracticable. Regulations of 1825 and 1833 were there¬ fore passed to remove these difficulties 10 , but the main principles were not altered. § 28 .—Character of this system in the North-Western Provinces. It has been observed that this Regulation intended to combine the advantages of the raiyatwari system, at that time well known through the Minutes of Sir T. Munro, with the principles of the Bengal system. This may be to some extent true, for, pro¬ bably, the provision for registering all land, and interests in it, was suggested by Munro's Minutes. But the principle of a middle¬ man was not abandoned. It happened (as already explained) that in the districts of the North-Western Provinces the villages were of the joint type ;—held by a body of cultivators many of whom remembered an ancestral connection 1 . In all such cases, the community, as a body, was declared “ proprietor,” and was represented by its one or more headmen or “ lambardars,” who signed the engagement to pay the revenue, on behalf of the whole body, and who received a fixed percentage on the revenue, as a remu¬ neration for their trouble and responsibility. The shareholder in the joint body is not recognised as proprietor as an individual, but only as a member of the comummty which is jointly responsible as a whole ; so that, legally speaking, the “ joint body ” (as a juris¬ tical person) is proprietor between him and the State. 1Q As will be noticed more in detail in the chapter on the Nortli-West Settlement. 1 Many of the villages were originally joint, and the rest, if not so originally, tccepted the position because of the rights in common laud which it brought with it. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. J4.-2 f Of course, it occasionally happened that the community was represented by a single owner, or that there was a taluqdar, some State grantee, or other person whose position as superior proprietor could not be ignored; then if he was settled with as proprietor tlie subordinate rights were secured by record. The taluqdan or double tenure was not common in the North-Western Provinces, nor in the Panjab, and wherever possible the Settlement Officers set¬ tled direct with the villages, and bought off, as it were, the claims of the superior, by securing to him (for life or in perpetuity according to his right) a cash payment from the village revenue. § 29 .—Method of assessment. The method of sasessing the revenue has of late years been entirely revised, and reduced to a system ; but this will be best studied when we come to the study of the North-West Settle¬ ments in the chapter specifically devoted to them. The assessment in general is now based on a calculated true rental, or letting value of the land, a percentage of which represents the Government revenue. For the purpose of calculating this rental, soils are classified and rates established for irrigated and unirrigated lands in the classes. The great extension of canal irrigation, which the last half century has seen, has had of course a great effect on the land revenue 2 . In the provinces where cash rents are still uncom¬ mon, a different method of assessment has to- be resorted to, and produce estimates are still much relied on. § 30 .—System of village accounts. To keep up the records prepared at settlement, and also to record changes which occur subsequently by death, sale, or 2 Mr. H. S. Cunningham (India and its Rulers : Allen, 1881) gives the following percentages of irrigated laud to total cultivated in the different provinces:— Central Provinces, 5 per cent. Panjab, 26'2 per cent. N.-W. Provinces and Oudh, 32 per cent. Bombay, 1'8 per cent. Sind, 80 per cent. Madras, 23 per cent. Berar, 1*5 per cent. The total cultivated area in British India is 192,250,000 acres, of which 28,4-20,000 are irrigated more or less. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 143 ; • also to prevent disputes by keeping accounts of the rents rgeable against tenants, and entering up all payments made every village, it was necessary to re-organise and improve the ive system of village officials, and to supervise them in the dis- rge of their duty by means of Native officials of conveniently ill revenue sub-divisions (purganas and tahsils). Hence the reduction of the Regulation VII Settlements was everywhere owed by the opening of local revenue offices^ and the complete ionisation of tbe subordinate staff of revenue officers. First comes the village patwari, who is bound to record and to ort all changes in the landed interests of the village, as well as keep accounts between landlord and tenant, and of all payments account of revenue cesses or village expenditure 3 . Then comes ! qanungo, who supervises the patwari and sees that he keeps up ; records relating to the state of the village„and duly makes his ort to the “talisil” office. Above him comes the “ tahsildar,” ! local Native revenue officer, who is the Collector’s assistant id representative to some extent) in the portion of the district nprised in his tabsil. § 31 .—The same system extended to the Pavjab. Such is in very brief outline the “North-West system” of tlement and revenue management. This system was adopted in the Panjab with so little change that further notice of the Panjab settlement in this preliminary sketch needed. The village communities were found even more generally, d in more vigorous existence, than in the North-West, so that 5 system was adopted as it stood. The few changes made, were the interest of the communities, to prevent their breaking up, d concerned some other points which are purely matter of detail. H. —Proposals for making the North-Western Settlement permanent. Before I pass on to describe how this system was applied to the her provinces, I must, by way of episode, make some remarks on 8 Which, of course, the most part of the peasantry are too illiterate to keek unselves. 144 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. tlie proposals which wore revived in 1861, for making the asses meats of the North-Western Provinces “permanent 4 .'” When the thirty years' settlements made under the Regal tions of 182:1 and 1833 began to fall in, the country was st suffering from the effects of the disorder produced by the Mutip and by the famine and cholera of I860. Under such gloomy ci cuinstances, the districts came up to be resettled for a new ten The report on the famine of 1860-61 by Colonel Baird Smith, stfui the key-note of praising the moderate assessments of the past settl ments, and treating them as au instalment of a gift which won be completed by making the moderate assessment permanent, Th received, at the time, a good deal of commendation. The pendulu of general and official opinion, swings in a long course from side \\ side in these revenue administration questions,—permanency, tei ant right, and so forth; and at that period it was again on tl descent towards the permanent settlement side. Then came Loi Canning’s Minute of 1861, regarding the sale of waste lands i freehold (free of revenue demand), and regarding the redemption i the land revenue, by paying up in one sum the prospective value < the revenue demand. On this, the Board of Revenue advocated permanent settlement (for, of course, the revenue must be perm; nently assessed before it could be redeemed). The Secretary < State, however, in 1862, declined to allow a redemption of lau revenue, but said he would listen to proposals for a permanei settlement. It was assumed that when a careful revision had bee effected, and when no considerable increase of cultivation in futui was probable, a permanent assessment might be practicable. In 1864 .the terms were formulated by the Government ( India (and were modified at home in 1865). The condition w; laid down that 80 per cent, of the culturable area should have bee brought under cultivation, and then that the rate of permaner assessment need not be as low as 50 per cent, of the net assets (tb 4 1 am indebted throughout to Mr. A Colvin’s admirable Memorandum on tl Revision of Land Revenue in tbe North-Western Provinces, 1872 (Calcutta Wyman Co.) DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 145 te at which the revenue demand had previously been fixed by the dinary settlement rules). In 1867 another condition was added, yarding the probability of canal irrigation being extended to the ads in the next thirty years. Then, it seems, officers were set to work to find out what dis- icts or parts of districts could be permanently settled under these nditions. But in 1869 some cases came up (in the course of the quiry) in which, supposing the settlement to be made penna¬ nt,—notwithstanding that the conditions were satisfied—there )uld be a great prospective loss to Government. Accordingly, third condition was recommended. The Government of India, concurring, went so far as to say, what practically amounted (as r. Colvin justly puts it) to this, that a permanent settlement ould be deferred so long as the land continued to improve in lue by any causes which were not the direct result of the occu- nCs own efforts. So that at present the question is in abeyance, d no further attempt has been made to press it. 33 .—The history of the North-Western Provinces revenue system, resumed ;—its application to Oudk, I may now resume the narrative of the different developments nch the Regulation VII system has received in different pro¬ aces. The Panjiib, I have said, was, when annexed in 1S49, found so aeh to resemble the North-Western Provinces in the matter of e village communities, that the North-Western Provinces Settle- snt system was there adopted almost without change. Then me Oudh. When this province was annexed in 1856, the idea is to manage it on principles similar to those laid down^or the mjab, and therefore this province also came to be settled on the orth-West system, under the guidance of circular orders and [■ections taken from the North-West Provinces standards. But e history of landed property in Oudh had developed in a way nch would not suit this attempt to copy the North-West system K 146 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA, exactly., and make settlements with the village communities, large portion of the Oudh villages had, in the course of time, con to bo more or less contentedly established under the managemei of “ taluqdars,” who were the outcome of the revenue system of tl Oudh kingdom, just as the zamindars were of the Bengal sy tern. It has been asserted that these taluqdars were really official or grantees, of the Muhammadan power, their duty being to mai age the villages and collect the rents or revenues, paying part in the Government treasury, and keeping part to remunerate them f the trouble and responsibility. But this statement is only true to a limited extent. The orig: of the institution is to be looked for in the Rajas of the old Hind kingdoms, whose connection with the land, and whose history ar decline I have already described. The Muhammadan power w; content at first simply to take a revenue from each village, leavin the Raja otherwise very much in his original position. But later c; the Government grew worse and worse, and the only chance of ge ting in the revenue was, by demanding a certain sum from eac taluqa or group of villages. Naturally then the old Rdtj, or moi probably, the later divisions of the original Raj, formed the esta' that was now called a taluqa, and the old reigning family wou! furnish the person who should answer for the revenue and so kee a bold over the estate. Here and there, no doubt, a powerful local landowner would ere< himself into a similar position, neighbouring villages voluntaril putting themselves under his protection. For in those days ( oppression it was actually a source of strength for the villages f belong to a taluqa, or put themselves under one. Occasional! too, a taere revenue farmer or speculator would acquire, throug the influence of his money, and the power he had of protectiu weak villages, the same position. The Oudh Government found it convenient to make tern with these powerful local magnates, and take a certain re vein: from them, giving them the vague title of “ taluqdar,” which i DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 147 ally incapable of definition, but literally means some one who is “ connection ” with tbe land 5 . Some help to understanding the use of this title may be derived >m the history of Bengal. In Bengal proper, a very few such titles :re created by royal grant, in just the same indefinite position ; ey were not like the easily-defined zamindar, for in Bengal in ne cases they were created inside zamindans, and, according to eir rank, were made either dependent on, or independent of, the tnindar. In Oudh it may be reasonably concluded that the title “ taluq- r ” was intended to recognise, in general terms, the superior pro- jtive position over the villages, in which the old Rajput Chiefs other great men practically were, without defining the stains, iich, indeed, would be very difficult to define, because it varied rtly with the natural ideas of the taluqdar, and partly with his sver and necessities. In some cases, he contented himself with the right of gathering the revenue and paying it in to Government, after deducting s share; in others, he crushed out the rights of the original idholders altogether. Then, again, the local extent of the charge ,s very indefinite. Wherever these taluqdars had not been sated or had not originally existed, the villages were managed revenue officials of districts and circles called “ Nazims ” and jhakladars.” When the Oudh Native Government grew more 1 more corrupt and feeble, as we know it did (to the extent iich at last made it necessary to overthrow it altogether), the ite control was practically withdrawn from these local officials, iO then pillaged and oppressed the villages without stint. Then was that the “ taluqdars ” stood the people in good stead : the lages placed themselves under the protection of the chief who uld by force of arms rescue them from the clutches of the vidam officials. On the other hand, the taluqdars would often 5 In the Punjab the term “taluqa” was commonly used in the Cis-Sullej States signify the territory which a Sikh Chief conquered and kept for himself and com¬ es in arms.—See Melvill, Settlement lteport, North Ambala, page 49, 148 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. annex villages of tlieir own accord, or take them one from anotht in those local fights which were the standing institution and soun of excitement in those troubled days 6 . § 34. — First Settlement of Ouclh. When the province was annexed, the British Settlement OR cials, filled with admiration for the North-West system, whi( made the village-community settlement to be so easily worke attempted to set aside the taluqdars and settle direct with the cod munities. Scarcely had this been done when the Mutiny broke 01 and threw everything into disorder. The result is remarkable; tl villagers voluntarily returned to the old taluqdars and paid them affording a valuable lesson of caution in attempting to let a rev nue theory override facts. The taluqdars had, liowever, joined tl i nsurgents, and by proclamation all their rights were forfeite with an exception in favour of five loyal chiefs : thus there was talmla rasa for future operations. When the settlement operations were resumed, other counsc prevailed ; the taluqdars were pardoned by proclamation in 185 and reinstated, and the settlement was made with them. T) “ sauads ” given them declared them proprietors of their taluqs Then, as is inevitable under all derivative forms of the Beng settlemeut, the rights subordinate to the upper proprietary tit had to he protected; and a variety of somewhat complicated, b very necessary, rules were enacted for securing the just rights of t village ec sub-proprietors ” under the taluqdars. These will further described in the chapter on Oudh Tenures. So here we see the historical condition of a province causir tbe same system which in the North-Western Provinces and Panj' had led to settlements with a community , developing into a sett.' c Administration Report, Oudli, 1872-73, General Summary, page 26, &e. 7 See Introduction to the Oudh Gazetteer, and the Administration Report of Ouu 1872-73, General Summary. 8 The student will observe that here again there is a 'proprietor between '! village body and the State. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 149 ent with a chief over the heads of the community, and accord- g to the latter a secured but secondary position as subordinate oprietors. Thus the Oudh Settlement is spoken of as the rALUQDARf SETTLEMENT.” 35. —The Settlement of the Central Provinces.—Initial difficulties The remaining province, which we have to touch upon as hibiting yet another development of the Regulation YII system, that called the Central Provinces. These provinces 9 were only brought together in 1861, some rther changes and additions being made subsequently. Setting aside a number of hill chiofships to which no revenue stem has been applied, there are the districts of the old “ Sagar d Narbada” Province, those of the Nagpur Province, Nimar, d the districts to the east (more resembling Chutiya Nagpur and e Tributary Mahals of Orissa). The first named of these groups had been early placed under e North-West system. Indeed, the northernmost of these terri¬ fies, adjoining Bandelkhand, seem to have presented very gene- lly the North-West feature of joint-communities, where the minant family is really the proprietor, without much artificial nation of such a character. But the western and all the Mara- a districts commonly consisted of what I have called the “ Don¬ ated villages,” i.e., where the cultivators have no ancestral nd of union or common interest in the estate; although they e locally united under the management of quasi-hereditary village icials. It is interesting to notice how differently matters developed in ese provinces from what they did in Bombay, where a somewhat nilar state of things existed. In the Bombay Presidency, we have seen that the ultimate suit was to assess each field or holding on the raiyatwari system, .d not attempt to create a joint responsibility in the community, 9 Vide Chapter I, page 20, where a table is given. 150 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. still less to find some middleman over the community who shoul be made proprietor. In the Central Provinces, as may be supposed, the raiyatwai system was not without its advocates. But the Sagarand Narbad Settlement Rules of 1853 were already in use, and under tires (after various tentative systems of farming, which usually precec! a more methodical arrangement) some districts had been settlec ■ The result was, that when the Nagpur Province districts came t be settled (and afterwards theNimar district), there was naturally tendency in the minds of authorities, already strongly in favour c the North-West system, to extend it, and to apply the Sagar an Narbada rules which were ready to hand. And these instructions (supplemented by further orders) wet accordingly reprinted and issued by authority iu 1863, as the Set tlement Code for the Central Provinces generally. This Code ha guided the formation of the existing settlements, and it has out recently been superseded by a general revenue law, Act XVII of 1881. The adoption of the North-West system led to some curiou results ; for the difficulty was the same as that felt? in Bombay Wherever the villages were originally joint (as in the district bordering on Bandelkhand) the difficulty did not, indeed, arise But in the other districts, where the villages were not of tlia kind, what was to be done ? To create (or revive authoritatively whichever it be) a joint responsibility, and so form villages on th North-West model, proved as impracticable as Mr. Elphinstou found it in Bombay 10 . At the same time it was not possible, cob sisteutly with the system, to settle directly with each holder c io Some liope was evidently entertained of overcoming this difficulty and getting settlement on the pure North-West Provinces model. The instructions for the settl ment of Nimar in 1847 directly propose the creation of the joint responsibility; bi the proposal could not be carried out. In the orders relating to the Sagar an Narbada territories of 1853, the joint responsibility is also alluded to side by sir with directions for recognising a proprietary right iu the malguzars. But by tl time orders were issued for settling the Nagpur province in 1860, the matter seen to have been regarded as hopeless, and nothing is said of joint responsibility. DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 151 tnd 1 . Nor was it possible to declare all the laud to be Govern- lent property, and the laud holders to be tenants or lessees o£ the tate. Such a plau had practically been tried in some districts ud failed. § 36.— The solution proposed by Government. The Government orders passed on the reports which describe the lilure of these attempts 2 , all pointed to one remedy. A secure pro¬ letary title must be created, and a settlement made with the recog- ised proprietor. If there was a community of village owners who add be made jointly responsible, well and good ; if not, the leading len with the strongest claims to a hereditary position must be dected, and the proprietary right conferred on them, taking care ) secure by record, the subordinate rights of others who might be erhaps nearly in as good a position as the persons selected, and lerefore entitled to every consideration. § 37.— History of the Central Provinces proprietors. Now I have already indicated that the groups of land which irmed the villages were held together by one bond, and that is, that iey acknowledged the management of a hereditary patel or head- lan. The Marathas were prudent financiers, and wherever their ile was firmly established, they always acted on the principle of ot interfering with existing institutions; they found that they ot much more revenue by dealing with small areas,—in fact with ach landholder—through the patel. Consequently, they either ssessed each holding, or fixed a total sum for the village, and let the atel distribute this on each holding by a yearly “ lagan ” or revenue istribution-roll. The patel did not, however, pretend to be owner f the village ; all he owned was his office and the perquisites and ignities which attached to it; and, in some cases, the “ watan ” or mds acquired in virtue of office. 1 A raiyatwari settlement was advocated in some quarters (as stated above), but it as not to be expected that the authorities of the North-West Provinces would pprove. 2 Which may be read in Nicholls’ Law of the Central Provinces. 152 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. But there were districts in which the Maratha power was nof firmly established, and there a more lax method of revenue-collecting was adopted; the same thing also happened when the power of these conquerors was in decline : contractors or revenue farmers were appointed, often to the ousting of the hereditary patel, who perhaps proved unequal to the task of punctual realisation, or perhaps refused point blank, on account of the oppressiveness of the amount demand¬ ed of him. From causes which cannot here be detailed, this institu¬ tion of revenue farmers had been introduced into most of the dis¬ tricts ; and when our Settlement Officers came to carry out the orders they had received, inmost instances they found the revenue farmer— the “ malguz&r ”—in a position of prominence, which made bin appear to be proprietor of the whole village. Accordingly, the malguzars, or in some cases the hereditarj patels (when they had themselves been allowed to engage, or hac succeeded in otherwise maintaining their standing), were declared proprietors of the entire village, over the heads of the individual landholders; and the settlement was made with them. The require¬ ments of system were thus complied with ; but, as usual, this crea¬ tion of a middleman proprietor caused difference of* opinion and difficulty as to the subordinate rights which had to he provided for The detail of this must, however, be reserved for a subsequeni chapter. This creation of a new kind of right under the influence of s particular system, now that we look back on it as a thing done anc past, may excite some surprise. But in point of fact, the malguzai had developed and grown into his new position just on the same principles as the Bengal “ zaunndar ” had; only while in Benga the “ zamindar ” was over a large tract of country, in the Marathi provinces the revenue contract was given out for one, or perhaps a few villages. In either case, however, the revenue-farmer gradu ally grew into that position which our officials (obliged by th< system to find some one to settle with other than the individual lauc occupant) easily translated into proprietor. He had originallj certain lands of his own; if he were “ patel/ 5 he may have held som< DIFFERENT LAND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA. 153 id in virtue of his office by a peculiarly strong custom : then he >uld have other fields which he had possessed himself of by sale or irtgage, or even by violence : his power of managing the waste ids in the village, enabled him to locate his own people as cul- rntors, and thus, in the course of years, he acquired an apparently oprietary character 3 . § 38.— Character of the settlement. Here then we have the last development of the Regulation YII stem into the settlement which—as in the conspicuous majority cases it constituted the official malguzar proprietor, and engaged th him—is commonly spoken of as the malguzar! settlement the Central Provinces. It must be understood that this name given by the rule of the majority; there are districts in which e settlement is often with a jointly responsible community, on e pure North-West Provinces model; but this is chiefly in districts ar Bandelkhand; further off, the patel or malguzar proprietor is e most common. § 39.— Systems of other provinces. The other provinces with which this Manual is concerned are presented by Ajmer, British Burma, Assam, Coorg. Ajmer is teresting as showing a complete survival of that form of land ganisation which followed when conquering bands of military yan tribes (Rajputs) established a government, but were not ttled as a people. In this district village communities were 3 I shall not be understood as implying that in all, or even in a majority of ses, the process was carried to this complete issue ; otherwise, no objection could be ken to the principle of the settlement. There can be no donbt that in the Mitral Provinces, patels were often made proprietors who really owned nothing it their hereditary office and its perquisites; and many malguzars who had not been ilf a dozen times inside the village in their lives, suddenly found themselves called ie owners of the whole. I only desire to point out the undoubted general ndency of things to develop in a certain direction ; the least intelligent render ill recognise that, whether in the case of a Bengal zemindar, an Oudh taluqdar, ■ a Central Provinces malguzar, the process did not always become complete or ■rive in any given number of cases at the same stage of development. 154 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. quite unknown. The district was afterwards settled on the Nort West system, and an account of it is therefore included in Book I relating to that system. The remaining provinces are under, what I may be allowed call, the “ natural system,” i.e., we have not created or recognisi “ proprietary right 33 in one class or the other ; we simply real is according to old Native custom, a certain rate per acre, a tax < households, or a fee upon each man who clears a patch of land f cultivation, while in villages which have regular and permanent cu tivation, a survey has been introduced and a regular settlement, ( which, however, each cultivator is severally responsible for the rev' nue of his own holding. These provinces are represented by Assa and British Burma. A few also of the more backward districts in the provinc which, as a whole, copae under one or other of the general systen here sketched, are excluded from the ordinary laws under the tit of Scheduled Districts—a term which has been explained in previous chapter. These tracts often exhibit local peculiarities, an sometimes have local Regulations prescribing their revenue managi ment. When necessary, I shall refer more particularly to these i separate appendices to the chapters on the general system of tl province to which they belong. § 40 .—Conspectus of the systems . I conclude this introductory and general sketch, first with diagram which will recall the chief featui-es of the development o our revenue systems, and next with two tables which will giv some idea of the general effect and results of land-revenue settle ments. The first table gives the nature of the settlement an the date of its expiry, the asses sment which resulted from it, an the cost incurred in making it. The permanent settlement o Bengal is not included in this, as details of this can more conveni ently be given in the chapter specially devoted to Bengal. Tk second table shows the general average rate at which land i assessed. Permanent settlement with— - At first applied to Madras, DIFFERENT I.AND-REVENUE SYSTEMS IN INDIA 1.2.2 -g J nj r d co 4 H ' 2 co O CC "2 S j§ •e8 bc+3 ca » IT a? rt • o*£ 2 >* a cd Cu 2 ^ o «* . 3 co CO CO cu rood .5 ‘C *r a> > -P 4J4J g -S ■■ a t« 1 P'S ® 2 00 <0 o rH — Sh C 3 CO vd bD © o ^ S-s-e &jsJ | c3 g o3 ,Q . ^ d "3 'co co & Z.™ $3 d CO rl J- O rH d . TJ O O >-, ICO w h 5 > i 3 2 T- cd ^ 5.2 >r, § 2 O ■•1 o-^o & a o3 S a *s3 | S li H 3 CD CO .r* e -H CO ^ 2 23 d . d 05 & *>• N rH S '3 rH ««y o’ a tC 3 ■ £>.2 &\2 ? _, ±3 5c “ cj 0) £ 3« O bCr-n Jh <11 H i« a CD dn Ph cS A O d M §e . £ 3 c3 '§ §£ s ° a «Sj_h (D eg go §1£ -g-jc 8) CO ® c- O "S a> sw d -- -3 o .2 oiTj r* <—■ CO > ® ° 33 § S.Ph CD m "•d; ?> •** d CO v e CD ^ *43 'S 3 .s g g ^ s g ^'S ^ oO 02 S^-d • M 5 * bLH 0 « 5 g O <13 2 o ^ ? Co ?H a,-S i“fc -j -co t> 1'^ 3 ^ |afl? -P 3 S 03 e 2 d § n cd p o O Q, d ^ ’h P ^ d Ph to rri a. ^ cd 0 ^ CD ' ^ 02 CD 0 d 3 i5 3 General statement showing the results of settlement {from data in Mr. Stacies Memorandum of 1S80). 1&6 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. xj qj O . O C *03 > be 2 s- •« a? a ~ r d GO rJ S?| & h 5 03 03 <13 S o S 03 g C3 O C3 ^ 9> V £ gf.S & O -i <•- fcT'tt co u o a c 3 5 O ~ S ttr.3 g . H <3 .5 ■P - (fl « w j; •£ ■— Cd 2 § ° 13 ? , P rO ' o bD CO O o ^ C-O <1) c CS ^ rd ^ O 3 03 ^ *g o -+J 's'-?? © o o vb rf< to W H CO o 6 §1-88 c 2 ■+» oo oo 03 0-, D r-H i“H •n 3 m I ■4J 03 fl I I £ _ 5 CM 1/3 —« — 'O t> Pd ’-5 £ 00 00 .—• co q> i—I H O C/2 CO 05 r-H rH CD t> ■'tf ® -e 'S s S .2 O +=> m o a a os • to £ o > 3 >> c s O - 3 o O Srt“03t- H’-' ^ £ 1 > |- GO S 3 ^ &1 SS CD o' TP X> o' ' CD O 11 § I g | £ S'E* 0 o T—? 05 GO - 3 4.3 i ■** CD <13 u 73 -5 “ 8 .§ -o-g 03 ^r- 03 2 3 d ^ d o 5 H c 3 to C 3 v- 3 03 * cj m 4J be 03 ® 03 - 2 « pd j; & C3 ^ s +3 “* ^ 00 03 »D co GO T“i .JL « o - ^ bCs 0.2 ~ 03 03 to O r 3 ^ 03 “ ® S g ? rC -4J ^ a - VO 9 lO ra -V d e § |P| 88 *S 8 S 11 ; 5 S .2 -P « 03 00 03 ~ rH g^ a >3 03 >v 03 -P d d C3 to c3 £ <33 2 > d3 03 <13 -4-3 a ?• H to p CJ r PQ g ® <» 5 00 o Oh 5 s er head adult male culti¬ vators. Per head total population. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. 3 5 6 0 9 10 8 17 1 8 10 14 2 14 0 1 ..3 2 8 7 10 0 6 115 2 2 6 5 20 2 10 1 lo 11 11 13 O 1 10 2 17 11 8 1 14 11 6 13 6 5 ) 8 12 6 I 1 8 11 ' This is taken from the Standing Information for Madras (edition of 18711). 1 Above 12 and above 20 years of age respectively. Mr. Stack (in kis Memorandum on Temporary Settlements, 880, p. 35) gives also the following table of the incidence of md-revenue on cultivated land per acre :— Mr. Stack also gives the average incidence of land-revenue per ire (somewhat different from the above). Thus he gives the rate r North-Western Provinces as R. 1-11-10, Panjab and Bombay ick R. 0-15-4, Central Provinces R. 0-6-9, and Madras It. 1-11-7. BOOK II. THE LAND-REVENUE SYSTEM OF BENGAL, THE PERMANENT SETTf.EAIENT, 161 CHAPTER r. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. § 1 .— Introductory. The limits of this work make it necessary for me to plunge mewhat abruptly into the revenue history of Bengal. I have no ace to introduce the subject appropriately, or describe the steps which the East India Company advanced from its first position a trading Company to that of ruler of the whole country 1 . I can here only briefly state that, first of all, the fort and city Calcutta were purchased as were m appointed, instead of Supervisors, to receive the revenue 3 . The existing zamlndars were not intended to be displaced by this angement; but they often refused to contract, so that other mers were appointed, and in some cases much injustice was ae. Stringent orders were given to prevent the farmers robbing s raiyats, and to make them adhere to the “ kast-o-bud 4 /'’ or ; showing the rents which it was customary for the raiyats to r, and to prevent illegal cesses being collected. When the five years’ leases were about to expire, i.e., in 1776, ew plan was proposed. This time special officers were to be rnted to examine into the real value of the lands, and to conduct [uiries which would secure to the raiyats, the perpetual and listurbed possession of their lands, and guard them against itrary exactions ; for the previous efforts to attain this end had ed, especially the plan of requiring the zamindaror the farmer to e a “ patta ” to the raiyat; no such leases were ever granted 5 6 . When the farms actually expired in 1777, and the report of the oamission had been received, a sort of settlement for one year 3 ordered. This was made with the existing zamlndars for the js which were on record as payable, or such other sums as the renue Councils thought proper. Zamtudaris held in shares, or h several distinct rights in them, were farmed to one person. A lilar settlement was made in 1778, 1779, and 1780. In 1781, in i of the provincial Revenue Councils, a Central Committee of ?enue was formed at Calcutta; but though some changes were educed with a view to increasing the revenue, the settlement was 1 made annually. 3 In the chapter on Revenue business and officials, the history of the Collectors, missioners, &c., will be more fully gone into. 4 Literally (Persian) “ is and was; ” in fact the actual and customary rent-roll out arbitrary additions to it. 6 The authority for all this is to be found in “ Harington’s Analysis.” See also ire Lectures for 1875. 164 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In 1782 a further attempt was made to regulate the laolding c lands revenue-free, to resume and charge with revenue those tbs were held without authority : the office for registration and enquir was called the “ ba’zi-zamin-daftar.” The yearly settlements (latterly with zamindars always, unlei expressly disqualified) continued till 1789. The fact was, tin while this series of settlements began by almost ignoring tl zamindars and farming the lands, or holding estates with the a : of a Government “ sazawal/'’ or manager, the plan worked so bad' that it had to be given up : the zamindars were found to be indi pensable, and so came to be more and more relied upon. Nor d the centralisation of the revenue control at Calcutta do any goo because there was no efficient local control as well. The Committe far removed from the actual scene of operations, knew nothing the real state of affairs, and the diwans, or local Government officei’ combined with the zamindars and others to deceive them. § 4.— A.D. 17SG.—Arrival of Lord Cornwallis. In 1786 something like the present constitution of Europe! District Collectors was introduced, and the diwans, or native pr vincial revenue agents, were abolished. The Committee of Reveir was also made into the Board of Revenue. An attempt was al made to revive the ancient qanungos, to supervise the zamindai , In this year Lord Cornwallis arrived (September 12th) as Govern General. A Statute (24 Geo. III., cap. 25) had already (in 178 , directed a settlement of the revenues on an improved basis, co sequent on the failures which had been experienced during the cu rency of these yearly settlements, the history of which I have brieji sketched. Lord Cornwallis was instructed to carry this directi into effect. . The law indicated, as a means for effecting a settlement, i enquiry into the real “ jurisdictions, rights and privileges ” f zamindars, taluqdars, andjagirdars under the Mughal and Him Governments, and what they were bound to pay ; it also direct If the redress of the grievances of those who had been unjustly dfj * THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 1G5 ced in the course of the earlier tentative and imperfect revenue angements. The Court of Directors suggested that the settle- nt should be with the landholders, but at the same time main- aing the rights of all descriptions of persons. As for the revenue, vas desired that there might be a permanent assessment, based on 3view of the settlements and actual collections of former years. ,vas thought that the various enquiries which had been ordered r since 1765, would have resulted in a sufficient knowledge of the dng capacity of the estates, and therefore a settlement for ten ,rs was ordered on the basis above indicated. The Court then night that a fixed period of ten years would be better than pro¬ sing a “ dubious perpetuity but they directed that, on comple- u of the arrangements, the whole matter should be fully and mtely reported on, so that they might have an opportunity of tling the whole questiou, without necessity for further reference future change. While these arrangements were iu progress, the settlements itinued to be annual. Renewed attempts were made to abolish extra cesses, and to register revenue-free lands. Elaborate enquiries were conducted as to the real revenues of different zamludaris and of the lands of which they consisted, as to check the total assessments 6 . § 5 .—Issue of rules for a decennial settlement. Meanwhile, the rules for the decennial settlement were bein<»' borated. .They were issued on the completion of Mr. Shore’s tenvards Lord Teignmouth) celebrated Minutes of June and ptember 1789 7 . The rules for settliug Bengal., Bihar, and Orissa then constituted) were separately issued between 1789 and 10 . 6 See Cotton’s Memorandum on the Revenue History of Chittagong (Calcutta, 0), p. 50. 7 They are printed in the appendix to the Fifth Report of the Select Committee he House of Commons (1812). There was an edition of this reprinted at Iras in 1866. 166 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. When Lord Cornwallis commenced the codification of the Regub tions in 1793, these rules (amended and completed) formed oue c the forty-three Regulations passed on the same day, and have sine been borne on the Statute-book as Regulation VIII of 1793. This is the law under which the “decennial settlement” < Bengal was made. § 6.— Result reported to the home authorities: the Permanent \ Settlement. When the enquiries had been completed, report was made, £ i ordered, to the Court of Directors at home. There was much oppos tion, it appears, in the Council, to making the settlement permaueni but the Court of Directors, in a despatch of September 1792, coi sented to the proposal, and Lord Cornwallis accordingly declare by proclamation of 22nd March 1793, the decennial settlement! be “ permanent/'’ This proclamation was also included in tl Statute-book of 1793, as Regulation I of that year. The main features of that settlement have already been sketclie in the introductory general sketch. They were— (1) That the zammdars were settled with; and as they coul not fulfil their obligations to the State, nor take an interest in the . estates without some definite legal status , they were declared pn prietors. That proprietary right, however, was strictly limited; it w; subject, on the one hand, to the payment of revenue to Governmen and to liability to have the estates sold at once on failure to pa) and it was subject, on the other hand, to the just rights of the o. and original cultivators of the soil, “ the raiyats,” dependant taliu dars, and,others 8 . 8 Some further considerations as to the actual rights of the zaniindar will be often in the chapter on the land tenures of this province. See also a mass of information . the volumes of an anonymous work published in 1879 (Brown & Co., Calcutta), ail called “The Zamiudan Settlement of Bengal.” The author's object is to show, n only that the permanent settlement with zemindars has been a great failure ; —tk • beyond paying the revenue, the zamindars have done nothing of what was hoped froj them in the way of benefiting tenants or improving their estates ; —but, chiefly, THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 167 (2) Tlie assessment was on the basis of the former payments, iut in a consolidated form, extra cesses being absorbed ; and the otal assessment in one lump sum was declared unenhanceable and xed for ever. § 7.— Features of the Permanent Settlement. It will be obvious to the reader that no practical object would e gained by our enquiring what was the process of this settlement, 'hich, whatever its merits or demerits, is now a matter of history. I shall only notice, therefore, some salient features iu it which ave continued to affect the course of revenue administration in lengal. In the first place, unlike all the other settlements, which we iall have to study, the “permanent settlement ” did not commence 'ther with ascertaining the boundaries of the estates to be settled, r with a survey. This was perhaps the result of circumstances, ad partly also the result of the views entertained as to the nature f the Government revenue and of the proprietary interest which le settlement was to bestow on the landholders. Nearly all the ©ccupied parts 9 of the districts were divided out ito zammdans. In a few instances in Bengal, and more commonly i Bibar, the estate was that of a jagirdar, and some estates were Sue that the permanent settlement was intended not only to settle what the zamfn- 1 s should pay to Government, hut what the “ raiyats,” or original occupiers—natural mers, if you please—of the soil, should pay to the zanundar; and that this part of e work has been never carried out to this day; consequently that, as a rule, the iyats are wretchedly off. It is not the purpose of this book to take a side iu any controversy ; but it must admitted that a great deal of strong evidence has beeu produced iu favour of this :w. . See also the various judgments of the Judges of the High Court iu the great mt Case, Bengal Law Reports (Supplementary Volume of Pull Bench Cases, p. 2 et seq.)- 9 I say “occupied parts,” for at that time a majority of the districts, especially 3 se near the hilly tracts, had large areas still waste, but nevertheless forming part of u zaunndan, or at least claimed as such. Lord Cornwallis stated that one-third of 3 Company’s possessions was waste at the time when the settlement work began. ,e object of the settlement of 1793 was to recognise all the land, waste or eultur- le, iu each zaunndan, as the property of the zamfudar ; but no doubt at that time are was very little certainty as to what was really included iu the estate. 168 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. hekl by grantees called taluqdars 10 . But, whatever the title, tin actual allotments of land formiug the settled estates were thoss mentioned in the old native revenue records. There were no map.- or plans or statements of area, but the boundaries of the estate wen vaguely described in words, and a list of the villages included was given; but the limits of these were very imperfectly known especially where a large portion was waste. Each zammdar heh a document, or “ sauad,” under which the Emperor or his Deputj had created the “ estate; ” and that specified the revenue thai was to be paid. All previous experience had shown that, without organising the districts into small sub-divisions for revenue-administration purposes it was impossible to dispense with the agency of the zammdar 1 , Even when each considerable district had one European Collector, aided by a staff of qanungos, it would have been quite impossible for him to deal with thousands of detailed holdings; how much more would this apply before that date, when, as from 1772-79, there had been only councils or committees for controlling revenue matters—at one time six of them for all the districts included io Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa ! Every effort to hold the estates “ khas, ” that is, to deal direct with the landholders without the intervention of the zammdar, had proved such a failure, that there was always a return to the old 10 These titles will be better understood after reading the chapter on Bengal ^enures, which may be referred to at this point by the student. 1 This is very instructive. In Akbar’s time, the whole country was divided out into parganas, each with its vigilant revenue ami], and the parganas even had recog¬ nised sub-divisions under petty revenue officers. As long as this was kept working by a powerful Government, the revenue was not intercepted, the people were not oppressed. The moment the Government became too weak to control this machinery, the sub-divisions disappeared, aud theu the revenue could only be collected by the agency of great farmers, who undertook to pay a fixed sum for a certain portion of territory, saving the Government the trouble of going into any detail. This was the system our early administrators found already long established. In the position they were placed, it was utterly impossible for them to have restored the “ Akbariau ” method, as we have now restored it in Northern India. The tahsfldars and all the host of local officials trained and able to carry out such a system, are the product' of a century of British rule. Iu 1766 uo such persons could have been found. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 169 f'stem. No wonder, therefore, that the zamindar was finally ac- epted as the person to be settled with : and this, not as a matter f chance, but as one of deliberate policy, aud on administrative rounds. When to this, the reader will add his reminiscence of hat has been already stated of the way in which the zamindar imself increased in power aud in his virtual connection with the ind, it will appear still less wonderful that he should have been eclared and recognised as the proprietor, subject to whatever just ghts the people on the laud below him possessed or were entitled > 2 . § 8 .—Method of dealing with the zamiiidam. The direct consequence of admitting the zamindar to the posi- ou of an English landlord, was a desire to leave him in the enjoy- eut, as far as possible, of the independence dear to an English ndholder. What need was there, the rulers of those days thought, 1 harass the proprietor we have established and now wish to icourage, by surveying or measuring his lands and making an quisitiou into his affairs? Fix his reveuue as it has all along sen paid, or correct the recorded amount if it is wrong ; sweep away egal taxes,Resume what land is unfairly held without paying venue, and then leave the proprietor in peace. If some neighbour sputes his bouudary,—if there is room to believe that he is croachiug, let them go to law and decide the fact. Besides this feeling, there was another which at first made a rvey unacceptable. Strange as it may appear to European ideas, easurement was looked on with great dread, both by zamindar id raiyat. Whenever the raiyat had to pay a very heavy rent, or e zamindar to satisfy a high revenue demand, both were glad to ive a little (or often a good deal) more land than they were in eory supposed to pay on. 2 If I may for once express an opinion, I would say that the failure of the per- inent settlement (and a grievous failure it has been) is not due to the settlements th zamindars, hut to the failure to carry out the intentions with regard to securing ) rights and fixing the “ rents ” of the cultivators (whose rights were also really roprietary ’) under them. 170 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. It was always found an effective process under the Mughal rule to threaten a raiyat with the measurement of his lands; for his “rent" was fixed at so much for so many bighas. If this real was oppressive, as it often was,* his only chance of meeting that obligation was, that lie really held some few bighas in excess o what lie paid for, and this would be found out on measurement But that was not the only danger; the landholder well knew tha even if lie had no excess whatever, still the adverse measurer woulc inevitably make out that the laud held was in excess. By raising the “ jarib," or measuring rod, in the middle, and by many othe such devices, lie would make the bigha small, and so produce a re' suit showing the unfortunate raiyat to be holding more than li< was paying for ; and enhancement immediately followed. In the same way the zamindar liked a considerable, or at any rate ar undefined, margin of estate to extend cultivation when he was sr disposed. Of course, the want of survey and boundary demarcatioi led, as we shall afterwards see, to great difficulty, and variou: enactments have been since passed to provide a proper register o estates and a survey to ascertain their true limits; but it is i not difficult to understand why this was not at first thought of. Some curious restrictions were at first placed on tlife selec¬ tion of persons to be zammdar-proprietors. It was at one time attempted to exclude from settlement, not only minors anc females incompetent to manage their estates, but also persons o “ notorious profligacy " or “ disqualified by contumacy." These grounds of exclusion, being of course impracticable to prove satisfactorily, and being sure to give rise to great scandals, owing t( the necessity of an enquiry in Court, were ultimately given up As regards estates of minors and others unable to take care ol their own rights, they were placed under the Court of Wards, auc .• managed on behalf of the incompetent owners. When there were several shareholders in an estate, there was al p first a rule to make them elect a manager. This failed, and aftei a time the law was altered, and they were left to manage as the} pleased, but were held jointly and severally responsible for the THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 171 revenue. The law, however, permitted a partition and a complete severance of responsibility, if the sharers wished it. When there were cases of doubtful or disputed boundary, pos¬ session was looked to; and if posfession could not be ascertained, she estate was held by the Government officers (“ khas ” as it was sailed) till the dispute was legally settled. If the zamindar declined settlement (which was rare, for those who it first declined when the settlement was to he for ten years, soon iccepted when the proclamation of perpetuity was issued), the lands vere farmed or held khas, and the ex-proprietor got a “ malikana,” or dlowance of 10 per cent, on the jama'’ or Government assessment. § 9 .—Dependent and Independent Taluqddrs. The persons with whom the estates were settled were mostly lanhndars, hut I have mentioned that there were other grantees of he State called taluqdars. These were sometimes separate grants, mtside and “ independent ” of the zamindar’s estate, in which case hey paid revenue direct to the treasury. Sometimes they were bund inside the estate as it were, and were then “ dependent ” on he zamiudar, and paid through him. Rules were laid down for letermining when the taluqdar was to be settled with separately, ind when he was considered as subordinate to the zamindar—a pro- u-ietor in fact in the second grade. In consequence of these rules, i number of estates were separated off, and had the right of paying •eveuue direct to the Collector. It was, however, intended that his should be done once for all. A few years later it was found hat people still kept on asking to have ‘ taluqs’ separated from the sammdan, and it became necessary 3 to give a year’s grace for such implications, after which no more separations would be allowed. § 10 .—Method of assessment ;— Alcbar’s settlement. In order to determine the assessment of each estate, no inquiry was made (as under the later Settlement laws) either ivhat the produce was, or what the “ rents ” were as paid by 3 Regulation X of 1801, sectiou 14. 173 LAND REVENUE AND I AND TENURES OF INDIA. the raiyats. Reference was simply made to the old records of the lump assessments under the native rulers ; and these were roughly adjusted in cases where such adjustment was needed, and the zamindar or other owner was directed to pay this sum. It will be here interesting to enquire what the sums on the old record were, and how they came to be so fixed 4 and recorded. In order to understand this, I must go back to the past History, and present a very brief sketch of what had occurred in the palmy days of the Mughal empire. During Akbar’s reign there was a settlement something like our modern settlements, but not at all like the permanent settlement of Bengal. Akbar, with characteristic shrewdness, employed a Hindu Raja, Todar Mai 5 6 , of great ability, to make it, and associ¬ ated a Mussulman with him. The settlement went straight to the actual cultivators of the soil. These, as we have seen, were bound to pay a certain share of the produce to the ruler. The lauds were measured, the crop estimated, and an actual division of the produce made. _ - .. 4 fJiSH 4 As regards the actual process by which our earliest Collectors made the . assessments for settlement, the following description occurs in an article in the Calcutta Review by Mr. Thornton, reprinted in 1850 :— ' “ The Collector sat in his office in the sudder (head-quarter) station, attended by his right-haud man, the kanungo, by whom he was almost entirely guided. As each estate came up in succession, the brief record of former settlements was read, and the dehsuuny (dah-san, ten years) book, or fiscal register for ten years im¬ mediately preceding the cession or conquest, was inspected. The kanungo was then asked who was the zamindar of the village.Then followed the deter- i mination of the amount of revenue. On this point also reliance was chiefly placed in the daul, or estimate, of the kanungo, checked by the accounts of past collections and by any other offers of mere farming speculators which might happen to be put forward.” In such a process the assessment was not so likely to be fixed at an excessive rate, as the rights of individuals to share in the profits left by its moderation were to be overlooked. Mr. Thornton remarks that sometimes a. man was put down as proprietor, because his name was on the kanungo’s books, although he had really lost all connection with the estate. 6 The name of this Raja has been variously tortured into Toor Mull, Toral Mai, aud Toran Mai. The palatal d in the Hindi Todar is easily pronounced as r, so tha name got to be Torar Mai, and then misprinted Toran Mull. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 173 A 1cbar’s reform consisted, first, in establishing a standard area measure, or bigha, and a standard measuring rod to test it with. Next, in classifying the soil into several grades or classes, and then enquiring what a bigha of each clrtss could be taken to produce as an average. This served as a test. An enquiry was made as to what, in fact, the lands of each class in a given area had yielded during the last ten years (from the 14th to the 24tli year of the reign ); one-tenth of the total was taken as the average pro¬ duction. The State’s share was then to be a certain fraction of this average figure ; and that fraction was to be maintained un¬ altered for the period of Todar Mai’s settlement, which was ten years 6 . Todar Mai’s object was then to convert this fixed fraction of a known amount of produce per bigha, into a money equivalent, aud so he took the “ ruba’ ,” or one-fourth of the estimated produce, and valued it in money : this was the cash assessment. But Todar Mai was too wise to enforce such a novelty all at once with crush¬ ing uniformity. It was left optional to pay the cash ruba’, or to continue the payment in kind; only the cultivator must adhere to one or the other. When he paid in kind, the fraction of the pro¬ duce belonging to the State was a different weight for each kind of crop on each class of soil. The cash assessment was, therefore, much simpler. In this way a cash assessment for the land became known, and thenceforth the revenue seems to have been always paid in money. This cash rate is spoken of as the original or actual assessment,—the " asl tumar jama’ 7 .” § 11 .—The Siwai or Abwdb. It is not to be supposed that this was never afterwards raised ; but it was so by adding certain cesses called "siwai” (lit., "extra,”—"besides ”) or "abwab” (plural of "bab,” the heads 6 This is described in Lecture III of the Tagore Lectures for 1875, page 68, &c., and in Elphinstone’s History, page 541, &c. 7 Tumar is a record or register, so that the phrase means “ the original or simple jama’,” or standard assessment on record. As to payment in money being general, see Mr. Shore’s Minute of 1789 and authorities quoted in Cunniugham’s “India and its Rulers,” page 172. 174 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. or subjects of taxation) 8. These were calculated on the same prin¬ ciple as the jama’, at so much per bigha, or so many seers in the maund. Akbar endeavoured to abolish these 8 9 , but without success. The ruler’s local deputy levied them on the zanwudar, who was authorised to levy them on the cultivators. Besides that, the zammdar levied more petty cesses on his own account, and so did all the zamindar’s officials—his naib, his gumashta, &c. When these cesses got numerous and complicated, there would be 10 a sort of compromise; the rate would be re-adjusted so as to consolidate the old rate and the cesses in one, and this would become the recognised rate, till new cesses being imposed, a new compromise was effected. In this way, therefore, the revenue actually paid might gradually rise, and the rates exacted from the cultivators rise also, with more thau corresponding frequency. The revenue actually realised was then composed of the asl jama’ and these extra charges, and was collectively called the “ mal. ” § 12. — The Sager. Besides this land revenue, there weraother imposts not connected with the land, and called “ Sair,” or, according to the Bengali writing, “ Sayer.” These were taxes on pilgrims, excise and customs duties, taxes levied on shopkeepers in bazars (ganj) and markets [hat), tolls, &c. They amounted usually to about one- tenth of the land revenue ; they also included charges on the use of the products of the jungle {ban-hear), ovl fishing ( jal-kar ), and on orchards and fruit trees {phal-Jcar ). 8 They were called after the name of the ruler inventing them, or after the nature of the tax. Thus we find the “ klias navi si,” a tax to support the Govern¬ ment writers of “ sauads,” &c.; “ nazarana muqarrari,” a rate to enable the Deputy or Governor to send his customary annual presents to the Emperor; the “faujdanV’ to maintain police; “ zar-i-mathaut,” comprising several items ; “ chauth-Maratha,” a tax to meet the loss caused by the cession of part of Orissa to the Marathas, &c., &c. 9 Ayin Akbari, Vol. I, 355. 10 See Mr. Justice (Sir G.) Campbell’s judgment in the great Eent Case, B. L. Reports, Suppy. Vol., page 256. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 175 It is easy to understand then that the total revenue which each mlnd&r had to account for to the State consisted of two kinds,— ie “ mal ” (above described) and the “ sail'.” The sum under each head payable in total for the different mahals” or estates included in each zamindart, was placed on cord and noted also on the sauad of appointment. § 13 .—The ’British assessment. The British assessment was made on a comparison and revision f these records as already stated. But from the very first, an improvement, or at least a simplifi- ition of the assessment, was attempted. In the first place, we have seen that even as far back as the >ign of Akbar, attempts had been made to abolish all “ abwab ” r “ slwaf ” collections over and above the actual land assessment. The British Government persisted in the same attempt: tliere- >re, on settling 1 ' with the zamfndars, it consolidated the land wenue into one net sum, and abolished all the cesses, even "those duck, under the Native Government, were authorised. Unfortu- ately, though the Government itself forebore any addition on be account “ abwab,” and proposed to punish severely the offence f such exaction, still the zamindar used privately to collect cesses n his own account from the people ; and it is certain that even at he present day such cesses are paid by the raiyats, partly under he inexorable bond of custom, and partly from a sense of helpless- iess. For, though the authorities would at once decide against he exaction, still the zamindar could always either conceal the fact r colour it in some way, or else make things so unpleasant for the aiyat that he would rather pay and hold his tongue 1 . 1 Tlie private cesses, as distinct from the authorised cesses of old days, are legion, i few names will sufficiently indicate their nature ; thus, we find the “ mangan,” a ienevolence to assist «tlie zamindar in debt ; “ uajai,” a contribution to cover the oss when the other cultivators absconded or defaulted ; “ parvani ” or “ parbani,” a harge to enable the zamindar to celebrate “parvas, ” or religious festival days. Ihere were also levies for embankments (pulbandi), for travelling expenses of the 176 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. The “ sair ” items were of course on a more legal and equitabl footing. Government, however, abolished them, or rather severei them entirely from the land revenue. Whenever the zamiudars hat znmhular, &c., &c. As regards the modern levy of cesses, I cannot do better tlia quote from the Administration Report of 1872-73 (body of the report, page 23’ Those who care to go into more detail will also find, following the extract I make, list of cesses, showing the variety and ingenuity which their levy displayed. “ The modern zammdSr taxes his raiyats for every extravagance or necessity tlia circumstances may suggest, as his predecessors taxed them in the past. He will ta them for the support of his agents of various kinds and degrees, for the payment of hi income tax and his postal cess, for the purchase of an elephant for his own use, fo the cost of the stationery of his establishment, for the cost of printing the forms o bis rent receipts, for the payment of his lawyers. The milkman gives his mill the oilman his oil, the weaver bis clothes, the confectioner his sweetmeats, the fisher man his fish. The zaimndar levies benevolences from his raiyats for a festival, for religious ceremony, for a birth, for a marriage; he exacts fees from them on al changes of their holdings, on the exchange of leases and agreements, and on all trails fers and sales ; he imposes a fine on them when he settles their petty dispute. 1 and when the police or when the Magistrate visits his estates; he levies black-mai on them when social scandals transpire, or when an offence or an affray is committed He establishes his private pound near his cutcherry, and realises a fine for every hem of cattle that is caught trespassing on the raiyat’s crops. The abwab, as these illega cesses are called, pervade the whole zamfndarf system. In every zaimndarf thei¬ rs a naib; under the naib there are gumashtas; under the glimashta -there are piyada or peons. The naib exacts a ‘ hisabana’ or perquisite for adjusting account annually. The naibs and gumashtas take their share in the regular abwab ; they hav> also their own little abwab. The naib occasionally indulges in a nominous raid iu tin ‘ mofussil 5 (the plain country away from the town or head-quarters). One rupee i exacted from every raiyat who has a rental, as he comes to proffer his respects Collecting peons, when they are sent to summon raiyats to the landholder’s cutcherry exact from them daily four or five annas as summons fees.” On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that all this need only contimn as long as the people themselves choose : hut in fact it is the engrained custom anc is submitted to as long as it is kept within customary limits. Every petty nativi official is born to think that “ wasflu ” pickings and perquisites, are as much a par of his natural rights as air to breathe or water to drink. Nor will the public objec as long as lie does bis duty fairly. When be tries to take too much and does “ zulu, ’ (petty tyranny), the people will turn on him, and a conviction for extortion is mori or less attainable, according as the culprit still has friends or is generally in tin black books. There is also a bright side to the question : an amicable understanding with : raiyat for some cesses will often obviate a good deal of litigation about rent enhance ment. This was the case in Orissa. Iu Macneile’s Memorandum on the Revenm Administration, an interesting notice of the subject will be found. The peopli complained of certain cesses, and the zamfndar immediately responded by bringinc suits under the Rent Act for enhancement, and by measuring their lands (see pag< 170, anle). 177 MAHESWAftl LIBRARY. yrityuur iaii It id*W B#Ol* S«U*T. gAfiCLTTTA, (INDIA) THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. •eal equitable claim, and consequently suffered a real loss by taking' ■ay from them the tolls on roads and ferries, or the taxes on zars and markets established on their lands, they were com- Qsated. The rest of such taxes (which a civilised Government would liutain), namely, tolls, customs, and excise, the Government itself ied under appropriate regulations, entirely separate (as at the pre- lt day) from the land revenue. I have alluded to the fact that der the name of sair were also included certain reasonable charges id not in the nature of an impost), such as payment for fisheries, lgle produce, fruit (jal-k ar, ban-bar, a nd phal-kar); these were ceptedfrom abolition ; but Government.handed over the profits the zamlndars, allowing them to collect these dues as part of eir own rights and profits. Thus the settlement was made with the zamlndars for one lump • . - _ _ _ m of revenue, which was supposed to represent the whole of what ey received directly in rent from the raiyats, less about one-tenth owed to them for their trouble and responsibility 2 . 2 See Regulation VIII of 1793, section 77 ; and Whinfiefd’s Manual, page 11. In five times it was the same. The zamlndars were to pay in the whole of their coi¬ tions, less only a percentage allowed them for the trouble (called rousliahara) -ether with some allowances called “ mazkurat, ” which really were deductions for iritable and religious purposes—to keep lamps at the tombs of saints, to preserve i “ kadam rasul ” or foot-prints of the Prophet, to give khairat or alms to the >r, to pay the village or minor revenue officials, to support the peons or messengers, keep up the office, &c., &c. If anything is wanting to show how utterly unlike a “landlord” the “zamlndar’ 5 \ginally was, this will supply the want. He got nothing in the nature of rent m the land. The actual “ raiyat ” took the balance of its yield after paying the vernment share (the balance to him being often small enough), and the zanundar [1 to account to Government for the whole of his receipts, getting back only such ovvance as the State made him to keep up his office, &c., and to remunerate him ■ his trouble. Whatever he made for himself was derived from revenue-free land, nt held as “ nankir,” or from the levy of cesses. In time, it is true, he came to something very like rent. When the later Native rulers contracted with the nfndar for a fixed sum, this was soon to be regarded as something apart from the ;al rents paid in by the raiyats. In the same way our system almost inevitably ided to regard the zaramdar’s jama’ in the same light, and gradually provided Ian s • the recovery of the raiyats’ payments as “ rent ” and for their enhancement ider certain circumstances. M 178 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. This tenth, together with the sair income and what they could make by extending cultivation and improving existing farms, was the profit which constituted the value of the proprietary title. § 14 .—The Settlement Rules. The settlement rules of 1789-93 laid down for Bengal, Bihar, and for Orissa (as it then was) separate principles of assessment. In Bengal and Orissa, the actual revenue of the preceding year, or some year nearly preceding (which was to be compared with the accounts, and tested by the information which the Collector had acquired), was to furnish the standard of assessment. In Bihar, the standard wasr to be the average produce of land in any ordinary year, which would give a fair and equitable assessment. If any land had paid a fixed revenue for twelve years past, that was to be accepted as the settlement rate. With the single exception, then, of Bihar, where in many cases former accounts were not forthcoming, and where consequently an estimate of the produce of an ordinary year had of necessity to be made, there was nothing required as the basis of assessment, but a reference to old accounts, with such consolidation and checking of separate items and abolition of objectionable ones, as the declared principles of Government rendered necessary 3 . § 15 .—Lalchiraj lands. Connected with the subject of the settlement must be mentioned the action taken with respect to “ lakhiraj,” or revenue-free lands. At all times grants of this kind had been made, chiefly either for charitable and religious purposes, or as rewards, or to enable the 3 In the Introduction I mentioned that many of the Collectors and those on the Board who knew actual revenue work, felt how very unsatisfactory such an assessment was ; and while all were willing enough to have it tried for ten years on the original order, they were aghast at the idea of making such an assessment permanent. Lord Cornwallis, however, miuuted against Mr. Shore (the ablest of the advocates for a ten years’ trial before further action) and insisted on declaring the “ land-tax ”—as he considered it no doubt—permanent. (Regulation I, 1793, section 2.) THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 179 grantee to keep up a military force to aid the sovereign. The nature of such grants I shall further detail when I come to describe the land tenures of Bengal. The number and extent of them came to be very greatly increased in later days, when bad govern¬ ment brought at once extravagant expenditure and a diminished revenue. Then it was that the ruler, being unable to pay cash salaries, began to remunerate his zammdars and other officials by grants of land called “ nankar,” or land to get one’s bread by, and “ chakaran,” or land for support and payment of servants (chakar). Revenue-free grants also were made, not as they ought to be, always by the supreme ruler, or at least by his great provincial Subadar or Deputy, but by all sorts of unauthorised subordi¬ nates. And this state of disorder tended more and more to diminish „ the revenue, since a zammdar would soon show, under one pretence or another, that d! portion of his laud was exempt from payment. Some he would declare was his own land—“nij-jot;” some was his nankar, or allowance for service; more was “ khamar,” or waste which he had cultivated; some was granted revenue-free to some one whom he had no control over ; some was free for support of police posts or “ thanassome was charged with pensions which he had to pay. All these matters our Collectors had to enquire into and put straight. The zammdar was relieved of the respon¬ sibility of paying pensions and supporting the police posts 4 , but the lauds said to be free for such purposes were assented and the assessment added to4iis jama’. The zammdar was next allowed his own nankar, nij-jot and khamar lands revenue-free, when he could prove a reasonable title to them, going back to before 1765 (the year of the commence¬ ment of the Company’s rule by grant of the Emperor), and could show continuous possession. 4 Thauadari lands were resumed and assessed (see Regulation XXII of 1793, section 3); “ cliakarau lands,” for the support of villaye watch, were left in the estates and no extra assessment charged (Regulation VIII of 1793, section 41) 180 LAND REVENGE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 16 .—Resumption of invalid grants. As regards the general question of assignments of the revenui or grants excusing the payment of revenue by certain persons i possession of the land, these were to he examined into and resume or held valid, according to certain rules which were first containc in Regulations XIX and XXXYII of 1793. But these ruh failed completely, and in 1819 a new Regulation was passed I provide for the more effective investigation of the subject. Thi however, succeeded no better, and lastly, in 1828, a Regulatic for the appointment of Special Commissioners was passed. Eve this plan seems not to have been very successful 5 , and the Con > missioners were at length abolished in 1846, since which time tl special enquiry has been practically given up. Of course any grat appearing at a later time could always be called in question if appeared invalid under the law. Wh§n these grants were found to have been made by tl royal power they were called “ badsliahi ; 11 when made by suborn! nate officials, they were cftlled “ bukaim.” As might be expected many of the latter were made without any proper authority, In still the British Government desired to deal very liberally wit persons who had really been long in the enjoyment of such grant Speaking generally, all grants (by whatever authority) mai previous to 12th August 1765 (date of the Dfwani), if accompanu by bond fide possession, were recognised as valid, and all of lat date, if iSade without proper authority, were (with some fe reservations) declared invalid °. • But it was determined that when the grant did not exceed 1( bighas, its resumption and assessment were to benefit tbe propriet 5 There are of course a large number of intermediate Regulations modifyi the original orders, and introducing new provisions ; but I do not think it necessa ■ that the student should be troubled with them. e Markby : Lectures on Indian Law, page 3. There were rules which allowed or a partial resumption, i.e., did not entirely take away the privilege, nor yet entire excuse payment, but allowed a light assessment on grants made after 1765, b before the Company assumed the actual management in 1772. I do not propose go into so much detail. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 181 the zaimndar of the estate within whose limits the land lay, and >t increase the Government revenue. Only when it exceeded )0 high as, was there to be an increase to the jama', in which case e revenue was to be settled in perpetuity 7 . The land might or ight not belong to the zarmndar within whose estate it lay. The ger grants were probably held by grantees other tha'n the zamin- r, and then they became separate or independent taluqs with their ?n revenue assessment. Revenue due on invalid grants of less than 100 bighas was 3 just observed) for the benefit of the zamiudar to whose estate ey belonged, and such lands became “ dependent ” taluqs. As e zamiudar was thus directly interested in “ resuming ” or arging “rent" on the smaller plots, at first the law left the itter entirely in his hands, and he might resume without refer¬ ee to any Court or Revenue authority. Not only so, but the miee bad to prove his non-liability to pay, in case he disputed the ;umption. At first the zaraindars, restrained some by popular ling against resumptions,*did not use the power, but after a ae, and especially in certain districts, they began to do so ; it s then necessary to alter the law; and now every such resurnp- n must be by decree of Civil Court. § 17 .—Original design of Land Registration. It will next be asked, what attempt was made to prepare regis- s of estates and records of other rights under the. Permanent Ltlement ? This subject does not seem to have attracted much attention the time. As there was no survey or demarcation of estates, the y thing that could be done was to prepare a descriptive register >wing uames of the estates and the villages, and the local sub- isious of land included in it. But the first rules for such a ■istration, were both imperfect and impracticable. They were - Regulation XIX of 1793, sections 6-8; and Regulation XXXVII of 1793, ions 0-8. 182 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. never carried out, and there is no occasion therefore to go int detail on the subject 8 . It was only intended to show the estateso separate revenue-paying proprietors and the detail of the village or groups of villages forming whole parganas in them. Often tli estates had outlying portions, some even in other districts—thes portions are spoken of as “ qismatiya ” villages 9 . § 18.— Registration of Under-tenures. No registration of under-tenures, or record of the nature an extent of the rights in them, was made. The full consideration of these “ under-tenures ” belongs t another chapter; but a few lines introduced here, may make wha follows more intelligible. If no zammdars had ever existed o grown into power, the original holders of land in the village would, in the nature of things, have been the “ proprietors.” Bu the zamindar coming in as a superior, all of them sunk to ai inferior position, but not all in equal grade : for those who wer the original hereditary possessors of land sometimes were stron< enough to secure their position by getting a grant of their lau> in taluq, or by a permanent lease with or without fixity of rent others who did not gain these advantages would still be entitled b; 8 I do not mean by the failure of the early records, to imply that the authoi of the permanent settlement purposely avoided a record. On the contrary,- “The original intention,” says Sir G. Campbell, “of the framers of the permf nent settlement was to record all rights. The kanuugos and patwaris were t register all holdings, all transfers, all rent-rolls, and all receipts and payments, an every five years there was to be filed in the public offices a complete register of a land tenures. But the task was a difficult one : there was delay in carrying it ou English ideas of the rights of a landlord and of the advantage of non-iuterferen( began more and more to prevail in Bengal. The Executive more and moi abnegated the functions of recording rights and protecting the inferior holders, an left everything to the judicial tribunals. The patwaris fell into disuse, or becan the mere servants of the zamindars : the kanungos were abolished. No record' the rights of the raiyats and inferior holders was ever made; and even tl quinquennial register of superior rights which was maintained for a time fc into disuse.”—(Sir G. Campbell’s Land Systems of India. Cobden Club Paper ’ p. 148.) 9 “ Qismat,” a part or portion separated off. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 183 ie voice of custom (which even the zamindar could not wholly jnore) to be hereditary tenants, and to pay only customary rent.. The Settlement Regulation, however, though by no means ig- oring such rights or wishing to destroy them, thought it enough ) determine, in the case of the estates called “ taluqs/ J whether ley were to he separated as distinct proprietary estates, or left as nder-tenures subordinate to the zamindar. If the latter, the lw secured the terms of the tenure to the holder. In the same ay long leases, either perpetual (istimraii) or at a fixed rental nuqarrari), were protected from alteration. All other lands were ) he “let” (under prescribed restrictions—which were soon amoved—as to form of lease and length of its duration) in whatever manner the zamindar might think proper; only the amindar was required (1) to make the terms definite ; (2) to evise the existing accounts which caused the raiyat to pay both is “asl” and extras or abwab, and consolidate the rent into one imp sum ; and (3) to charge no new cesses 10 . Ancieut or hereditary raiyats were protected in paying only' tthe established or customary rates; and even when the estate was fid for arrears of revenue (which cancelled all under-tenures and listing contracts), the resident or hereditary raiyats were still rotected, and could not be ejected unless they refused to take 'om the purchaser a patta at the established rates. The want of roper authoritative registers of such tenures and their holders long rntinued; and it is only of late years that the registration has een put on a better footing. A notice of the present practice, owever, belongs to a later stage of our study. 10 At first an attempt was made to compel the grant of pattas in a particular rui, but this was given up. The raiyats did not understand the pattas as any protec- on, but rather regarded them as instruments of exaction, siuce few could read and rite, and so they were afraid of being made to sign for more than they thought lat they, by custom, ought to pay. Afterwards, wheu the people became more ad- mccd, the value of the written “pottah” as a protection became more appreciated, y the modern law (see Bengal Act VIII of 1869, section 2) every raiyat is entitled > a lease, showing exactly his land and its boundaries, the rent he is to pay, and all irticulars, so that there can be no mistake nor exaction of any payment above ie agreed rent, unless the raiyat through ignorance or fear chooses to make it. 1S4 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 19 .—Results of the Permanent Settlement. The results of the permanent settlement were far other than was expected. There can be no doubt that at first the revenue levied from the zamfudars and others made proprietors was heavy ; but as the effects j of British peace and security made themselves felt, and as the value of laud and its produce rose, and waste lands were brought undem the plough, the assessments became proportionately lighter and lighter 1 2 . And it must be borne in-mind that every estate at the time of its original assessment contained considerable, often very large, areas of culturable waste; aud as this was entirely un¬ assessed, all extensions of cultivation were the clear profit of the zamindar 3 . Before, however, these changes began to tell, the assessments, though not excessive, were heavy enough to necessitate diligence and prudence ; and the zamindars were not able at once to keep pace with the inflexible demand. In return for the benefits it conferred, the Government required punctual payment and no remissions. The zamindars were, moreover, unprovided by law with the means of enforcing from the “ raiyats ” the payments that were due by them, with the same rigid punctuality. The consequence was a very widespread default. At that time the law stood only to enforce a sale of the estate (or part of it), directly the zamindar was in arrears, and it followed that large numbers of estates were put up to sale. 1 The revenue assessed in 1790-93 was about 3 millions of pounds, and the zamindars were estimated to get as their refit a sum equal to about a tenth of tlu assessment. They no doubt got more,- but even if we say a fifth, instead of a tenth, the rental would be under a million, whereas at the present day the net rental taken by the permanent settlement holders is over 13 millions, and the revenue they pay is 3£ millions, the original assessment being increased (but only slightly) by the effect of assessment of resumed lands, unassessed waste, and so forth, in the course of nearly a century. 2 Government no doubt afterwards resumed and assessed separately, some large areas of waste, but it was waste improperly or fraudulently annexed to the estate. Many, if not most, estates had a great deal of waste which was confessedly include ' ill their boundaries. THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 185 “In 1796-97,” says the late Mr. J. Macneile 3 , “lands bearing a >tal revenue of Sicca 4 Rupees 14,18,756, were sold for arrears, and i 1797-98 the jama’ of lands so sold amounted to Sicca Rupees 2,74,076. By the end of the century, the greater portions of le estates of the Nadiya, Rajshahi, Bishnpur and Dinajpur Rajas id been alienated. The Bardwan estate was seriously crippled, ul the Birbhtim zamfndarx completely ruined. A host of smaller imindans shared the same fate. In fact, it is scarcely too much i say that within the ten years that immediately followed the jrmanent settlement, a complete revolution took place in the institution aud ownership of tke estates which formed the subject f that settlement.” In 1799 the Legislature invested the zamfndars with a better Dwer of recovering “ rents ” from their raiyats ; and tliencefor- ard the Government revenues were collected with greater ise. One effect of the “ Sale Law ” was to reduce very greatly le size of the zammdaris, for often they were sold piecemeal, he making into separate estates of taluqs, the owners of which stahlished a claim to be dealt with separately from the imfndars, and the effect of partitions, has also tended to the mie result: but this, as already remarked, was put a stop to iu SOI 5 . In Bengal proper more than 89 per cent, of the estates are aw under 500 acres; about 10 percent, are between 500 and 0,000 acres, and less than 1 per cent, are of 20,000 acres and awards. In Chittagong, however, the estates were always small, id in Bihar there never were any very large zammdaris. 3 Memorandum on the Revenue Administration of the Lower Provinces of engal (Calcutta, 1873), page 9. 4 The “ sikka” was the first rupee struck (in 1773) by the Company at Miir- Idabad, but still bearing the name of the Mughal Emperor Shah ’Alum. It intnined nearly 11 grains (Troy) more pure silver than the “ Company’s rupee” troduccd in 1835. See Regulation I of 1801 ami Regulation VI of 1S07. 186 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 20 .—Districts affected by the Permanent Settlement. The permanent settlement extended over the following districts in Bengal, as the districts are now constituted :— I Bavdwan. Bankuva. Birbhum. Hugif. Howrah. 24-Pergunnahs. Jasur (Jessore). r Patna. Bihar . < Gaya. ( Skahabad. Nadiyd. Murshfdabad. Dinajpur. Malda. Rajsliahi. Rangpur. Bagura (Bogra). Muzaffarpur. Darbhanga. (These two form the old Tirhut District.) Saran. Champaran. Pabua. Maimansingh. Parfdpur. Bakirganj. Chittagong. Noakhali. Tipperali (Tipra). Dakha (Dacca). Purniya (Purneah). Bhagalpur. Muuger (Monghyr). Sontaiia. —Part of the Sontal Parganas adjoining the Regulation Districts. Orissa j Meduipur (Midnapore) except one or two parganas which were settle! along with Katak (Cuttack), i Some estates in the Maubhum, Singbhum, Lohardagga, anc Hazaribagh districts (now in the Chutiya Nagpur Division) camt under permanent settlement, because they were then in collectorates •; which formed part of the Bengal or Bihar of that date. Part of the Jalpaiguri district also was permanently settled, under the same circumstances. A portion of Sylhet was permanently settled } butthe settlemenl did not extend to Jaintiya, nor did it touch anything but the lands under cultivation at the time. This district will be alluded tc under the head of Assam, in which Province it is now included. Part of Goalpara (also in Assam) was included in the permanenl settlement 0 . 0 The results of the settlement, and the condition of the tenants under it, botl in Bihar and Bengal, as questions of social economy, are well stated in Mr. Cunning¬ ham’s “British India and its Rulers” (page 166 et seq.) Such questions, interesting as they are, are evidently outside the scope of a Bevenue Manual. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 187 CHAPTER II. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. Section I.— The estates liable to temporary settlement. § 1 .—Districts not permanently settled. The list of districts with which I closed the last chapter shows that some parts of the Bengal Lieutenant-Governorship, as at pre¬ sent constituted, did not come under permanent settlement. The exceptions are (1) districts which are not in a condition to be brought under any formulated revenue system ; they are possessed by Native Chiefs under political superintendence; they pay a sort of fixed revenue or tribute to Government, and manage the details of the “rents” or revenues of their own subjects without direct intervention of any British revenue law. Such are the mountainous oortions of the Tipperah and Chittagong districts, called Hill Tip- perah (belonging to the Maharaja of Tipperah), and the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. Such also are some of the Chiefships under old South-West Frontier Agency in the Chota (or Chutiya) Nagpur Division, and the Orissa Tributary Mahals. With these this Manual is not concerned. The districts with which we are concerned may be grouped as follows : — (2) There are certain estates, situated in the midst of districts permanently settled as a whole, which come under tempo¬ rary settlement. (3) There are the districts of the Katak province (Katak, Balasur and Puri) temporarily settled. In both (2) and (3) the settlement law is Regulation VII of 1822. (4) There are certain districts, such as Darjiling, the Western Du&rs (in the Jalpaiguri district), a portion of the Sontal 183 LAND -REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. tal Parganas, and certain districts in the Chutiya Nagpur Division, in which the settlement arrangements are of a special character. I shall therefore proceed first to explain how it is that estates under temporary settlement are found in the midst of permanently settled districts; I shall next (after some remarks on the’Orissa temporary settlements) describe the procedure of a temporary set- tlement; and lastly I shall devote a section to the notice of the fourth class, the specially settled districts. § 2.—Lands not included in the 'permanently settled estates. A large class of estates temporarily settled is represented by the lands which were found not to belong really to, or to be included in, the permanently settled estates, but to have been at the time of settlement unpossessed itself. I have mentioned that there was no survey or demarcation; hence the exact limits of a zammdari could not in all cases be accurately known. In fully-settled parts of the country, where the limits of one estate touched the limits of the neighbouring ones, there was perhaps no room for doubt. But in many it was not so ; large tracts of culturable but not occupied waste adjoined, and the question arose, how much of this waste is really part of the estate? All that the Collector had to guide him was a written description of the lands, often in the vaguest terms. The estate extended on the north “ in the direction” of such and such a town or road, miles off perhaps^ It was bordered on the south by the “ field where the red cow grazed,” or some other detail no more promising. It was always intended that every acre, really forming part of the estate in 1793, should come under the (ecjis of the settlement; such waste might be brought under the plough for the sole benefit of the proprietor, no increased assess¬ ment being demanded. This was one of the means by which the estate, it was hoped, would become profitable. But it was never iutcnded that the estate-holders should encroach beyond their real limits, and annex, to their own benefit, large areas of laud, which properly belonged to the State. The second Regula- THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 189 tion of 1819, therefore, declared tliafc such excess was liable to xssessraent.. It instanced, as land liable to such assessment, islands Hid alluvial accretions formed since the permanent settlement ; lands cultivated in the Sundarbans *(the tract of alluvial land in¬ tersected with creeks between the mouth of the Hdglf on the west nul the Megna river on the east 1 ) ; and certain waste plots given >ut under lease, within the actual limits of permanently settled fcaluqs, but expressly excluded by terms of the patta or lease from the operation of the settlement. But this Regulation did not say anything about the ownership of the land, only about its being assessed. Some would naturally belong to Government, e.g ., al- uvial lands and islands not forming part of estates ; but otherwise t was not the intention of the Regulation to eject or disturb the possession of the occupiers when that was a settled thing, but simply to secure the Government revenue. Indeed, Mr. Macueile says 2 that when the occupants of such lands refused the terms of settlement they were allowed “malikana, ” which shows they were considered owners. Such lands are called “ taufir,” or “excess” over and above what was originally included in the settlement. At first it does not seem that any great care was taken about such cases. If there was any show of possession, the proprietorship was allowed, and the land was assessed. Under the Regulation of 1793 the assessment was permanent 3 whenever Government transferred 3 And forming the southern or delta portion of the districts of the 24-Pergun. nnhs, Jessore and Bakirganj. 2 Memorandum, section 167. Regulation 1II of 1828, however (though passed primarily to legalise the appointment of Commissioners to settle cases of invalid tenure), alludes to the case of unoccupied lands, and removes any possible doubt about their being State property. Indeed, in one place the Regulation goes beyond this, since it declares the Sundarbans to be State property, although parts of it had been occupied before 1819. The Regulation was not apparently acted on before a consider¬ able area of the lands alluded to in the Regulation of 1819 had been allowed the benefit of a permanent settlement. Such lands are chiefly on the high ground on the northern limits of the Sundarbans, and represent encroachments from the regularly settled estates beyond. 3 Regulation I of 1793, section 6. And so when a zamhular’s land was ‘re¬ sumed’ as being claimed under a grant which proved invalid, the laud was settled I permanently. 190 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. or absolutely gave up the proprietorship. But in cases where there was no show of proprietorship, the land remained in the hands of Government, and might he leased on special terms, or reserved for subsequent use or disposal as the case might he. A few years later (1828) the subject was more fully entered into, and then the right of Government to all unowned lands was distinctly asserted ; and as in the course of the years between 1819 and 1828 the temporary settled Regulations had been passed, the settlement of all unowned or unauthorisedly occupied land was temporary, as long as Government retained the proprietary right in it. § 3.— Other lands lialle to settlement. Then, again, there may be lands forfeited for crime, or escheated owing to failure of heirs. In these cases the estates become the property of Government, and require to be settled. So also when estates (whether permanently settled or not) are sold for arrears of revenue, and no one bidding, Government buys them in; all previous arrangements become cancelled, and such estates when re-settled, come under temporary settlement with farmers or others as tenants of Government, the proprietary right accruing to Government. If Government parted with the right, it would be bound to give a permanent settlement, as section 6 of Regulation I of 1793, above alluded to, is still in force 4 . So also with alluvial lands that are liable to assessment as accretions to estates. These may be private property liable to assessment, or (under the operation of the Alluvion law) be Govern¬ ment property 5 if they form against estates which belong to Government. 4 This was recognised when the Government of India put a stop to Sir G. Camp¬ bell’s sales of proprietary right on a temporary settlement (which was illegal) See Board’s Rules, Vol. I., Chap. Ill, section II, art. V. 6 1 shall not in this Manual attempt to go into detail on the subject. The Settle¬ ment Manual of 1879 (section XII) gives much information which may he referred to. The assessment of alluvion is dependent on a survey (which is not made ofteuer than once in ten years—see Act IX of 1847) of lands liable to river action. There are special rules for these dearah surveys as they are called (diyara = island). Land that re-forms on the site of laud which was once permanently settled is not liable to THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 191 This sufficiently explains, if it does not exhaust, the kinds of states that may come up for settlement even within the districts fleeted by the permanent settlement. It may he added that, hough the labour involved in these temporary settlements is con- derable, the area under them yields only about 8 per cent, of the )tal land revenue °. Of these lands I have before observed that some of them may e private property subject to Government assessment, and some are lovernment property. But all the lands are equally brought uu- er settlement operations 7 . § 4.— Districts illustrating the foregoing remarlcs: — Chittagong . Before I pass on to describe the rules of the temporary settle- ent, I may take occasion briefly to describe two districts which lustrate forcibly the effects of the Regulations of 1819 and 1828 yarding the right to assess (and under the latter to claim also) he lands not included in the estates permanently settled. Chittagong 8 is one of the eastern districts of Bengal’between he sea-coast and the hills which separate Bengal from Burma, 'he soil is rich, but in 1793 a large portion was, as might be ex- ected, still covered with luxuriant and tangled jungle, the clearances eing chiefly in the level plains suited for rice-lands. There had ^-settlement. But new land added is a new estate in fact ; it may be either ■tiled as such apart from the old estate, or may, with the consent of the Collector, 3 incorporated with the parent estate. Act XXXI of 1858 regulates settlements of luvial accretions to estates. 0 Macneile’s Memorandum, section 23. • * An example from actual fact will illustrate these remarks and show how the ads of a district may, far revenue purposes, come under various categories. In the ipperah district the estates are classified as follows (Statistical Account, Bengal, ol. VI, pages 400-40) :— No. of estates. (1) Permanently settled estates (of 1793). 1,202 (2) Resumed lakhiraj ( do. ).98 (3) Islands, &c , settled under Regulation II of 1819 . . . 103 (4) Estates sold out and permanently settled (Regulation VIII of 1793, section‘6).. (5) Taluqs and ijaras temporarily settled.241 8 Properly Chattagraofi. 192 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. been no natural opportunity, save in exceptional cases, for tli growth of large zamindari estates. The different settlers forme groups or companies, aud each cleared one plot here and on there. The leader of the company was therefore looked on as tli superior owner of the whole of the plots. The group, which was b no means always contiguous, was called a “ taraf f and the perso who was at the head (or his descendant) was called “ tarafdar. Such settlers were called on by the Muhammadan conqueror fc help and feudal service, and were recognised as jagir grantees c the land by stated area. So also tarafs were founded by the militar force sent to defend the province, and these tarafs were also held i jagir in lieu of pay. The consequence was, as early as 1764, all th occupied lands (which alone came under settlement) having bee: granted by area, had been actually measured 9 . The permanen settlement then extended only to the measured lands as they stoo, in 1764. All land cultivated subsequent to that, is locally spoken of a “ noabad” (uau-abad = newly cultivated). And the ways in wliicl this nau-abad came to be cultivated were various. Under Regula tion III of 1828, such cultivators would have no title whetever but this was not at first looked to : assessment was the first object In the first place the “tarafdars ” began to encroach on the wast all round and extend their cultivation without authority. This lei I to repeated re-measurements on the part of the authorities, and t a great deal of oppression and bribery, owing to the action cr informers and others who threatened to inform regarding th encroachments, if not paid to keep silence. A great number of otlie persons, mere squatters, also cultivated lands. § 5.— The Noabad Taluqs. All the “nauabad ” lands could claim nothing but a temporal' settlement. It happened, however, that one of the old estate-holder laid claim by virtue of a sanad, which afterwards proved to b o See Chapter III, on Tenures, for some further remarks on the “ taraf. ” See jalsj Cotton’s Memorandum on Itevenuo Administration of Chittagong (1880), pages i 8 , 10 . THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 193 rged, to have had all the waste in the district granted to him 1797. An immense correspondence, ending in a lawsuit, followed, id lasted for nearly forty years 10 . The result was that Government covered its right, but had to allow the zamiudar so much land as ally belonged to his original estate. This could not be found out ithout a survey, and the opportunity was taken to survey the whole strict, with a view to the proper separation of the old permanently ttled lands of 1764 from the nauabad lands. The process took seven ars to complete (from 1841-48), and the settlement was made by r H. Ricketts. All the “ nauabad ” lauds were surveyed, whether Id by squatters or taken by encroachment by the original tarafdars; .teach plot separately occupied was, as a rule, formed into a sepa- ;e taluq, though some few were aggregated: 32,258 little estates ire thus formed. A small number (861) of these, that paid Rs. 50 venue and upwards, were placed directly under the Collector, and :e host of smaller ones were grouped into 196 blocks, each of iiich was at first given out to a “ circle farmer ” to be responsible :■ collecting the revenue. The system was afterwards abandoned favour of khas management by aid of local Revenue Officers. Nor was this the only trouble in Chittagong. The invalid venue-free grants, to which I have already alluded as liable ; resumption and assessment, were peculiarly numerous and intri- ve; even after relinquishing all cases in which the holding did ^ exceed 10 bighas, there were still 36,683 petty estates sepa- ' ely settled. Many of these had to be permanently settled under ' : law alluded to previously (see page 192). There were also a large 1 Tiber of small grants or leases made by the revenue authorities il called clearing or “ jangalburi ” leases 1 . Thus, the Chittagong district consists of a mosaic of petty !;%tes; here a plot of old permanently settled land, next a jaugal- 0 When the fraud was discovered Government dispossessed him of the whole, r iout discriminating those lands to which he had a just title, from those fraudu- f ly obtained. The Sudder Court decreed in his favour for the original estate, but P; Government the rest. (Macneile’s Memorandum, Chapter IV.) i There were 1,290 of them, of which 1,002, settled originally for 25 years, gave 'i Rs. 2,475 revenue between them ! N 194 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, buii plot, then a recovered and assessed encroachment, next a squatter’s noabad taluq, next a resumed lakhfraj holding; and in all or some of them, the proprietary light may be very different. And, then, the question arose, what sort of title was to be con- ceded to the people who held these nau&bad taluqs and had been set tied with ? Various plans were proposed ; at one time a permanenl settlement was offered, but under such conditions that only a very few taluqdars accepted it. Afterwards this was completely aban doned. The exact position of a nauabad taluqdar long remainec doubtful. But it has now been settled by an order of Government, t< be that of a tenure-holder in an estate the property of Government The holder is entitled to retain possession on the terms of his presen lease (of 25 or 50 years), and on the conditions of the existing settle ment. On the expiry of the current settlement, he will be entitle; to continue, if he accepts the terms of the re-settlement. If h does not, he forfeits all right to the'tenure. The temporary settlement of 1848 was made for 50 years in tli case of those taluqs which had their cultivation pretty full- developed, but for 25 only in tkejangalburi taluqs where much Ian was still waste. These latter are accordingly now under settlemeut ! The case of Chittagong is so curious that I feel sure the reade will hardly regret the time spent in studying it. § 6.— Case of the Sundarhans. I must briefly allude also to the Sundarhans, because the Fores • Officer has an interest in these tracts; and they again illustrate tli case of lands which are not covered by the permanent settlement. The estates, that were originally either encroachments by th zamindars of the neighbouring settled districts, or were brougli under cultivation by permission in early days, as “patitabadi - taluqs, are found on the higher parts of the delta, i.e., alon 2 The work began in 1875-76 ; by 1879, 458,540 acres bad been surveyed, leaviu 189,168 acres still to be done 435 taluqs or estates bad been assessed at rates averagin 2-6-10 per acre (Stack’s Memorandum). THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 195 its northern limit; these were held to come under Regulation II of 1819, and were permanently settled with the zamindars of the adjoining districts. All other squatters, however, would, under the Regulation III of 1828, have no title whatever, even though settled with for revenue. That this is so in principle there can be no doubt; indeed, it has been so decided by the High Court and by the old Sadr Dfwani Adalat; but, practically, the orders that were passed respecting the settlements of the several blocks of cultivated land must be looked to in each case, since these may contain admissions or recognitions of title, modifying the principle, and which it would be inequitable to ignore. Lastly, there have been from time to time rules for disposal of the waste ; and though none have been very successful, still a considerable number of private estates have grown up under them. There still remain large areas covered with peculiar and charac¬ teristic tree growth, from which forest estates have been selected for preservation. § 7.— Waste Zand Rules. It should be here stated that when plots of land still waste are, under the modern “ Waste Land Rules ,” given out to lessees, they are not settled under the Settlement rules, but are specially provided for by the terms of the grant. § 8 .—Statistics of temporary and permanently settled estates. The following figures will give a good idea of how the lands of Bengal are distributed, as regards their forming estates perma¬ nently settled, or temporarily settled. They are taken from the Board’s Revenue Report of 1879-80. The four classes will he easily intelligible to the reader. The 3rd class indicates estates where the proprietary right is vested in Government, though the position of the “ tenaut ” under Government, is, to all practical intents, almost as good as that of a proprietor of his holding. In the few estates called 196 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ Kaiyatw&rf 11 tlie individual holders are recognised as separately assessed “ occupants” or owners of their holding just as people are in Bombay or Madras. These estates are very few aud are scattered. Thus 6 are in the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts, 5 in Sarat, 5 in the districts of the Bhagalpur division, and 5 in Lohavdagga and Siugbhum. Class I. Class II. Class III. Class IV. Year. Number of perma¬ nently settled estates. Temporarily settled estates. Government estates. Raiyatwari. 1878-79 . 138,031 7,606 2,573 23 1879-80 . 139,049 7,643 2,618 22 Section II.— The Settlement of Orissa. I have mentioned that this system of settlement has been ap¬ plied to the whole of the districts in Orissa, called Balasur, Katak (Cuttack) and Puri. •In 1803 Lord Wellesley conquered these districts from the Marathas, and the country consists of two main portions—(1) that along the coast formerly known as the “ Mughalbandi,” compris¬ ing the districts of Balasdr, Katak (certain parganas in the Medni- pur district were also settled along with it) and Puri; (2) the hilly tract further inland forming the “ Tributary malialsthis was formerly called the “Kajwara” and was held by chiefs called “Kbandaits.” The territory of each chief is called his “ qila' * I * 3 .” The Marathas settled with them for a fixed quit-rent or tribute called “ tanki.” On first coming into our possession there was a distinction made between the Khandaits on the east, i.e., nearer the coast districts, and those further inland and in the hills ; the latter were, and still are, left as semi-independent chiefships, paying a fixed tribute; but 3 Lit. “ a fort,” a name significant of the nature of the territory. The chief iu fact held as much as he could protect and shelter from the walls of his fort; that at least is the idea involved iu the term. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 197 fifty of the qila’s nearer the level country were at first assessed at full rates and treated as ordinary zamlndari estates. The first settlement was made in 1804, and was legalised by Regulation XII of 1805. Under this the rights of the “ qila’dars ” were defined, with this result, that all but eleven were left in a state of semi-independence, under a Superintendent, were exempted from the Regulation law, and were liable to pay only a fixed tribute, while the eleven qila’s were incorporated with the districts, but allowed a fixed revenue not liable to increase. Two other estates of this kind were afterwards allowed a permanent settlement. One of these estates, Khurda, became a Government estate in 1804, having been forfeited for rebellion. It was formerly settled 4 , under the procedure I have just described, with the raiyats; the revenue is collected by sarbarakars, who receive a commission of about 20 per cent, in cash or land on the revenue of a mauza or village. The existing settlement is only an improved form of the old one. The system is virtually raiyatwari. Holdings are separately assessed 6 (Government rent being calculated at the value of one-fourth the average gross produce). Sarbarakars are also employed. Thus we have in Orissa— Called 1 “ Peskash ” (1) Semi-independent tributary mahals Mahals. / /(2) Twelve (formerly thirteen) mahals of the same kind. i (3) Ordinary village estates (temporarily settled). \ Khurda estate, formerly under No. 2... ( Not under Regulation .law, and pay tribute only. ( Under Regulation law, but permanently set¬ tled. ( Regulation law; settled now under Regula¬ tion YII of 1822. ( Government estate settled with the raiyats. * The first settlement was in October 1836. This lasted till 1856, when it was revised. This settlement expired in September 1880. s There are two small tracts, Angul and Bauki, which were included in the list )f Scheduled Districts and exceptionally managed. But recently the mahdl of Bauki bas been taken off the list and now forms part of the Puri district. 198 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Coming now to the ordinary village settlements, those made under Regulation XII were not very successful; it was designed that short settlements should go on for 11 years, after which, on certain conditions being fulfilled, a permanent settlement would he granted. These terms were held not to have been fulfilled, and six more short settlements followed. In 1817 a special enquiry was ordered. Meanwhile certain other provinces in the North- West had been acquired, and the Regulation VII of 1822 was passed both for the settlement of these and of the Orissa provinces. It was not, however, till 1838 that a regular settlement was made under Regulation VII. The work was rendered difficult by the immense number of revenue-free holdings that had to he enquired into. But the settlement when completed worked well, and when its term was about to expire (in 1867), it was thought desirable to continue it for 30 years more; Bengal Act X of 1867 was passed to give effect to this purpose. The Regulation YII of 1822 still governs all ordinary non-perma¬ nent settlements in Bengal, and has formed the basis of the Land Revenue Acts in Northern India and the Central Provinces. The history of this Regulation, as remedying the defects of the perma¬ nent settlement, has been sufficiently indicated in the introductory sketch, Chapter IV of Book I. The principles and practice now prescribed were so superior to anything that had been previously devised, that Regulation IX of 1825 soon followed, extending the same procedure to the other districts not yet provided with any special settlement law. Section III.— Procedure of temporary settlement. § 1 .-—Regulation YII of 1822 ; its salieut features. The settlements that are now made for terms of years only, may then he grouped in two classes :— (a) Settlements of particular estates and lands in districts otherwise permanently settled. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 199 (i h ) Settlements in districts which never came under perma¬ nent settlement ( e.g ., the districts of Katak, Plan, and Balasur). These settlements are under the Regulation YII of 1822 and amending laws of later date. This Regulation was originally passed for the settlement of the Katak Province, but was in 1825 (by Regulation IX) made of general application. Bengal Act VIII of 1879 has also defined the powers of Settlement Officers as regards settling the rents of occupancy-raiyats. The distinguishing features of this Regulation are that it requires an enquiry at settlement into all classes of rights, and gives “ public faith ” to the record of rights so prepared, till such record is proved to be wrong, in a regular suit. It also bases the assessment on an enquiry into the real value of the land and its pro¬ duce, and does not leave it to he a mere question of what was entered in the old native accounts, or what practically had been collected in former years. At first, for the purposes of this assessment, an enquiry into the produce of the land was directed, the revenue being calculated at a certain fixed fraction of the net produce valued in money; but this was found to he troublesome and to lead to no good results. Regulation IX of 1833, accordingly, altered the original system in this respect, and also introduced other improve¬ ments in the official machinery of settlement 8 . The rules require small settlements, i.e., of lands not exceeding 2,000 acres, to be made by the district revenue officials. For larger settlements a special staff is allowed 7 . § 2 .—Ascertainment of the lands and survey. Regulation VII does not expressly direct a survey and demar¬ cation of the land under settlement, though it gives power to mea¬ sure the land. But it is almost evident, that no record of rights, s The change effected by Regulation IX of 1S33 as to the method of assessment will be found more fully described in the chapter on North-Western settlements. 7 Bengal Settlement Manual, 1S79, section 5. 200 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. such as the Regulation contemplates, could be made without a sur¬ vey ; accordingly all settlements have been preceded by a survey whether iu Bengal or in the North-West Provinces. The first step is, in cases where the estate to be settled is a small group of lands surrounded by others, to identify the pre¬ cise place; and in any case to get the persons interested to point out the boundaries, for which purpose legal powers of summoning the landholders and others, and examining them, are given to the Collector by law. Boundary disputes are decided on the ground of possession, or are referred to arbitration, just as described more fully in the chapter on North Indian settlements 8 . There are also definite rules for measurement by standard chains or by poles if necessary. The standard Bengal bigha is 14,400 square feet 9 . W T here a large settlement is in hand and a more regular survey is required, then proceedings should be taken under the Bengal Survey Act (Y of 1875). In ordinary surveys, the amin or native surveyor prepares a chitta (khasra), or list of lands, to serve as an index to the map; abstracts showing the holdings of each raiyat grouped together are afterwards made out (this is the khatian or khatiyani) ; also a general abstract or tirij (called sadharan khatian) showing in a convenient form all the particulars of the land arranged together. There are rules for the survey, the method of checking it, the pay of the amins and other particulars, which are given in detail in the Settlement Manual of 1879. At the same time the amin prepares an “ ekwal jamabandi” or roll showing the rents payable by the raiyats, which is of use iu 8 When dealing with an estate liable to he settled, which is surrounded by other estates not so liable, it may become a question which is the exact boundary of the estate to he setfled, and whether such and such land is included in it or not. There are special rules laid down in the Board’s Circulars for dealing with these cases. See Settlement Manual, 1879, sections IX, X. 8 And the bigha is divided into 20 cottas (kattha), the biswa of other parts; the cotta into 20 gandas (the biswansi of other parts) ; the gauda into 4 kauris. The kauri is 9 square feet. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 201 he assessment. He also furnishes a report, called a “ ruidad,” of he land, showing- what is culturable and what excluded, what is ent-free, and so forth—in fact a general description of the estate. § 3 .—Form of assessment in Bengal. The assessment, as described in the Bengal Manual, strikes a eader accustomed to the settlements of Upper India, as somewhat trange. In such a settlement, there is always a proprietary ody or an individual to be settled with ; and the assessment con- ists in ascertaining what are the proprietors* “ assets ** (whether he true rental of his estate, or value of its net produce, as the case aay be), and calculating 50 per cent, on the average ( i.e ., not on he assets of any one year, which may be very good or very bad). ’his fraction is the Government revenue. Here the assessment tops. If the Settlement Officer goes further and settles the dues f under-proprietors, either by record or sub-settlement, or if he uts down the rents which occupancy or other privileged tenants re to pay to the proprietor, that is more properly part of the work f securing rights than of assessment. In Bengal, however, a large proportion of the estates which ome up for settlement for a term, are the property of Government o begin with. Strictly speaking, therefore. Government being proprietor, the evenue is merged in the rent which it takes directly from the people n the land who were either sub-proprietors or tenants under it- tnd the “ assessment** spoken of in the Manual, is the determiu- tion of the rent each of these classes has to pay to Government as ;s landlord. And even where the case of a temporarily settled state, which has a proprietor other than Government, is described 10 , he Settlement Manual does not speak of the Government taking ny fraction or percentage of the “ proprietor’s ” rental or assets; J still speaks, as before, of ascertaining the raiyat’s rents and the nder-proprietor*s rents, and regards the proprietor’s balance or llifh 10 Settlement Manual, 1879, section IX, § 4. 20-2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. profit as a certain deduction from the total rental to be allowed t< the proprietor. This is, however, only a ‘ way of putting 1 2 it: ’—the Settle ment Officer really proceeds much as he does in the North Western Provinces. He first of all ascertains the proper rent which every raiyat should pay on each acre of his holding that i: not expressly rent-free 1 . It is not enough to take as eonclusivi the rents which have been paid, or the rents which neighbourin' raiyats assert they are paying; the Settlement Officer must ascer tain and estimate a true rental, which will hold good on tin average, and not for any particular year, after eliminating 3 al disturbing causes, concealed or under-stated rents, and so forth. There may be cases in which cash rents are not usual, so tha the produce will have to be calculated and valued for the purpose: of 'assessment. There may be cases even where a cash reveuut cannot be collected ; the Government may have to collect rents pay able by the raiyat in grain. However this may be, all particular: must be put down, so as to leave no room for dispute 3 . The rules according to which rents are liable to be raised, and whai rents are paid when there is a tenure-holder (not being a zamfudap over the raiyat, are all to be found in the Settlement Officer's Power; Act (Bengal), VIII of 1879. When the true rents on different classes of soil are ascertained the acreage rates are deduced, and these rates, together with tin classification of soil adopted, have to be reported for sanction 4 1 See the Settlement Officer’s Powers Act (VIII of 1879, Bengal). 2 Some raiyats of course have fixed rents, which are known and cannot he altered Some raiyats also employ labourers under them called “ karfa ” raiyats; the term on which these work are matter of contract; the Settlement Officer has nothing t do with it. 3 Settlement Manual, section V, § 14. 4 The pr-ocess of ascertaining the rents and reporting them, is fully describe: in the chapter which describes the North-Western Provinces, where this system ha received a full development. I do not therefore here go into particulars. In Benga settlements are sanctioned by the Collector, the Commissioner, or the Boar: respectively, according to their magnitude. (Manual, section V, 10.) THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 203 ie assessment is afterwards determined by applying the rates the total acreage of the estate. In the Chutiya Nagpur districts, and exceptionally in other ,rts, the Government does not take a cash rent from each separate iyat, but agrees with some fitting person or under-tenure-holder, a well-to-do raiyat among the others, to be responsible for the hole revenue, and then allows him a deduction for his risk and ouble. § 4.— Under-proprietors. In the same way as the rent t>f each raiyat has to be fixed, i also the “ rents *’ (for so they are still called) of under-proprie- irs on the estate, have to be determined. It has always to be considered whether in fact the existing nder-tenurcs hold good. For example, if the Government have ;quired the estate by buying it at a sale for arrears of revenue, len by the Sale Law the under-tenures may be voidable; and it has > be considered whether it is wise and equitable to exercise the ower. On the other hand, if Government have acquired the state as an escheat, then it is bound by all the tenures that the eceased proprietor was bound by. Care has also to be taken to discriminate tenures that are called ub-proprietary, but ought really to be considered mere tenancies t favourable rents. What the under-proprietor has to pay, is determined very asily. For he is, in fact, an intermediary between the proprietor nd the cultivator, who has the right of intercepting for himself a 'ortion of the gross rental. The total of the rents payable by all he raiyats of the sub-proprietor, are accordingly calculated, and the ub-proprietor who receives them has to account for the total to lovernment or the proprietor—less a certain sum which represents ds own share which varies according to the nature of his tenure. This deduction is always to be at least 10 per cent, on the gross ental. But in every case the circumstauces of the under-tenure 204 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. have to be considered. A deduction of 20 or even 25 per cei. may be necessary. For example, the under-proprietor may ha, another under-proprietor below him, again, before we come to t tenants. Here he may have to allow 10 per cent, to this seco 1 recipient; hence it would be but fair that he should be allow 25 per cent, by the Settlement Officer, since in that case 10 \ cent, would go to the second under-proprietor, 15 per cent, to t first, and the remainder to the superior proprietor. § 5.— With whom the Settlement is made. In estates not belonging to Government, whether resum taufir, to which a title has been established, or a resumed lakhii grant, or any other form of estate in which a proprietor is recoJ nised, the Settlement Officer concludes the engagement with tl actual proprietor 5 . In Government estates the rule is to manage the estate direc the cultivators paying rents to the Government manager or fame Exceptionally, a settlement may be made with certain influenti under-tenure-holders, village • headmen, or leading men among tl raiyats, or, rarely, a proprietor has been found by allowing son one to purchase the right. Very small estates, the jama’ of which is less than one rup< annually, are not settled for; they are sold revenue-free. When the estate is Government property and settled with or or other of the persons above enumerated, the settlement is mac so that he should retain 20 per cent, out of the assessed rents fc his risk and trouble in collecting. This percentage is allowed hot in settlements with a farmer, or in the rarer cases of settlemenl with under-tenants or head raiyats. Proprietors who do not consent to the settlement, and who arj therefore set aside, their estates being settled with some one else * Settlement Manual, section X, and Board’s Rules, Vol. I, Chap. III. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 205 r armed, or held “khas,” are allowed a sum of 10 per cent, on revenue under the title of malikana 0 . § 6 .—Term of Settlement. No settlement is now made in perpetuity, unless, of course, :re is some statutory right in the matter, as in the case of re- ied revenue-free lands in permanently settled estates 7 . It is < laid down generally, that 30 years or any other term of settle- lit is to be fixed, but all temporary settlements of estates the i;ivation in which is fully developed (so that the term may con- fiently be a long one) are directed to be so termed that they \t fall in in successive years in the different divisions, and so rble survey and settlement establishments to be transferred from i to the other. Thus, Orissa settlements will expire in 1897, Chittagong in 18, Bardwan in 1900, and so on. This does not apply to estates ( fully developed, nor to new alluvial lands ; here, from the ;ure of the land, the terms must be shorter and dependent on umstancos 8 . 9 i. e., a payment in consideration of their proprietary character. Malikana Lance often appears also as paid by private persons; for instance, a zamindar ipay a “malikana” to some former dispossessed proprietor. In Bihar malikana s very commonly paid to village owners whose whole rents (all but 10 per cent.) [ Revenue officer or amil carried off. .This will be alluded to further on. It io to an end when the permanent settlement was introduced, and was made with i ictual proprietors. However, in Bihar, a large portion of the land was held by iji'dars or other revenue-free grantees of the former Government, and the same Din was observed; the grantee paid malikana to the original soil proprietors. i u the settlement proceedings found a number of these grants invalid or liable i e resumed and assessed, the grantee was nevertheless admitted to settlement ijtae proprietor; the malikana he paid was added to the assessment, and paid i e present day to the original owners through the Government officers. (Macneile’s ■ orandum, page 98; and Settlement Manual, Appendix B.) A note on this fact by Mr. Shore will be fouud at pages 144-48 of the Tagore Lectures for 15. ■J See Settlement Manual, section XI, and order there quoted.] 8 Id., section IX, § 4. 206 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section VI.— The Record of Rights. , The distinguishing- feature of the Regulation VII is, as I ha' said, that it requires all rights to be enquired into, not only thoi of the owner (who is often represented by Government itself), bi the rights of taluqdars, hawaladars, natnidars, and other “sul proprietors ” (or “ under-tenants, ” as Bengal Act VIII of I8i calls them), and the rights of the raiyats. In Government estates “ pattas ” are always granted to tl raiyats, specifying the terms on which they hold; in other estate the raiyat has his vlvofr legal right to demand a written lease, fro> the superior land-owner 9 ; the Settlement Officer does not issue sue pattas, though he can protect the raiyat by recording the tern of the holding and giving a copy of such record 10 . In the course of the enquiry into rights, the question of tl right to revenue-free holdings has to be gone into. I do not thin it necessary to give details on this subject 1 . Provision in some cases for the village watch (chaukidar) an messenger (bulahir) by grants of land or money 2 . The rights and tenures ascertained in the course of this enquir appear of course in the khatian and tirij already alluded to. do not find, any mention of a general description of village custom rights as to pre-emption, limits on alienation, principles of suceef sion, &c., which are embodied in the North Indian settlements in document called the wajib-ul-’arz, or record of “ facts necessar to be represented.'’'’ This is due to the more or less complete ei tinction of the village system. Section VII.— Settlement Proceedings and Report. The settlement proceedings are closed by a Settlement Repoi 9 Bengal Rent Act (VIII of 1869), section 2 j and so in the old Act X of 1851 10 Regulation VII of 1822, seetion I, clause 9. 1 Settlement Manual, section VII. * Id., section VIII, § 2. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 207 ■scribing the estate, the tenures on it, the facts relating to assess- ent, and so forth. It is accompanied by— (1) An abstract of the amm’s information; the extent in bfghas and acres; extent unassessed; extent of waste ; former revenue and rent-rolls, &c., giving also the de¬ tails as they appear from old cpinungo's records, from former measurement and from the present measurement. (2) Particulars of rent-free lauds. (3) Occupation of lands, showing different classes of soil, rate per bigha and per acre of each sort, the total area and the rent, with a note of additional payments under “ bankar,” “ jalkar,” “ plialkar,” &c. (4) Analysis of revenue assessed ; the assets assumed as basis of settlement, deductions and the net result; also the patwarfs pay and the malikana, if any, which together give the total payable by the settlement-holder. (5) Particulars of “ service-lands ” held by patwaiis, head¬ men, ghatwals, &c. (6) Statement of occupancy rights, showing also area of land cultivated by proprietors, by occupancy tenants, and by other tenants. Settlements are, imder the orders of Government, confirmed by le Collector, the Commissioner, the Board, or the Board with lovernment sanction, respectively, according to their magnitude ad duration 3 . ection VIII. —Certain Districts in which the Settlement is OF A SPECIAL CHARACTER. This section is chiefly intended for the benefit of a forest officer ho may require to know what is the position of the district with jference to settlement in case it is in contemplation to bring any ortion of the forest or jungle land in it under departmental lanagement. 3 The rules me given in cxtenso in the Settlement Manual, section XVI, page 38. 208 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The districts in the Chutiyd Nagpur Division are Hazaribagh, Lohardagga, Singbhum and Manbhum. A portion of all these came under the permanent settlement, because at that time the estates so settled, formed part of the Collectorates or Provinces then ; recognised. § 1.— •Manbhum. The district is for the most part permanently settled. The | lands were originally divided out into villages, each under its own i headman, and then a circle of villages was united into what was '> called a parha, with a “ manki,” or superior headman, over the it whole. The parhas elected again a chief over him, and this chief was settled with and became the “ zamindar ” or proprietor of his chiefship under the permanent settlement. All the waste was, according to the usual practice, recognised as included in the estates so settled. There is one large Government estate in the , district, and another estate held under a long lease called an “ ijara.” The rent law (Act X of 1859) is in force, but has led to some difficulty. Lands are never sold for arrears of revenue, and all sales or mortgages of land require the sanction of the Commissioner. § 2. — Singbhum. Is divided into three portions. One group contains three i estates or chiefships, managed as estates under political control only. 1 The second portion (Dhalbhum) is a permanently settled estate. ( The third portion (Kolhan) is a Government estate temporarily j settled with the raiyats at rents fixed for the term of settlement. 1 These raiyats are grouped in villages in the manner described above ; each village has a headman or “ muuda,” and each group or circle of villages a superior headman or “ manki.'” The remarks made about the sale of lands in Manbhum apply to this district also. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 209 § 3.— Hazanlagh. Here there are four principal sub-divisions according to the different settlement arrangements :— (a) RdmgarA was originally a single estate; but it lias since been split up into four separate estates, one being the land occupied by cantonments, &c., around Hazaribagh, the second being the zammdan of Kodarma, the third that of Ramgarh, the fourth the Kendu* estate, a “taufir” or estate made up of resumed surplus lands and settled for 20 years. The Kodarma zamindan was confiscated in 1841, and is now under temporary settlement. (5) The Khunda estate. j (c) The Klniratiga estates, one of which is permanently settled, others temporarily, and one is revenue-free. (cl) The Kendi estate, which is permanently settled. § 4.— Lohdrdagga. The Palamau sub-division is a Government estate or “ khas mahal” temporarily settled. It contains some State forests re¬ served. The rest of the district is settled with the Maharaja of Chutiya Nagpur as a sort of permanently settled estate, but it is looked upon rather as a trihute-paying chiefship, and has never been held liable to sale for arrears of revenue. In Chutiya Nagpur districts there are some curious subor¬ dinate tenures, provision for the record and declaration of which has been made in the Bengal Act II of 1869. These will be described under the chapter devoted to the subject of tenures. §5 .—Sontal Parganas i .—The Plains portion. This is, like the others, a scheduled district. For revenue purposes, it may be grouped into two portions —the plain and the Damau-i-Koh or hill tract. The former is all settled under the old permanent settlement, but Regulation III of | 4 The limits to which this section applies are the limits described in the schedule (jto Act X of 1857. O 210 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. 1872 (under 38 Vic., Cap. 3) guides the present procedure, and provides certain rules regarding the raiyats’ tenures, so that only the right in the soil and the fixity of the revenue assessed remain from the Regulations of 1793. The Sontal Parganas were first removed from the operation of the ordinary law by Act XXXVII of 1855 5 , which provided for a special superintendence. And this Act has been continued and am¬ plified by the Regulation III of 1872 which declares the laws in force. It is important to remember that Act XXXVII declares that no Act of the Legislature, either past or future, shall apply to the Sontal Parganas unless they are expressly named in the Act. This is why the Forest Act of 1878 does not apply, nor has it yet been extended under the Regulation of 187 2. The old Forest Act of 1865 was specially extended, and consequently still remains in force. Part of the plain or old settled tract is regularly cultivated, but part of it is hilly, and still much covered with jungle. This por¬ tion is largely peopled and cultivated by Sontal immigrants. These brought their village institutions with them, and settled, each village paying rent to the zamindar landlord. Practically, all the village tenures are permanent and alienable—'subject only to the superior landlord’s rent. As a rule, the landlord gets his rent, not direct from the raiyats, but through a village headman ; so that in fact the zamindar is really more like a pensioner drawing a rent from the land, but not, as a rule (for there are some lands under his direct management), interfering in the cultivation or manage¬ ment of the villages. § 6.— The Laman-i-Koh. As early as 1780 A.D. the tract known as the Daman-i-Koh was withdrawn as an act of State from the general settlement, and was made a separate “ Government estate 6 '.” This, however, prac- 5 The schedule to this Act has beeu repealed by the revised schedule in Act X of 1857. 8 I am indebted for this information to the kindness of Mr..W. Oldham, the Deputy Commissioner, and to a Memorandum on the Sontal Settlement by Mr. C. W. Bolton, C.S. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 211 tically meant that the Government took the tribes under its own immediate management and did not recognise any zamfndar or in¬ termediate landlord as having any hold over this wild region. The Sontals are not the original inhabitants of this tract, but two or three Kolharian tribes, now indiscriminately known as “ Pah arias/'’ The Paharias cultivate chiefly by “ jum,” or shifting cultivation effected by clearing a patch on the hill-forest, cultivat¬ ing it for a crop or two, and then abandoning the spot for another. At first there was no settlement, or rather the usual order of settle¬ ment was reversed ; the people did not pay anything to Government, but, on the contrary, the Government paid them an annual grant to support their headmen and tribal officers. These officers seem to be the relics of the old days when the hills were nominally within the zamindari estates of the regular settlement. There were divi¬ sions described by the imported term “ pargana.” Over such a division there was a “ sardar,” with his “ naib ” or deputy ; the headman over a village was the “ manjhi.” The pargana division has long fallen into disuse, hut the sardars and others survive, drawing their pensions. The Sontals then seem to have immigrated in considerable numbers, and cultivated all the valleys and lower slopes, so that the wandering Paharias with no settled cultivation, became confined to the hill sides; since that time, the Paharia headmen have begun to claim specific properties in the hill tops and slopes, which, however. Government does not theoretically recognise, it having all along claimed the region as a “ Government estate.” No interference with these people is, however, contemplated, and they have of course wofully abused and destroyed the forest. It has been long a question whether part of the forest could not be put under regular conservancy ; and quite recently it has been determined to enforce simple rules in a portion of the area. • § 7 .—The Settlement. The settlement arrangements of the cultivated villages of the Soutal Parganas are governed by the Regulation III of 1872, the 212 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. man jin or headman of each village collecting and paying in the rents to Government or .to the owner, as the case may be, and being allowed 8 per cent, as his “ commission/’ At the time I am writing, the amendment of this Regulation is under consideration consequent on a doubt which has arisen regarding its interpretation. The Regulation contemplated the record of all classes of interests in land and fixing of all rents (permanently settled estates not ex¬ cepted), whether payable to a’proprietor or to Government; these rents were to remain unchanged for at least seven years. It is doubted whether, on the expiry of such a settlement, the Govern¬ ment may make another, fixing the rents again for a new period, or whether, on the expiry of the existing term, the rents may be raised by the proprietor without reference to any such procedure. The question will be set at rest either by au authoritative inter¬ pretation of the Regulation as it stands, or by the issue of an amending law. § 8.— Jalpaiguri. That part of the district which is south-west of the Tfsta river is all permanently settled, having been formerly part of the Rang, pur Collectorate. The remaining part of the district, north of the Kuch Bahar (tributary) State, and extending to the borders of the Goalpara district of Assam, comprises the Bhutan (Western) Dwars 7 . The district as a whole is called a “ non-regulation” district, but the whole body of ordinary law- is in force in the “ regulation por¬ tion,” to which the permanent settlement extended. The Dwars lie along the foot of the hills, and were taken from the Bhutias in 1865. In 1870 the country was settled for ten years. The Government is considered the proprietor of the soil, and the set¬ tlement is made with the soil occmpants called jotdars, whose tenures 7 In a Notification No. 308, dated. 3rd March 1881 (Gazette of India, March 5th 1881), the laws in force in Jalpaigurf and Darjiling (besides Act XIV of 187a) have been declared. All the “ Regulation ” laws apply to the Jalpaigurf district up to the Tfsta river. The Western Dwars are separately provided for. THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 213 are recognised as fixed tenancies, with a rent unalterable for the term of settlement. The “ jot ” is saleable- for arrears of revenue 8 . In some of the “ girds ” or parganas (of which the Dwars contain nine in all) the settlement was made with farmers without proprietary rights, who were allowed 17J per cent, on the revenue as their remuneration and profit. When the settlement is with the jotdar, the revenue collection is made by tahsildars, who are remu¬ nerated by an allowance of 10 per cent, on the revenue. (a) § 9.— Darjiling. This district also may be described as divided into several different revenue tracts :— / (1) In the north-west corner a large estate (115 square miles) has been granted on a perpetual rent to Chehu Lama. (2) The old Darjiling territory ceded by Sikkim in 1835 —a long strip of 138 square miles, extending down to the Tarai near Paukhabari. (3) Two strips on each side of this acquired in 1850 bring the district up to the Nepal frontier on one side and to the Tista river on the other. (1) The Tarai below Paukhabari, also annexed in 1850. (c) The Damsong sub-division, or hill portion of the Bhutia territory about Dalingkot taken in 1865 (east of the Tista, west of the Jaldaha, and north of the TVestern Dwars in the Jalpaiguri district, just alluded to). Nearly all the territory in [a) (2) and (3) seems to have been dealt with under various “ waste land rules ” and now to consist of— (1) Estates sold or granted or commuted into “ fee -simple” or revenue free holdings. R Some further details will he found in the Chapter on Tenures. 9 By the Notification of March 3rd 1881, the laws in force in Darjiling are specified. For this purpose the district is divided into three portions — (a) the hills west of the Tista; ( b ) the Darjiling Tarai; (e) the Damsong sub-division (east of the Tista). 214 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. (2) Estates “ leased,” i.e., granted to persons who are proprie¬ tors, but have*to pay revenue according to their lease. (3) Government estates appropriated to forests, to station sites, military purposes, &c., and waste not yet disposed of. In the tract (6) there were some lands at first settled for short terms (three years) with Bengalis, the settlement-holders being called chaudhris of “jots” or groups of cultivation. The chaudhris were, however, abolished in 1864 and the settlement was made with the jotdars. In the upper Tarai are also settlements for short terms made with Mech and Dhimal caste-men, who pay a certain rate on each “ dao ” or hoe used for cultivating. Some jungle-clearing leases for five years were also given. In 1867 there was a survey and settlement under the modern procedure for thirty years. In the Damsong sub-division ( c ) at first only a capitation tax was collected j the tract will probably ultimately be surveyed and brought under temporary settlement. § 10 .—Hill Tracts of Chittagong. This tract is not really under any settlement at all, though it is British territory (the hills beyond this again being independent). As there are forests in it, it may be well to allude to it. Under the old Forest Law of 1865, some 3,760 square miles (out of the district which contains 6,882 square miles) were declared on 2nd February 1871 to be “ Government forest; ” a portion of this only was ultimately declared “ reserved,” and will remain so under the present law. Originally the district was not separate from the Regulation district of Chittagong, but the local chiefs in the jungle-clad hills were left almost uninterfered with, the time of the Collector being fully taken up with the more intricate management of the estates in the plains. The chiefs paid a tribute in the form of so many mauuds of cotton in kind, calculated on the population, which was afterwards THE TEMPORARY SETTLEMENTS. 215 converted into a money payment. This revenue was consequently shown in the old accounts as derived from the “kapas mahal.” By Act XXII of I860 10 the district (as defined in a schedule to the Act) was removed from the operation of the General Regu¬ lations and put under a Deputy Commissioner. Simple rules regarding judicial procedure have been drawn up under the Act, and no revenue settlement has been made. But there is a capita¬ tion tax payable by householders to the chiefs, and the latter pay a “ tribute ” or quit-rent (or whatever it is proper to call it) which has become fixed by custom. The cultivation is still chiefly of the temporary kind called jum, so natural to all semi-barbarous people in tropical hill coun¬ tries, and an attempt has been lately made to record in a simple way (so as to gradually get them fixed) the rights and interests of the different clans or tribes and their chiefs and headmen. The record is called the “jum book.” There are a certain number of estates in which lands are perma¬ nently cultivated, and these may be under a settlement under the ordinary law. A portion of the district 1 called the “ khas mahal ” is reserved from the jurisdiction of the chiefs, for the purpose of making land grants to settlers. 10 This Act will be repealed when the Scheduled Districts Act (XIV of 1874) is applied to Hill Chittagong. 1 Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. VI. 216 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER III. THE LAND TENURES. § 1 .—Classification of Tenures. Land tenures in Bengal may be broadly classified for the pur¬ poses of our study into—(1) those which are found in the districts where the occupation and cultivation of the whole country is of ancient date, and where the villages have been long under some form of regular revenue management; and (2) those in the hilly or jungle-covered and less civilised districts, where the circumstances of life are different. The superior tenures of the first class will be most commonly found to have originated either in some official rank or position of the tenure-holder, or in some grant by the State : the tenures subordin¬ ate to the higher ones will be chiefly derived from a lease or grant made by the upper tenure-holder, or, in some cases, by the State. Here and there will be a term indicating some ancient custom¬ ary holding, but the majority of the tenures now indicate by their nomenclature, that the village system has fallen into decay. Where the original hereditary possessor of the land has survived under the State grantee or official who is now recognised as the “ proprietor,” it is either as the “ hereditary cultivator ” of modern tenant law, or as the istimrardar ” or “ muqarraridar,” “'‘'depend¬ ent taluqdar” (or some such other term), derived from the Mughal system. In the other class of tenures, the names still indicate in most cases—not, however, without an intermixture of terms relating to more modern leases, farms and grants—the original tenures of the soil. Here we shall find the grouping of lands into “ jots,” or tarafs,” or “villages,” the tenures being of those who have cleared THE LAND TENURES. 217 he waste, whether as proprietary founders or as helpmates to them ; re shall find certain tenures also held, in virtue of office (but heredi¬ ty in the family), by the village headman, the priest, the gene- loffist, and so forth. In border estates, we are pretty sure to find enures which originated in grants made by the Chief for service in reeping hill passes and roads open, and for protecting the plains rom the incursions of hill-robbers. Looking again to the geographical distribution of these tenures, ve shall find the first class, chiefly in Bengal and Bihar, in the Regulation and long-settled districts in which the Mughal system vas fully developed. The second class will appear in the greatest rariety in Sontalia and in Chutiya Nagpur, in the Dwars, and in Chittagong. § 2 .—Tenures of long-settled districts.—The zamvnddri. In the first class of tenures, the landed proprietor called “ zamfn- lar,” occupies the prominent position. With this title the reader vill by this time be familiar, and but little further description vill be necessary. There has been a tendency, natural enough, o apply this term to any superior or “ actual ” proprietor of land, vhether he derived his right from the revenue agency of the Mughal Government (which is properly designated by the term) >r not. It is stated that, in Hindu times, the responsibility for the ■evenue of a tract of country, coupled with other duties, such as the Maintenance of order and the suppression of crime, was vested in ifficials called “.chaudhari.” The Mughal Government 1 adopted he system, calliug the chaudhari “ karori/' i.e., a person collect- ng the revenue of a tract (called a “ chakla’'’) yielding a ‘ewe " of “ dams,” or 2| lakhs of rupees. Afterwards the karori lecame the zamindar. But not only the karons, but the Hindu Rajas, whom the Muhammadan conquerors found in possession of heir ancestral domains, were constantly made zamiudars of their >wn territories on agreeing to pay a certain revenue. Hill Chiefs 1 Tagore Lectures, 1875, pages 61-68. 218 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. also became zammdars of their ‘ estates very often they were mere robber-chiefs, as iu the Northern Circars of Madras 2 . Revenue officials of all grades, and even wealthy men not in any official position, but who farmed the revenue's, or acquired local influence, also got made, or recognised as, zammdars. The fact that in many cases the zamindar had local possessions and a real hereditary connection with the land, had, of course, its influence in bringing about the recognition or grant of a proprie¬ tary status to the zamfadar when the Regulation law was introduced. 1 have no need to repeat, that no one has ever supposed the zamindar, as such, to have originally been anything like an English landlord. The zammdari was theoretically an office or place under Government. The office, indeed, became in practice* hereditary (as offices under native rule always tend to become) ; but the heir had always, or at first always, to seek his appointment exactly as if he were a new-comer, and pay a handsome “ peshkash,” or fee. The documents instituting a zamindar were formal and indispensable; it was only in later times, when a great variety of persons had become zammdars—among whom were chiefs and others who from the first were more than mere officials,—and when the custom of the post being hereditary was quite established, that the patents or grants fell into disuse. And then, too, the strict responsibility was relaxed. At first the zamindar had to account to Government for all the revenue that was assessed on the raiyats and collected by him : his own share was a fixed allowance, at first in money, afterwards in rent-free land. But, in time, the practice 2 “ Native leaders, sometimes leading men of Hindu clans who have risen to power as guerilla plunderers, levying black-mail, and eventually coming to terms with the Government, have established themselves, uuder the titles of zamindar, polygnr,] &c., in the control of tracts of country for which they pay a revenue or tribute, uncertain under a weak power, but which becomes a regular land revenue when a strong power is established. This is a very common origin of mauy of the most considerable modern families, both in the north and in the south. To our ideas, there is a wide gulf between a robber and a landlord, but not so in a native’s view. It is wonderful how much in times such as those of the last century, the robber, the Raja, and the zamindar run into one another.”— ('Campbell’s Lana Tenures in India: Cohden Chib Papers, 1876, pope 142.) THE LAND TENURES. 219 E)se of allowing 1 the zamindar to contract or bargain to pay in a [•tain sum, and then he began to treat the raiyats as his tenants, : d took from them what he could get so as to make his own profit t the bargain. This led to his position under the Regulations, id to the gradual establishment of the notion that he could raise le rent of his raiyats. § 3.— Form of his appointment. The original or regular process of appointment of an official nnindar is curious and interesting, and may here be briefly described, (ithe decease of a zamindar, his intending successor reported the lit; then he got a reply of condolence, which opened the way for Irther action. Next he presented an “’avzi” stating he was tidy to undertake the duty of zamindar and would offer such and sch a fee. On this petition the local officials endorsed a “ fard oval,” asking the superior authority for orders as to what was to I done. If the reply was favourable, the officials then supplied a Irther “fard haqfqat,” or statement of the particulars of the date, the number of villages, or other groups of laud in the estate,—• impact with it, or detached and scattered in other places,—the trenue payable (both mal and sair), and so forth; then the m- inding zamindar furnished a “ muchalka,” or bond for good con- uct and fidelity ; and lastly, received from the Government the ‘panvana” or “ sanad” granting the post. § 4 .—Position of the zamindar as ascertained in 1787. When, preparatory to the decennial settlement, the original ' quiry was being made regarding the real status of the zammdars, r. Grant, “the Chief Sarishtadar 3 /'’or head of the Revenue ecord Office, reported (March 1787) that the “local privileges ” the zamindar were— (1) he was the perpetual farmer of the Government revenues, allowed to appropriate the difference betweou the sum s These papers have been reprinted by tile Board of Revenue in a collection Ued “Papers relating to the Permanent Settlement.’’ 220 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. fixed in the sanad and what he would lawfully take fron the raiyats; (2) he was the channel of all disbursements in the district connected with the revenue administration, charities, &c. (3) he could improve the waste land within the limits of th zammdari, to his own personal advantage ; (4) he could grant leases of uutenanted villages or farms (these of course, he could make more or less favourable, at hi; pleasure) ; and (5) he could distribute the burden of the abwab, or additiona cesses imposed by authority; (those which he levied oi his own account were, of course, by a stretch of autho rity). Some other matters of less importance were also noted; aud one of the zammddr’s privileges was said to be, adoption or nomination of a successor with the approval of the Government. Originally, as I have said, the zamindar was made to account for all the revenue he received, and only deduct for himself a fixed allowance, and a further deduction for office expenses, charity, &c. And even at the later date, when Mr. Grant says he had everything that he could get over and above the fixed sum he was bound to render to Government, it must be remembered that the assess¬ ment of the land was perfectly well known by custom, and that increase depended, therefore, either on arbitrary measures, such as levy of cesses, or on extending cultivation to laud that had hitherto been waste. § 5 .—Further growth. After a time it became the custom to assign to the zamindar certain lands called nankar, free of revenue, for his own subsistence, instead of, or in addition to, his cash allowance. Of these lands he soon became direct owner. Then he had his lC sir ” or “ nij -jot ” land—-his own ancestral holding (as an individual) ; also, lastly, the waste land cultivated by aid of his own lessees or contract labourers, became his, under the title of “ kbamar ” land. When to this is added the fact that he could acquire lands by sale, mortgage, by THE LAND TENURES. 221 fisting obnoxious men, and by taking possession when an unfor- Inate owner absconded—perhaps to avoid exactions which had be- ftne intolerable, perhaps in his inability to pay his “ rent ”—it is not (fficult to perceive how the zammdar grew into bis ultimate position, 'hen this virtual ownership had gone on for several generations, nd had become consolidated, the fact of a formerly different status fry naturally became little more than a shadowy memory. Our . rly legislators of 1793 could then hardly avoid calling the mmdar’s right a proprietary one, and treating it accordingly; ough, as I have already shown, they limited, or intended to nit, the right thus conferred, so as to secure at least so much as .e original right of the now suppressed village landowners, as mid still be established 4 . § 6. —Power of transfer of landed property. In one respect, however, the recognition accorded to the zamin- ir’s right in 1793 was a material advance beyond what practice bad therto sanctioned. Powerful as the zammdar became in managing ie land, in grasping.and in ousting, he had no power of alienating s estate; he could Dot raise money on it by mortgage, nor sell ie whole or any part of it. This clearly appears from a procla- ation issued on 1st August 1786; the illegal practice “of alienat- g revenue lands” is complained of; the “ gentlemen appointed superintend ” the various districts are invited zealously to pre- ;nt the ‘‘commission of this offence;” and the zammdar, chau- uiri, taluqdar, or other landholder who disobeys, is threatened itk “dispossession from his lands 5 6 .” 4 In some cases where there were no zanundars, properly so called, the settle- mt created them. Thus, In tile districts of Orissa (Katalc, Balasur, and Puri) the llages had been held direct by the Marathas (according to the usual system of this >wcr, as we shall see when we come to the tenures of Central India) or by the Chiefs, ie estates of the Chiefs were recognised to the extent legalised by the Regulation II of 1805, but for the other villages, headmen and others in prominent positions ire often selected and made the zanundars. (See Statistical Account of Bengal, ol. XIX, page 106.) 6 This proclamation will be found reprinted in Appendix F, page 179, of Mr. itton’s “ Revenue History of Chittagong.” 222 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Such a limitation was inconsistent (as I have explained in th General Introductory sketch) with that proprietary interest whicl it was thought necessary to secure to the landholder in order t enable him punctually to discharge his revenue obligations; lienc among the earliest Regulations will be found a provision whic declares the zammdar’s proprietary estate, to be heritable and freel transferable. The zamuidan estates in Bengal were usually large, though, a I have explained, many of them got broken up soon after th settlement of 1793, owing to the rigid enforcement of the revenu payments. In the districts which formed the Bihar province (wit a Hindustani population) the zammdaris, however, were nearly a! small. Only a few Hindu Rajas had retained zamindanson a seal resembling those of Bengal 6 . § 7.— Jdgir grants. Besides the zammdars, another class of proprietary tenure arose from royal grant. The jagir was an assignment of the re venues of a tract of country to a court favourite, a general, or chief, either to maintain a fixed military force in aid of the rova power, or because the tract was lawless, and could neither b governed nor the revenue collected, without a military force. Jagir; were rare in Bengal 7 , but more common in Bihar. § 8.— Taluq grants. Another royal grant was the “ taluqdan.'” No mention o service was entered, and a fixed quit-rent or tribute had usually t< be paid. The taluq was a royal grant of villages outside and inde 6 Indeed, the zammdaris there were much more analogous to, if they were uo identical with, the original proprietary holdings, as distinguished from estates whicl were merely constituted on the principle of their being convenient revenue-tracts There is a note of Mr. Shore’s (Lord Teignmouth) on this subject, which will be foum at pp. 144-48 of the Tagore Lectures of 1875. 7 Mr. Grant (in 1787) says he only knew’of three or four, and they were life grants at least in form. THE LAND TENUBES. 223 iendent of, any zammdan. In this case, our Government recog- lised the independent taluqdar as “ proprietor ” of his own estate, ust as it did the jagfrdar or the zamindar. But there was also a class of taluq called “ dependent ” to which t was not so easy to assign a correct position. In the first place, some f them owed their origin to royal grants, and it was a question of act whether it was intended to create a separate estate, or a mere avourable sub-tenure under the zamfndar. In some cases it was ound that the taluq dated prior to the zammdari, and then the set- Jement naturally recognised it as independent 8 . Also the zamin- lars themselves often granted “ dependent taluq ” holdings inside heir estates—probably to some of the more powerful of the ori¬ ginal landowners, or to some prominent man who undertook the nanagement, at a fixed rental, of a troublesome, or waste, or im- )overished, portion of the estate. The term “ taluqdar ” is essen- ially indefinite, and was probably meant to be so; and the ‘sanad” or grant was different in form from that of the jagirdar >r zaimndar. When we come to speak of Oudh tenures, we shall iee what important results this very indefiniteuess had in the growth of the great “ taluqdari ” estates of that province. Mr. Grant says that, originally, independent “taluqdars” >nly existed by royal grant in Bengal, near Murshidabad and dugli, and that they were rich and favoured persons, who, lesiring to be free from the interference of i*evenue agents and :amindars, obtained grants of territory on promising to pay a fixed lum, subject to no future increase. A fee was often paid as con¬ sideration for the grant. The taluq was always considered trans¬ ferable 9 . s Regulation VIII of 1793 (Bengal Code, Vol. I, p. 20, note) laid down several principles for ascertaining whether the taluq was to be “ wazquri ” (dependent) or independent. 9 In the 21-Pergunnahs, I fiud it noticed that the zamlndari estates had been nuch broken up, and the portions separated and sold for debt or arrears, or gifted away. When the settlement came on, all estates that paid Rs. 5,000 revenue were called “ zamlndarls,” and all paying less were called “ taluqs.”—( Statistical Account >/ Bengal, Vol. I, page 262.) 224 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 8.— Question of soil ownership in the case of Royal grants. In all these tenures, so far considered, it will be obvious that originally the grantee was not, or need not be, the owner of the soil. In any estate he might possess certain ancestral lands; but as regards the whole, he was merely granted the privilege of real¬ ising the Government share of the produce, or the Government money demand, from the already existing villages and groups of landholders, and retaining part of it for his own benefit. On the other hand, a grant might contain a good deal of waste land which would become the property of the grantee; or it might include lands already his own, and then the grant amounted only to a remission of the whole or a portion of the revenue demand. Exactly the same causes which enabled the zamindar to become owner of the land, also operated to give a colour of proprietary right, over the whole estate, to the tenure of the jagirdar or taluqdar. The ancestral holding was the nucleus; the power of arranging for the clearing of the waste soon increased this ; and then came the effects of sale or mortgage by a tenant who could not pay, the ouster by violence, or the absconding of an insolvent, and the consequent location of a new cultivator; thus the “ pro¬ prietary right ” grew from field to field and village to village, till, in the course of time, it was held to embrace the whole. I do not wish to convey the impression that every jagirdar or assignee of Government revenue, was granted the proprietary right in the soil, but only to show how easily such a grantee could improve his position till he became the virtual proprietor. And the fact that such grants might only affect the revenue, and not the land, is clear from Regulation XXXVII of 1793, section 4, which says that these grants do not ( i. e., do not necessarily) touch the “ zammdari ” or proprietary right in the estate : a man, for example, might be legally proprietor of a plot, though his sanad to hold it revenue-free as a jagir might be invalid. § 9 .—Petty grants. Besides these grants, which constituted the basis of the great THE LAND TENURES. 225 estate tenures, the Mughal Government made numerous smaller grants, which usually were given for charity, for religious uses, or in reward for some service : these were variously called “ mam,” “ aftna,” “ madadma’ash/’ or simply “ altamgha ” (literally, grant by the royal seal or stamp). They were all really proprietary grants, and usually of small extent. They were heritable and transferable 10 . § 10.— Subordinate tenures :—those flj due to original position. Subordinate to these actual proprietary interests in land, are to be found a variety of secondary tenures to which it is not easy to assign a precise place, or to say whether they are more properly classed as subordinate proprietary rights, or tenant rights of a pri¬ vileged character. There can scarcely be a doubt that the vast majority of the resident “ cultivators ” of Bengal who now appear as “ raiyats ” under the zammdars, would have become land-owners, or privileged tenants, at least, had the village system survived. Hence the strong desire that has been felt to secure their position, and the anxiety of some (to whose opinion I have already alluded) that the benefit of the settlement should extend to fixing the raiyat’s payment to the “ landlord/'’ as well as the “ landlord’s ” to the State. It is hardly any wonder, then, that the more powerful or en¬ terprising of the original owners of the soil—some perhaps being the old headmen of the villages—should have succeeded in making terms with the zamindar, or even with the Local Governors and other authorities, and getting 1 grants or agreements which secured to them a fixed position intermediate between that of superior pro¬ prietor and of mere cultivating tenant. Very commonly these intermediate tenures became “ mazqiiri ” (or dependent) taluqs—holdings which were heritable and trans¬ ferable, and for which a fixed and not enhauceable rent was to be paid to the superior. . “ Muqarrari ” and “istimrari” tenures are of the same kind; 10 See Regulation XXXVII of 1793, section 15, 1st clauso. All these resemble what are called “mu’afi” in Upper India. P 226 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. tlicir names have reference to the perpetual (istimrhri) duration of the tenure, and to th q fixity (muqarrari) of the rent to be paid. 1 A “ gauthi ” is also a heritable and perpetual tenancy of this kind, the rent being fixed. § 11.— Those (2) due to engagements for clearing wtxsle or improving estates partly waste. A number of under-tenures also arise in connection with con¬ tracts made by a landlord to clear and cultivate some waste portion of the estate 2 . Here it would be necessary, according to the more remote position of the waste and the difficulty of reclaiming it, to hold out strong inducements to some persons to take jangalbtm (clearing) leases and ijara (corruptly “izara”), long leases on light terms. The hawala of Eastern Bengal is a tenure of a similar kind. The student will here remember how strong is the feeling of rights among the natives of India, derived from the fact that the occu¬ pant is the man who actually cleared the land ;—even though such a pioneer should be confessedly only grantee of a superior proprietor. § 12. —Those (3) due to arrangements for collecting rents. But a large class of under-teuures has been created by the land¬ lord, on the principle which induced the Government in the first •instance to appoint the zammdar himself. 1 The tenure might be istimran alone, i.e., perpetual as in time, but liable to re-assessment of rent, or (and more commonly) it was both istimrarf and muqarrarf, A muqarrarf-istimrari is a subordinate transferable and hereditary tenure of the first degree intermediate between the zammdar and the cultivator. The holder occupies the same position towards the zammdar or other superior as the zammdar does to the State. These tenures are liable to sale in execution of a decree for arrears of rent, and purchasers acquire them free from all incumbrances created by the outgoing holder (with certain exceptions in favour of cultivating tenants). They have their origin in the needs of the landlord who wishes to raise money, or in a desire to make provision for relatives or old servants, or for the settlement of a dispute with a large under-tenant. * * * * The larger kinds of muqarrarf-ist'mrap exist¬ ing from before the permanent settlement are called taluqs.”—( Statistical Account, Vol. XIV, pages 139-40.) 2 All these under-tenures have many varieties. In Tipperah I find mention of about sixty kinds of taluqs, called “ musliakhsi, takhsfsf, agat, muqafilt, chauhadd), bandobasti, and so forth ; so also with hawalas ; they are miras (hereditary) qaimi, karari (conditional), &c., &c. THE LAND TENURES. 227 It was especially after the permanent settlement, that the most numerous class of sub-tenures of this kind, called “patni 3 ,” sprang up. Just as the Government had given up all claim to vary its demand with the capability of the land, and took a fixed revenue, leaving the surplus profits to the land-owner, so, many zamindars became content in their turn to abandon direct connection with their lands, and to create sub-tenures in favour of persons who undertook to make them fixed rental payments. The zamindar usually took a fee or lump sum down, on granting the patni, thus discounting the increase which future years might other¬ wise have brought him in. These “ patnis ” were created in such numbers, that as early as 1819 a special Regulation on the sub¬ ject was passed. The preamble to the Regulation VIII of that year, informs us that these sub-tenures originated on the estate of the Raja of Bardwan. The Regulation declared their validity, and enabled the landlord to recover his rent from the patnidar almost with same powers as Government possessed in recovering against the zamindar himself. This Regulation is still in force 4 , and .the patni tenures are now extremely common in all the permanently settled districts. “ The process of sub-infeudation,” says Mr. Macneile, “ has not terminated with patnidars or ijaradars : dar-patnis and dar-ijaras (i.e., a ‘patni’’ of a ‘patni’), and even further subordinate tenures, have been created in great numbers. These tenures and under-tenures often comprise defined tracts of land ; but the more common practice has been to sub-let certain aliquot shares of the whole superior tenure, the consequence of which is that the tenants in any particular village of an estate now very usually pay their rents to two, or many more than two, different masters, so many annas in the rupee to each 5 . 3 Or “ patni taluq,” more properly pattam.” The holder is called patnidar. See Macueile’s Memorandum, page 15. * In connection with Bengal Act VIII of 1865. 5 Macneile’s Memorandum, § 12. This has led to a great difficulty, on which subject a further chapter will be fouud in the Memorandum (fractional payments of rent_ Chapter XVII). In the Ambala division of the Punjab, we see something of the 22S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In most cases, then, the sub-tenures of the present day (which do not represent a virtual recognition of some older right) resolve themselves into a right to collect, or rather to receive, rent. The land-owner, not wishing for trouble, grants a permanent patni, or if he is doubtful of his lessee, takes security and gives what is called a zar-i-peshgi lease 6 '. The sub-tenure-holder then collects the rents. "When he ceases to care about doing so, he, in his turn, bargains with another to make good something less than the amount he has been able to realise. Each deduction, in fact, re¬ presents the price of the grantor's immunity from the risk and trouble of collecting the rents, and consequently the profit to be enjoyed (enhanced by such extras as he can get) by the sub¬ tenure-holder. In the above description, the reader will have noticed the total absence of anything indicating a survival of an indigenous or cus¬ tomary system of holding land. The great tenure-holders are za- mindars, taluqdars, or jagirdars—all terms derived from the Muham¬ madan revenue or administrative organisation ; the sub-tenures are nearly all expressed in terms often derived from the Arabic and Persian, and indicate rather the artificial nature of the tenancy,—its perpetuity, the fixity of its obligatory payments, its object, or its extent,—than anything else. And these tenures prevail over the whole of Bengal proper, wherever the permanent settlement extend¬ ed. Here the village organisation, never of the more powerful joint-type which has survived so many vicissitudes in Northern India, gave way before the Revenue system of the Mughal con¬ querors, and landed rights soon came to be expressed in terms same kind :—old Sikh jagfrs now held by a multitude of sharers. Here the pro¬ prietors of the soil would be harassed if they had to pay a separate fraction to each sharer. The settlement, therefore, compelled the sharers to appoint a representative (called “ Sirkarda ”) who receives the jagirdar’s portion in the lump and distributes it. 6 Zar-i-peshgi,—literally “ money in advance.” The lease is either a grant of the right of collecting the rents of a certain area, with ail advance paid down as security, {Statistical Account, Vols. XI-XII), or a lease to repay by the collection of rent, debts already incurred by the proprietor, or a loan which he takes on granting the lease. Such leases are also called “ sud-bliarna” or “sadhua patawa.” THE LAND TENURES. 220 of the new system. There is scarcely,therefore, any opportunity, save perhaps in the eastern districts covered with jungle, for the survival of ancient or peculiar methods of land-holding, and the preserva¬ tion of old localised and characteristic terms. § 13 .—Small proprietorships in Bihar. But in the Bihar districts the village system had not completely disappeared ; and here we find, besides the tenures above described, some which indicate a certain survival of an earlier economy. The chief survival, that of the village officers, will be noticed under the head of “ Revenue Officials.” I have already made some remarks on the small size of the estates in Bihar. The fact is that in some of these districts, for the first time, we find the original owner in possession, and his positiou confirmed, “ The petty landlords of the districts, who generally belonged to the Babhan or military Brahman caste, were probably the descendants of those who, before the Muhammadan conquest, held these lands by military tenure from the Hindu kings 7 .” * The amils or Government revenue collectors did not, as a rule, succeed in ousting them and becoming zamindars in their place ; but the “ malik,” as the owner is called, retained the management and paid over all his rents to the amil (just in fact as the zamindars at first did), except 10 per cent, which he was allowed. In most cases, at permanent settlement, the old “ malik ” was recognised as the zamindar-proprietor and settled with. In some cases, however, as might be expected, the Musalman officials and grantees had succeeded in ousting or reducing the maliks and becoming proprie¬ tors in their place ; but it is curious that the old proprietary charac¬ ter was so strong that the new-comer almost invariably paid an* f ex¬ proprietary allowance,” or malikana, to the older family : and at settlement, in cases where it was not possible to restore them, the malikana allowance was, by the terms of settlement, still continued. The sub-tenures in these districts do not materially differ from those I have already described, and we find the same system of 7 Statistical Account, Vol. XI, pages 95 and 125. 230 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. ijaras, istimflJrf-muqarraris, and so forth, with sub-leases called “ hat- kina” and “ thilva.” It is remarkable, however, that in many cases, where the estates are small, there are few or no intermediate tenures 3 . The pro¬ prietors are able to manage the estates themselves, and cannot afford the luxury of foregoing a part of their rental to secure the remainder without trouble. In some places “ shikmi ” tenures are found, which in fact con¬ sist of small alienations of parts of revenue-free holdings : when these holdings lapse and become liable to assessment, the shikmi remains as a kind of tenant under the zammdar with whom the land is settled 8 9 . In several of the districts “ ghatwali ” tenures are found, such as will be described further on. There are also numerous free ten¬ ures for the support of religious objects, Hindu or Muhammadan ; such are called brahmottar, shivottar, pirottar, hazrat, dargah, &c. These are all tenures with something of a proprietary character. § 14.— Tenants. The subject of tenants in Bengal generally can best be dealt with when I come to speak briefly of the Rent Law. Here I will only say that they are divided into two main classes—tenants with occupancy rights and tenants-at-will. In most Bihar districts the tenants are called u jotdars.” Rents by division of produce are still very common 10 . Thus in Gaya I find the “ naqdi” tenants are those who pay money, and they are called “ shikmi ” if permanent, and “ chikath ” if on a temporary contract. The “ bhaoli ” is the tenancy by division of produce ; classified into “ danabandi ” when the division is pursuant to an estimate or appraisement of the standing crop, and “ agor-batai ” if by division of the grain when threshed out. 8 As in Tirliut.— Statistical Account, Vol. XIII, page 110. 9 As in Manger.— Statistical Account, Vol. XV, page 117. “ Shikmi ” is from the Persian shilcam, the belly;—one tenure inside the other. 30 And the condition of the tenantry wretched, as a consequence. THE LAND TENURES. 231 § 15 .—Tenures of the second class depending on natural features, 8fc. Such being a brief description of the tenures and under-tenures which had their origin in the old Revenue system, I may now pass on to consider the second group of tenures, which depend on customs of village organisation or on the natural features of the country. Such tenures will be found most frequently in districts where the village organisation is not altogether forgotten. The Orissa districts, and those of the Chutiya Nagpur division, will afford examples. A partial survival in Bihar has just been noticed. In the Western Dwars and in the Chittagong district, covered with luxuriant vegetation, we shall see more peculiarities of tenure, dependent on the clearing of land and the association of persons for this purpose. The same kind of tenures will also more conspicuously appear in the districts now forming the separate pro¬ vince of Assam. These tenures can best be described by localities. • § 16.— Orissa. The Orissa districts on the coast side of the hills exhibited in the parts further inland, something of the same features as the Tributary Mahals which occupy the hilly country. These tracts, it will be remembered 1 , were possessed by chiefs whose estate was called a “qilah ” The tributary chiefships are not within the limits of the revenue-settled districts, but several chiefs having a similar position within the districts became zamindars. In other parts there were no chiefs, but a proprietary position was conveyed by a settlement made with the most prominent men. Among the tenures subordinate to these zamindan tenures, are the holdings which are the right of the headman called “ muqad- dam ” (or pradhan in the south). Other village officials, who seem to have been accountants, are also recognised; and in right of these offices, are the tenures of the sarbarakar (or parsathi in the south). These tenures are practically proprietary. But that of the sar- See page 19G, ante. 232 I,AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OR INDIA. barakar (parsathi) was recognised at Settlement as hereditary, only when possession had been uninterrupted for a term previous to annexation in 1803. It is not alienable without the zamiudar’s consent. The sarbarakar can also be ousted at any time from his official position, in case of mismanagement proved to the satisfac¬ tion of the Collector. Another kind of secondary tenure, which seems to have arisen from sales of waste land to intending colonists, is called “ khari- dadari.'” The consequence of these customs was, that at Settlement the villages were for the most part separate estates, in which there were well-defined superior and subordinate proprietary interests,— the zamindar first, and below him the muqaddam, the pradhan, and so forth; under them again were tenants in two classes known as “ thani ” or resident, and “ pai ” or non-resident. The former paid rent at high rates, but looked for their means of livelihood, not to the land which they cultivated for the landlord, but to plots which they held separately and free of rent. All the land will then be either “ sir/' the special holding 2 of the proprietor or sub-pro¬ prietor, and tenanted lands, held by thani or pai cultivators. § 17.— Ckutiya Nagpur. In the districts of this division we shall find examples of nearly every kind of tenure ; that arising out of the village organisation, that created to defray the expense of protection from hill robbers, and that arising from special measures to promote the cultivation of wild and waste country. In some instances where the whole district, or some large estate on it, is still owned by a Raja or chief, who is in the position of superior proprietor, we may find tenures created by the chief with the object of providing for the maintenance of his brothers or other relations. An example of this 2 The tenant who held the “sir” land of the proprietor is called Chaudnadar. Thani tenants (and also Chandnadars) have their rents fixed for the term of settle¬ ment.—(Stack’s Memorandum on Temporary Settlements, 1880, page 582.) THE LAND TENURES. 233 may be found in Ramgarh or Hazaribagh. The chiefs created also various tenures for the greater facility of realising their revenue ; thus in the estates we find “ taluqs ” and “ ihtimams, ” ijara and muqarrari leases; tenures of this kind. I have already noticed, as seeming invariably to follow the creation of great estates under our system. The tenures which arise from the necessity of finding mainten¬ ance for members of the family are spoken of as “ kharaposh.” A grant of this nature also is the “ hakimali ” or graut for the support of the hakim or chiefs second brother. In the hilly tracts the “ service ” grants are called “ ghat- wall ” and “ digwdri. ” They were made to reward exertion and to support the police force necessary for keeping open the hill passes and protecting the lauds at the foot of the hills against robbers. The holdings derived from the grants to clear and cultivate the waste are known as “ jangalburi,” “ uayabadi,” &c. In the Manbhum district I find mention of a tenure called “jalkar” or “ jalsazan,” which indicates a holding of as much land as can be irrigated by damming up the head of a ravine in the low hills, and so obtaining a tank of water. In December 1880, a very interesting “ Official Paper ” appeared in the Calcutta Gazette, describing the tenures in part of the Lohardagga District. This describes the procedure for the settlement and record of the rights under the “ Chutiya Nagpur Tenures Act” (Bengal Act II of 1869). The value of such, a legislative provision will be evident from the existence of these curious tenures. I shall make no apology for entering into considerable detail about this tract of country, because though the incidents here recorded relate to certain Kol tribes called “ Munda ” and “ Oraou,” they have,their counterpart in many other parts of India, and are peculiarly interesting aud instructive. Here we are, in fact, intro¬ duced to the original state of village landholdings; and we can trace clearly the influence of one of two great causes of change in landed 234 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. interests, which I alluded to in the introductory sketch, namely, the advent of a Raja taking* possession of the couutry and modifying all its customs of landholding. Originally, it would seem, these Kol tribes formed villages of ancient Hindu type. The “village staff” consisted of a Mumla or headman; and here, besides the secular headman, there was a spiritual head-man called “Pahan.” There were also the usual staff of communal artisans and servants, the water-carrier, the priest’s assistant, the barber, the potter, and the washerman. They were remunerated by dues in grain or small holdings in land. The headmen were the representatives of the original clearers of the land and founders of the village. The tenure of the original owners was called “khunt kati ” (tenure on strength of original clearing), and the land so occupied was called the “ khunt.” The village lands then consisted of (a) lands held in the khunt kati tenure by the families of the secular and spiritual headmen; (6) lands held by tenants who paid a portion of the produce to the headmen; and ( c) lands known as “ bhut keta,” and by similar names, implying fields set apart for the service of spirits, divinities, &c., who were supposed to watch over the families and secure good crops to the village. For mutual support and protection, these villages were grouped in circles called “ parha,” and a chief called a “ manki ” presided over the group. He was jirobably a successful village headmau who acquired a certain influence and was elected as the general protector. He appears to have held lands for his support in several villages, but had no equal or regularly levied contribution from all. In process of time, however, a Nagvansi (Rajput) Raja appeared, who reduced the country to subjection, and then the change began. In the first place the Raja took certain lands as his own special demesne; then he granted estates to his relatives and minor chiefs, Kuuwars and Thakurs; and as he found the original village owners liable to resist his acts, be called in tbe assistance of foreigners, to whom he granted “jagir ” estates, requiring of them military service. Many similar grants were also made to Brahmans, though THE LAND TENURES. 235 their service was religious, not military; namely, to civilise the tribes ar convert them to Hinduism. These new grantees may, in some instances, have taken up unoccupied lands; but in many more they came as landlords over the heads of the original village-owners. The same system afterwards received a further development owing to an accidental circumstance. It would seem that North Indian traders came down with horses, brocades, and other wares which were tempting to the semi-barbarous Raja, who accordingly was fleeced by the traders and got.heavily into debt. As he could not pay in cash, he began to give out thikas or leases, by which, in fact, the creditors were put in charge of certain tracts of land and allowed to realise the State revenues, and so repay themselves. It is not difficult to imagine how very soon these chiefs, foreign grantees, and farmers, seized on the lands and gradually became landlords, reducing the village-owners to the position of being their tenants. In the first instance, no doubt, the Raja had no design of in¬ terfering with the villages : having acquired certain lands for him¬ self, he was content with levying a certain contribution all round. But when he introduced his grantees, they gradually worked that change which, in taking a general survey of tenures in India, we have already noticed to be inevitable. We can thus trace back the history of the features of the land tenure as they exist at the present day. First there is the Raj-lias,—the land in the royal demesne and held by the Raja's tenants. Next there is the Manjhi-has (or the maujhi-angs) land, consisting of the estates in which the Thakurs, Kunwars, j&girdars, thikadars, and others established themselves, getting hold of the best lands for themselves. But the chiefs and grantees could not absorb the entire rightin these lands. The ancestral communities representing the original village founders (khuut kat) were still strong enough to retain much of their original holdings 8 , 3 The headman’s holding being still called “ mundai ” or “ malitoai ” according to locality. 23S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. and the superstitions of the grantee bade him leave alone tin “bhut-kheta” or religious holdings, if he did not respect anj others. These two excepted and preserved ancient tenures re¬ mained as “ bhumhan” lauds 4 . In the manjhi-has lauds there are two grades of interest there is the superior, and the actual cultivator, who may be merely a located tenant, or some person who had a closer connection with the land and a right of occupancy 5 6 . There may be bhumhari lands also in the manjhi-has, or in the royal demesne. The bbuinhaj-s are now considered as subordinate proprietors to the chief or the superior, whoever he may be : they never sunk to the position of mere tenants 0 . These tenures are of course heritable. Non-religious lands are alienable with consent of the pro¬ prietary family. Religious (or bhut-kheta) lands are not alienable, they are held by the Pahan or village-priest for the time being, and the priest is also the trustee or guardian of the sacred groves br “ savuas.” It would naturally be supposed that all these bhuinhars, being really proprietors, would hold rent-free as regards the later coming landlord ; but the power which enabled the landlord to reduce them to a subordinate place also euabled him to exact a certain payment, though not a full rent, which had to be adjusted at the Settlement proceedings under the Act. 4 The religious holdings or bliut kheta which form pari of the bhumhari lands, are divided into dalikatari, panibhara, and bhut-kheta. The panibhara (which is a holding for religious menial service) includes the “ murglii-pakowa,” plots held by persons as a reward for the duty of cooking fowls on the occasion of religious feasts and ceremonies. 5 “Tenants-at-will” who cultivate on a “ satka,” agreement by which the pro¬ duce is shared, have no right of occupancy. Tenants of the other kind are rewarded with certain grants of land called “ bhet-kbeta,” sometimes on the estate itself, sometimes in the Raj-has lands. 6 There may he occupancy tenants, as, for example, immigrants who first cleared the lands on which they settled, hut who, not being Kols or members of the original kliunt proprietary families, never held land ou thedchunt kati tenure, or became bhuin- bars. They are called kdrkars; they hold for three years rent-free, and then at half rates. THE LAND TENURES. 237 These “rents” were not acquired without some difficulty, there have been constant discontents; and in 1832 and 1858 there were open outbreaks. The bhuuihars at first were required only to render service to die chiefs; such'as giving three days' labour in digging, in cutting ivood; iu carrying so many loads of grass; bamboos, or the personal uggage of the chief. In time, small money or grain rents were exacted. The theory is that a bhuinhar can never lose his right, and that if he goes away, owing to oppression, poverty, or other cause, his descendants may return and claim without limit of time. The Tenures Act could not recognise this absolutely, as it would be obviously impracticable ; it therefore fixed a period of twenty years for absentees to return and make good their claim. Another curious question arises with reference to bhuinhar lands, which I must allude to because it throws light on the question of the waste lands and who owns them. In many cases we have seen that the village-owners have occu¬ pied a definite area, waste aud all, the waste being the joint property of the whole body. In such cases, it is only where there are large ranges of hills-or great wastes not included in village areas, or where the villages claimed a large excess of waste for which they had no use, aud probably no real claim, that such waste remained at the disposal of the State or paramount power. Now it seems that originally the Kol villages consisted partly of high land, which was waste and only partly or occasionally cultivated, and partly of low lands on which rice is grown, aud which naturally were the first to be occupied. The bhufuliars claim that under the original village constitution, a definite area was allotted to each village, both of upland waste (“ tanr”) and rice land. But as the former was not so definitely occupied as the latter, when the village constitution was overborne by the Raja and the chiefs, it naturally became a question whether the bhumharl tenure should now be recognised over the uplands as well as over the rice- 23S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. fields. The question had to be determined by the settlement, according- to the actual facts of occupation 7 . Any bhumhar may, of course, also hold laud in another character, as an ordinary tenant in the Manjhi-has or Raj-has lands. In the Raj-has lands there may now be a chief who has become zamindar or superior landlord, or the Government may represent the superior estate; all the cultivators are in either case regarded as raiyats or tenants, and are called by various names, such as utakdr, korkar, chafcwa, &c .; some having occupancy rights. The reader will readily understand how this system of gradual modification of the old tenures, and the growth of rights in a superior grade, has given rise to perpetual rivalries between the old and new classes of tenure-holders. The new-comers encroached, imposed cesses, and seized on ancient holdings, dispossessing the original owners, when they were weak; while in their turu the bhuinhars tried to claim lands which they had long lost, and not unnaturally clung to traditional rights, which had really become obliterated past practical recognition by any law court or settle¬ ment authority. All this demanded a system of local enquiry and careful securing by record, of the rights to which each class seemed equitably entitled. A Special Commission was accordingly created by Bengal Act II of 1869 s . It can hardly be expected that so difficult a task should be carried out perfectly, or that the old bhuinhars would be content to accept the inevitable outcome of years of change and development. But there is no doubt that great good has been effected. § 18 .—Tenures in the Sontdl Parganas 9 . In order to describe the tenures, this district should be divided into three sections. First, there is the narrow strip bordering 7 Should it not appear that the bhuinhars practically had not occupied the waste, still they would be allowed certain rights of user, of pasture, and wood-cutting. * The Act proposes to deal with the rights on the Manjhi-has lands and the rights of bhuinhars, not with tenants on Raj-has lands. 0 For this information I am indebted to Mr. W. Oldham, the Deputy Commis¬ sioner, who kindly prepared a memorandum for me. THE LAND TENURES. 239 Dii the old established districts of Murshidabad, Bnbhum, and Bhagalpur: these lands are permanently settled under zamindars, and exhibit just the same features of tenures as the ordiuary dis¬ tricts. The zamindars have here, as elsewhere, created the usual subordinate tenures for the realisation of their income, and we find the “ patuidar” and the muqarraridar, and various forms of “ tlnka- dar ” or rent-farmer. But two special features have been recognised; these various tenure-holders must always collect these rents through the village headman, and all the “raiyats” or cultivators have permanent holdings, unless they are sub-tenants or cultivating labourers under other raiyats. Next in order comes the jungle tract, which is principally occu¬ pied by the Sontals, who have emigrated and occupied nearly the whole of it, and spread into the valleys and lower portions of the third section—the hill tract or Daman-i-Koh*. This second, section is owned mostly by zamindars who retained the superior proprietary title, and employ the usual means of sub¬ leases, &c., in realising their rents. Wherever the estates border on the hills, the landlords have created ghatwali holdings to reward service in protecting the hill passes and keeping them against robbers. This tenure is found to exist in Chutiya Nagpur, the Central Provinces, and Berar, wher¬ ever there are hill tracts. In part of Soutalia, around Deogarh, however, the ghatwali tenures have a somewhat peculiar origin. This tenure is so curious that I shall extract in extenso the account kindly sent me by Mr. Oldham :— “ It was the practice throughout the district, and in the portions transferred from Birbbum, Bhagulpur, or Murshidabad, for the great zamindars to assign grants of land, generally at the edges of their estates, in selected passes (ghats) or other spots suited for forts to check the incursions of the forest tribes, as the remuneration of the person or family entrusted with the guardianship of the pass, and of the specified number of armed retainers whom he was bound to maintain. “ This was the general character of the ghatwali tenure. The grants were rent-free. The grantees held while they performed the conditions of their grant. The establishments of retainers varied much in size, according to the purpose for which they were wanted, and the extent of the lands assigned varied in proportion. Some of the holders were wardens of extensive marches, and their successors at this 210 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. day occupy tlie position of considerable zamindars. Other grants were merely for the purpose of checking* the ravages of wild beasts; one in particular was given for the destruction of elephants. “ In the Bhagalpur district the grants were considered “police lands,” and when the need for the grantee’s services passed away, they were resumed by Govern inent and held for some time as Government estates. One proprietor, howe’ r, appealed against this mode of dealing with them, and the Privy Council decreed that he, and not the Government, had the right of resumption; and most of those resumed have been restored and absorbed in the zamindarfs of which they formed a part. “In the part of the district which once belonged to Bi'rbhum, no resumption or restoration has taken place. The grants, with an exception to be noticed, are of small extent, and are still held as reitt-free lands, and a nominal service rendered for them. Many of them have changed hands by sale and by encroachment, though such alienations are not recognised or permitted when known by Government. “ An exception to the gbatwalf as thus generally described, is the sub-division of Deogarh, which consists entirely of ghatwali tenures of a distinct kind. This country, which consisted of a forest tract, amid which rise precipitous, isolated hills, was held by a number of Bhuiya chieftains of an aboriginal or semi-aboriginal race, and was conquered by the Muhammadan sovereign of Birbhum about A.D. 1600. The conquerors, however, were irever able to bring the tract into complete subjection, and at last effected a compromise with the Bhuiya chiefs, under which the latter were to hold half of their respective tenures rent-free, on condition of their main¬ taining retainers and performing - the services of warden of the marches as above described. Engagements on both sides were never properly fulfilled, and in A.l). 1813 the Government finally intervened and concluded an arrangement with the ghatwals by which their quota of rent was paid directly to itself, and they were still bound to render, what the Government of the day styled, their police duties. “ Their system of sub-tenures coincides with that existing in the precisely similar tenures in the Chutiya Nagpur division, on which Deogarh abuts. They held watch and ward, and maintained militia and police, aud farmed out each village to a person called mustdjir, on whom fell fiscal responsibilities only. These farmerships became hereditary, and consequently at settlement the holders were unwilling to accept the lower status and more onerous duties, as well as the restrictions as to sale and transfer, fixed for the village, headman. They made an application to the Government, which conceded in return the right of sale to mustajirs of certain specified villages.” Subordinate to the zamindars in this second or “ jungle” section of the district, the villages have a regular hierarchy of hereditary officials. In each village is a headman or manjhi (when the village is not Sontal the headman is called pradhan or mustajir according to the locality). Several villages form a “ chakla ” with a chakladar or pramauik over them. Over several chaldadars again is the des-manjhi (these have now no functions, but are still THE LAND TENURES. 241 remembered). Lastly, over a whole pargana is the “ parganait.’ J [n the Daman-i-koh or hill tract where the Sontals have occupied the lower hills and valleys, this official is regularly recognised by Government; he not only gets a commission of 2 per cent, on all ren t punctually paid, but also an allowance from each village. Outside the Daman-i-koh, he is only locally recognised and sometimes does not exist at all. Many of these officials have rent-free or lightly-assessed lands, held in virtue of the office : the holding is spoken of as “ man ” or jagir. Thus the headman’s land is “ manjhiman,” The village watch (“ gorait ” ) and some others also, hold “ chakaran ” lands as remuneration for their services. In the Sontal villages there are also the usual tenures for priests, and grants for religious purposes may be found under the name of “ Sivahotra ” (Siva’s plot), &c. In the third section of the district—the hill portion called Daman-i-koh—the level portions in the valleys have been occupied by Sontals exhibiting the same village system as already described. It is curious to remark that these people apply the term “ zarmn ’> land (which they corrupt into “jam!”) only to level (rice) land. In the hills and along the slopes and ridges, the old hill (Ivolhariau) tribes still hold their own: they live by “jum” or temporary and shifting cultivation. 10 In theory, in this section, all the land belongs to Government, and the people are “ raiyats.” I have before mentioned that this is due to the withdrawal of the tract from the Regulations and from the settlement, owing to continual disturbances between the Hindustani laudowners in the plaius and ihe people in the hills. To this day Government takes no revenue from the pahariya; on the contrary, it allows certain pensions to the chiefs called “ Sardars” and to their deputies or “ Naibs,” and to the manjlns or headmen of tribal sections. Though the Government has never formally recognised any proprietary right besides its own iu tbe Daman-i-koh, it has never interfered with the people who treat the hills as their property. Q 10 Locally called “Kurowa bari. : 24'2 LAND REVENUE AND I,AND TENURES OF INDIA. “ Every hill,” says Mr. Oldham, “ is claimed as private property, and the hills are bought and sold/’ The whole of Sontalia is, as I have said, settled under Regu¬ lation III of 1872 and Act XXXVII of 1855 k The Regula¬ tion contains a special rule about the waste and forest land , providing that excess waste may be excluded under certain circumstances from the defined village area. The provisions of section 15 should be referred to for detail. As a matter of fact, the Government has attempted no interference with the upper hills, but exercises a certain amount of protection over the forest in the lower ranges, by rules made under the old Forest Act of 1865. § 19.— The tenures in jungle districts'Chittagong . The tenures that are found in the districts which were origin¬ ally covered with dense tropical jungle, have, as might be ex¬ pected, reference to the arduous task of clearing. For example, in Chittagong: here a number of settlers, each group under its own chief, took up such plots of land as it suited them to clear; and a group of such clearings was called a “ taraf.” The subjects or followers of other leaders also settled in the vicinity; and so it happened that the lands belonging to the various tarafs were very much mixed up : each holder only knew what taraf he belonged to, because he came under such a leader or captain who was his tarafdar. When the permanent settlement took effect, those “ tarafdars” were recognised as the owners of the lands in their tarafs. Many of the tarafs originated in the location of bodies of troops by the first Muhammadan conquerors who were granted land instead of pay, to support them. These people were then allowed to remain on the land ; only they were assessed to revenue when the jagir was resumed and the service no longer required. And the other tarafs originating in non-military settlements, were required to aid in the general defence, and held their tarafs in jagir in consequence. Thus it happened that all the tarafs consisted 1 Ami its Revenue Administration is supervised direct by Government in the Revenue Department, not by the Board of Revenue. THE LAND TENURES. 213 of holdings granted by area. These were permanently settled and are of course full proprietary tenures. But at a later date clearing leases called jangalburi and patitabadi were granted by the Collect¬ ors, and far more numerous plots of cultivation were also occupied by mere encroachment. All such lands (other than the perma¬ nently settled “ tarafs ”) were spoken of as “ Nau-abad ” (newly cultivated) and none of them were formally recognised as proprie¬ tary tenures. The question of their exact position long remained doubtful, and I have described on a preceding page (194) how it was ultimately settled. § 20 .—The Western Dtvars. In part of Jalpaiguri (the Western Dwars) we find the settlers called jotdars, and lands occupied called “ jot.” The jotdar is not recognised as the absolute proprietor of his holding 2 . Tem¬ porary cultivating leases given out by the Government officers are spoken of as “ haJ.” The country is regarded as a Government estate, the jotdar being the permanent occupant with a heritable and transferable title. Tenants on a fD'J lease are called here “ chukanidars.” A “ raiyat ” means a man who is allowed to cultivate for one year. <1 Praja” is the ordinary cultivator paying a produce rent, while those who agree for a money rent are called “ thikadar.” § 21.— Waste-land leises. Among the tenures that are founded on the clearance of the waste or jungle land, I suppose I should include those derived from the various leases and grants made by the British Government under the different “ Waste Land Rules.” In these cases, however, terms of the grant must be looked to for the nature of the tenure. Such grants were made chiefly in the Sundarbaus and in Darjiling. 2 According to the Bhutan custom the jot cannot be alienated to the prejudice of one of the family who would succeed on the decease of the jotdar. Mortgages also are only temporary. It would seem also that it was not the custom to sell the jot for arrears of revenue under Bhutan rule. See Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. X, page 284. 244 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER IV. THE REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. Section I.— Officials. § 1 .—The Board of Revemie. At the head of the Revenue Administration, and with con¬ trol over all grades of officials below it, is the Board of Revenue, con¬ sisting of two Members with two Secretaries, The Board of Revenue existed as far back as 1772, when it was composed of the President and Members of Council at the Presi¬ dency head-quarters. In 1781 it was remodelled as a “ Committee of Revenue/'’ When the districts further north were annexed, it was intended that separate Boards of Revenue should be constituted for each group, and a Regulation was passed for the purpose. This law (Regula¬ tion III of 1822) contemplated one Board for the Lotyer Provinces, another to be called the Board for the Central Provinces with authority over part of Bandelkhand, Benares, and Cawnpore; while a third Board was to have authority over the Western Provinces. In 1829 (by Regulation I) this plan was modified for the last time: “ the Board of Revenue for the Lower Provinces 1 ” alone re¬ mained, and the functions of the other Boards were made over to Commissioners, who now preside over the Revenue Administration of divisions (groups of two or three or more districts) and are subject to the control of the Board. A Regulation of 1811 (still in force) enabled the Government to empower any Member of the Board to exercise all or any of the powers of the whole Board. 1 This is the official title of the Board at the present day. The whole history of the Bengal officials may be found clearly summarised in the introduction to the Administration Report, 1872-73. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 215 The North-Western Districts—Beuares and those beyond—were afterwards made into a separate province, aud then came under the Board of Revenue of that Lieutenant-Governorship. § 2 .—The Commissioners. The Commissioners appointed iu 1829 were at first, beside their revenue powers, invested with judicial powers, both civil and cri¬ minal. Separate Civil and Sessions Judges were, however, after¬ wards appointed; and the Commissioners are now solely Revenue and Executive Superintendents. Under the Commissioners of the divisions are the Collectors of districts, their assistants aud deputies. § 3 .—The Bengal ‘ district ’:— f Suit-divisions The district in Bengal is the unit of administration just as it is iu other provinces. At present each district is split up into a number of sub-divi- sions, each of which is presided over by an Assistant Magistrate and Collector, or a Joint-Magistrate and Deputy Collector in sub¬ ordination to the Magistrate and Collector of the district. Uncoven¬ anted Officers, designated c< Deputy Magistrates and Collectors,” were appointed under Regulation IX of 1833 ; they were to help the Collector iu Revenue matters, and they have criminal powers also: they are often in charge of sub-divisions. They occupy much the same position in the administration as the Extra Assistant Com¬ missioners of the Non-Regulation Provinces. This plan of creatiug sub-divisions is one of recent date, aud it now distinguishes the Bengal district from the Panjab or the Central Provinces (for example) : there it is only when a district is very large, that an outlying or unusually populous section is made into a sub-division with an assistant in charge. The district in those provinces is ordinarily kept iu hand without difficulty, because it is throughout divided into tahsils, or comparatively small sub¬ divisions, each presided over by a Native Revenue and Executive 246 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA, Officer called a tahsildar, who has judicial powers, but so restricted as not to interfere with his more important revenue and executive functions. The tahsildar is enabled to keep a thorough control - over his tahsil by means of the village organisation and his staff of pargana officials. All this subordinate machinery from the tahsil downwards, as we shall presently see, does not exist in Bengal. Consequently, in former days, the Collector at head-quarters was the only power over the whole district; lienee the impossibility of his dealing with the cultivators in any detail, and the traditional necessity for the revenue collections being paid in by a comparatively few great estate-holders or zamindars. The gradual break-up of these very large estates, and the importance of securing the rights of the subordinate tenure-holders, however, have always rendered it desirable that there should be some more localised revenue control, and the tendency of later days has been to introduce local charges , subordinate to the Collector. This was begun by dividing the districts into sub-divisions in charge of assistants. § 4 .~**The Collector. The “ Collector ” has a history extending back to the year 1769, when our Government, though in possession of the right to administer the Civil and Revenue Government of Bengal itself, had not yet thought it advisable to attempt the direct administra¬ tion of the districts by its own servants. The old native system was therefore left in operation, but officers called Supervisors were appointed to check its working. In 1772, when the Company at last undertook the direct civil and revenue management of the districts, these Supervisors were called “ Collectors,” but were withdrawn two years later in favour of “Provincial Councils.” In 1781 the individual supervision was found better than that of a body, and the Presidents of these Councils were alone retained as Collectors in fact, if not in name. In 1786, Collectors were vested with powers both of Civil Judges and Magistrates ; this was on the plan of the Board of REVENGE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 247 Directors in England, and was proposed by them as tending to simplicity and economy ; but it was ill-suited to Lord Cornwallis’ ideas, and in 1793 the Collectors were confined to their revenue functions. Under Lord Bentinck in 1831, criminal powers were given to Collectors,but were again withdrawn in 1837, owing to the increase of the revenue work. The separation was, however, gradual, and went on from one district to another, till, in 1845, nearly all the Collectors had been relieved of Magisterial functions. The restoration in its present form of the office of “ Magistrate and Collector” dates from 1859 2 . The difficulty before felt of the possible overweighting of the Collector by an excess of criminal work is provided against partly by the appointment of Senior Assistants to the grade of Joint Magistrate 3 , with criminal powers equal to the District Officer (though exercised in subordination to him), and partly by the modern system of sub-dividing the districts. § 5 .— His Assistants. Assistant Collectors were first appointed in 1821 under Regu¬ lation IV, and they could be invested with direct authority in Revenue matters in portions of districts. Assistants not so em¬ powered, could only report on Revenue matters with a view to the Collector passing final orders' 1 . I have already mentioned the Deputy Collectors of Regulation IX of 1833. Below them an order cff Sub-Deputy Collectors has beeu receutly created 5 . Beyond this there is no further subor¬ dinate Native agency. 5 Despatch of the Secretary of State, 14th April 1859 (No. 15). 3 Practically, the Collectors take most of the Revenue work and the Joint Magis¬ trate most of the Criminal. * Regulation IV of 1821, section 8. This is still in force. 5 Deputy Collectors’ appointments were at first confined to natives. The restric¬ tion was removed by Act XV of 1843. The Sub-Deputy Collector is a grade constituted by executive authority, but the Regulations enable such au ollicer to be vested with such powers of a Deputy Collector as may be necessary. 248 I.AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. § 5 .—Pargana and village officers. At. the commencement of our rule, there were still patwaris, the relics of the old village system, and qattungos, the relics of the Muhammadan system of Revenue 6 , who supervised the Revenue collection. At first, the qanungo was for the pargana what the patwan was for the village. The patwan registered all chauges in lauded right likely to affect the revenue ; he kept the statistics of the village, and the accounts of revenue payments and balances, as well as of the payments which were actually made by raiyats and others to the “ proprietors.'” The qanungo did the same for his pargana. This system is still in full force (though with maTiy modern improvements) in other provinces where the “village” (or at most a group of a few villages or parts of villages) forms the “ estate ” which pays a separate revenue assessment. Without it, or something like it, a district where the revenue was to be collected from a number of such small estates, could not be managed. But in Bengal the system got more and more out of harmony with the modern practice, because, with the growth of the zammdar, the importance of the village and of the pargana for revenue con¬ trol purposes disappeared 7 . The zammdar gradually ceased to be a revenue collector and became in fact a contractor for a lump sum to be paid to the treasury, so the qauungo’s inspection was first 0 The Qanungo, as such, was a Muhammadan officer, but, no doubt, supervisors of groups of villages were common under Hindu Rulers. The Maratlias also had a similar system, e.g., the Despandya of Central India. 7 In Chittagong, where there were only groups of jungle clearings and no attempt at villages in the regular Indian sense, no patwaris were ever heard of, because there had been no village organisation ; but qanungos remunerated by certain special dues, or grants of land,’existed in full force up to the time of the permanent settlement. Iu Chittagong, however, the fact that the estates are now of small size and vast number, suggests an organisation of the kind. At the present day there is in effect, in each sub-division of the district, a number of native local officers like the Panjab tahsildars; and a system of pargana account and registration, as well as a subordinate estate registration and account. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 249 set at nought aud theu became really unnecessary 8 . In the same way the patwari was intended to control the zamindar’s gumashta or agent for making local collections ; but as soon as the State ceased to look into the details of local collections, and concerned itself with the lump sums, the patwan', where he was retained at all, became the mere servant of the zamindar. § 6.— The Qanungo. The District Revenue Collector had simply to take the lump sum of revenue assessed on a few estates of large size : he abandoned, under the policy of 1793, all interference with the internal affairs of the great landholders. It was supposed, however, at first, that qanungos would be useful, and in 1786 orders were issued that the “ancient constitutional check of the cauoougoe’s department in regard to the collections and on all officers therein employed, be now revived and placed by the Committee of Revenue in a state of full and effectual operation 9 .” It was not, however, to be expected that this revival would prove of any use. After the permanent settlement was concluded, the qanungos at head-quarters were abolished in 1793 10 . One more attempt was afterwards made by Regulation I of 1819 to # restore them, with a view to the supervision of the patwaris, whose resuscitation had been more persistently attempted (as will be presently explained). But the whole arrangement proved a failure and was soon abolished fiually, except in Bihar and in Orissa, where the settlement is under Regulation VII of 1822, aud more like a North-West settlement. § 7.— The Patwan. The patwaris were longer retained. At an early date it seems to have been thought that patwaris might be useful in collecting 8 Macneile’s Memorandum, section 196. 9 See Cotton’s Memorandum on Revenue History of Chittagong, Appendix I, page 186. The idea seems to have been to make the qanungos a check on the Collectors * “ It was,” says Mr. Cotton, “ in harmony with the system that prevailed under Mr. Hastings’ administration, of distrusting the local agency, whether European or other¬ wise, employed in the collections.” 111 Filth Report, page 19; aud Cotton’s Chittagong, page 186. 250 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. facts regarding land tenures, rents paid by raiyats, and other such matters which would help the Collector in adjusting the revenue totals properly over divided estates, and the Courts in deciding land cases aud rent suits. It was “ solely ” for this purpose that they were retained 1 . Patwaris were not, however, universally appointed, because it was felt, and in some quarters pointedly stated, that the object was chimerical. The patwari would either be regarded as an enemy by the zammdar, who would then conceal all the true facts from him, or he would become a tool of the landowner, and then in his ostensible position as a public officer would only have greater facilities for defrauding the revenue and aiding in the oppression of the raiyats. It was then determined that it was no use trying to make the patwaris public officers 2 : they were only to be the zamindaPs servants ; but it was hoped by the resuscitation of the qanungos in 1819 (just spoken of) they might be controlled to some extent, so that at least their accounts should be available for reference to the Courts and Revenue Officers. But this was in 1827 reported a failure, owing to the systematic and determined opposition of the zamindars to all arrangements having for their object the organisation of information regarding the land tenures of the country and the produce of the soil 3 . The struggle to make any use of the patwaris where they existed was then gradually given up 4 . § 8.—The present 'position of these officers. At the present day, qanungos are retained in Orissa and Chittagong. In the former they are of use in various matters connected with the road cess assessments to the supervisors of the 1 See Regulation VIII, 1793, sectioti 63. 2 Aud this of course sealed the fate of the institution. To be of any use, the patwari, though hereditary claims and even the wishes of constituents may be taken into con. sideration in his appointment, must nevertheless be purely a public servant, appointed aud liable to be dismissed by the Collector. Rut in truth he is part of the village systenf, and cannot be officially utilised in a zannndari at all. 3 Vide the Board’s Report quoted in Macneile’s Memorandum, section 200. * See Macneile, para. 201, page 137- Government of India to Bengal Gov¬ ernment, No. 38 of 3rd January 1851. REVENUE OFFICIALS; BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 251 accounts of batwara or partitions which are common. There is a qauung'o at head-quarters, and others in the district. Patwaris have been abolished in Bengal proper, though still some question remains as to their being employed in temporarily settled estates. But the Chittagong district furnishes an excep¬ tion. Here some kind of local establishment has always been necessary and the qanungo also lias always existed. In this district (exceptionally) there is an establishment of tahsildars and subordi¬ nates not unlike that which is found in Northern India. In Bihar , where patwaris exist, under Regulation XII of 1817, they are retained, and are useful. But no attempt is made to get them to prepare regular village accounts 5 . They are also partly Government servants, partly subordinates to the zamiudar. 5 In a Report to the Local Government (No, 712A., 26th October 1S80) the Board remark— “ The Board wrote in their Report in 1879-80 (§ 74)—“As regards Chittagong . . .a tahsil establishment has been proposed, which, if sanctioned, will greatly improve and strengthen the executive machinery of the district. . . . The principal difficulty of khas management in Chittagong lies in the very large numbers of almost infinitesimal properties under management, and in their scattered position. “ In Noakhally, the Government estates are mostly island ‘chars’ separated from the main land by large and tempestuous rivers, and their inacessibility is the chief difficulty in the way of successfully collecting the revenue from them. Another difficulty arises from the fact that the chars were cultivated, in a great measure, by non-resident raiyats, who settle on the lands for a portion of the year, and disappear after reaping their harvest, so that it is no easy matter to (realise their rent. “ The several laws (referring to Regulation XII of 1817, &c.) which refer to patwaris imply a condition of agricultural tenancy which has now passed away for ever. They assume that a village is ordinarily in the hands of a single zemindar, collecting directly from the ryots : or (in cases in which the zemindar may have refused to engage) of a single farmer paying revenue directly to Government. Even when more zemindars than one are referred to as proprietors, they are to be understood as co-sharers in the same estate— not as owners of separate mehals. “ It is easy to see that under such circumstances the patwari might really occupy the positiou of the village accountant, and his papers might furnish valuable informa¬ tion to officers engaged in the decision of rent suits on the partition of estates. Under-tenures being few in number, and the proportion of cultivated land being com¬ paratively small, the village register was probably a brief and simple document, and the local knowledge of the canooiigo enabled to him to detect any inaccuracies or omissions. 252 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Iu Orissa, there were very few patwans ; they existed only in 404 out of 3/304 estates. These are maintained to do what they can locally, but no general preparation of village accounts is required of them, and the former plan of requiring the proprietors to submit such accounts where there was no patwari, has been aban¬ doned. Section II.—Registration of Landed Property. ■ § 1 .-—Object and practice of registration. With the exception of those estates which are settled under Regulation YII of 1832, the great body of the estates of Bengal proper came under the permanent settlement, and for the purposes of that settlement there was, as we have seen, neither a demarca¬ tion of boundaries nor a survey, nor was there any enquiry into or record of, the various classes of lauded interests. A list of the different zammdari estates and the revenue assessed on each, was all that was kept. But it was the intention of the legislature from the first that there should be at least a register kept up, showing the extent and particulars of each estate separately assessed with revenue payable to Government. The object was to enable the Collectors to appor¬ tion the revenue in cases of partition, and to enable the Civil Courts to know when an estate changed hands, or happened to be transferred from one district to another. The registers were first directed to deal with the land as grouped by estates only 6 , but after- “ But the existing condition of things is altogether different. The zemindar of the present day, instead of being the owner of the entire village, is the proprietor of one out of a multitude of estates within the village boundary. The farmer of the present day, instead of holding under Government an estate for which the zemindar has declined to engage, is simply a ticcadar under the zemindar. The great mass of the ryots pay their rents to putnidars and other tenure-holders, and the zemindar has no dfrect concern with them. It is clearly shown that the patwari, who is only the nominee of one or a few among a number of proprietors, has no means of preparing an accurate village account. 0 And any estate might have lands belongiug to it scattered over half the district or extending into other districts. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 253 wards pargana registers dealing with the lands as they lay, and accounting for every plot in each pargana and its sub-divisions, were ordered. The law on this subject was never very well carried out, and the Regulation was both cumbrous and incomplete. It is, however, unnecessary in this place to dwell on the history of the past; it is enough to turn to the present law (Bengal Act YII of 1876) 7 . The object of the registration is simply to know who is the person answerable as in possession, for every plot of land in the district. The possibility of overcoming the difficulties of the old system is largely owing to the land survey, of which mention will presently be made. In the course of the survey, descriptive lists of the land surveyed were prepared (and the survey followed the local areas or villages, or was, in revenue language, mauzawar)’ Registers showing the estates as made up of lands in different villages, or of groups of villages locally compact ( i.e ., mahalwar registers), are easily prepared from the first mentioned, by simply abstracting them. § 2 .—Form of registration. The registers at present required by law are■ (A) A register showing the revenue-paying lauds in the district. [This is divided into two parts, to show the lauds which belong to estates the revenue of which is payable in the district, and lands within the district which form portions of estates whose assessment is payable in other districts.] (B) A register of revenue-free lands. [This is divided into three parts showing (I) perpetual revenue-free grants; (II) lands held by Government or companies for public purposes free of reve¬ nue ; and (III) unassessed waste land and other lands not included in part I or II.] (C) Is a register of lands, paying revenue and those held reve¬ nue-free arranged “ mauzawar,” i.e., the register is a list of the 7 See also Chapter V of the 1st Volume of the Rules of the Revenue Depart¬ ment (edition of 1878). 254 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. villages in each local sub-division (adopted for the purpose by order of the Board) and accounting for all the lands in each village, showing to what estate each belong which are revenue-free, and so on. (D) Is an “ intermediate" register for all kinds of land, show¬ ing the changes in proprietary right, occurring by sale, succession, lapse, or other transfer, and changes caused by the alteration of dis¬ trict and other boundaries. The registers are only re-written when the changes have been so frequent as to affect the original register very considerably and make it no longer of any use for reference. The Act makes it obligatory on persons interested to give information with a view to the preparation of the registers. It should be borne in mind that registration only describes the person in possession. It decides no question of right. Section 89 of the Act expressly states that any one may sue for possession or for a declaration of right, the Act not¬ withstanding. § 3.— Dqhhil-Jchdrij. The proceedings for reporting and registering changes in pro¬ prietorship are spoken of as “ dakhil-kharij," and closely resemble the same procedure in other provinces. The “ dakhil-kharij" proceedings are solely concerned with the fact of, or right to, pos¬ session. If the applicant's possession of, succession to, or acquisi¬ tion by transfer of the property is disputed, the Collector will summarily determine the right to possession, and will then see that the party is put in possession, and will make the entry in the register accordingly 8 . The details of procedure for obtaining mutation of names will be found in the Act. In most districts the work is now complete or will shortly be so. In Chittagong the number of holdings is so large that, in 1879, it was said it would take three or four years to complete the registers. In the Katak districts there is a source of unusual O 8 Bengal Act VII of 1876, section 55, as amended by Act V of 1878. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 255 labour in the number of petty revenue-free holdings, and the work is not yet complete. The Revenue Report of 1879 contains the following particulars of the working of the Act (excluding Chittagong) :—- Total applica¬ tions for re¬ gistration up to 31st March 1880. Disposed of during 1879-80. Pending on 1st April 1880. Total applica¬ tions granted up to 31st March 1880. No of cases noted in pre¬ ceding columns actually enter¬ ed in register. Remaining to be entered. 720,007 137,755 89,417 517,779 489,297 27,243 (1,239 appli¬ cations re¬ lating to claims to ex-proprie¬ tary allow¬ ance were cancelled.) § 4 .—Begistration of subordinate interests in land. It will be observed that these registers do not profess to deal with any subordinate rights or interests; there is nothing in Ben¬ gal which answers to the “ Record of Rights” of the North-West Provinces 9 . It so happens, however, that the Road and Public Works Cess, Bengal Act IX of 1880 10 , has resulted in a record of subordinate rights also. The road cess is a tax levied on all classes of proprietors, including every grade of tenure-holders, down to a limit of cultivators paying Rs. 100 in the year as rent, and hence a register has to be made of these. But the returns obtained are not satisfactory below tenure-holders of the first degree 1 . There is no legal validity, as evidence of right, attached to these returns. There is another method, however, of registering under¬ tenures. It has been always the law that when an estate is sold for arrears of revenue, all leases and under-tenures (with certain 0 Except of course in temporary settlements under Regulation VII of 1822. 10 Acts X of 1871 and II of 1877 have been repealed and superseded by the Act quoted in the text. 1 Administration Report, 1878-79, page 373. 256 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. exceptions 2 ) are liable to be voided, and the purchaser gets a clean and complete “ Parliamentary ” title. This is so under the Sale Law (Act XI of 1859) and its later addition, Bengal Act YII of 1868. To protect such under-tenures the Act provides 3 that they may be registered either in a “ common ” or a “ special ” register L Registration in the former protects them from being voided on sale of the estate for arrears, by any party other than Government; and special registration protects them absolutely. The Act also provides that the rights of sharers may be protected (and this is important, because otherwise the default of one sharer might cause the whole estate to be sold). Separate accounts are opened with sharers on application. In 1879, 14,442 such separate accounts, with a total revenue of Rs. 39,43,667, were on the books. Separate accounts can also be opened for specific landholdings (section 11, Act XI of 1859); of these, 1,736 (Revenue 3,69,664) exist. For the procedure necessary to the registering, the Act itself must be consulted. § 5.— The Taujih Department. For purposes of revenue collection, besides the lists of estates just described, there must be kept up lists showing the revenue payable by each estate, or separately assessed portion of an estate. There is a general district revenue roll, divided into two parts ; one showing the revenue fixed permanently or for a time, and payable by proprietors, farmers, or other engagees for the whole; the other showing the fluctuating revenue iu estates in which the raiyats pay direct to Government. It is not necessary to go into further detail on this subject 6 . 2 Described in section 37 of Act XI of 1859. 3 Act XI of 1859, sections 38 to 50. 4 Up to the end of 1879, tbe common register contained 3,584 holdings with an area of 3,908,532 acres and a rental of Rs. 22,09,988;—the special register contained 292 holdings, of 611,191 acres and a rental of Rs. 3,27,474. 5 The detail may he found iu Chapter VI, Rules of the Revenue Department Vol. I (1878). The revenue roll is written up by the Taujili-navfs : the establish¬ ment which keeps the rent roll and the accounts of each estate, with the amounts collections, and balances, is spoken of as the Taujih Department. REVENGE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 257 Section III. —Survey. As might be expected, a very few years’ experience of questions of assessment of lauds wrongfully claimed, of resumption proceed¬ ings in the case of invalid grants, and indeed of revenue administra¬ tion generally, showed the absolute necessity of a reliable survey. A revenue survey was accordingly organised, and maps of districts and of the estates they contained were prepared. Only the village boundaries were surveyed, unless, indeed, a village contained lands belonging to several estates, in which case the boundary of eacb group of lands had^to be shown. From the list of surveys given in the Administration Report of 1872-73, it would appear that the Orissa districts were the first completed, the survey beginning in 1838. The report states 8 that alnqpst the whole of the provinces had been surveyed, so as to show estates and village boundaries, but that only in a few places had a field-to-field demarcation been made. There also existed no legal provision for the maintenance of boundary-marks, or for compelling their erection. Previous to 1875, as far as permanently settled estates were concerned, the process of revenue survey was carried ou without any authority given by law. Regulation YII of 1822 could not be quoted, since it applied to non-permanently settled estates, and could not warraut any action with reference to estates in which there could be no question of re-settlement. In 1847, indeed, a law had been passed regarding the survey of lands liable to river aetion 6 7 , and the principles of this law are still maintained under the Survey Acts. The whole business of survey is now regulated by Bengal 6 Summary, page 86. 7 Act IX of 184-7. Iu the case of the alluvial lands the survey is treated as a special matter : it is required only along the banks of the great rivers. At present the special branch which deals with this work—the “ Diyara (Dearah) Survey ” as it is called—is confined to the Dacca Division. It is worked by non-professional agency under the Deputy Collectors. The object is to “ identify and relay on the ground the boundaries of villages which have been subject to fluvial action and of which the boundaries cannot in consequence he identified ; also to ascertain nod assess lauds which have been added to the estates by accretion. (Board’s Revenue Administration Report, 1879-80, § 92.) R 258 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Act Y of 1875. It is not my intention to go into any detail as to the procedure, but a general outline may be stated so as to furnish a clue or guide to the study of the Act itself when necessary. The Act allows a survey to be made extending not only to districts and to estates, but, if ordered, to defining fields and the limits of tenures. After provisions relating to establishment, the Act requires a proclamation to be issued, and persons to attend and point out boundaries, clear lines, and so forth, so that the survey may begin. When the demarcation is complete, the persons who pointed out the boundaries are required to inspect the papers and plans representing such boundaries, and to satisfy themselves as to whether the boundary-marks have been fixed according to their information. The plans and jpapers are to be signed by these parties, in token that the marks are shown in the maps or papers in the places where they declared they should bh. The Collector can always set up temporary marks, and may set up permanent marks; and, after notifying their number and cost and giving opportunity for objections to be heard, he may direct the cost to be apportioned among the land-owners or tenure-holders concerned. Provision is made for the permanent maintenance of these marks 8 . Passing over the detailed provisions for determining who shall bear the cost of the boundary-marks, and how it is to be appor¬ tioned,»I proceed to the subject of boundary disputes 9 . Here the Collector is to decide on the basis of actual possession, and his order holds good till it is upset by competent authority. If possession cannot be ascertained, the Collector may attach the land till one party or the other obtains a legal decision ; or the Collector may, by consent of the parties, refer the matter to arbitration. There are also excellent provisions for relaying any boundary which has once been decided, but which has become doubtful or disputed. 8 Sections 19 and 20. 8 See Part V, section 40 et seq. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 259 Full provisions also will be found for protecting boundary - marks from injury and restoring them when damaged. The Act, it will be observed, does not say anything about the records and registers which the Survey Department prepare. These particulars, and rules about the scale, and so forth, must be sought for in the Board’s Revenue Rules. Section IV.— Partitions. This topic generally finds a place among the topics of revenue procedure. Owing to the fact that by the native laws, the sons or other heirs succeed together, it follows naturally that any one of a joint body of owners may reasonably require that his interest and share should be separated off and assigned to him. This process is called “batwara” or partition. But, then, such a separation may affect the Government revenue: siuce, if an estate assessed with, and liable as a whole for, one sum of revenue, is afterwards divided into, say, four properties, the Government interest would be consider¬ ably affected, unless the whole estate remained, as before, liable for the entire revenue. This fact has led in Northern India to a distinction between “imperfect” and “perfect ” partition. When the partition is imper¬ fect, the different shareholders get their rights separated and de¬ clared, but the whole estate still remains liable to Government for the whole revenue. In “perfect” partition the responsibility to Government is also divided, and the shares henceforth become separate estates, entirely independent one of the other. It has always been therefore a moot question how far partition should be allowed. The question, indeed, has most interest in those pro¬ vinces where the village system is in force. That system, as the student will have sufficiently gathered from the Introductory Sketch, is based on the joint responsibility of the community, so that a partition may affect the security of the Government revenue, also the bond of union which the village system secures. In Bengal this latter effect is not felt ; but still the breaking up of one compact estate liable to sale as a whole, for the revenue 260 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. assessed on it, into a number of petty estates, each separately liable for its fractional assessment, and possessing 1 a very reduced market value in consequence of its small size, has been felt to be a real difficulty. On the other band, there are interests which benefit by partition. The tenants on a joint estate are often seriously harassed by having to pay their total rent in a number of fractions to different shareholders, each insisting on collecting his own separate payment. A separation of the interests tends to alleviate this 10 . The question, therefore, of regulatingpartition long remained under discussion. It had been dealt with by Regulations in 1793, 1801, and 1803. In 1807 a limit had been put to the division, and no share assessed with less than Rs. 500 revenue was allowed to be separated. This Regulation, however, was thought to go too far, and was afterwards repealed 1 . The subject has been more recently set at rest by the passing of Bengal Act VIII of 1876. This Act contemplates only one kind of partition, i.e., the complete separation of the estates, not only as regards the private rights, but as regards the responsibility for the revenue. But no partition made after the date of the Act coming in force (4th October 1876) other than under its provisions, though it may bind the parties, can affect the responsibility for Government revenue. There is a limit, but only a very low one, to partition : if the separate share would bear a revenue not exceeding one rupee, the separation cannot be made, unless the proprietor consents to redeem the land revenue, under the rules for'this purpose. Partition can J be refused when the result of it would be to break up a compact i estate into several estates consisting of scattered parcels of land, • and which would, in the opinion of the Collector, endanger the land-revenue 2 . For the procedure of a partition case, how disputes are settled, I how the final order is recorded, the Act must be referred to. The proceedings are held ff on the reveuue side ” before the Collector. 10 This difficulty of fractional payments will be found discussed in Macneile’s Memorandum, Chapter XVII. 1 By Regulation V of 1810. « 2 Bengal Act VIII of 1876, sections 11 to 13. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 261 Section V.— Recovery of Government Revenue. The simple remedy contemplated by the early Regulations was, that if the revenue was not punctually paid, the estate, or part of it, might be put up for sale. The effect of this law has been noticed in a previous chapter on the permanent .settlement. The present law on the subject is to be found in Act XI of 1859, as amended and amplified by Bengal Acts III of 18G2 and VII of 1868, and still more recently by Bengal Act VII of 1880 for the recovery of “ Public Demands.” An “ arrear ” accrues, if the “ kist ” or instalment of revenue due for any month remains unpaid on the first of the following month. In some cases notice for fifteen days before sale is required, and the later Act enables Government to empower Collectors to issue warning notices in all cases 3 . Sharers of joint estates can protect themselves from their shares being sold for arrears along with the rest of the estate, by applying for and obtaining an order for a “ separate revenue account ” of their share as I mentioned on a previous page. But if on a sale being notified (subject to the exeeptio'n of the separate shares), it is found that the estate subject to such exception, will not fetch a price equal to the amount in arrear, then notice is given that, unless the recorded sharers make up the arrears and so save the estate, the whole estate will be sold. I pass over the rules for re-sale in case the auction-purchaser'fails to pay the purchase-money in due time, and here only notice that there is an appeal to the Commis¬ sioner against a sale in certain cases 4 . The Commissioner may also suspend a sale in cases of hardship, and report to the Board, on whose recommendation the sale may be annulled (after it has taken place) by the local Government. The jurisdiction of the Civil Courts to annul a sale, on a regular suit being brought for the pur¬ pose, is also defined 6 . 3 Sale Act XI of 1859, section 5 ; and Bengal Act VII of 1868, section 6. * See Act VII of 1868, section 2 ; Act XI of 1859, section 26. 4 Act XI of 1859, section 33. 262 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. As already noticed, a sale for arrears hands the estate over to the purchaser with a clear title : the purchaser may void and aunul all leases and subordinate tenures, except those specified in section 67 of the Act XI and those which are protected by registration 6 . “ Tenures” or interests like fisheries and other interests arising out of lands not being “ estates ” (land or shares in land paying revenue) may be sold like estates for arrears of revenue 7 . It should be remembered that in all Government estates, i.e., where the Government is theoretically the proprietor and the cul¬ tivators are its tenants, as well as in all cases where money due under any Acts is legally recoverable “as arrears of land revenue, ’ the procedure is under Act YII of 1880. The Collector records a certificate of arrears 8 , which certificate has the effect of a decree of Civil Court and may be executed accordingly. A private landlord can only pursue his tenants either under the rent law or the special law applicable to the under-tenures called “patnis.” Section YI.—Rent Law. It is not possible in the space available to me, nor would it be necessary for the purpose of this Manual, to do more than indicate the outlines of the laws ef rent and its recovery. Under the early Regulations no sufficient provision was made for the landlord recovering his rent, and consequently he was frequently unable to pay his revenue, and his estate was sold up. This evil was soon remedied; but the law rather impaired the status of the raiyat. These powers of rent recovery are still remembered as the “ qanun haftam ” and “qanun panjam ” (alluding to Regulations VII of 1799 and Y of 1812). Under the former the tenant's person could be seized in default, and under the latter his property could be distrained. Under either case, “the proceedings commenced with what has been described as a strong presumptiou equivalent 0 See Act XI, section 38, &c. ’ Act VII of 1868, section 11. s See Bengal Act VII of 1880, section, 5. REVENUE OFFICIALS, BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 263 to a knock-down blow against the raiyat.” The solution of the difficulty did not immediately appear, and it was not till 1859 that the rent law was codified. It is clear that in a country like Bengal, where the proprietary position of the zamnidar is more or less artificial, and where the “ tenants ” are in a large number, if not in the majority, of cases, the original landowners 9 , and would, had the village community survived as in the North-Western Provinces, have themselves become the landlords;—it is obvious under such conditions that a rent law cannot merely occupy itself with a procedure for obtaining a decree for arrears, selling the defaulter's property, and distraining his crops. It is necessary to determine what classes of tenants the land¬ lord can eject at his pleasure, or at least ou the termination of his lease or other agreement, and what tenants are entitled by their antecedents and real position, to be recorded as having “occupancy rights." Then, again, as an occupancy right would be useless if the rents were liable to enhancement solely at the will of the land¬ lord, it becomes necessary to determine what rents are unenhauce- able, and on what principles those fairly liable to increase may, from time to time, be raised. Act X of 1859, the first general rent law (which was not in¬ vented in Bengal, but originated in the North-Western Provinces), deals with both branches of the subject. It was the first to announce the general “ arithmetical ” principle of tenant-right ; namely, that every tenant who himself or by his ancestor had held continuous possession (for the then general period of limitation) twelve years, should be declared an occupancy tenant. This principle of an arbi¬ trary but equitable prescription which would serve as a title, may have been no more than just, where the people seeking their rights were the weaker party, down-trodden and ignorant, unable to understand the value of documentary evidence, aud to know how to prove ancient andancestral possession. a At any rate, they were resident cultivators, and, according to alleged custom, not liable to ejection. 264 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The Act, besides fixing 1 the rights of occupancy, endeavoured , to lay down principles under which the rents of all such occupancy tenants could alone be enhanced. But these, it was soon found, were by no means easy of comprehension, still less so of application. The case in 1865, known as the Great Rent Case, in which all the fifteen Judges of the High Court gave interesting and learned judgments on the subject, and examined the history of Bengal tenancy generally, though it resulted in a rule accepted by the majority, can hardly be regarded as having afforded a practicable or satisfactory solution of the enhancement question. The Act Xof 1859 was distinguished as regards its method of recovering rents by establishing special suits in Revenue Courts and prescribing a special procedure to be followed in such cases. As this procedure is supposed to be easier for the more backward and less “ Regulation ” districts, the Act is still retained in some places, e.g., in the Orissa districts, in the Darjiling and Jalpaigdri districts 1 °. In the other districts 1 it has been superseded by Bengal Act VIII of 1869, which, however, in great part re-enacts Act X, but hands over rent suits entirely to the Civil Courts ; and this forms the distinguishing feature of it. The right of occupancy is declared, as before, on the twelve-years* rule. Nor has any altera¬ tion been made in the rule of enhancement. There are provisions for immediate and summary execution of decrees for ejectment. Under-tenures may be sold also for arrears of rent 3 . The Act declares the produce of land to be held as hypothecated for the rent; and distraint and sale may be resorted to instead of a suit 3 . But distraint cannot be made for arrears that have been due for more than a year. The crop is liable to distraint even when it has been reaped, if it is still on the ground or on the thresh- 10 Not in Sontalia, which is under a special Regulation; nor in the districts of Chutiya Nagpur, which have a special Landlord and Tenant Act of their own (I of 1879). ’ See Notification in Calcutta Gazette, 2nd March 1870. 1 Act VIII of 1869, section 59; Act X of 1859, section 105; and Bengal Act VIII of 1865, section 4, &c. Patui tenures are still sold under Regulation VIII of 1819 as explained by Act VI of 1853. Act X of 1859, section 112; Act VIII of 1869, sectious 6 to 8. REVENUE OFFICIALS; BUSINESS, AND PROCEDURE. 265 ing-floor or like place, but not after it lias once been stored. Then it becomes ordinary movable property, and can only be taken in execution of a decree just like any other property. Both Acts agree in keeping up the law which, indeed, has been always a principle recognised in Bengal for the protection of the tenant, viz., that every tenant has a legal right to demand a “patta ” or a written document specifying the extent of his tenure, the terms of rent, and so forth: and every one who gives a patta can claim a counterpart or kabuliyat 4 ’. At the time I am writing, a Commission to enquire into the whole subject of rent law has presented its report, and a draft Code revising the rules of enhancement and other matters of the first importance t.o the tenantry, has been submitted. It is too early at present to say anything of the draft proposed, since it is uncertain how far it will go in recognising further securi¬ ties for the “ tenant.” Public opinion in these matters oscillates slowly; at one time the feeling is in favour of the tenant side, at another it tends back to the landlord’s interest. The fate of the proposed legislation will, in the nature of things, be much depend¬ ent on the state of public opinion. Section VII.— Other branches of Revenue duty. There are other branches of a revenue officer’s duty which occupy a considerable space in the Revenue Manuals. The procedure of the Collector as a Court of Wards, managing estates of minors, and the procedure for managing lands attached “by order of Court, are instances. It is not within the scope of this Manual to deal with these branches ; they are all fully provided for by the Board’s Revenue Rules. Nor can I go into the questions of agricultural embankments 5 , the rules for “ Taqavi,” or advances made for land improvements °. 4 Act X of 1859, sections 2 to 9; Act VIII of 1869, sections 2 to 10. • 6 BeDgal Aet VI of 1873. 6 Aet XXVI of 1871. 266 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The road cess assessment and collection under Bengal Act IX of 1880 forms, in Bengal, another special branch of a revenue officer’s duty. In other provinces, as a rule, a cess for the same purposes is assessed along with the laud revenue, and is collected at the same time and by the same process. In Bengal, the arrangements of the permanent settlement did not include this, and therefore an Act was required, which makes not only estates, but every kind of tenure and cultivating holding, liable to paj^ a small contribution to the main¬ tenance of a fund for roads and communications. The acquisition of lands for public purposes under Act X of 1870 is practically a branch of revenue duty, as it is the Collector who makes the first award of compensation, and as when the land is expropriated the revenue on it has to be remitted, jmd the ‘‘ taujih department is consequently concerned. Full instructions regarding the form of submitting a proposal to expropriate lands, and other details of procedure, are to be found in the Board’s Rules; a reference to these and to the Act X of 1870, will make the whole matter clear. Further detail here is not required 7 . 7 The Waste Land Rules have also a great importance in Bengal, as there aro still lands available in the Assam districts, in Cachar, about Darjiling, and in the Suudarbaus. An interesting accouuc of the various rules for the disposal of waste lands, their successes, and their defects, will he found in Macneile’s Memorandum, pages 106 to 128. BOOK III. THE REVENUE SYSTEM AND LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 269 THE REVENUE SYSTEM AND LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. INTRODUCTION. The Revenue systems of the North-West Provinces, the Panjab, Oudh, and the Central Provinces bear such a strong family resem¬ blance to one another, having all originated in the same law and its authorised commentaries, that it has been judged best to treat of them together. The original basis of the whole system is to be found in Regu- . lation VII of 1822, as afterwards modified by Regulation IX of 1S33. I will briefly repeat the history of these Regulations, although I have already given it in the fourth chapter of Book I. The Regulations for the Permanent Settlement applied only to the districts of Bengal proper, but were extended in 1795 to those of the Benares Province. But in the course of time the British Empire expanded: new provinces and districts were acquired by cession or conquest, and required a Revenue Settlement. Among the earliest of these was the Cuttack (Katak) province, acquired in 1803. The Permanent Settlement rules were clearly inappli¬ cable, and a special settlement, or rather series of short settle¬ ments, legalised in 1805, were made. In the following years the ff ceded ” and “ conquered ” districts, that make up a considerable portion of the North-Western Provinces, were rapidly acquired, and also demanded settlement. All this time experience in Revenue Administration was being gained, and the defects of the Permanent Settlement and the impossibility of its general appli¬ cation, were recognised. Moreover, in 1820, the Minutes of Sir T. Munro, ou the raiyatwan system, had begun to excite interest. 270 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. When, therefore, the Katak Settlement of 1805 expired and the other provinces required regular settlement for the first time, a new settlement law was needed; and the subject was approached with views considerably different from those which had prevailed in 1793. The new settlements were, in fact, provided for on an improved basis, and Regulation YII of 1822 embodied the new method. The system so inaugurated met with general approval, and in 1825 Regulation YII was extended to all other districts in the Presidency of Bengal to which the Permanent Settlement had not applied*. In 1833 (by Regulation IX) the law was improved in some important particulars; and these Regulations then became the basis of the Revenue system of all Upper India, and afterwards that of the Central Provinces. Around the Regula¬ tions themselves were soon collected a valuable body of practical Commentaries, sucb as the “ Saharunpur Instructions/'’ the “ Rules for the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, 1853,” and other Settle¬ ment Orders, which find their best known representative in the “ Directions for Revenue Officers ” by Mr. Thomason 1 2 . When the Panjab and (later still) Oudh were annexed, and when the Central Provinces were united into a separate Local Administration, it was determined to settle them on the same principles. Regulation VII of 1822 was not indeed actually put in force 3 in all these provinces, but the Settlement and Revenue Officers were directed to follow its spirit, and Settlement Circulars were issued for their instruction, on the basis of Mr. Thomason’s work and the other official papers already alluded to. The original settlements made under these Regulations have expired, aad the Regulations themselves have been repealed or 1 And the Regulation is declared by the Laws Act of 1874 to apply to all the Lower Provinces (Bengal) except the Scheduled Districts. Here it is still iu force. 2 This work appeared in 1849. It consists of three parts, (l) Introductory re¬ marks, (2) Directions to Settlement Officers, (3) Directions to Collectors. The work was specially re-edited for the Panjab by Mr. D. G. Barkley in 1875. 3 In the Panjdb at least this was doubted ; for the Panjab had never been formally declared part of the Bengal Presidency, and it was to that that the Regulation extended. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 271 superseded by the modern “ Land Revenue Acts.” I have there¬ fore adopted the plan of describing the settlement as it would be under the modern law. The earlier Regular Settlements were made with less elaboration, but still on the same general plan, as regards defining boundaries, survey, making a record of rights, and so forth. The survey has since been developed and perfected ; the forms of records have been much improved, and the method of cal¬ culating the rate of revenue assessment has, especially in the North-West Provinces, undergone a marked change. But still the modern settlements recognise and preserve the salient features of the original system ; and the modem law, though differing in details, still breathes its spirit. As the system is so much alike in all the provinces, I have, as already remarked, determined to give one general description of it, taking up each branch of settlement work in order as it natur¬ ally follows. Where, however, the law or practice in any branch is really different in the several provinces, I have at once cast the rules and practice of each into the form of a separate paragraph relating to the one province only. The land tenures are described in a separate section for each province. . At the end of the chapter, appear two brief appendices which will give an account of the revenue system and land tenures in those parts of each province which are “ Scheduled Districts,” and not under exactly the same revenue law as the rest. It is only for the Panjab and North-West Provinces that these notes are required. In Oudh there are no scheduled districts. In the Central Provinces the districts of this class are certain remote and wild districts or estates held by Chiefs. In these Chiefships no enquiry has been made into rights in land. The Chief is called on to pay into the Government treasury a certain annual sum or tribute, and he is left to manage his estate and take revenue or rent from the people, according to ancient rule and cus¬ tom. The ordinary revenue laws do not apply to them, nor is there any revenue system in force. Consequently, they do not require any notice in this Manual. m LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA, In the Panjab the appendix notices only the Hazfira district, as being governed by a special Regulation. There are some other “ Sche. i doled Districts,” but as regards settlement and revenue law, they exhibit no different features from the ordinary districts, and require no special description. For the North-West Provinces a few words of explanation as to the districts requiring a separate notice in the appendix may be added. : The Scheduled Districts, which exhibit some exceptional features in their land and revenue systems, include several mountain districts in which large forest tracts have been reserved to Government: they therefore claim a special notice in this Manual. All the districts called “ Scheduled,” under Act XIV of 1874, are not exempt from the ordinary revenue law: the three districts of the Jhansi Division (Jhansi, Lalitpur, and Jalaiin), though sche« i duled, are, in revenue matters, governed by the same law as the Regulation districts 4 . Kumaon. Garhwal. The Tarai district. The Jaunsar Bawar par- gana of Delira Dun. Certain tappas of Mirza- pur and the tract south of the Kaimur hill range. 4 As regards the three districts of the Jhansi division, the present system of dis¬ trict administration virtually dates from 1862, when orde.rs were issued by the Government, North-Western Provinces, assimilating the system to that of the Pan- jab and Oudh, i.e., uniting the Civil, Criminal, and Revenue jurisdiction in the Deputy and Assistant Commissioners and Tahsfldars. These rules were legalised hy an Act of 1861, which has been since repealed under the Act XIV of 1874. Now, the districts .of the Jhansi Division have become “scheduled districts” by Notification No. 687A. of 9th November 1877. The Civil, Criminal, Police, and other organic laws do not differ from what they are in other districts. The Civil Procedure Code also has been extended, with the excep¬ tion of certain sections. The-settlement was made under the usual North -West system, and the Rent and Revenue Acts are in force. By a reference to section 1 of the Revenue and Rent Acts, it will be seen that the Acts apply to the whole of the North-Western Pro¬ vinces except certain districts mentioned in schedules appended to them. These schedules exempt all scheduled districts (Act XIV of 1874) except Jhansi, Lalitpur, and Jalaun. The districts noted in the margin, how- i ever, have more or less exceptional rules of revenue management, and peculiarities of , land tenure, and so are noticed in the appendix. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 273 I should take the opportunity of remarking that the districts of the “ Benares Province 5 / J which were permanently settled in 1795, require no special notice. All that has been said of the Permanent Settlement in the preceding Book (II) applies to them. They have now been surveyed and records made for them, and except in the one fact that the assessment is permanent, they do not differ from any other “ Regulation ” district in the North-West Provinces. The Land Revenue and Rent Acts apply to them as well as to the districts not permanently settled. The subjects of this Third Book will be divided as follows :— Chapter I.— The Procedure of Settlement. Chapter II.— The Land Tenures. Section 1.—North-West Provinces. „ 2.—Oudh. „ 3.—Panjab. „ 4.—The Central Provinces. Chapter III . — The Revenue Business, Officials, Courts, and Procedure. Appendix .— Note A. —On the Scheduled Districts of the North-West Provinces. Note B. —On the Hazara District in the Panjab. 5 Benares, part of Mirzapur, part of Azimgarh, Ghazfpur, and Jaunpur acquired by treaty in 1775 from the Nawab of Oudh. They were at first left in the hands of the Raja, who paid a fixed revenue or tribute to Government. Some further changes occurred in 17S1, and the districts were finally brought under the Regulations and permanently settled in 1795. I mention this because, in different books and re¬ ports, I have found all the three dates which I have included, respectively given as the date of annexation. There is no doubt that the treaty of 1775 gives the real date of the province actually becoming British territory. S 271 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Chapter T.—The Procedure of Settlement 6 . The term “ Settlement 7 ” will already convey a definite meaning to those who have read the introductory sketch in Book I. Under the system which we are to study, it is the operation by which Gov¬ ernment, through a properly appointed staff of officials, ascertains the amount of “ Revenue ” it is to take from the land, and deter¬ mines the persons who are to be allowed to engage for the payment of the revenue, and who consequently are vested with the proprie¬ tary title in the land itself. As the determination of this proprie¬ tary title gives rise to further questions regarding various classes of persons interested in, or connected with, the land, it is an essential feature of the Upper Indian Settlement, that an enquiry into these rights should be held, and a subsequent authoritative record of them made. All customs and local practices affecting the payment of revenue, and the management of the “ estate/’ are also recorded. Hence a settlement involves proceedings which are partly judi¬ cial and partly fiscal. The progress of a settlement indicates a series of subjects, to he described in the order in which they naturally occur in actual 6 The chief authorities referred to are the following, and their full title has not been repeated in each reference North-West Provinces. —Circular Orders of the Sudder Board of Revenue (= S. B. Cir.); the Re¬ venue Act XIX of 1873; Colvin’s Settlement Manual, 1868; Thomason’s Directions to Revenue Officers, and Colvin’s Memorandum on the Revision of Settlements, North-West Provinces : Rent Act XU of 1881. Oudh. —Major Erskine’s Digest of Settlement Circulars, 1871 (= Digest), and the Government Cir¬ culars of later date; the Revenue Act XVII of 1876; Rent Act XIX of 1868. Panjdb. —Panjab edition of Thomason’s Directions, 1875; Land Revenue Act XXXIII of 1871; Rules made under the Act (= Rules); Tupper’s Panjab Customary Law, III vols., Calcutta, 1881 (Government Press). Central Provinces.— Settlement Code of 1863; Nicholls’ Digest of Circulars ; Land Revenue Act XVIII of 1881. The numerous Settlement Deports in each province are referred to throughout ; also Mr. Stack’s Memorandum on Current Temporary Revenue Settlements, pre¬ pared for the Government of India, and printed in the Home, Agriculture, and Re¬ venue Department Press, 1830. 7 “Settlement” is sometimes used in a more restricted sense to mean simply the engagement or contract to pay a certain sum of revenue, as when we say “so aud so has accepted a settlement for so much.” REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 275 practice. These subjects I have made the headings of the sections of this chapter : they are as follows — Section 1.—The procedure by which a settlement is set in operation. „ 2.—Demarcation of village boundaries. „ 3.—The survey. „ 4.—The inspection of village lauds and assessment of the revenue, „ 5.—The close of the settlement. „ 6.—The permanent records prepared at settlement. Section 1.— Of the Procedure preliminary to Settlement. § 1 ,—Row a settlement is set in operation. A settlement, or such part of the proceedings of a settlement as may be necessary, is in all cases set in operation by a notification in the official Gazette, which specifies the district or other local area. North-West Provinces. —In these provinces, where ail districts had already been settled, some of them more than once, before the existing Revenue law, Act XIX of 1873, came into force, nothing more is prescribed 8 than that the notification should place the area generally “ under settlement/'’ or declare that a “ record of rights ” only is to be prepared. It might be the case, that the record of rights in a permanently-settled district required preparation or j reconstruction ; it is therefore convenient that the Government should be empowered to prepare such a record, though there is no question of altering the assessment. Oudh. —Under the Revenue Act (XVII of 1876), the provisions are practically the same 9 , namely, that where the whole series of oper¬ ations comprised in a settlement is not required, power is given to prepare a “ Settlement Record ” even though a complete settle¬ ment involving a new assessment is not contemplated. Under the Oudh Act this “ Settlement Record ” is at the discretion of ' Act XIX of 1873, section 36. 3 Act XVII of 1876, section 14. 27<) LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Government as to what papers (registers, statements, &c.) it is to consist of, and what facts it is to record. Both Acts direct the appointment of Settlement Officers and Assistant Settlement Officers who will exercise the powers conferred by, or conferable under, the Acts. Panjab. —As this province had been but a short time under British rule, and, when the Revenue Act (XXXIII of 1871) was passed, a number of districts had still to be settled in regular form for the first time, the subject is dealt with more at large. It is ex¬ plained 10 that a district may be “ under settlement ” either for the purpose of assessing the revenue, or for enquiring into and record¬ ing the rights of persons interested in the land, or both. Section 10 explains further that when there has been a provi¬ sional adjustment of the revenue only (as there usually was when we first took charge of a district), that is called a “ Summary Set¬ tlement •” when, however, there was afterwards a complete settle¬ ment, consisting both of an assessment of revenue and a record of rights, that is called a “ Pirst Regular Settlement.” . A “ re-settlement ” is (as naturally follows) when either or both of those portions of a regular settlement are revised or gone over again, on the expiry of the previous term. The “ settlement notification ” defining the local area (as in the other provinces) declares further which of the above described set¬ tlements is ordered, or what portion of the operations of a settle- I ment is to be carried out, and what officers are to do the work. It is usually accompanied by a notification investing the Settlement | Officers with Civil Court powers, as will be afterwards explained. Central Provinces. —The law provides for a notification in¬ dicating the local area to be settled, and simply adds that the | Chief Commissioner is to specify what operations are to be carried out 1 . The Settlement Officers are then appointed as the Act j directs. 10 Act XXXIII of 1871, sections 7-13. 1 Act XVIII of 1881, section 28. A “ revenue survey ” can be ordered by notifi¬ cation at any time, independently of a settlement (sectiou 27). REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 277 § 2 .—Settlement Officers. In all provinces the ofRcer in charge is called the Settlement Officer, and there may be Assistant Settlement Officers, There are also subordinate officers who may be locally known by different titles, but they carry out a great deal of the detailed work, subject to revision by the Settlement Officer. The Acts always provide for the investiture, by the Local Government, of any person employ¬ ed in this way with such powers as may be necessary. In the Panjab we have “ Superintendents ” (who are often Extra Assistant Com¬ missioners) and Deputy Superintendents of Settlement. The same title is, or was, in use in the Central Provinces 1 * 3 . The Commissioners, and finally the Board of Revenue, control Settlement Officers in the North-West Provinces. In Oudh the Chief Commissioner is the controlling authority. In the Panjab there is a Settlement Commissioner, who controls all or certain settlements as may be appointed, with final reference to the Financial Commissioner. In the Central Provinces there is also provision for a Settlement Commissioner 3 . It will be borne in mind, as regards the group of provinces generally, that in a number of districts, the regular settlement is now a thing done and past, and the whole work will not (if the records are properly kept up from year to year) have to be gone over again ; the boundaries are all ascertained, and the surveys made, so that much of what we describe in this chapter will be descriptive rather of what has been the procedure, than of what has to be, in any future settlement, gone through. Nevertheless, there may be re-settlements and revisions of records, or altogether new settlefnents, in which the procedure will still have to be followed in some or all of its brauches. 1 In the Central Provinces Act (XVIII of 1381, section 29) all the officers appointed to the work arc called Settlement Officers; if more than one is appointed, there is to.be one to whom the rest are subordinate, and he is called the Chief Settlement Officer. 3 Act XVIII of 1831, section 32. In the Panjab the appointment is not pro¬ vided by any special cuactmeut. 278 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section II. —Determination of Boundaries. § 3 .—Boundaries of districts and talisils not a settlement matter. The boundaries of districts and revenue or fiscal sub-divisions are, of course, public matters and do not affect any private right; they are determined by Government under the powers vested in it by law 4 . § 4.— Village and-field boundaries. Not so the boundaries of mauzas or villages, or the boundaries between one man’s field and another. As the object is both to assess revenue on definite areas, and to secure all classes of rights which also subsist on lands also of definite area, it is evident that a survey and registration of lands is a necessary preliminary (supposing such not already to exist) for a settlement. But be¬ fore any survey can be made, all boundary disputes must be set¬ tled, or, at least, it must definitely be known that such and such a line is in dispute, so that it may afterwards be put in cor¬ rectly when determined by proper authority. The village bound¬ aries are first settled before the revenue survey begins, and then other boundaries may be settled if necessary, when the field-to-field survey comes on. But such disputes are generally of a different kind to village boundary cases, and usually depend on some claim to right which is settled by a land case in Court. 4 Act XXI of 1836 (for Bengal, North-West Provinces, and Panjab) gives power to create new zilas or districts; Act XIX of 1873, section 14, provides for sub-divisions in the North-West Provinces ; Act VI of 1867 provides also foV alter¬ ing boundaries of districts in the Panjab, but no mention is made of the sub-division of districts. This matter is settled under Financial Commissioner’s B. Circular XXV of 1864 (Barkley’s Directions,” § 43, p. 16). Act XVIII of 1876 (Oudh), section 45, provides fully for the whole subject,—districts, sub-divisions, &c. Central Provinces Act XVIII of 1881, section 14, also provides fully for abolishing districts and talisils or creating new ones, and altering the limit of those now existing. For purposes of Civil and Criminal jurisdiction, the Procedure Codes contain pro¬ visions which apply to all districts to which the Codes apply. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 279 The Revenue Acts contemplate this 6 . The Settlement Officer is empowered by all the Acts to call upon proprietors to restore or erect boundary marks. A boundary dispute is distinguishable from a dispute about a right to land : t\yo persons may, for ex¬ ample, be in possession, generally, of contiguous lands, but may be in doubt as to the precise line of demarcation between their respective possessions. If one party shows that, rightly or wrongly, his pos¬ session extends to a certain poiut, that is the boundary line accord¬ ing to possession. A question of right, that the boundary ought to go in some other direction, is a question for a civil suit, unless the law enables it to be decided by arbitration. § 5.— Question of possession. In the “ Directions ” it is said that possession cau never be un¬ known, but, remarks Mr. Auckland Colvin 6 , it is sometimes difficult to discover:— “ A field is often entered during successive years in ttie jamabandi of both disputing villages; the crop grown, the amount thereof, the name of the owner and cultivator, are elaborately recorded. Inquiry on the spot and from neighbouring zamiudars by no means always clears the matter. These are often either indirectly interested or ignorant. It is well in such cases carefully to examine the mznamclia and bhylchatta (balii khata) of the patwaris concerned and to ascertain in which patwari’s papers entries regarding the field in question are most frequent. These papers are less open to suspicion than the jamabandi, as reference to them is less looked for.” In waste or uncultivated land, disputes are more likely to arise. Here reference must be had to former maps prepared by authority. These may not always be forthcoming, or there may be reason to doubt their accuracy; then there must be a recourse to arbitra¬ tion or to a civil suit. § 6.— Settlement of disputes. By the Oudh and North-West Provinces Acts, the Settlement Officer may settle boundary disputes, but is bound to decide on the 5 North-West Proviuces Act XIX of 1873, section 40; Oudh Act XVII of 1876, section 23; Paujab Act XXXIII of 1871, section 22; Central Provinces Act, section 45. 0 Settlement Manual, 1868, p. 4, s. 6. 280 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. basis of possession, or refer the matter to arbitration? for decision on the merits. In the Panjab Act it is not expressly said what is to be done in case the boundary is disputed, but section 23 author¬ ises the Settlement Offiper (if empowered by the Local Government) to refer any matter in dispute to arbitrators with or without consent. Nor does the Panjab Act say that a disputed boundary (when not submitted to arbitration) is to be settled on the basis of possession as it does in the other Acts ; but there is no doubt that it has been the practice to do so ; a person distinctly out of possession must go to the Civil Court and establish his right. The Central Provinces Act does not specifically allude to boundary disputes; but sections 68, 69, 72, all give power, in regard to different classes of land, to ascertain the persons in possession. In cases in which possession or boundary questions can be de¬ cided by arbitration, the Act empowers the Local Government in the Panjab to prescribe the powers and procedure of arbitrators. In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, these matters are noted in the Revenue Act itself. The Central Provinces Act does not specifically allude to arbitration; but section 19 gives power to make rules and to extend the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, under which arbitration can be applied and regulated. I have only here spoken of the powers in determining boundaries, which Settlement Officers have as such. But under the Central Provinces, Oudh, and Panjab laws, Settlement Officers may be invested with judicial powers as Civil Courts, to hear land cases. Their powers in this respect will be more conveniently noticed at a later stage. Assuming such powers to have been given, it practically comes to this : that the demarcation is first of all to be done by the people themselves; they put up the necessary marks ; if they do not, the Settlement Officers have power to do this and charge the cost on the parties concerned. In some cases this cannot be done, owing to a 7 In the North-West Provinces consent of parties is not necessary to a reference, if the reference is ordered by the Settlement Officer (section 220). It is in Oudh (section 191). Where possession cannot be made out, and where arbitration is not resorted to, the only remedy is a regular civil suit. REVENUE SYSTEM OF TIPPER INDIA. 281 dispute. In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh the Settle¬ ment Officer can only summarily decide on the basis of possession (unless arbitration is resorted to), leaving the parties to decide the question of right in the Civil Court. In the other provinces, the dispute being known, the Settlement Officers may decide the whole case, acting uuder their Civil Court powers. These remarks only apply to the adjustment of boundaries during a settlement. In case of a disputed boundary occurring afterwards, it would be decided under the ordinary law. § 7.— Tlahhast. ft It was the uniform practice, in demarcating village boundaries at settlement, to identify important points, such as the junction of the boundaries of three cfr more villages, by masonry pillars (“ trehaddi ” or in the Persian form “ sib-haddi”) different in form from other pillars or marks 8 . Wherever there had been a dispute, a continuous trench was dug, or more than usually con¬ spicuous and permanent m irks were set up. Charcoal and other substances were often buried under the pillars, so that, even if the superstructure is destroyed, the site of the pillars may be easily determinable. In most other cases earthen or mud pillars are sufficient and are generally used. In cases where there had been no previous regular settlement, or where new maps had to be prepared, a “ thakbast naksha,” or boundary map, was prepared for each village 9 ; and with it there was also drawn up a formal record 10 showing the manner in which the boundary lines were ascertained, and the proceedings in con¬ nection with the decision. The procedure for the repairs and maintenance of boundary marks at all times, i.e., after the settlement is over, will be found in the chapter on “ Revenue business.” s See Directions (Panjab edition), page 5, §§ 13-15; (Nortli-West Provinces) S. B. Cir. Dep., J p. 1. 9 (Panjab) Rules, head C., Section III, p. 52. 10 Id. 282 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 8. —Demarcation in Oudh. In Oudh the demarcation of boundaries was so important that the Settlement Circulars treat “demarcation” as a distinct branch of work. There was also a special staff employed at the settlements for it. The work was done by amins and munsarims, supervised by a “ sadr muusarim/’ who remained with the demarcation officer 1 . As the Revenue Survey only dealt with exterior boundaries of villages, only these were shown in the maps, but supplemental maps of iuterior divisions were made for the use of the Settlement Officer and for the native staff who made the khasra or “ field-to- field” survey. One difficulty in Oudh (especially in the eastern districts) result¬ ed from the way in which the lands belonging to one estate (held by a separate and jointly responsible body) were interlaced with the lands belonging to other groups. The cause of this has been stated in the introductory chapter on Tenures. When a number of villages belonged to certain “ zamindari ” joint families and came under divi¬ sion, the plan was for each branch to get, not an entire village, but a certain slice of each village in the joint estate. When, therefore, a separate settlement had to be made for the several estates divided off, the lands which had to be assessed together as one mahal, lay some in one village, some in another. When the location of lands in an estate is thus scattered, it is said to be “ khetbat.” When the division is into compact blocks, it is said to be “pattibat 2 .” When the lands are khetbat, you may find an estate ( a ) with some of its lands in each of several villages; (d) consisting of one or more villages as a whole, but some lands of another estate in¬ cluded in the villages ; (c) consisting of one or more entire villages, but with some outlying lands in other villages. Such internal divisions are very important, because the reve¬ nue is not, under the system we are studying, assessed on each field separately, or on a group of fields, merely because they lie close 1 Erskinc’s Digest, section II, §§ 20-22. " The same thing occasionally occurs in the North-Western Provinces, and is spoken of as the qitu’bat and khetbat distribution respectively. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 283 together; but on a mahal or estate owned on the same title, by the same individual or body. The internal divisions of villages were accordingly mapped for the use of the Settlement Officer, and demarcated by pillars of a particular form to distinguish them from the village boundary pillars 3 . When a tract was ready, the thak- bast maps were made over to the survey, and the “ misls ” (files of proceedings) relating to the boundaries made up. The boundaries of waste lands attached to, or separated from, villages were indicated by a continuous ridge 4 (“mend ”). § 9.— Waste land included in boundaries. This is a convenient place to notice a subject of considerable practical importance. I allude to the question how far waste and jungle land, included in the local area of a village, was held at settlement to belong to the estate. In all the provinces there have been large tracts of waste, hilly country covered with forest, “ bar lands” (as they are called) in the centre of the Panjab “doabs 3 ,” and similar unoccupied lauds, which have not come under the operation of the settlement at all, but remain to be disposed of by Government. Putting aside, however, these extensive wastes, there are many districts in which the whole area came under settlement, although the actually culti¬ vated lands were limited and separated from one another by inter¬ vening tracts (of greater or less extent) of forest, jungle, barren land, grass land, or other description of “ waste.” In many cases this waste was known by the local name of one or other of the “ mauzas” or villages adjoining it. And the question arises—what has been the rule? Was all such waste included in the boundaries 3 Digest, section II, § 44. 4 Digest, section II, § 10. 5 The country between any two of the Panjab rivers is called clo-db — i.e., “between two rivers,” e.g., the Bari-Doab is the country between the Beds and Ravi, the Rechuab Doab between the Ravi and Chenab, and so forth. The lands in the middle portion of the more extensive doabs being of higher level and far removed from the efEcct of river percolation, are usually covered with jungle, useful for yielding firewood, and affording grazing to large herds of cattle, and such central tracts are distinguished as the “ bar.” 281 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. of the village whose name it bore ? And, if so included, did it become the property of the village, i.e., had the village proprietors the same right to it as they had to the cultivated or possessed area? The auswer to this question must be given differently for the different provinces, and I shall therefore treat of each in a separate paragraph. § 10.— Waste land in the North-West Provinces. In these provinces, some of the districts in which there are large forest areas (Kumaon, Jaunsar-Rawar) are under a separate proce¬ dure, and will be described in the appendix. In the ordinary “ Regulation Districts 8 ” (subject to the ordinary Revenue law), the cases where large areas of waste laud would remain, and be excluded from settlement operations, were few ; and it may be said generally (auy local exceptions are always well known and can be easily ascertained) that the waste was included in the boundaries of the village or of the estate. What follows from this ? The Act 6 7 decides that such waste belongs (at least in a manner) to the owner of the “ mahal ” or estate within which it has been included. It is therefore not available as Giovern- raeut waste ( e. g .) for forest purposes. If, however, it is in excess of the requirements of the owners, “ with reference to pastoral or agricultural purposes,” the Settlement Officer may lay a separate 6 The Dehra Dun must be considered a regulation district at any rate, now that Act XIV of 1874 is law and makes no mention of Dehra Dun. At the first settlement however, all the waste was excluded (see Commissioner’s letter No. 654, Dehra Dun Settlement Report, 1871). It was then determined to declare all the waste to belong to Government. But this was doubtfully legal. Ultimately, it was decided to give back all the waste that fairly adjoined and might beheld to belong to the villages, and only retain for Government the large waste tracts, sal forests and hill jungles which clearly had not been occupied by any village or private landholder. 7 See ActXIX of 1873, sections 57-60. This is a very curious provision; it has come down from old times, and shows how little our earlier administrators cared for the theory of a thing as long as a practicable rule was arrived at. It seems as if the “ surplus ” waste was the estate-holder’s property, and yet it was not. It is so far Government’s that Government judges whether the owner requires it ornot; and if it thinks not, assesses it .as a separate estate and offers it to some one to hold; it is so far the estate-holder’s, that it must be offered to him in the first instance, and if he does not take it, he gets “ malikana,”—a sort of compensation for his lost right. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 285 issessment ou it aud offer it to the owner of the mahal. If he will not have it, the tract so separately assessed becomes a separate mahal, and at disposal of Government. But the owner of the mahal is entitled to receive an allowance of not less than 5 or more than 10 per cent. “ on the net revenue realised by Government from such waste land.” Waste land which has not been “ judicially declared ” to be part of the estate, nor included in the boundaries of an estate at any previous settlement, is treated differently 8 . It is marked off, aud a proclamation is issued for claims. If no claim is made, or being made, is disallowed, the waste is decided to be the property of Government; but still an opportunity is given to the owner of the adjoining estate to show that “ he has enjoyed the use of such lauds for pastoral or agricultural purposes. If this is established, the Settlement Officer may assign to such estate so much of the waste as he considers “ requisite for such purposes,” and he shall mark off the rest for Government 9 . § 11.— Waste land in the Punjab. The case here is somewhat different. In many districts the area for settlement practically consisted of a great waste with villages scattered over it. This condition was, at all events, sufficiently common to cause a rule to be promulgated (by circular order) on the subject of how far the waste was to be considered as belonging to the different villages. The rule was, that each village was to have a certain area of waste included in its boundaries and given over to it absolutely. Where the waste was extensive, it was a rule to allow each village twice, and in some cases thrice, the cul¬ tivated area. The rest then formed the “ rakh” of the Panjab, 8 Act XIX of 1873, section 60. 9 It will be observed that this indirectly, but clearly, condemns the erroneous doctrine that a person can acquire a complete property in the soil itself by merely exercising some rights oj user over its produce. The section asserts the right of Gov¬ ernment in tho soil, aud buys off the rights of nser, by giving up a portion of the land aud leaviug the rest free for Government ; this is something like the Freuch method of “ cautounement ” in buying out rights of user. 286 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. which is Government waste available for forest or any other pub¬ lic purpose, or for sale or grant. This procedure was not, however, uniformly carried out; there were many districts in which the older settlements left the matter very much in doubt 10 . The Revenue Act consequently draws a dis- 10 e.g., the Muzaffargarh District, where at first all the waste was included as belonging to one village or the other; this was (somewhat arbitarily) taken hack again about 1860, and now finally has been re-settled on a more satisfactory basis with the consent of all parties. In Rawalpindi also the waste was not separated from the villages in the hill talisils of Murree and Kahuta, and the work of separation is only now going on; there were indeed certain tracts of jungle known by local names and which were acknowledged to be generally Government waste, subject to certain rights of user; but it was entirely uncertain what land was part of the village and what was not. In the Kangra District, but not in Kulu Sub-division, at settlement, all the waste was given over to the villages, but the Government retained a right to the trees, and consequently to the user of the land as long as any trees were on it, and rules were also made for the protection and reproduction of trees. The following extract (paragraphs 24, 25, and 26) from the remarks of the Financial Commissioner, Panjab, on Mr. Lyall’s Kangra Report (1865-72) are of importance as showing how the waste rights grew up, and how they came to be as at present recognised :— “When we look to Mr. Barnes’ Settlement Report for an account of the mode in which the waste was treated at the Regular Settlement, we find considerable indis¬ tinctness :— “ l. Mr. Barnes says that ‘ extensive wastes and forests are generally considered the undivided property of Government. From this it would appear as if he reckoned small wastes to belong to the landholders. “ 2. He treated the holders of land within the circuits as coparcenary bodies, and imposed upon them a joint responsibility to which they were strangers, and to balance this, gave the community the right to collect certain items of miscellaneous rent, the produce of the waste. “3. In the village administration papers of the Regular Settlement the waste is usually termed ‘common land of the village’ (shamilat deh) ; sometimes this defini¬ tion is omitted, and then the ownership of the waste is left to be inferred from the interests recorded in it. “4. The question of demarcating large tracts of forest for Government was dis¬ cussed during the operations of Mr. Barnes’ Settlement, but abandoned apparently from the idea that a forest establishment would be expensive, and that the expense might be obviated by employing the zamindars in the work of conservancy, and ultimately every particle of waste, from the tops of mountains to the river-beds, was included in the boundaries of the circuits. “ To what extent Mr. Barlies intended to convey proprietary right in the wastes to the landholders is even now uncertain. The wastes were demarcated in village REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 287 tinction between 1 settlements made before the Act ( i.e., before 1st January 1872) and after it. In those early settlements there may be distinct mention of the matter in the settlement papers; if so, that is of course to be followed : otherwise waste and forest land is presumed to belong to Government, whether included in the boundary of an estate or not. Any claimant may, however, remove the presumption, by offering evidence on certain points which are described in section 28, and need not be further alluded to here. In settlements made after January 1st 1872, unless the records make a distinct provision on the subject, waste included in the boundaries is “ deemed ” (i.e., conclusively held, as between boundaries and entered in the administration papers as * shamilat deh,’ but at the same time the right of Government to all trees growing on common land is secured, and the grazing fees payable by the gaddfs were claimed for Government. Again, the expression that the extensive wastes and forests are generally considered tha undivided property of Government, seemed to show that Mr. Barnes did not intend entirely to abandon these wastes. Further, in two subsequent letters written in 1860, Mr. Barnes distinctly combated the notion of his having surrendered the pro¬ prietary right of Government, asserting that the administration papers were com¬ piled by the people themselves, and that custom was against their claim to the pro¬ prietary right. Mr. Lyall uses a somewhat similar argument when he says that the entry of ‘ shamilat deh’ against the wastes was made as a matter of course by the amins, who, trained in the North-West Provinces Settlements, had recourse to the procedure there learnt, by which every plot of laud, not being private property, came under the heading of ‘ common.’ “ The question, however, came up for discussion in 1852-53, in connection with the demand for land for forming tea plantations. Mr. Lyall shows that on several occasions the local officers tried to re-assert the paramount claim of Government to the waste, but the Chief Commissioner refused to acknowledge the principle, and ruled that the waste lands must be held to be the property of the villages, and that uo lands could he appropriated without the consent of the zamindars. This decision was finally affirmed by Government in 1863, and Major Lake, then Commissioner of the Division, recommended that the boundaries of hamlets within mauzas should be defined in the rest of Kaugra proper, as they had been at first Settlement in a great part of Tahsil Nadaun. The position thus taken up, which must be held to repre¬ sent the views of Government when Mr. Lyall began his settlement, was that the Government has reserved in the waste lands only the right to certain forest timber and to certain grazing fees, and had surrendered to the zamindars the right in the soil, together with the miscellaneous dues, composed of fees levied from Gujar herdsmen, qunrriers, iron-smelters, netters of falcons, owners of water-mills, &c.” 1 Act XXXIII of 1871, section 28, &c. 2SS LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Government and the parties) to belong to the village 3 . It is nevei difficult in the Panjab to ascertain the legal position of the waste,— in any district where there is any (in Ambala, Ludiaua, and some others, there is none to speak of),—for whenever there is any pecu¬ liarity, as in Rawalpindi, Kangra, or the Salt Range, full notice oi the subject is sure to be found in the Settlement Reports. In all cases where there is no question about the waste belong¬ ing to the village, but where that waste is more than they actually want, the Act contains provisions for separately assessing it, very like those of the North-West law. § 12.— Waste land in Oudk. “ Waste lands 3 have been declared, generally, to be the property of the State; but it has been ruled that small tracts of waste that supply fuel and pasturage to the neighbouring villages, or are 2 All waste in tlie Panjab that has been dealt with at settlement, and has been cut off from villages, and in which rights have not specially been recorded, is exclu¬ sively Government property and available for forest purposes or otherwise ; but there has been a strong tendency of late to recognise the convenience of the neighbour¬ ing villages irrespective of their actual right. The result of our settled and peaceful Government has been, that the land originally made over to the villages as waste has become valuable, audit has, in many instances, been all brought under cultivation without thought as to provision for grazing. In consequence of this the people have no waste left, whereon to graze or cut firewood: and they naturally clamour to get it in the neighbouring Government waste. Whenever, then, it is desired to enclose this for planting or other purposes, there is a loud outcry ; and this may result some day in serious difficulty. A difficulty of this sort was experienced in the “ Raklis ” of the Salt Range (Jhelam District.) Here the waste was all marked off separately from the villages, as it would have been anywhere else, only it was understood that the tracts so marked off were rather taken under care for the gene¬ ral benefit and to prevent the different tribes disputing about them, than to become the property of Government or liable to any strict control. A forest settlement has accordingly revised these arrangements and allotted a certain portion only to strict reservation. Meanwhile, there is in the Panjab Laws Act (IV of 1872, section 4§) an excellent provision which enables Government to make rules regulating the use of pasturage and other products of Government waste generally, and prohibiting any user that is not in accordance with such rules. This provision is exceedingly valuable, pending the introduction of a complete forest reservation or other final disposal of the lands. 3 Quoted from the Digest, section II, § 63. REVENUE SYSTEM OP UPPER INDIA. 289 u the course of being cultivated by neighbouring villages, are to be included ” in the village boundaries. The object here, as elsewhere, was to give, in addition to the culturable laud, room for extension of tillage, and to provide for pasture land: and the rule was, when possible, to allow the village an extent of waste equal to the area already cultivated. If, after making this arrangement, the surplus would not exceed 500 acres, l t was not demarcated, but redistributed aud included in the villages. The waste in excess of this would usually be free of all rights and available for auy Government purpose. Whenever a State forest is demarcated, a belt of waste land has to be left between the village boundary aud the forest, so that the village may have no excuse for cattle-trespass within the actual forest limits. As this arrangement of waste was provided at the first settlements and acted on then, there was no occasion for any provision of law in the Revenue Act, as we have seen there was in the Panjab. In cases where Government wastes adjoin private estates, the Government paid half tlie cost of the ordinary boundary-marks and one-tliird of triple junction pillars 4 . § 13.— Waste in the Central Provinces. There are in these provinces, to a greater extent than elsewhere, large areas of jungle country in the hill ranges aud in several of the plain districts. Such areas were from the first excluded from the scope of the settlement, and remained at the disposal of Government, and hav§ now to a great extent been constituted per¬ manent Forest Estates, callecT in India “ Reserved Forests.'” But, just as in the other provinces, there were also waste areas which intervened between the occupied lands of villages under settlement. The Government right to deal with these was all along asserted ; aud it was never considered that, because the waste happened to be called by the same name as the mauza, it is therefore the i 1 Quoted from tbe Digest, section II, § 70. 290 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, property of that mauza. But a rule was devised (as iu the Panjal to give a reasonable share of waste to the village and to retain tl rest. The Central Provinces rule was 5 that an area equal to 10 percent, as a minimum, or of 200 per cent, as a maximum, on tl area of cultivated land, was to be given up and included in the estah In some districts the survey had been made so as to show tl whole of the waste as in some mauza or other (e.g., the Nagpt district). Where this had been done, the excess waste under th new rule, was to be marked off, and either new boundary maps pre pared for the settlement records or the old ones altered 6 . The wast might be locally known by the name of a mauza, but it was a sepa rate Government block. These blocks were free of all rights 7 . There would, however, be eases where a jungle tract came unde settlement, because small holdings or scattered villages were foun in it. Here you could not speak of waste being attached t villages; it was a case of small hamlets found inside the wash In such eases to have applied the rule would have been to increas the village only to a very (small plot. And there were cases als where the cultivation shifted, a plot being cultivated one year an abandoned the next iu favour of a new plot. The decision in the matter is important, and I may, therefore quote verbatim the digest of the Circular LXXII of 1862 8 :— ff Bu these are .... the instances where we should be especiall careful to adhere to the principles adopted, of f not relinquishing large areas of forests and waste to individuals incapable and unwil ling to reclaim them.'’ Accordingly, when a Settlement Office meets with a village, represented, say, by a few Gond huts, aud; • 5 See Nicholls’ Digest of Circular Orders, Volume II, Section XX, page 595 where the whole subject is clearly treated. 6 Where this would have been very inconvenient the waste separated off wai allowed to be shown as a “ cliak ” or part of a mauza, belonging to Government. 7 I do not of course speak of concessions which may have been allowed, or tc such special rights as were granted in the Balaghat district to certain settlers, who in fact, contract to pay their revenue on the understanding that they are to gel free jungle produce for their own use, and free grazingffrom the waste (which is now “ Reserved Forest” under the Forest Law). 8 Digest, volume II, page 596, &c. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 291 few acres of cultivation, iu the depths of a forest extending over several square miles, more or less of hill and dale, he must not relin¬ quish the proprietary right on the whole forest, because, from the circumstances above instanced, and others similar to them, he cannot exactly decide on the rule by which the right should be confined to closer limits. It must be remembered that, although Government is willing to recoguise proprietary right on the basis of possession, yet possessed land is defined as a rule to be cultiva¬ tion, plus, on the maximum scale, 200 per cent, of uncultivated land ; and that there is no authority for granting proprietary rights on other grounds. “ There appear to be two ways of settling such cases :— “ Firstly, offer to recognise the proprietary right in the cultiva¬ tion, plus an appropriate amount of uncultivated land; if the cul¬ tivation be scattered, act similarly, arranging the scattered portions as chaks or outlying plots of the main portion, and exclude the remainder. Secondly, if this is objected to, because the cultivation Shifts its locality, or on other grounds, there seems to be no alterna¬ tive but to reserve the superior proprietary right. Frame the assess¬ ment as if the excess of waste were excluded; guarantee possession to the landholders as inferior proprietors or tenants, but reserve the power to include the grant of the superiority of the land in their possession, in the grant of any portion of the excessive waste adjacent, which may, at any future time, be made to a third party; providing, however, at the same time, that they, the exist- refuse, again made to them before any such grant be concluded.” 1 notice that this was done in the Upper Godavari district 9 . Something has been done to prevent injury to the country by the wasteful treatment of forest lands included as waste in the village estates. By the terms of the “ wajib-ul-'arz,” rules for protection 9 Settlement Report, section 201. I presume that the inferior proprietary right would be given iu the lauds fouud actually in possession at the time. Hitherto the cultivation had shifted on the “bewar” (often called dahya) priuciple from place to place. 29‘2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. are agreed upon. Certain valuable trees are not to be cut without a reference to the Tahsildar. Where poles of sal, shisham ( D. lati- folia ), and teak are cut, one such of good growth is to be left on each 100 square yards. Mohwa trees (Bassia latifolia) are to be - respected. Subject to these rules, clearing for bond fide cultivation is not to be checked 10 . These rules being by agreement, there was originally no specific penalty for their breach, but “ vigilant care on the part of the District Officer and Tahsildars should suffice to ensure a general adherence to them.” It would now seem that, under the new Revenue Act, a penalty can be enforced, for such rules are expressly alluded to in section 141 (f). And the Act pro- j vides in section 162, that a penalty for breach of rules, made (with the sanction of the Governor General in Council) to carry out the provisions of the Act, may be exacted. The allotment of the waste having been already accomplished under the rules laid down, all that was required in the Revenue Act 1 was to provide that if, in the course of any Settlement, there appear tracts of land which have no owner [i.e., which do not appear to be lawfully owned or to have been definitely and properly included in a mahal or estate under the arrangements which I have described), a notification should be issued inviting claims. If it is found that some persons-had enjoyed certain rights, but never had exclusive proprietary possession, then a portion of land may be given to the claimant (or some other form of compensation), so as i to get rid of his rights over the rest. This is very nearly the same as the North-West Provinces law. In the large zamindaris, which are a sort of semi-independent chiefships, the rules about excess waste have not been applied, and it is not intended to check the extension of cultivation in any way, even though some valuable trees may be on the ground. This clearing must not, however, be made a pretext for selling valuable forests. 10 SeeNicholls’ Digest, Vol. I, pnge 185. • Act XVIII of 1881, sections 40-42. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 293 For the Chanda Chiefs the Government terms and rules of the .enure; provide a certain protection for the forest 2 , the chief f ea- ,ure of which is that more than a certain number of trees cannot be :ut and sold without the Deputy Commissioner's sauction. The :ase of smaller estates is not so clear,—in the Circular LXXII, ilready quoted, it is said that claims to “ manorial rights ” (pre¬ sumably meaning rights in the waste) are to be carefully considered tnd reported on. I conclude that in most cases the waste lands rave been included, and are not under Government control. In “mu’afi” and “ ubari ” estates (estates of grantees either •evenue-free or at reduced rates) also, the waste was included, on :he same principles as regulated its being included or excluded crom revenue-paying villages 3 . Section III. —The Survey. § 1 .—Legal authority for it. It is ouly necessary to speak of this very briefly. When once thoroughly done, it is not, under ordinary circumstances, required to be repeated, at all events for a very considerable time. The Oudh and North-West Provinces Acts take it for granted that a survey is part of the proceedings, and merely give powers to the Survey Officers. In the Panjab, the notification of settle¬ ment declares what survey work has to be done 4 , and the Act. then gives general powers. The Central Provinces Revenue Act allows of a revenue survey being carried out in any district, irrespective of a settlement being ordered at the time. § 2 ,~-The professional survey of village boundaries. The early system followed alike in the North-West Provinces, Panjab, and Central Provinces, was to have the survey and maps 8 See these iu detail in Chanda Settlement Report, section 324, page 180. s See Abstract No. 3 in the Settlement Code. 4 North-West Provinces Act XIX of 1873, section 41; Oudh Act XVII of 1876, section 25 ; Panjab Act XXXIII of 1871, section 25 ; Central Provinces Act XVIII of 1881, section 27. 294 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. partly made by professional agency in the Revenue Survey Depart¬ ment, and partly by the agency of native patwaris or of ami ns. The Revenue Survey Department furnished a map which only extended to the outer boundaries of villages and the main blocks ■ of cultivation and waste. These it defined with accuracy, as soon as the boundaries had been ascertained and disputes settled in the course of the thakbast or demarcation proceedings. The Revenue Survey usually mapped on the scale of 20 chains to the inch, or 4 inches to the mile. The Professional Survey Department also compiled a map show¬ ing all the main geographical features of the district and the village boundaries taken from the large-scale village boundary maps. . The map of the district) or part of the district, was afterwards i reproduced on a reduced scale by hand-drawing, or now by the aid of photozincography. These are the “ Revenue Survey maps” (usually , on the scale of 2 miles to the inch) which are familiar to my readers 6 . The Revenue Survey thus proved useful to the Settlement Officer in the following ways:—(1) it gave him an accurate record of the total area of each village ; (2) a correct boundary configuration map showing waste and cultivated land ; and (3) maps of the tract of country showing the relative position of the villages. § 3.— The Khasra Survey. But none of the maps could be taken up by the Settlement Officer and worked on so as to fill in the field details. The Settlement Officer’s survey was therefore a really separate one; only he could check his own village-map outlines by the professional map, and also cheek his areas by it. The Settlement Survey was (under the earlier system) a non-professional survey of the interior portions of each village area, especially showing every field with a separate number. This map is called the “ Shajra,” and is on a large scale, usually 8 or 16 inches to the mile. It is accompanied by a detailed 5 They show the village boundaries and the cultivation and waste areas. In some places they are 1 inch = 1 mile instead of the scale stated in the text. REVENUE SYSTEM OB UPPER INDIA. 295 ndex or register of every field 0 numbered in a series, according ,o the number in the Shajra, and called the “Khasra 7 .” Hence die Settlement Survey is often spoken of as the “ Khasra Survey.” 6 “ A field i3 a parcel of land lying in one spot in the occupation of one culti¬ vator or of several persons cultivating-jointly, held under one title, and generally mown by some name jn the village. The plot of ground surrounded by a ridge of >arth (mend) is not necessarily a field. Some of these ridges are more permanent .han others, and serve to divide the land into fields, bearing separate names. The boundaries 'of fields are well known to the people and are sometimes distinguished ay particular marks, such as the growth of certain grasses, stones, &c. In rich and irrigated land the separation into fields is generally permanent, but in light unirrigated lands it is liable to constant alterations. The field register ( khasra ) should show when the limits of fields are fixed, and where variable. The patwari should be careful not to show two fields as one, nor to divide one field into two.” (Directions.) 7 The Panjiib Rules (head C. Ill, 16-19) deal thus with the subject, giving the student a good idea of the general practice :— « When the boundary map has been verified and passed, or when a boundary map or field map, prepared at a previous settlement, has been accepted as correct, a field map (shajra) shall be prepared for each village, showing the boundaries of every field according to scale, and the length of every boundary line common to two .fields. If any field or plot separately owned is too small to be distinguished in the [body of the map, it shall be shown upon an enlarged scale on the margin, with a isullicient reference to its position in the map. The fields shall be numbered con- jsecutively, and the number of each shall be entered. “The field map shall ordinarily be drawn on the scale of 16 inches to the mile (330 feat to the inch), or as near thereto as may be convenient with reference to the local measure. Where special circumstances render necessary the use of a different scale, the officer in charge of the settlement shall pfescribe the scale to be used. The scale of the map in the measure which has been employed in the survey, the direction of the north poiut of the compass, and an explanation of any symbols employed in the map, shall be shown on the map. « The field map shall show in addition to the matters prescribed in Rule 16— (1) Such physical features as it may be possible to delineate. (2) The village boundary pillars, the triple junction poiuts, and distances between each such pillar and point. (3) The limits of the principal village sites and burial grounds. (4) The unculturable waste. (5) The culturable waste. (6) The cultivated land including fallow. (7) Wells and tanks used for irrigation (8) Irrigation channels. (9) The boundaries of any well-marked sub-divisions. (10) Village roads. (11) Bench-marks of any Government or Railway Survey, 296 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. This survey was carried out by native surveyors (amfus) as in Oudh 8 and the North-Western Provinces and Central Provinces, ov 5 (as in the Panjab) by village patwaris, who had been taught i surveying. In the latter province this method is still practised, and the patwaris are subjected to a regular course of training which, so far, has given very satisfactory results. § 4.— North-Western Provinces Cadastral Survey. In the North-Western Provinces a new method, spoken of as the Cadastral Survey, has been recently introduced and experi¬ mentally adopted in five districts. Here the survey is accomplished by trained surveyors under officers of the Survey Department, aud thus the Revenue and the unprofessional survey of holdings is combined into one. The work (on a scale of 16 inches) is more costly but more accurate, and the maps are certainly of great excel¬ lence 9 . Whatever form of survey is in use, the student will remember ' that it results in two main permanent records :— (1) The Shajra or village field map, each plot being num¬ bered. (2) The Khasra or village field register, showing the names of proprietor and tenant, the area, rent, aud soil class 8 Digest, section III, § 1. 9 The maps ace multiplied by photozincography. The Cadastral Survey has cost per 1,000 acres, sums varying from Rs. 289 in Mathura, to Rs. 279 in Muradabad and Rs. 200 in Hamirpur. The Settlement Survey cost from Rs. 64 to Rs. 114 in an exceptional district (this includes a proportion of the Settlement Officer’s pay). The following gives again an idea of comparative cost : — Settlement Survey. Cadastral Survey. Sq. miles. ( Cawnpore . 2,446 Fatihpur . 1,580 Aligarh . 1,957 Muradabad . 2,527 Agra . 2,190 j Mathura . 1,369 I Banda . 1,895 \ Hamirpur . 2,296 Cost. Rs. 1,78,980 89,173 80,240 4,54,304 3,50,552 2 53,358 2,17,311 (not yet complete) 2,93,174 Ihesp figures are taken fiom Mr. Stack’s Memo¬ randum. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 297 according to the classification of soils, as made at the time of survey; particulars of irrigation are also recorded at the same time. § 5 .—The Survey is “ Mauzawar.” The survey is, in Revenue language, said to be made “ mauza- war,” not “ mahal war,” i.e., it deals with villages (mauzas), i.e., with local groups of lands known by one name, not with revenue groups, or lands bearing together one sum of assessed revenue and called “ mahals.” For the Central Provinces, this statement will require some modification. There the practice was, as the Act now provides, that any land which it was desirable to treat separately for revenue pur¬ poses should, without reference to its being a mauza or part of a mauza, be made into a mahal or revenue unit 10 . Consequently it was necessary for the survey to take notice of this separation and to show not merely the historical mauzas of the district, but also such further divisions as had been created for convenience. Sometimes, for convenience sake, several small mauzas, owned by the same persons, or held on the same title, have been clubbed together: or a large and practically composite mauza may, by the effect of partition, have been separated into its locally-named divi¬ sions as separate 1 mabals. § 6. — The Mauza and the Mahal. The student will do well, once for all, to understand the differ¬ ence between a mauza and a mahal. The mauza is the locally known and traditional division of land, as described in Chapter III of Book 1. Of course, in many instances, the mauza is held on one tenure, and is in every respect a unit nut only of locality to be 10 Central Provinces Act, section 43. 1 So in Directions, § 7 (Directions to Settlement Officers). Rut the former case is rare. It occurs only in districts bordering on Bengal. The partition of estates often leads to the formation of more than one mahal in the same village. This practice is said to be yearly increasing. Whatever the size of the mahal, however, it is assessed to revenue as a whole. 29S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. adopted iu the survey, but also of title to be assessed with one lump sum of revenue; iu that case the mauza aud the mahal are identical. On the other hand, there may be in one village two or more separate interests, so that the Settlement Officer deals with them as separate mahals: here the local division and the “ estate ** division do not coincide. In Oudh I have already indicated that, owing to a peculiar custom of dividing family property, some estates have come to consist of a series of patches, one perhaps in each of four or five or more villages or mauzas. Here, again, as the assess¬ ment follows the estate, not the mere local group, the mahal is something widely different from a rnauza or village. In the Central Provinces also, as above noticed, there were reasons for detaching groups of land and having them surveyed and treated as if they were separate villages. Yet they could not be called mauzas, because they were artificially created, so they are called mahals. § 7 .—Survey of alluvial lands — North-Western Provinces and Oudh. In many districts there are estates or portions of estates liable to be affected by the action of rivers. I do not here speak of the rights resulting from the law of alluvion, but merely of the revenue practice in separately grouping and surveying suck changeable areas for the purposes of assessment. It is a rule 2 that in any estate in which one portion is liable to fluvial action, i.e., where there are extensive areas of sand which may be rendered fertile at some future tim^e by deposit of river silt, or where part of the estate is either actually severed by the river from the main estate, or where the lands along the bank may be washed away, or may be added to by deposits ; in all such cases, this portion of the estate is separately marked off by boundary pillars, and settled as a separate “ alluvial mahal ” for five years only (if the Settlement Officer has not specially fixed the time). This 2 See section 257 ( a ), Act XIX of 1873; Settlement Manual, 2nd edition, 1868, page 14 ; also S. B. Cir. Dep. I, pp. 18 & 38. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 299 settlement does not absolutely exclude alteration in case of an unusual increment or decrement caused by exceptional- action of the river. In such cases the estates are measured, and the revenue assessment adjusted, even though the five years have not elapsed. The assessment is not interfered with in any case unless the assets (on which the revenue is calculated) are affected to the extent of 10 per cent, increase or decrease, since the last revision. The system in Oudhis exactly like that of the North-West Pro¬ vinces. The principle to he followed is always stated in the kabu- liyat or written assent to engage for the revenue 3 4 . § 8.— System in the Punjab. This “ separate chak ” system 1 is adopted only in some dis¬ tricts for special reasons. But whether this system is adopted or not, the increase or decrease of assessment is arranged for in one or two ways,—whichever is specified in the settlement records. On one plan each field is separately considered, and calculating by the assessment-rate applicable, the amount of the jama’ is increased or diminished, accordingly as the field has been increased or diminished, improved or spoilt, by sand, during the year. On the other plan, no notice is taken of increase or decrease in area, or of the assets calculated on the culturable area, so long as the change falls short of a minimum—usually 10 per cent.—on the whole culturable area of the estate as fixed at the time of settlement. The alluvial lands are inspected every cold season after the river subsides, and, if necessary, measured. Action is taken according to the system in force. § 9.— System in the Central Provinces. The conditions about alluvion are entered in the wajib-ul-’arz, so that it is a matter of direct agreement. The Act also gives power to assess lands gained by alluvion at any time, even when 3 Digest, section IV, § 30 ; and Circular 24 of 1878. 4 That is, making the lands liable to be affected into a separately assessed “ chak ” or “alluvial mahal,” as the North-West Provinces Circular calls it. 300 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. a settlement is not in progress. The principle adopted is the same as that of the North-West Provinces. If the increment exceeds 10 per cent, on the area of the mahal, an increase in revenue may be demauded. Loss is, however, not to be taken notice of unless it reduces the total assets, so that there really is not a fair margin of profit to the owner after paying the Government assess¬ ment. Sandy tracts are excluded from assessment, but become liable if afterwards fertilised by deposit of soil, even during the currency of the settlement 6 . Section IV.— Assessment, inspection ok villages, and revenue. § 1 .—The subject stated. For a Settlement Officer this, of course, is one of the most im¬ portant subjects. It is the great work of settlement. Instructions and advice for the determination of the amount to be assessed, are therefore found to occupy a large space in Revenue Manuals and Circular Orders 0 . All Settlement Reports also deal largely with the subject, entering into a detailed description of the process by which the assessment was actually arrived at. It is a little difficult to select the points to be enlarged upon in a Manual, the object of which is not to instruct an officer how to set about assessing an estate, but only to explain the general principle on which the “jama/ 5 or annual sum to be paid as Government revenue, is calculated and applied. The principle now everywhere recognised is, that the land revenue-~&$, distinct from certain cesses also levied—is to be a certain percentage (of which here¬ after) of the “ average assets ” of each estate. In the North- West Provinces (as in parts of Bengal), where nearly all the land is held by tenants paying money-rents, the assets ought to be justly estimated, if they are taken to be the total of the reuts which 6 See Settlement Code, No. VI; nnd the Laud Revenue Act, section 132, clause 9. 6 See especially Colvin’s Settlement Manual, 2nd edition, 1868, page 29; S. B. Cir- Rep I,pp. 3-7, &c. ; the “Directions;” Memorandum on the Revision of Settle¬ ment, North-West Provinces, by A. Colvin, 1872 ; and the Panjab Rules ; the Cen¬ tra Provinces Settlement Code, 1863; Erskine’s Digest, section IV. REVENUE SYSTEM OP UPPER INDIA. 301 the proprietor is able to obtain from his tenants, applying the same rent-rates, in the case of those lands which do not happen to be in the hands of tenants. To these rents, certain other items of income, such as fruit, fisheries, jungle products, have to be added; and where there is a great extent of valuable waste allowed (as above explained) to be part of the estate, as it is obvious that some day this will or ought to be cultivated, an addition may be also calculated on this account. Then we have a total of “ assets,” some fair proportion of which may be taken as the Land Revenue. In provinces, however, where rent is not usually paid in money, where the proprietors largely cultivate their own holdings, and where tenants pay rent in the shape of a share of the grain produce, other methods have to be adopted. In the Panjab, at the present day; produce-estimates are much relied on. These are prepared from different classes of soil, and by valuing the outturn according to tables of average prices-current, the assets can be calculated, a share of which will give the Government revenue, just as in the case of the assets calculated from rental values. § 2 .—Earlier method of assessment. But the procedure of assessment, as it is now understood, was not at first appreciated. In the early days of our settlements, i.e., in 1822, the matter was not put in this light. Sixty years ago money rates of rent were much less common than they are now, and the proprietor's rents (as the State or Raja's share had formerly been) were often paid in kind ,—a certain proportion of the yield of each field. In the old days, when the State took its share in grain, there was no question about profits of the villager and the cost of living, and so forth. There was the grain on the threshing-floor, and it was divided, such as it was, between the Raja, the cultivator, and the village servants, all of whom got their dues out of it. Then followed the Mughal and other later Native Governments who naturally, in the course of progress from primitive to more modern society, converted their grain share iuto a money revenue. 30 2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. And when once money was paid, the original grain share became forgotten, and both rulers and their subordinates found it very easy to raise money rates to whatever figure could practically be got out of the people. Our Government could not of course continue such a plan. A moderate assessment it was their desire as well as their duty to make; and how was it to be made? Naturally they considered that it was a share only in the profits of laud that they were to take. Now the profits of land consist in the balance left after deducting the wages of labour and profits on capital (which constitute the “ cost of production”) from the value of the produce. Consequently the framers of the Regulation VII of 1823 intended, or were understood to intend, that the revenue should be arrived at by taking a proportion of the sum which remained after deducting the “ cost of production,” from the estimated produce valued in money. Consequently, at first, every one set to work to try and find out, by enquiry, and also by experiment, what amount of grain the land really did yield , and what the costs of cultivation were; and that in the face of the difficulties which accident, variety of season, difference of situation (coupled with the interest the land- holders had in concealing the true facts) threw in their way. In this endeavour to find out the produce and its value after deducting cost of production, and then calculating the Government percentage, the possibility of finding out, at least in some provinces, what the land really did (as a fact) let for, was overlooked. § 3.— Progress in method.—Regulation IX of 1833. After a great deal of failure, and after many volumes of cor¬ respondence and reports on the subject had accumulated, the error was acknowledged. Regulation IX of 1833 repealed so much of the former Regulation “as prescribes, or has been understood to prescribe, that the amount of jama 5 to be demanded from any mahal (estate) shall be calculated on an ascertainment of the quantity and value of actual produce, or on a comparison between the cost of production and the value of produce. 55 REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 303 The modern practice, however, was not immediately developed. Even after 1833, a method of assessment known as the “ aggregate to detail ” method, was largely followed. This I shall again allude to afterwards ; here it will be enough to say that it depends on assuming a lump sum to start with, and then seeing how it divides over the individual estates, and then correcting it till what seems a fair result is reached. Gradually, however, the modern prac¬ tice of ascertaining the average assets was substituted, the rental being taken as the basis in the North-West Provinces and Oudh (where it is possible to do so) ; and calculation by aid of produce- estimates as well as other methods being still used in those places where money rents were not common or could not be applied easily in calculating. That is a brief summary of the history of assess¬ ments. To explain it more fully, I must separately describe (1) the system of the North-West Provinces, where money rents are gene¬ ral, and (2) the system followed where either the landowner culti¬ vates most of his land himself, or where the crop is still divided between landlord and tenant in kind. § 4 .— System of the North-Western Provinces. To understand the principle of assessment where money rents are general, we must go back a little and consider what the effect of our settlement was. I have before stated, and in a previous chapter explained in detail, that the earliest form of Government revenue was the Raja taking a certain share out of the village grain heap on the threshing-floor. The share of the State was no doubt fixed by custom ; and uuder rule of a wise king, who had his officials well in hand, the customary share was not exceeded • extras were levied in the shape of taxes, fees, and contributions. In a former chapter it has also been described how, in the reign of Akbar, the State share was converted into a money assessment 7 . Akbar did not enforce the 7 See some admirable remarks on the process by which a change from grain to a cash revenue was effected, in Mr. VV. C. Beuett’s Gouda Settlement Report, 1878, § 97 et seq.; also see page 172, ante, where I have described Akbar’s Settlement in Bengal uuder Raja Todur Mai. 304 LAND HE VENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. change all at once ; he left it optional, at first, for the raiyat to pay in cash or in grain. As population increased, estates became mul¬ tiplied by extension of cultivation and by the division of family property; at the same time coined money became more plentiful. In short, as it became more difficult to manage the revenue collec- I tion in kind, it became easier to levy a cash revenue ; the means | of paying in money became more attainable. Before a grain share : was given up altogether, an intermediate plan for saving troqjole was adopted, namely, that of estimating that the standing crop n ought to give so many “ mauuds,” and then requiring the village' to make good the State share on the basis of the estimate. This ! was of course unpopular, so that money rates came to be preferred 8 . .J 8 In the records of the Ambala Commissioner’s office I found a report on a lapsed estate of Sirdarni Daya Kunwar, dated 23rd May 1824. It contains the following i curious passage (which I transcribe exactly,—capitals and all):— “ The Native system of making the collections may be termed three-fold:—the kun (kan) [also called “ kankut ” and “tip ba.taee (bataf) and tushkhees (tush- i kin's), all of which had at different periods been adopted by the officers of the late 1 ! Sirdarnee. The kun or appraisement [of crop before cuttingj, if skilful makers cau be found, is the most, simple and expeditious method, but requiring great Fidelity, u Experience, and Judgment in the “kunneea” or appraiser, who should be chosen .( from auioug the oldest Zumeeudars, and over whom the Tuliseeldar should keep a 1 vigilant and circumspect Eye. In the case of a cultivator being dissatisfied with the I appraisement of his field by the kunneea, an instant recourse should be had to the I Practice of heating out a Beega or a Biswa of the grain on the disputed Field, and ■ thereby ascertain the exact quantity to the satisfaction of both parties. It is obvious that a constant appeal to this principle ought to be avoided as tedious and vexatious > and. it is seldom that the cultivator calls for its application, still less does the kuunaea like to put his judgment to the Test. “ The butaee or division of grain on the spot seemed to preseut many objec tions. Three Heaps are made : one for the Sarkar (the Government), one for the ltyot, and the third for the Khurch, or village expenses ; so that the Government receives only about one-third of the produce, which has led to the phrase “ bataee lootaee ” or Division is plunder. The grain has to remain in the'field for a length of time, exposed to the Elements, ere it can be trodden out and winnowed, added to the expense of persons to watch the khulwara (khalwara) or stacks, from the spoliation of the Zumeeudars, who are tempted to remove portions of grain during the night season. Could these and similar Difficulties be surmounted, no mode offers such a show of justice to the Government and its subjects as dividing the Gifts of nature on the spot. “ The tushkhees, or farm of au estate to the highest bidder, distresses the culti¬ vator, however pleasing the lucrative receipts may appear for the first few years of t Lie lease.” REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 305 Alibar’s settlement was based on a valuation of the produce. But t is only in districts to which this settlement extended, or was virtually enforced, that money rates were substituted for grain rates on such a principle. It was more common to take no thought of the value of laud, and assess a fixed anuual charge per plough. This, it may be remarked in passing, is in itself enough to give the first impulse to competition in land, because men would find out that one farm was more profitable than another, though it had the same plough rate. These rates being fixed, they became well known; and crystallising, like everything Indian, into being “ the custom/’ they survived all changes for a long time. Nor is this con¬ trary to what has been said of the uncertain exactions under Native rule. While the Government was strong, the rates fixed were respected, and extra charges were limited in number and levied by proper authority. But iu the later days of decline and weakness which preceded the fall of the Native rule, the Bevenue farmers raised rates uncontrolled, and grasped at what they could get, giving only a certain portion to the treasury. Even, then, there are abundant indications that under this increased pressure the original customary Stale revenue rate was still known, the extra demaud was levied in the form of “ fees ’’and “cesses 9 ,” rather than by any admitted alteration of the revenue rate itself. Such is the tenacious force of custom. No doubt, however, the rates that were then taken, having regard to the value of produce and the extent of land under cultivation, are quite as much as could be paid, and often represented the entire profits, leaving the culti¬ vators only enough to live on. When the British Government was introduced, all this came to an end. Government recognised or conferred (as we have seen) a proprietary right iu the land, and handed over to the proprietors so recognised, the produce or the money rates paid by the actual cul¬ tivators which would have been formerly directly taken by the • 9 See also the accouut of the levy of “ Cesses ” iu the chapter ou the Bengal Per. mancut Settlement. U- 306 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. king's agents. Our Government merely stipulated that the pro- prietor should pay to the.treasury a fixed sum, which was a moderate share of what it is estimated he could fairly collect. We disallowed the extra rates, and excessive cesses as such; hut the old customary revenue rates, with such local alterations as time and circumstances had brought about, became the vents which the proprietors pot, and these rents, as long as they remain unaltered, would form, on the principle already alluded to, the main portion of the assets on which the Government share was to he calculated. Having, however, recognised proprietary rights, we did not desire to withhold what were, from a European point of view, the natural and legal consequences of that proprietary right. Except where we stepped in with legal enactments to protect certain spe¬ cified classes of “tenants,” we left the proprietors free to get more rent out of the land, if it could be got by fair means, de¬ pendent on competition and the increased value of land and its produce; and that very soon came to be the case. Waste land was available for the increase of cultivation: good government brought security and peace; roads, railways, and canals were ' made, and the value of land rose greatly; while population increased with it. Produce of all kinds also had a far higher value. The i managers of land no longer had to seek for tenants and to coax and keep them; people began to come and agk for fields to cul¬ tivate, and were willing to bid against each other for them. The rents could then no longer remain at the old customary rates. Now the modern theory of Government revenue is, that it is a fixed and moderate share of the proprietor's assets, whatever those assets are; consequently to make a proper assessment the “ assets" must be known. How, then, are the assets to be ascertained ?— or, in other words, since we have no longer rates fixed by ancient custom to deal with, but something like real rent rates depend¬ ent on competition, how are we to get at the actual or full rents which are to be the basis of our calculation ? That is the question to be answered, under the modern method of assessment, in the North-Western Provinces. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPFER INDIA. •307 But this method was not all at once adopted; indeed, as I re¬ marked, the result which I have pictured, the universality of cash rents—representing not a mere customary but a real rental—was not brought about at once : consequently in the first settlements the rental did not occupy anything like an exclusive place. In the early settlements the method which I have alluded to as the “ aggregate to detail ” process was adopted. By this a lump sum was assumed iu the first instance for an entire pargana. This was taken on the basis of a comparison of former Native settlements and so forth. The lump sum was then divided over the villages, and then the village jama’s were again compared in various ways, and corrected by addition or deduction consequent on various circumstances which were observed on the spot, and at last a total for each village was arrived at. § 5.— System of assessment prescribed thj the “ Directions.” In the Directions 10 this practice is directly recommended, not indeed as a method to start with, but as a method for testing the figures when they have been independently calculated. The Directions declared that the assessment was not to be a mere arithmetical process, but to be based on sound judgment and calculation. The Revenue demand was not to be more than two- thirds of the net produce iu case of lands cultivated by pro¬ prietors, or of the gross rental on lands held by tenants. Villages were to be grouped together according to their general similarity of position and circumstances, as affected by the same influences. There might be a group of canal villages, or a group on low moist land, or on high-and-dry laud with very deep wells. One set might j be favourably situated as regards a railway which exported their produce, another might be close to a large town, and so forth. The Settlement Officer had to start with a correct list of the village lauds, cultivated, culturable waste, and unculturable; i this also was classified into irrigated and unirrigated. Then he could ascertain the rates imposed at former settlements, and J0 Directions (Settlement Officers), para. 48 el seq. 30S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. whether that amount was easily collected or not; if the villag had been sold or had been farmed, and what was got for it; i what price does land now sell or mortgage for; next he had table showing the gross rental of the village, as compared with that c the other villages in the same tract of country and with generall similar circumstances. If the rental of any village was considere suspicious, or, owing to grain rates, was difficult to ascertain, i was said that the Settlement Officer's inspection, aided by the know ledge he had acquired of the description or class of the cultivatin; community, would enable him to make a very fair estimate of wha the rental ought to be. Lastly, the opinions of the pargana officer (qanungo, &c.), and the estimate of respectable neighbouring land holders not themselves interested in the matter, were to be considered It will be observed that this gives a general guide as t the amov.nt of the revenue, but does not decide on any particula process of calculating it. It does not say definitely that the resul of these steps is to be the extraction of a fair revenue-rate per acre either general or for different soils according to circumstances; no does it prescribe that this acreage rate has to be multiplied ove the area, so as to give the village jama’. Yet in most place! this was the method adopted, while in some the more general plai of taking a lump assessment, without making acreage rates at all was still adhered to. In the case of the lump sum estimate, there were various data o former settlements to go by, and the history of the village undei Native rule. In the case of acreage rates being calculated, these rates could be checked in a variety of ways. The Settlement Officer could compare the rental of the land calculated at his f ‘ soil rates ” with what the rental came to when calculated by rates on each plough (which is a jjaethod of payment often adopted by the people), or by rates on each well 1 , or with rates obtained by valuing different propor- 1 That is, on the locally recognised area or block which one well waters ; this will vary from village to village, according to the depth of the well, the character of the soil, &c. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 309 ions of the produce in kind. He could also probably find a village liear at band of a similar class, the assessment of which was known o be fair.- He could see what rates per acre this assessment gave ,s compared with his own. Then, also, there were data of former ettlements, schedules of revenue taken in the days when the land vas held by a local chief, and so forth : he could calculate the jama’ vliich his own rates would give and compare it with these actual ama’s, and thus see whether it was too high or too low. The former jama' may have been collected with difficulty; returns of ioercive processes may show that it was only got in with pressure, while sales of land brought in low prices, entirely owing to the severity of the assessment. If, then, his present rates when multiplied over the acreage gave a total jama* as high as that former severe one, they were clearly excessive, unless it appeared that, since the days of that assessment, the land had so risen in value, and its opportunities in the way of market or communication had become so much improved, that what was heavy then could be light now ; in which case his rates might be justifiable. The revenue rates for the cultivated area being known, then it might be that some additional assets were to be allowed for. There might be a large amount of valuable waste, which, though not then under the plough, might easily be cultivated, and the assessment would be raised for this, not of course to such a figure as would be attained by making the whole to pay at cultivated rates, but by adding a general fair rate for waste. There might be also valuable jungle produce; an addition would also be made for this. And there were also often local circumstances which could not conveniently be allowed to affect the average rates, but might be allowed for by a general deduction on the jama* 2 . - It is not necessary to go into this subject. I may, however, mention an instance. It is well known how castes differ in agricultural capacity ; some are by birth bad cultivators and lazy, and others are naturally good farmers aiul diligent. This tells on the land very much: the one will get crops which will meet with ease a revenue assessment that would crush a village of another caste on precisely the same soil. It was not thought possible, at least in the North-Western Provinces, to fix a 310 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. I have devoted some detail to this subject, because not only wa this the method adopted in earlier settlements, but the differen means of checking the jama* and so forth are still largely usee It is only, indeed, in the North-West Provinces that the syster of rent-rates, to be next described, has been perfected and supei seded the earlier methods of assessment. § 6 —The modern system of the North-Western Provinces. The modern system in the North-Western Provinces wa first perfected in the Farukhabad settlement under Mr. C. A Elliott. It is essentially a process by which a true rent-rate fc every acre of assessable ground is ascertained, which rate i applied to the estate with unvarying accuracy. The total ma; be modified in the lump, by the occurrence of particular condition which it is not convenient to allow to affect the rates ; but the rent rates are the really important basis of the whole calculation. In making out these, the first help available is the jamabandi 3 ,; village return of rents stated to be actually paid. But this i: obviously not a sufficient basis for a valuation. For example, then are some lands held by the proprietor himself, and the rent-roll doei not show any rent for these; there are charitable rent-free plot; and other sources of deduction. We must therefore add the. rents that would otherwise be payable on these, and then we get (so far] what is called the “ corrected rental. ” But even this is noi enough. How do we know that these rents are really paid anc not understated? Perhaps, if the rents are entirely paid in casl: and great pains are taken in checking and discussing the entries generally different set of rates for each different caste; the matter can generally b( best provided for either by the moderate reduction of the sanctioned rates in th( particular village, or by some such general allowance on the total jama’ as alludei to in the text. * 3 Jamabandi properly means, not a rent-roll , but a roll showing the distributior of the revenue burden among the cultivators : when this sum became the proprietor’s “rent” (thus illustrating the remarks previously made), the term “jamabandi’ came to mean a proprietor’s rent-roll. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. * 311 ;he total may be an approximation to the truth 4 . But the land¬ lords are dhectly interested in stating the rents as low as possible, md will often assure the Settlement Officer that the tenants can pay no more. This is all very well, hut somehow or other it ippears from the information of an honest landlord in a neighbour¬ ing estate under exactly the same conditions, that a much higher rent is actually paid without difficulty on his land. Is this only an accident, or how is it ? The Settlement Officer must, therefore, resort to some other guides besides the asserted totals even of a “ corrected ” rent statement. In other words, he must make out an estimated or calculated rent-rate, which will be true as a fair basis of assess¬ ment ; and in order to be this the rate must be not one that is true for any one year, but the average of prevailing rent-rates. The methods of calculating this average rent-rate were, as might be expected, different in different districts, before what I may call the finally approved method was adopted. But in all cases the first necessity is to form assessment circles—tracts of country as nearly as possible homogeneous—so that the same rate or rates can be applied throughout them. For this purpose the villages are grouped into circles having generally the same features. Thus we may have a circle of villages on moist alluvial land along a river, or along a canal; a group on hilly ground where the climate is different; a group along the edge of the dry or desert high land where wells cannot be employed; and so forth. If a whole pargana (or small fiscal sub-division) of a district is practically identical in character, then circles are not required, and the pargana can be dealt with as a whole. 4 This seems to be especially so in the old and well-populated districts of the North-West Provinces. Thus Mr. Auckland Colvin writes (Memo., page 7)_“the rates paid by the occupiers were perfectly well known throughout the country, and might be supposed to represent more accurately than any calculation by an outsider the letting value of land.” This is, I understand, considered by some competent judges to be too general a statement even for the North-West Provinces. It does not of course apply to provinces or districts where cash rents are not the custom, or where the land has not been under settled government for a sufficient time for rents to have received their full natural development. 312 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 7.— System of land-zones in each village. I do not think it necessary to describe the rougher methods o : rent-rate calculation 6 , I shall therefore come at once to the improvei or modern method, perfected in the Farukhabad Settlement. Thi was the foundation of the rules drawn up by the Board of Revenu in 1875. The system is based on the fact that the villages exhibit cer tain zones of cultivation, the rental value of which is different irrespective of difference of natural advantages of soil. The homestead lands are found to be the best lauds in tin immediate vicinity of the village site; here they receive much mor< uare than lands further off, are more easily manured aud bettei watered. They are also likely to be the best lands, because, natu¬ rally, when the village was founded, the 'best and most fertile soil ] would be brought first under cultivation, and the village residences would be established in convenient vicinity to such lands. The value, then, of all homestead land, is in many eases quite independ¬ ent of, and rises superior to, any differences in the soil, if indeed such exist. Next in value is the middle zone , and least of all is that con¬ sisting of outlying lands at a distance from the village site, whioh are less carefully cultivated, and to which manure is not so easily carried. These zones are called “ bar/’ and it is the practice to recognise the homestead, middle, and outer, bar. The villages have recognised rates for land in each bar; as I said before, the homestead has a uniform aud comparatively high rental value, irrespective of soil, and is sure to be irrigated’; but the middle and outer zones will have their rental value different within the zone, according to the soil and according to means of irrigation. So that soil classes 4 In some of these, the village rentals, corrected as far as possible, were taken, so as to give a general all-round rate per acre, without respect to soils : the plan was, I believe, adopted in Saharanpur. In other places soils were disregarded, but different general rates for irrigated and uuirrigated land were relied on. In others there would be again some classified according to their quality, as clay, sand, &c. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 318 which are usually few iu number anti take notice only of well- aarked differences) are made use of within each har if need be ; ind these soils, again, may be irrigated or unirrigated. Practically he homestead “ har ” needs no such sub-division, as it is sure, in all :ases, to be irrigated : but in the other “ liars”, soils may differ, md each soil may differ again according as it is irrigated or depend¬ ent on rainfall only. J 8 .—Inspection of villages in order to classify soils and find out rent-rales. The Board’s rules direct that when the settlement measurements are sufficiently advanced, the Settlement Officer shall proceed, during the field season, to inspect the villages and to mark out on his map the recognised bars in each village, and also any soil differences that may warrant a separate classification; so that all the fields numbered in the map will come under one or other class. Next, the Settlement Officer enquires into the prevailing rates of rent for each class of laud in each zone or liar, both by local enquiry and by reference to village records ; he also is required to make out tables showing the area of each class of soil in the village nnd the actual rents paid for that part of it which is held by ' tenants. During the village inspection, all facts regarding the agricultu¬ ral statistics and the revenue and general history of the village, are collected and noted down, and it is during this inspection that the Settlement Officer forms his conclusions as to circles of villages, or groups already alluded to, throughout which the rent-rates may be taken as fairly uniform for the same soil-class. A list is now made out of all the villages iu the assessment circle. Those villages are excluded which might disturb the general average, owing to the fact that they are known to be rack-rented, or to be cultivated by the proprietors, or to be held at exceptionally low rents by some favoured caste of tenants. The list is sent into the office, and there the rent of every field in each village, as it appears in the field register, is placed under the soil- 314 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. class to which it belongs, as already known from the Settlemei Officer’s inspection and noting on the map. The result of this is tk; under each class there will be a list of different rent-rates. Abnormal' high or low rents being excluded, the rest are added up aud divide by the total area of the soil-class. The result gives an averas rent-rate for every acre of that class of soil throughout the circl As the classification of soils is the result of careful inspection, au the rent recorded against each field is subject to repeated testiu while the field registers and the jamabandis are being prepared, tk averages are accepted as true average rent-rates. It is hardly necessary to remark, after this explanation, tha two things are needed,—first, to get out of the record-room all tk facts about former assessments, and whether they were collecte with ease or the reverse ; aud, next, for the assessing officer to g himself, map in hand, and study the villages on the spot, their soi and their circumstances, marking the wells and the limits of tk different soils in his map, and keeping a note-book for all fact elicited. The Settlement Officer keeps a manuscript book during the pro gress of settlement operations, and in this he causes to be transcribei (in English) all agricultural statistics connected with each villagt or estate at the past and present settlements. This book contain all the information which is requisite for the compilation of tin “ General village statements ” which are made out as soon as tk< Board’s sanction to the rates is given The pargana note-books are now preserved, though they do not form part of the formal records of the settlement. Practically, tk< “ village statements,” which are part of the record, contain, in at abstract and tabulated form, the most important information con tained in the pargana books. As soon as the rent-rates are calculated out, the rent-rate repori is submitted to the Board of Revenue 7 through the usual channels a S. B. Cir., Part I, Dep. I, Rules 13 and 21. 7 Act XIX of 1873, sections 45 and 257, umder which Rules for preparing sucl reports are made. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 315 'his report justifies the rates, and explains the basis on which they ave been ascertained, and in fact gives a full description of the 'hole procedure, so as to satisfy the controlling authority of the orrectness of the results arrived at. I do not propose to describe the contents of this report, as it an be learned in detail from the Board's Circulars. § 9.— Classifica tion of the revenue. When the rent-rates have received sanction, the village jama', or ump-sum assessment, has to be calculated. The revenue or Government share is one-half of the rent-rates. The revenue total may therefore be the rate multiplied over the irea. But in many instances there are local circumstances which lemand a local reduction of rates or some modification of the total. There may be also other assets to be taken into account, such as the proceeds of fisheries or jungle produce. So that the actual jama' may be different from a mere calculation of area at the rent-rates 8 . The jama' is therefore again reported for sanction : it is then announced on a day fixed by proclamation, at the tahsil^. The rules as to the person settled with, and what happens if engagement is refused, will be described presently. § 10 .—Tracts paying grain rent. 1 Even in the North-Western Provinces, I should mention, there may be tracts iu which grain rents are still used; these, I under¬ stand, are dealt with by assuming a cash rent-rate, which is that of a tract of the same kind of soil and under similar conditions, for which a cash rent is known. The practice of making produce- estimates, and dealing with them as in the Panjab, is not followed. § 11 .—The system in Oudh. The general instructions to the Settlement Officer do not differ materially from those in the North-Western Provinces, but there H See S. B. Cir., Dep. T, page 9. Groves are exempt from assessment. 9 Act XXIX f 1873. section 45. 316 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. was a material difference in the method of assessment. The metho of taking 1 lamp sums for the pargana was never followed ; and i general I may state that the main difference consisted in payin much less regard to average rates for the same class of so throughout an assessment circle or a pargana, and dealing with eac village separately. A village rent-roll was prepared, and this was carefull corrected so as to attach a reutal value to sir lands cultivated by th proprietors themselves, to rent-free holdings, and to lands held a privileged rents. The village rent-rates were obtained by ai elaborate aualysis of rents paid by the several classes of cultivator on several classes of soil, as in the homestead, middle zone, and tli several kinds of soil in the outlying zone. Au appraisement was also made on culturable land not ye brought under the plough 10 . Fruit and other groves were exempted from assessment up to s total of 10 percent, of the cultivated area. In 1879 1 the rules whicl directed (1) that the land occupied by a grove and exempted accord ingly, should be liable to assessment on the trees being cut down unless they were replanted within a reasonable time, and (2) tha a reduction of assessment should be made on account of assessei land subsequently planted with trees, so long as the total area o revenue-free grove land did not exceed 10 per cent, of the culti vated area, were placed in abeyance. But all lands had the fill benefit of the rule which exempted grove lands which exist® at the time of settlement (up to the 10 per cent, limit), since al the settlements had been completed before 1879. Thus the peculiarity of the Oudh settlement, as distinguishei from that of the North-Western Provinces, is that the revenue 10 In Oudh also the village rent-rates were allowed to be much more affected b; the caste of cultivators than in other parts. Thus in several of the Oudh settlement an abstract of the rental of each village has been prepared showing the principu castes ( e.g Brahmans, Rajputs, Kurmis, Moraos, and “ others”); the area held b; each is shown, the rent paid, and the rate per acre or per bigha which this gives Against this is shown the “proposed rate” and the rental for the village which thi would give. 1 Circular Il of 1879. ■REVENUE SYSTEM OF .UPPER INDIA, 317 enerally speaking’, has been assessed on the individual rental of each illage, with little reference to average rates expressing the level of ;nts over large tracts of country. The prevalence of taluqdari ■inures and the fact that the great mass of cultivation is in tlie ands of tenants-at-will, were circumstances peculiarly favourable j such a method of assessment. In the best cultivated parts of be province, the rents imposed by the taluqdars represented with ufficient accuracy what the laud could fairly bear. The areas held y proprietors as sir, and by under-proprietors and others at favour- ble rents or rent-free, were small as compared with the lands for /hich teuants-at-will paid full rents; and the rent-rolls were, oil he whole, well kept and trustworthy documents. In the north of the province, where cultivation was comparatively ecent, and rents were not uncommonly takeu in kind, the analysis >f rent-rolls had to be supplemented by estimates of the value of ifraiu-rents. If grain-rents were the exception, villages paying in and could be assessed by applying the rent-rates found to exist in limilar cash-paying villages. When grain-rents were the rule, the andlord’s share of the grain, as shown in the village accounts for a series of years, was turned into money at harvest prices, and the equivalent cash-rents thus obtained were applied to the sir and privi¬ leged holdings: produce-estimates were also applied to different dasses of soil, and the assessments were arrived at partly from these and partly from general considerations 2 . In Oudh, the rent-rate report, the sanction to the total jama* deduced from it, and the other procedure, are exactly the same as in the North-Western Provinces. § 12. —System of assessment in the Panjab. Here, in the older settlements, the “ aggregate to detail ” method was much employed; and even now the procedure is different to what it is in the North-Western Provinces. Grain-rents are still com¬ mon, and much of the laud is held by cultivating proprietors 3 . • This is takeu from Mr. Stack’s Memorandum, p. 141. * Only about 44 per cent, of the land is held by cultivating tenants. 318 LAND REVENUE ANI* LAND TENURES OF INDIA. It might seem to the casual reader that it is a very easy thin to turn a grain-rent into a cash-rent, by simply valuing in mom the landlord's grain share, whatever it is. But this is not so. Pi instance, the early “ summary settlements/' or temporary arrangi meats made immediately on annexation, were made in this wa) the grain-rates of the last Sikh collections were converted iu! money at ruling prices. But a rapid fall iu prices followed, so tin the demand became too high and had to be reduced. The inspection of the villages and the collection of all fac : relating to their revenue history and circumstances, is just i necessary here as in the North-West Provinces. The villages a: grouped into assessment circles, and certain classes of soil have to 1 recognised. Tables are then drawn up showing the estimated produc of each class of soil, and if need be of each kind of crop, as its yiel may be different on the different classes of soil, and on irrigated au unirrigated land : the total produce of each circle is thus arrived a Then it is known that the landlord's share is usually so much, e.g one-third of the produce of flooded (sailaba) laud, oue-fifth of wel irrigated laud, aud so on. This share is calculated after deductin certain items such as crops cut for fodder, portion of crop paid to tt gatherer, &c.; it is then valued in money on the basis of au average fc a number of years (20 years if possible) of the harvest price of grail This forms the produce-estimate of “ assets " of cultivated land ; th revenue is to be about one-half these assets. Wherever cash-real are paid, these are of course made use of as a standard of comparisoi The table also shows what the jama’ would come to at one sixth the gross produce, for comparison 4 . The next thing is to calculate a revenue-rate 6 per acre foreac’ 4 It is found by experience that the revenue falls at about one-sixth of the groi produce in most cases, but sometimes it falls at one-eighth or one-tenth or only ou< twelfth in the drier and poorer districts. 5 In the Panjab they speak of revenue-rate, not of rent-race. The North-Wester Provinces enquiry being directed to the average prevailing rental of land, the rati which this shows per acre are the main features for determination; the revenue-rat ps simply half this. Iu the Panjab, as there are no rent-rates to be generally au widely determined, the Settlement Officer goes at once to the value of the GovernmeD share per acre, which is the revenue-rate. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 319 ccle and for each kind of soil it is thought necessary to dis¬ til guish. These rates can be modified till what appears a prfectly fair rate for each soil is arrived at; then multiplying the uole area of each kind of soil separately rated in the circle by the lies, the circle jama’’ is arrived at, which is at once comparable vth, and tested by, the produce-estimate. The revenue-rate per acre in the circle, here spoken of, is < nerally arrived at by taking an assumed Jair circle jama ’, and (stributing it over the areas of each class of soil in the circle, tcording to the order of their relative fertility and value. Rates s obtained are tested by comparing them with rates shown k villages the assessment of which is known to be fair, and in \iious other ways. They are then modified and shaped till they opear tr.ue and can he justified in the assessment report. “ The :venue rates and the opiuions which the assessing officer has irmed as to the [total] assessment which individual estates might roperly bear, will thus act as a mutual check on each other . ther tests are furnished by rates on ploughs or ou wells when the rstem of distributing the revenue by such rates is familiar. After etermiuing a fair average rate for each plough or well, the total Ivenue which the application of such rate wliould give for the fesessment circle is calculated and compared with the produce- iitimate 8 .'” The revenue-rates have to be reported 7 in full detail and justi- ed, in the same way as the rent-rates are in the North-Western iTovinees ; and various statistical statements accompany the report. The rates being sanctioned, the Settlement Officer proceeds to dis- ./ibute the revenue of the villages according to the rates. But pmetimes the rates require modification for particular villages, ou eneral considerations applicable to those villages; and even then tie total jama’ may he modified by the addition of certain jssets and by allowances for matters which cannot be made to affect j 6 Directions (Panjab edition). j 7 This is not specifically required by the Act, but it is by the Rules (head C. V. I) hicb are jssued under section 66 (5). 320 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. average rates, consequently tlie total sum finally assessed has agi to be reported 8 . Small changes are not explained in detail i this report; but the reason for them has to be noted in full in t> “ village statement” of the particular estate affected. Stria' speaking, the-jama* ought not to be announced till it is so; tioned: but in practice it is so, and sometimes even realised hef > sanction is received. The jama* is open to a final revision ■ Government up to the time when Government declares the sett- ment sanctioned 9 , which may not be for some time after the jam; have been in force 10 . 8 Act XXXIII of 1871, section 31; Rules C. V. 5. 5 Act, sec. 18 j Rules C. V. 5, 10 I shall give two very brief examples to show bow the revenue rates or ass; ■ ment reports are prepared :— The first is Mr. E. O’Brien’s report of tabsil Alipur of the Muzaffargarh dish- one of the dry southern districts of the Panjab. The tabsil is situated in an angle ab» the junction of the Chenab aud Indus. The tract was grouped into assessment circ, one of which was cultivated by aid of the flooding of the Chenab, the next by i flooding of the Indus (which is a separate circle, because the deposit is less fertilis; and the river action more violent) ; the third, the southern wheat tract. Chain sailal which is irrigated by both rivers when in high flood, where there are wells and a li i canal irrigation ; and the fourth circle, Chain Naim, is one where inundation can (besides wells) are used. Assessment circles. No. of villages. Total area. Acres. Culti¬ vated. Uneultur- able waste. 1 Betclienab . 37 89,375 20,303 20,074 2 Bet Sind . 42 184,963 22,887 61,084 3 Chahi Sailaba 50 145,872 29,*92 30,872 4 Chahi Nahri 48 148,393 48,647 27,448 The rest be; fallow or cult- able waste. The soils of th6 circles are then described. The fiscal history next occupies a chapter, in which is given an account of : Sikh collections and of the cesses they levied. The summary settlements under British rule are also described, and here is uol the difficulty which occurred from the practice, mentioned in the text, of valuing ) Government grain share in money. The share was converted into money at the rai of Rs. 1-8 and 1-12 a maundjbut grain shortly afterwards fell to 0-11 and 0-1; the assessments were consequently felt to be very heavy. The land tenures are then described, a subject I here purposely pass over, 'll difficulty of collecting the demands fixed at successive summary settlements isnt discussed. • REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 321 Irrigation has to be dealt with in the Punjab as in some respects t separate question. In many districts well irrigation was taken into consideration in ixing the rate for irrigated land generally ; but in some districts Part III of the report is devoted to comparative statistics, population, cultivated rca, increase in number of wells, and so forth; and concludes with a table of prices f produce in four periods of 5 years each. Part IV gives statistics of produce. No less than 640 experiments had beeu lade in seven different “ harvests,” and estimates of outturn were obtained from leetings of agriculturists, and local enquiries were also made. A table is then rawn in maunds per acre for each eircle, for uiue chief crops ; the soil varieties do ot here affect the yield. Part V approaches the subject of the rates. It is explained that the rates re to be one half the profits. We have then a table showing the total area for each circle; total value of its reduce; amount to be deducted (consisting of crop consumed as cattle fodder, &c., ud net value; the deduction for village servants and the “ balance.” The cultiva- •>r’s customary share is then shown, and the di ft'orence between this and the balance the proprietor’s “ net assets,” which come to Rs. 3,36,830 for the entire tahsil f four circles, and the “ half assets ” are Rs. 1,68,415. That would be the ssessment on a produce-estimate only. Then acreage rates are calculated; soil differences are shown to be unimportant, istead of which six kinds of irrigation ( e.g ., by well only, by canal by flow, by canal ry lift, by well and canal, &c., &c.) arc ndop'ed as requiring different rates. The rates proposed for each class in each circle are then at once stated ; they are nnpared with similar rates in other tahsils. They appear to have been calculated out jeforehnnd in the reporter’s mind and manipulated till they seemed fair; that part the process docs not appear in the report. The rates are merely stated, and reasons liven for believing them to bo just. The jama’ which would be obtained at these ites, is compared with the jama’ of the last settlement, and the general incidence of jttes on cultivation by the two jama’s are also stated. This tahsil has certain features of fluctuating assessment aud rates on wells nd canals which I purposely omit. The rates are then shown in a general table, aud these are compared with rates i other districts. Besides the land assets in the tahsil, there is much grazing ground, and date •ees also yield a revenue; the method of assessing this is described. The total reveuue obtained by these is then shown, which is lower than that iy the produce-estimate; and proposals are made for dates of paying instalments. As another specimen, I take the report by Mr. Fanshawe of Gohauu tahsil, ohtak district (1879). This is quite a different style of district; one of the old jorth-Western Provinces districts in the south-ei^st corner of the province neat jlelhi. As usual the report opens with a description of the country. Here soils were assified. Reasons are giveu for making four assessment circles—western rain ud (cultivation dependent chiefly on rainfall), ceutral canal irrigated, eastern raiu- W 322 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the land was first rated as if it were dry land, and then a separat rate per well, varying from Rs. 5 to Rs. 20, for the area waterc by each well, was added. Canal irrigation may also be separately treated. In som districts the land was rated at dry rates, and a “water advantag rate” added representing the increased value of the land consequer, on the fact that it could be irrigated ; this rate was remitted’ water was not available in the canal. This rate is part of tb land revenue, and is of course independent of the price of the wate supplied by the canal department. For it is obvious that irrespect ive of that, the land itself can bear a higher assessment an land, and eastern oanal irrigated. The area of each circle and percentage occuplc by each principal crop is then given in a table. Next follows the fiscal history, the former settlements, and the rates at wine these fell per acre. Part III gives a study of the results of the last (regulm settlement; increase of cattle, of cultivation, of irrigation by canals and wells, and t tj forth. Here tenants pay cash rents to some extent. So that here a table shows tl: rent-rates of irrigated and unirrigated land, and how much above the Governmet revenue per acre, it falls. Part IV is devoted to statistics of produce. Experimetv were few, but local enquiries and comparison of data were many and extended : tl ■ character of seasons and the changes in the conditions of cultivation are discussed ( and then, as usual, there is the calculation of nett produce, and here the valuation i one-sixth gross produce is also shown. Part V deals with proposed rates. Hei much use is made of the rates which the jamas of former settlements, regular an summary, gave; these are considered in reference to changed circumstances, an compared with rates in other tahsils; a table of rates proposed is given separately f< t (1) canal, (2) well, (3) mauured, (4) dakar and matiyar soil, (5) rausli soil, (6) bln' soil, and (7) culturable waste or fallow. These rates are applied to the circles, an the jama’ thus obtained shown in a table. It is then shown that the increase i * proportioned to increase in cultivation, irrigation, population, aud cattle. Tkes revenue-rates are then compared with the rent-rates; aud then the jama’ by rate: with the jama’ at one-sixth gross produce. These two abstracts are intended just to show, in a brief manner, how the rate are calculated, explained, and justified. The reports, it will be observed, do i ot go into the revenue total for each village That is separately arranged after the rates have been agreed to. For some villages th total revenue may simply be the rates multiplied by the area; in others there are allow ances to be made for lauds spoilt by ‘ reh’ or saline efflorescence, for the caste of tli cultivators, or additions to be made for local produce of jungles, fisheries, garden: &c. ; but in general that total will’como out very similar to the general estimate result by rates. I have avoided complication by not mentioning that in some case the assessment is not taken all at once, but is progressive. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 323 lis a higher lettiug and selling value, if it is within reach of canal irigation. During the collection of information for settlement “ pargana nte-books”are prepared very much as they are in the North-Western rovinees. The most important entries are embodied in the illage Statements, which form part of the settlement records. § 13. —Assessment in the Central Provinces. The following summary, which well and briefly explains the naracteristics of the settlement, is taken from Mr. Stack’s “ Memo- Judum/' The practice is not unlike that of the Panjab. The hckwardness of cultivation, the large extent of waste, and the pnerally inaccurate state of the village papers, made the determi- ntion of rent-rates an uncertain and difficult business. The rent- i Us were rarely satisfactory guides, and rates decided on after :rsoual enquiry, could only be approximate. In the majority of istricts, the plan followed was, to use circle rent-rates and produce- itimates, as a check upon each other. The former were got r the different classes of soil by analysis of the rent-rolls of the llages in the circle, by personal enquiry, by returns of the rents kid in revenue-free estates, and in the later settlements, by com- irison with the rates already used elsewhere; reference was made so, in most districts, to an expected rise of rents after settlement, lie produce-estimates gave the outturn of each crop upon each kind ' soil, the Government share being rarely above one-sixth. From lese data the assessment was determined, with allowance for the rcumstances and revenue history of the village, and for the other * eneral considerations which universally guide the assessing officer. To this method, however, there were some notable exceptions, he district of Nimar was settled on the old plan of estimating a imp jama’ for the cirole, and then distributing it over the villages, 1 When these were used, there were four : (1) black soil, (2) lighter black soil, ) light shallow soil more or less mixed with stones, (4) sandy or stony soil of poor lality. In a few districts these were used both under irrigated and unirrigated others, irrigated land formed a class by itself. In Nimar, land was assessed on its lirrigatcd aspect and a water-rate added for irrigation. 324 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. and correcting the result till it seemed satisfactory. In Seoni th assessments, arrived at by the aid of rent-rates and produce-estimate: were checked by the general assumption that the circumstance of the district warranted a revenue enhancement of 50 per cent In Raipur, Bilaspur and Hoshangabad, the first step was to calcu late a fair average revenue-rate for the district, that is, an averag rate of assessment per cultivated acre. This was done by notiug th incidence of existing assessments and making allowance for practi cable rise of rents. Then the assessments were made with the hel of soil-rates, i.e., assumed rent-rates on the different classes of soil. The jungle produce of the waste allowed to be included in eac estate, was regarded as an asset, although a separate assessmen for waste was not recorded. It happened, however, that jungl produce had but little value at the time when the first settlement were made ; the country had not been opened up by roads an railways; there was consequently no market 2 .' The new Revenue Act declares in section 47 that the principl of assessment is to be prescribed by the Chief Commissioner, wit the assent of the Governor General, and also the sources of incom which are to be taken into consideration in assessing the estate. I further adds, that all land in the mahal is to be taken into account except revenue-free land and land under some other heads set forti in section 48. So that the Act virtually recognises, as the plan fo future settlements, what was adopted at those already in existence. § 14 .—Proportion of assets taken by Government as revenue. The revenue is the proportion of the “net assets” which Govern ment claims as its own. I could not avoid anticipating the subjec when describing the method of assessment, and so I have already to some extent, indicated what proportion Government takes ii 2 I am informed, however, that this was not always the case. In the Bhandav district, there are cases in which the assessment is high as compared with the culti vated area; and the increase was due to allowance for the value of the produce of th malguzari waste. Cases, however, have been mentioned to me in which the jungl produce afterwards became so valuable as to far more than cover the entire revcnu payment. REVENUE SYSTEM OK UPPER INDIA. 325 > a ch. province. But it will be convenient to recapitulate the orders in the subject in a separate paragraph. The earliest orders fixed the proportion at about two-thirds of die average assets, but it now is almost everywhere fixed at half, ind is in practice often less 3 . This, however, does not include the “ cesses" for roads, pat- varis, schools, or the lambardars’ allowances, which the engage¬ ment does not mention 4 . J In the North-West Provinces, S. B. Cir. Dep. I, page 9, §§ 22-24, deals vith this subject; the proportion is not to be more than 55 per cent., nor less than 45 )er cent, without sanction. In the Panjab, the following extract from the Administration Report of 1872-73 xplains the subject well. It will also be noticed that here there is still allusion o the “gross produce,” because in the Panjab rents are so commonly taken in rind. “ The Sikh system of assessment was that the State, as proprietor-in-chief, took ,11 that it could get, and it did take often as much as one-half the gross produce >f an estate, besides a multitude of cesses under the name of rasum, nazardna, &c., ind exorbitant fines on succession.” (I notice in the assessment or revenue- •ate report for the Alipur tahsil of the Muzaffargarh district (1879), that the Sikhs in this tahsil converted their grain share into cash, by making the culti¬ vators buy back the share at a little over the market rate: the difference was called zabta.’) “ Immediately after the first Sikh War, an assessment by British officers, bn the principle of taking one-third of the gross produce, was considered light bud liberal. When regular settlements were first introduced, the system in force !ii the North-Western Provinces was adopted, under which the State’s demand was limited to two-thirds of the net assets of an estate, or about one-fourth of the average gross produce. It is now limited to one-half of the net assets, but in practice ;t is considerably less. It may be said never to exceed one-sixth, is frequently not more than one-eighth, one-tenth, or one-twelfth, and in some tracts where the rainfall is scanty, it is not more than one-fifteenth of the average gross produce, the value of which is calculated on the average price of produce for a period of from twenty to thirty years. In frontier districts especially, the rates are exceptionally light, and in border villages almost nominal; the people being required, in return for their light assessment, to assist actively in the defence of the frontier. The result is that there is a striking difference in the land revenue demand in British territory on the one hand, and in the territory of adjoining Native States on the other; and the new assessments, even where the increment has beeu considerable, have been collected with the greatest ease.” 4 Such cesses are levied under the authority of the Legislature, and have nothing to do with the land revenue, representing the ancient state rights, and now adjusted by agreement with the proprietors. See Government of India No. 270 (Home De¬ partment), dated 26th May 1871, in the official blue-book on Permanent and Tem¬ porary Settlements, North-Western Provinces, 1873. 326 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In Oudh it was found that tfte separate engagement for the: cesses was unadvisable, and therefore they are absorbed in tl general jama’, which is fixed at about 51j per eeut. 5 6 Patwari allowances are, however, still treated separately. In the Panjab, the rules expressly state, and I have no doul that it is the same elsewhere, that uo mention of cesses is to 1 made in the darkhwast-malguzari, or tender of engagement, i that i6 concerned with land-re venue (properly so called) only 6 . § 15 .—The assessment has to be paid uniformly. It is a well-known feature of our modern revenue, that besidt being always assessed in cash, it is understood that it has to he pai uniformly, good years and had alike. In some cases the asses* ment is in itself “ rasadi 33 or progressive; for example, t encourage cleariug of waste, or bringing difficult and unproduc! ive land under the plough, it is sometimes allowed that for th first year or first three years (or whatever is fixed) no reveuue i to be charged at all; that then for five years (say) half rates are t be charged; and the full rates only to begin with (say) the tent year. Such progressive assessments are sometimes granted wher the increase in a new settlement was very considerable, and it i not deemed expedient to levy the whole increase all at once. 15u still the revenue, whatever it is, has always to he paid, whethe the crop fails or not. If Government altogether pardons or sus pends for a time its demand on account of some great flood famine, or other calamity, that is an exception requiring specia report and sanction. The theory is that the revenue being fixe so low as to represent a very moderate share indeed, a sufficien profit is left to the landowner in good years, to enable him t meet the loss on had years without difficulty 7 . It is, howevei 5 This is really the same thing, since 50 per cent, goes to Land Reveuue an lj is credited to the School, Dak, and Road Funds by distribution (Digest, sectio V, § 26). . 6 Panjab Rules, C. IV., 29. 7 Of late years, it has been admitted, in some exceptional cases, that a departur from this plan is necessary. Thus, in the Paujab, in the district of Montgomery, i REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 327 ueslionable whether this result Is iu fact, as a rule, attained, a a good year the cultivator buys more cattle or some silver r his wife or child, or carries out a betrothal or a wedding hich has been deferred in hope of a good season; in a bad year he ets into debt for his instalment. It is true, in some cases, that ;ie periodical and inexorable demand for a cash payment on a pea- mtry which do not know what providence and saving mean, irows them helplessly on to the village money-lender, who by is exorbitant rate of interest so keeps up his account that the easant rarely or never clears it off, and that in bad cases the easant becomes the slave of the money-lender, and his land is bid or hopelessly mortgaged. On the other hand, the thrifty easantry are perhaps as numerous as the unthrifty. The ques- iou of the effect of a fixed money settlement on the condition f the peasantry is, however, obviously too large a question to be iscussed in a Manual of this kind. § 16 .—The tender and acceptance of the Revenue Agreement. I have to add to this section a few remarks as to the engage- lent for the revenue. The form in which this is done is, that a r darkhwast-malguzari ” is prepared 8 , which states on the part of Much, owing to the scarcity of rainfall, cultivation is dependent Upon rainfall or on he uncertain irrigation of inundation canals, a new system of assessment has been xperimentally introduced. Instead of fixed assessment, demandable in good and |md years alike, and whether water is plentiful or scarce, the bulk of the income is taken in the form of differential crop rates, leviable after measurement in the event ■if the crop ripening. The result is au estimated increase of revenue, while the griculturist is relieved of the necessity of paying revenue when his crop fails. In ix districts also, forming the south-west corner of the Punjab, with a rainfall of not more thau 12 inches per annum (except in one case), and in which the crops depend m wells, inundation-canals, and the hot season floods of rivers, fluctuating assess¬ ments have also been introduced and are working with some success. (See Selections tec. Panjab Government, New Series, No. XVII of 1880—Fluctuating assessments). 8 The form of this in North-Western Provinces may be seen in S. 13. Cir. Dep. I, ec. 28. It contains no allusion to cesses, but engages to pay revenue on groves eft free, if they are at any time cut down. Panjab (Rules, C. IV, 29-30) also gives he form for that province, and directs that it shall contain no allusion to cesses. Che order accepting this engagement states that, subject to acceptance by the Local Government, it will take effect from the kharlf following, and is payable in such md such instalments. 328 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the persons who engage to pay the revenue, the terms on whic (it has heeu previously decided) they are to engage. The engage* ' sign this paper, subject, however, to its approval by Govermneti i (as presently noticed), and they aie then bound by the assessmeu (whether fixed or progressive) for the whole term for which tb settlement holds good. This is usually for 30 years 9 , a perio sufficient to give the proprietors the benefit of their industry an capital expenditure, and not long enough to stereotype hardship or mistakes of policy. In -Oudh this document is spoken of as a “ Kabuliyat,” bn though the form is somewhat different, the principle is the sam* I Oudh kabuliyats specify the arrangements to be made for cases c alluvion and diluvion, and stipulate that patwaris* allowances ma; be levied, and that chaukidars may be provided for at the expens of the landowners 10 . In the Central Provinces the Act 1 speaks of an “ acceptance' to be signed and delivered by the revenue-payer. Government has a general power of revision of the assessmen till it has confirmed it, so that the darkhwast, though binding tin signer, is open to be modified by Government. This is provide* for in the different Acts, as follows :— In the North-West Provinces Act there is simply a powei given to the Local Government to revise the assessment at auj time before confirmation 2 . In Oudh, as the Chief Commissioner sanctions subject to th* confirmation of the Governor General, he can revise at any timi before that confirmation is received 3 . In the Panjab the Act is still more specific : it enables th* Government to revise the rates of assessment, the term of settle- ment, or the conditions under which the settlement has been 9 I stall not liere say anything about the North-Western Provinces’ proposa to make the assessment permanent. I have sufficiently indicated the scope of th* correspondence in the “General view.” (Hook J, Chap. IV.) 10 Digest, sections IV, § 29. 1 Act XVIII of 1881, sec. 54. 2 North-Western Provinces Act, sec. 92. 3 Oudh Act, see. 45. nig- REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 329 ugaged for 4 . This plan holds back the power to correct errors till •,e soundness of the Settlement Officer's proceedings has been fully onsidered. Until such revision or new offer is actually made, the ie approved by the Financial Commissioner holds good. The Central Provinces Act allows of revision at any time ffore confirmation by the Governor General 5 . Every mahal must e assessed in a separate and definite sum, and the Chief Cornmis- oner cau reduce this at any time 8 within ten years from the date n which the assessment takes effect. § 17. The persons who engage for the revenue —North-West Provinces. Next we have briefly to enquire who are the persons who nter into and sign these engagement deeds. The settlement is to be made with the proprietor or person in iroprietary possession of the estate. Where there are joint pro- irietors, a joint settlement is made with all, or “ with the represent- .tives (styled lambardars) elected according to the custom of the nahal 7 .” If the assessment is not accepted, then the estate can be farmed or held under direct management for a time not exceeding fifteen i^ears, and the owner being thus kept out of the management, ets a (malikana) allowance out of the profits of the estate, of not lless than 5, nor more than 15 percent, on the assessment 8 , and is allowed to continue to hold his own “ sir,” that is, land always retained for his own cultivation, but as a tenant on a rent, during the period of his exclusion from the estate. The Act provides |what is to be done on the expiry of the period : it is unnecessary, however, to notice the subject further here 9 . 4 Punjab Act, sections 18 and 30-34. 5 Central Provinces Act, sections 53 and 56, and see section 18. 6 Id., sec- 46. 7 Act XIX of 1873, secs. 43-44. 8 Id,, sec. 48. 9 In estates where there are shares, if there are some sharers that refuse and some that agree, the shares of the recusants are to he first offered to the others isec. 49). 330 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES CF INDIA. Then the question of coincident proprietary rights in the sa > estate has to be dealt with. This the reader will readily understai, * if he has remembered what was said in the “ general view ” abc; the difficulties which arose where one person had been selected i proprietor among several who had very similar claims, as, ud example, when a “ taluqdar ” was found to be in a position whi made it necessary to declare him proprietor over the heads ' the original village landowners. When there are thus several persons possessing “ separate, heri able and transferable proprietary interests” in the estate, then tl Settlement Officer is to determine, under the rules in force at tl time, which of the persons is to be admitted to engage ; and i then makes provision for securing the rights of the others, d ciding the share of the profits to which they are entitled. Tl inferior or original proprietor of the village was more common! selected (except in the case of great chiefships) in the North-Wei Provinces settlements. In that case, the settlement with the ii ferior engages that he is to pay an amont of revenue which h eludes the sum to be received by the superior. This sum is paid to tli I superior through the treasury, and in fact he becomes a pensioner o the land merely. In cases where the settlement is with the supe rior, a sub-settlement may be (and always is) made with the in ferior “ on behalf of the superior,” by which the inferior become bound to pay to the superior an amount equal to the Govern ment ’ revenue, together with the superiors own dues (and n« more), so that both parties ai'e equally protected 10 . Provision follow, as to what is to be done in case either inferior or superio refuses to engage : these I need not describe. Lastly, there an cases of persons having proprietary rights, but not such as to en title them to a settlement; the Act provides 1 for the Settlemen Officer making arrangements for securing them in the “ possessior 10 Act XIX of 1873, sections 53-4-5. The reader will here trace the provision: which were found so much wanted in Bengal, and were introduced iu 1822. Tin sub-settlement is also, as will presently appear, a marked feature in the Oudl settlement procedure. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 331 i their existing rights, or an equivalent thereto/’’ It is not neces- fry to go into this subject. § 18 .—Procedure in the Panjab. Chapter III of the Revenue Act deals with the subject. The settlement is to be made with the owner or with several ■vners, through a representative. The representative—the liead- au or “ lambardar”—is appointed under the rules which the Act rovides to be made. The existence of coincident proprietary rights in the same date, which had to be dealt with in some detail in the North¬ west Provinces Act, is only occasionally found in the Panjab ; le whole subject is briefly disposed of by leaving it to the Financial ommissioner to direct which class is to be settled with in any par- cular case, and by providing that if one class refuses, the other ; to be offered the engagement. The Settlement Officer having nnounced the assessment he proposes, the “darkhwasts” are rawn up just as in the North-Western Provinces. § 19 .—Procedure in Oudh. As the reader is prepared to expect, having read my sketch of lie history of the taluqdars, the law provides that in taluqdari estates [he settlement is to be made with the taluqdar, and in other estates with the proprietors 2 . If in an estate (not being a regular taluq- ari estate) there should be found two classes of proprietors, supe- ior and inferior, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh directs which is o be admitted to engage. All the provisions in respect of joint estates are practically the ,ame as in the North-West Provinces Act. The Oudh Act, how¬ ever, contains further provisions 3 necessitated by the fact that in i taluqdari estate, although the estate is one, still the separate ullages comprised in it need not be jointly responsible for the vhole revenue. So the assessment due on each village or part of t village, as well as the total assessment, has to be declared. s Act XVII of 1876, section 26. 3 Id., sec. 29, &c. 332 I.AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. If a taluqdar refuses 4 5 to engage, a report is made to the CH j Commissioner, who hears the taluqdar’s reasons; and if his obj. i tion proves unreasonable, he may be excluded from settlement oft; i estate or any part of it, for a term not exceeding fifteen years. t j taluqdar cannot, however, be excluded from his whole taluqa wi. out the sanction of the Governor General in Council. The estn (or the part of it) in such cases is farmed, but the farm is to > offered to a sub-proprietor of the taluqdar’s, if there is one, enjc J ing a sub-settlement (of which presently). As usual, provision made for a money allowance to an excluded taluqdar. In case of refusal by proprietors, other than taluqdars sharers in a community of proprietors, the provisions do not mai rially differ from those described in the North-West Province i the excluded proprietor retains his own (or sir) lands as an oce 1 pancy tenant “at one-fourth less rates than would have been pa \ by a tenant-at-will.” § 20.— Sub-settlements in Oudh. At this point it is necessary to allude to sub-settlements. T! subject is of characteristic importance in Oudh. In the North-West Provinces, and the Panjab, the reader wi have observed that a few general provisions on the subject wei sufficient, since the cases in which there happened to be sever; persons in coincident proprietary connection with an estate,— i.t where there was a superior and inferior proprietor,—are few an unimportant. In Oudh, however, every taluqdar has obtained his place a proprietor over the heads of the original village landholders 6 . This grant of proprietary right was not intended to extinguis the proprietary rights of the communities or individuals who hel the villages. But the degree in which the rights of the villag owners were found to have survived, was not uniform; and distinction became necessary between those whose position wa 4 Act XVII of 1876, sec. 32. 5 See also the section on Oudh Tenures, post. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 333 si h as to entitle them to be recorded at settlement as under-pro- p',etors but to have no sub-settlement, and those who were under- p'prietors in such a position that they had a right to a sub-settle- rrnt. The rules stating who were entitled to a sub-settlement a 1 what different terms applied to each different class of them, hi been already legalised and republished in Act XXVI of 1866, bfbre the Qudh Revenue Act was passed. There is no object nw in giving details, because all this was done, once for all, at the sitlemeuts many years ago, and will never have to be done again. There can be no doubt now who is to engage, and whether a vlage is included in a taluqa or not; whether it is entitled to a sb-settlement, or whether it is a village in single tenure by itself. I was a rule in Oudh that the Settlement Court should record a final decree for every individual village, deciding whether it was i one position or the other 0 . The Act, however, provides that the Settlement Officer is to Termiue the “ rent 6 7 ” of all under-proprietors (whether entitled t a sub-settlement or not) and even of persons who hold heritable i t not transferable leases at a rate not specially fixed by agree- [feut. So that it comes to this, that persons entitled to a sub- ittlement differ in position from those who are not so entitled, to lis extent, that their tenures are to a greater or less degree more Ivantageous than the other 8 , and that certain special provisions list as to the validity of incumbrances on the sale of their right, execution of decree 9 . Where the sub-proprietors or others whose r the assessment, or both, are sanctioned. Notwithstanding this, e Act enables the Local Government, on “report of the Fin an tl Commissioner that the operations of the settlement are complel” to direct that the records be handed over to the Deputy Cornn. sioner, and to put an end to the special powers of Settlem t Officers. Section VI.— Tee permanent records prepared at Settlemek § 1.—Judicial powers of Settlement Officers. It is observed in Thomason’s “ Directions ” that the Operation of Settlement may be divided under two great heads, on efisc. the other judicial. And the division is quite characteristic of 1: “ Regulation VII” or North-West System; it is not traceable the Permanent Settlement or in a Raiyatwari Settlement. The survey, which is preliminary, obviously concerns bo branches of the work equallyyou neither can assess reveu according to the modern practice, nor determine rights, if you i not know the boundaries and the area of the laud you are dealii with. The assessment described in the preceding section, is the fisc part. Under the system we are engaged in studying, the judici part is no less important; for the theory is, that Government a only undertakes to fix with moderation its own share in the prof! of the land, but confers a proprietary right on the person or bod whom it considers to be entitled thereto. Where the propri’ett is a community or jointly responsible body, the shares and tl method of dividing the burdens and profits of the estate amon the co-parceners have to be determined and recorded; and custom regarding’succession, and genealogical trees showing descent an relationship, may also have an important bearing on landed right: Punjab Act, section 17. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 337 Not only so, but in many cases, owing to the superposition of [opvietary rights, there are ancient and now secondary or sub- :dinate interests in land, to be protected by record. Not only the •curity of the revenue, but the well-being of the country, is de- [ndent on doing justice to all these claims and interests. It is true that the ordinary Courts of Civil Justice are, in all ses, open to enable any claimant to obtain his just rights, but North-Western Provinces Revenue system has always held :is to be an insufficient security. For, in applying such a medy, it is the person claimaut who must take the initiative, and iir the burden of proof. But the rights that stand in special :ed of support, are just those which have been to a greater or ,'S extent overborne by the more powerful and wealthy (who now nnd forth in the superior proprietary position); in other words, toy are those of the classes least able to take the initiative. Not ;;ly so, but the Courts themselves are (or rather were in former Jys) not provided with any means of judging such questions pro- r. rly. The-rights of villagers and the effect of village custom are it easily proved in Court: they are found out by friendly enquiry i the village itself. If the Settlement Officer takes the initiative, the difficulty is, t some extent at least, obviated; he is on the spot, or near at hjjnd; he enquires and ascertains what is the real state of the case, [his summary enquiry does not result in a satisfactory adjust- cj;nt of all differences, he can, at least, point out clearly to claim- alts what they have to establish, and how they are to establish it, s that a more perfect examination of evidence and formal decision my be had in a “ Regular Suit ” heard under the procedure of the Cvil Courts. Consequently, the Settlement Officer is required to r:ord all rights which are ascertained on enquiry to exist; those r ich are disputed must of course either be supported by the pro- Iptiou of a legal decision of court, or cannot be admitted to record. In the old settlements, not only was the Settlement Officer powered to make a record, he was also made the judge of land- :;ises of whatever description, and this enabled him practically to x 338 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. make his record perfect, and to include not only rights that wc not disputed, but those which were established by his own decn as a law-court. As rights have become more defined, and t people better able to appreciate and assert them it has becot less and less necessary to interfere with the jurisdiction of t ordinary courts. The ordinary powers, therefore, of the Settlement Officer a those which are sufficient to enable him to get hold of all doc mentary and verbal evidence he requires, and in some cases decide disputes on the basis of possession, or even on the mer by arbitration 4 * 6 . The other powers which he may have, and usually has in all pr vinces but the North-Western Provinces, are Civil Court pow< in land cases of all kinds. In the North-West Provinces where the districts have loi been settled under a well-established system, it was thought sui .cientto give the Settlement Officer the ordinary powers alluded t< The Settlement Officer decides always on the ground of possi sion, referring claimants out of possession to the Civil Court. If is a question of shares, it is settled according to the villa custom. The Settlement Officer also decides rent questions th may arise in connection with the preparation of the “ jamabandi I Power to refer to arbitration without consent of the parties given®. 4 North-Western Provinces Act, sections 40-42, 238, 240; and Oudli Act, s tions 181, 191 and 24 and 25; Central Provinces Act, section 30, and chap I VI; Panjab Act, sections 23, 24, 64, 65, &o. 6 Revenue Act, Sections 238-241; also 62, &c. At first sight this seemn militate against what was before said about the insufficiency of a remedy iu : Civil Court. But that was perfectly true when the first North-West settlemei were made, and still holds good for the other provinces to a great extent. It is o' I under this modern Act of the North-West Provinces that, the enquiries having k; ago been completed, and the people being well aware (by this time) of their rigb the powers of the Settlement Officer are now restricted to what is really necessar 6 North-Western Provinces Act, section 220, and the procedure is laid down sections 212-18. The Oudh Act requires consent for reference to arbitration. r - Civil Provinces Act also only allows arbitration to be applied as it is iu the C1 Procedure Code. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 339 § 2 .—Powers as Civil Courts in land cases. In the other provinces, as I said, the law allows of the t .nsfer of the hearing of all land cases, while the settlement is it progress, from the Ordinary Civil Courts to the Settlement CBeers specially invested with Civil Courts* powers. Such powers, c Course, only last till the settlement is at an end. In Oudh the Act 7 empowers the Government to confer on Sttlement Officers the powers of a Civil Court, with reference to jits regarding land paying revenue; while those powers exist, the visdiction of the ordinary Courts is barred. In the Panjab, where the backward state-of the districts made ry specially applicable, those considerations with which I headed Is section, the settlement notification confers the “judicial nvers” which the officers are to exercise 8 . These special powers l': not mentioned in the Revenue Act, but are conferred under the ■’lljab Courts Act 9 ; they allow of the Settlement Officer being powered to try all (or any class of) “suits and appeals relating (land, or the rent, revenue, or produce of such land/* arising in i local area affected by such notification. The jurisdiction of the ilinary Courts is barred. The advantage of this system is, that while the Settlement dicer is, in his ordinary capacity, enquiring, recording, and finding |; all about the people and their rights, if he finds the matter ■ possible to decide by arbitration or otherwise, without a suit, he ii refer the parties to a regular civil suit, and then himself hear I; matter more fully and formally, and decide it, subject, of course, i such appeal as the law allows. 7 Section 20. R Act XXXIII of 1871, section 11. 5 Act XVII of 1877, section 49. In the Punjab the powers usually ar completed before the settlements now in force were made. (2) The Shajra or village map. (31 The Khasra, or index register to the map. It is a It showing by numbers all the fields and their areas, measureme, 30 Central Provinces Act, secs. 30-38. 1 Punjab Act, section 14, Rules (head Settlement), section 111, § 12. REVENUE SYSTEM OP UPPER INDIA. 341 no owns, what cultivators he employs, what crops, what sort of ail, what trees are on the land, &c. Neither the Panjab nor the North-West Provinces now require a abstract of this, called a “ tirij ” or “ muntakhib asarmwar bt in the earlier settlements of these provinces, and also the Enjab, the Central Provinces and Oudh, this abstract was pre- pred. It showed the owners and the fields each holds, grouped igether according to names. In the Khasra, for instance, one □in may hold field No. 1, and the same man’s name may not );ur again till we come to No. 50, and again at No. 139, and so 3. The “ muntakhib” starts with the names of holders, and pups under each man’s name all the different fields he holds, and ils, in a few columns, the chief items of information shown in the nre numerous columns of the khasra. Subordinate to the khasra may be a statement regarding irriga- ; n by wells, canals, &c. (4) “ The village statements.” —These are statements show- g concisely all the facts and details ascertained by the Settlement iicer aud noted in his “ pargaua note-book” as bearing on the nessmeuts 2 . In the Panjab they also contain the Settlement Ificer’s general reasons for the assessment of the village. (5) The “ Darkhwast malguzari,” or the “ kabuliyat,” or ?gagement to pay revenue. (6) The Khewat 3 . This document is a record of the shares id revenue responsibility of each owner or member of the pro- fietary body. In the North-Western Provices and Oudh, tenants have no ice in this: their holdings and the rent they pay are shown by 2 In Oudh (Digest V, section 56), the jamabandi or rent-roll showing rents id, as they were at time of survey, is kept still. In the other provinces, the use of i is confined to the Rent or Revenue-rate Report. Oudh also requires certain i er statements which, in the other provinces, are confined to the “ Rent or Revenue* je Report,” to be placed on the Settlement Record itself. 3 The term khewat properly moans share of burden or liability; it originated in igal, where a certain contribution had to be levied ou rent-free lands in order to like up a deficit, i.e , when the assessed lands could not make up their total revenue. ■ Wilson’s Glossary.) 342 LAND 11EVENUE AND LAND TENU11ES OF INDIA. the jamabandi (No. 7). In former days, besides the Kbew, a “ khatauui” was used, which was, in fact, another abstract oft khasra, grouped according to holdings, but having a column (ai herein lay its usefulness) showing how each holding was cultivate ■ whether by tenants, and if so, whether they had occupancy rig-1; ( or not. In the North-West Provinces at preseut the kbatauni not maintained, as information is contained in the jamabandi. In the Panjab, a combined form, or khewat-khatauni, is use, which shows both owners and tenants, and is a record of occupan and liabilities. In the Punjab, various appendices to’the khewat are present - or allowed. They are (1) the statements of revenue-free holding (2) a list showing the shares and holdings of the present proprieto and how these interests were acquired, accompanied, where uecessai by a genealogical tree; and (3) a statement of rights in wells. In the Panjab some of these documents have great value. T first is of no great importance ; the second, however, is of very gre interest, in villages held by persons descended from a comm ancestor, or otherwise closely connected by blood. The geuealogii tree in such cases is an important document, and on its eorrectne many questions of inheritance and succession may turn 4 . The third statement is necessitated by the valuable character the irrigation from wells, and by the fact that the shares in t ownership of the well itself, are not always the same as the shai on which the land round the well is owned. (7) The Jamabandi—Showing the occupancy and rents tenants: this is not used in the Punjab, where the combiu khewat-khatauni is employed 5 . 4 Rules (head Settlement) III, § 25. 5 The student will not confuse this “jamabandi ” with the document called by t same name, and made use of in preparing- the “ Revenue-rate Report.” T1 shows the rents as they are stated to he at the time of the survey, before the n ' assessment is made out. In the Settlement Record, jamabandi, rents are enter according to the arrangements agreed upon by the parties, unless there has be a decree, according to which the rent is entered; if there is a case pending the pi: is left blank (see Oudh Digest, section V, § 69). For North-West Provinces : 1 Act, sections 68-72; and S. B. Cir. Dep. I., page 13. REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPfER INDIA. 343 (8) The Wajib-ul-’arz. —This is the village administration tper: it contains a specification of village customs, rules of man- jfement, and everything affecting the government of the estate, ie distribution of profits, irrigation, and rights in the waste. I shall not here go into any detail, as it would take up too much >ace, and the student can readily refer either to the Punjab 8 Revenue ules, or to the North-West Provinces Circulars 7 which give a com¬ pete account, and show that the principle is the same in all provinces. (9) The Rnbakar-akhir, or “ final proceeding/-’ an abstract of ie proceedings of settlement. It gives a brief narrative of the settlement operations, the period icupied by each stage of them, explains what officers carried them it, the year when the assessments took effect, the year for which ie khewal was prepared 8 and the date on which the settlement misl as complete 9 . The Panjab 10 adds a statement of the Settlement officer’s judicial decisions. (10) The English “ Settlement Report” for the whole district, 'his should here also be mentioned, although it does not form part f the record deposited in ’the Collector’s office, and which corn- rises the documents above described, and all in the vernacular, livery one is familiar with these reports, many of which are of reat value and interest, giving information on the history, ustoms, geography, and natural products of the district, as well as u account of the settlement proceedings 1 . 8 See Rules, head C. Ill, 26. 7 See S. B. Cir. Dep. I, § 51, page 15; see also Punjab Rules (head Settle- lent), III, § 33. 8 This will be noted afterwards; the khewat shows the rights as they existed on t a certain date : of course sales, transfers by inheritance, and so forth, modify it fterwards. 9 S. B. Cir., Dep. I, § 55 (page 17). 10 Rules (head Settlement) III, 39. 1 An officer desiring to know the district in which he is employed (and this pplies equally to Forest Officers) should study the Settlement Report as his first step, joine reports are full of the most valuable historical, sociological, and other inform- ftion. Among the best may be named—Elliott’s Hoshangabad ; McConaghey’s and meaton’s Mainpuri; Reid’s Azimgarh ; Forsyth’s Nirnar ; Bcuett’s Gonda. Mauy thers, however, might be mentioned as first rate. 844 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. § 4. — Provisions of the Acts regarding Records. I have thought it simplest to give this list of records, which a? actually be found iu every District Revenue Office, before speak; of the requirements of the Revenue Acts in respect of records. The main records that require to be prescribed by legislat 3 authority, as being primdfacie evidence, in a suit, of the facts tl r record, are the documents which constitute the Record of Rights. The North-Western Provinces Act only alludes specifically > this part of the general records of settlement 2 . It therefore indue; the khewat {viz., a record of {a) all co-sharers; ( h ) all otlr persons having heritable and transferable interest or receivi:• rent; ( c) tbe nature and extent of the interest; (i) rent-fi holders) and the jamabandi. The wajib-ul-’arz may also be addt since the subjects enumerated in section 65 will find a place that important document. Rules may be made (under section (25 for the preparation of the records. The Panjab Act 3 describes, under the head of Record of Right not only the khewat (which it treats as a simple record owners, supposing tbe tenant part of it to be shown in tl khasra) and the wajib-ul-’arz; but also includes the maps, tl khasra, the engagement paper, and the rubakar-akhir 4 which hardl a See Act, sections 62-65; and S. B. Cir. Rules for Settlement Officers, Dep. Rule 30, page 10. The entire misl or settlement record of an estate, iu these pn vinces, is hound up in two volumes : I. The record of rights. II. The village map, khasra, and other papers not included in what is technicall the record of rights. 3 Section 14. 4 It will he convenient here to quote the Panjab Act on this subject: the recor is prescribed to consist of— (1) “ Maps and measurement papers showing the boundaries of the village o place in respect of which the settlement is to be made, and the field into which it is divided. (Thakbast proceedings and Shajra.) (2) “ A statement of the occupiers and owners of the field specified in the said maps, and of the lands occupied or owned by them, and of tin terms on which they are so owned or occupied. (Khasra.) (3) “ A tender on behalf of the person or persons settled with to engage fo; the payment of the revenue during the term for which the settlemen; is made. (Darkhwast malguzarf.) REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 345 ci be called Records of Rights, though they may have an import- afc bearing on the subject. In Oudh the Act leaves it to the Local Government to deter- nne what papers shall constitute the record of rights, and what f:ts shall be recorded and shown in them 1 * * * 5 6 . In the Central Provinces the record of rights is expressly dfined 0 to include the supplementary record of rights, that was ride in some cases (before the Act) in connection with tenant rrht, which will be afterwards alluded to. The Act is particularly clear on the subject. It defines all the sbjects which the Settlement Officer has to investigate and decide. 1 record is to be made for every malial or a group of mahals : and i is to notice the result of the enquiries made on the points escribed in the sections 68-78, and any other matters which the (lief Commissioner may direct to be recorded. The Chief Com- r ssioner is also empowered to prescribe the language and form of r.'ord and the papers of which it shall consist. Records of former settlements are treated as records made under :e Act. But there are certain exceptional provisions regarding Ttain rights, for which the Act may be consulted 7 . (1) “A statement of the shares or holdings of the different persons settled with, and of the amount of revenue for which, as between each other, they are to be responsible ; and a statement of persons holding lauds free of revenue and of the lands so held. (Kliewat.) (5) “ A statement of the terms on which the persons settled with agree to pay the revenue assessed, and of the customs of the village or place in respect of which the settlement is made; such statement shall be so arranged as to distinguish such customs as regulate— (a) ‘‘the relations of the persons settled with to the Government; (A) ** the relations of the persons settled with towards one another ; (c) “ the relations of the persons settled with the other persons. (Wajib-ul-’arz.) (6) “ An abstract of the proceedings at the settlement, which shall contain a statement of all judicial decisions passed by the Settlement Oliicer in the course of the settlement.” (Rubakar-aklhr.) 5 Oudh Act, section 19. 6 Central Provinces Act, section 4. See also sections 68-80. r See section 86 and sections 88, 89. 316 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. It is to be borne in mind that records of rights and exist g holdings, shares, &c., can only represent the facts as they were; a given date. Such rights alter by partition, the effect of dcu, and inheritance, as well as by sales and transfers. Provision s made for fixing the date to which the facts recorded have .refereu Changes occurring subsequently are recorded in proper registe; the original record of rights is never itself altered 8 . The papers, when fair-copied and properly attested, are m e over to the district officer. § 5.— Of the attestation and legal force of the records. The attestation of the papers is a matter of importance, a l oi’iginal documents professing to be settlement records, if produd without such attestation, may be at once suspected. In the North.-Western Provinces, the details are left to t discretion of the Settlement Officer 9 . I have found no specific ru: on the subject in Ondh. Doubtless the practice is the same as the North-Western Provinces. In the Panjab the papers are attested by the patwari, t munsarim, and the'Deputy Superintendent and Superintendent' Settlement. The boundary maps are signed by the patwaris ai the headmen of the villages concerned. The wajib-ul-’arz is sign also by the whole of the proprietors interested. The Settleme Officer is not directed to sign the record of rights, but he is respo sible for its correctness. The “ Final Rubakar or Proceeding ” is signed by the Settleme Officer himself, as in fact a signature attesting the entire record 10 It is the practice to bind the various papers into a volun (or more than one) : the maps are placed in a pocket in the cove The Superintendent signs each leaf of the record. The settlemei volume is often bound in red leather, and the people speak of it; the “ Lai kitab.” 8 See S. B. Cir. Dep. I, section 31, page 10; Oudli Digest, sec. V, § 62. 9 S. B. Cir. Dep. I. Rules for Settlement Officers, § 40. 10 Panjab Rules (Settlement), VII, 47- REVENUE SYSTEM OF UPPER INDIA. 347 § 6 .—Legal effect of entries. In all the Provinces, entries in the settlement record are legally jesumed to be a correct statement of fact 1 , i. e., they hold good 1.1 the contrary is proved by the party asserting it. Entries in the record of rights can, however, be contested in a gular suit. § 7.— Alteration of Records. The Panjab Act contains some special provisions. The record ■mnot be revised till a new settlement 2 , and even then can only be vised by the entry of facts which have occurred since the date hen all the judicial cases at settlement were decided, or by iterations which all the parties concur in : or by making such derations as new maps and measurements made by order of Gov- nment, necessitate. The North-West Provinces Act does not allow of the alteration f the record, except upon a regular notification ordering it; errors lay be corrected, however, by consent 3 . The Oudh law is similar, 4 . The Central Provinces law goes more into detail 5 . Errors may e corrected by consent, or in pursuance of a suit to correct, or that jeing founded on a decree or order it does not correctly represent uch decree or order, or the decree or order has been reversed or nodified on appeal, &c. In these provinces, also, there are special irovisious enabling Government to enforce any “ custom,” “ con¬ dition,” or “ specified rule” duly entered in a record of rights. Any ettlement or sub-settlement holder who hereafter shall violate or neglect any such rule, custom, or condition is made liable to lieualty. The penalty order can be questioned by a suit against Government. J North-West Provinces Act, section 91; Ondh Act, section 17 ; Punjab Act ection 16 ; Central Provinces Act, section 82. 2 Panjab Act, section 19. • 3 North-Western Provinces Act, section 94. 4 Oudh Act, section 57. 5 Central Provinces Act, sections 120-25. 348 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER II. THE LAND TENURES OP UPPER INDIA. Section 1.—The Tenures of the North-Western Province! § 1.— Introductory. I should make the preliminary observation that I am in tli Section speaking only of the ordinary tenures of the plaiu Special districts like Kumaon and Jauusar Bawar are separate treated of in the appendix. The tenures (using that term in a somewhat strict sense) tin the section is concerned with are of two classes 1 . The first is where Government has granted or recognised superior right in a given estate. There are then two classes havin a proprietary interest in the soil,—the superior proprietor, an the village owners who are the “ sub,” or “ inferior,” or “ under’ proprietors. This tenure (taluqdan), which we shall find so stvongl developed in Oudh, is only occasional in the North-Western Pro vinces, and even there, the settlement aimed at taking the engage ment from the actual soil-owners, and left the superior with th proprietary right in his own “sir” or nankar land, and his rigli to his taluqdan due or his revenue assignment, whatever it migh be, which he receives through the Government treasury. Bu 1 See the General view of Tenures in India, page 42, ante. I deal here with tw classes only, for there is little occasion to mention a third, where Governmen itself is the sole tenure-holder, having become proprietor by escheat or forfeiture; o a fourth, where the holder is a revenue-free grantee of land of which he is sole pro prietor. If an assignment or grant of the revenue of a given area is made to person who is not proprietor, he may be only a pensioner; but in such cases tli grantee usually has the right to all unoccupied land, and the right to take in ham any lands which are ownerless, and so he has, or grows iuto, a certain interest in tli soil itself, and the estate may then he a tenure of the class mentioned in the text. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 349 tbre are cases of jagirs and large estates of a more dignified cha_ r,:ter, where the settlement is with the superior, and his over- kdship on the estate is recognised. The second is where the Government deals with an entire tdy of cultivators occupying a known local area. Itr respects t |3 rights of each member; but it deals not with each individual, a in the raiyatwari system, but with the body—a legal unit or etity—through its representatives, styled lambardars. In the first kind of tenure, there are two grades of right fkween the Government and the actual owner of the land-share : (1) the taluqdar, or over-lord, (2) the legal body, the community. In the second kind there is only one,—the legal body. It is also obvious that there may be no village body ; the local ;ea of a village or other estate, may be in the hands of one man, 'ho then unites in himself the proprietor actual, aud the proprietor Igal with whom Government deals. It is also obvious that in : province where no objection exists to the complete or perfect jirtition of lands, any joint estate or group may completely split p, and form a number of estates which may ither be each held \f a number of joint-owners or by one man. Sole estates will gain become joint in time, owing to the joint succession of all the ms, &c., to a sole owner on his decease. This second class of tenure being far the most important, I mil take it first, and commence with an account of the village ody or community. § 2 .—The Norik-JFest village. In an introductory chapter, I endeavoured to explain how the >cal groups of village landholders came to exist in their present )rm. I pointed out that, from whatever causes, the village now s to be found in different parts of India, in two distinct forms— (1) where the village owners are governed by a headman, and ave a staff of watchmen, menials and artizaus in common, but 350 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDTA. each owner has no right to anything but his own holding lays no claim to any common land outside that holding, an acknowledges no responsibility for his neighbour’s Governmer j revenue. If there is any culturable waste to spare in the village jj outsiders*of whatever caste may come in by permission of tli Government officials, only acknowledging the headman, and payin' their proper Government revenue, and the dues which by custon i are appropriated to the village servants. There may be som local custom connected with payment to the headman, hut tin outsider once admitted has exactly the same right to his holding ! as the oldest inhabitant. (2) The other form also consists of a local group, but hen the group has an ancestral bond of union ; it claims, as a rule, to have descended from one or more original conquerors, grantees, or founders of the village. It lays claim to the entire laud,' waste and cultivated, inside the village limits. It admits no outsider (except rarely and under special conditions) as a share¬ holder, or as a member of the body. Outsiders admitted may come in on highly favourable terms, but only as privileged tenants. The governing body of the group is not a single headman, hut a panchayat or committee of elders, the headman being only distinguished by the fact that some one (or more than one if there are divisions of the group) must be the spokesman and agent in the revenue and other public business of the community. These two forms of village I distinguished by the terms “ non-united,” and “united” or “joint” village. Either form of village lends itself easily to a suitable system of revenue manage- \ ment; and as a matter of fact, the former type of village, where it is found uuiformly over large tracts of country, has in practice fallen under the raiyatwari system 3 . It is the joint type that is especially adapted to the North-West system. The whole j • 2 Except in the Central Provinces, where, in many cases, the headman was made proprietor, and the village landholders became inferior proprietors. The headman’s family, succeeding him, became in time a joint body of proprietors, and they are the settlement-holders with all the usual characteristics of the North-Western 1 system. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. S51 bd.y is by natural constitution jointly liable to the State for tl revenue, and the body can be dealt with as a whole; a lnp assessment is laid on the entire area (and this the mem- b s of the group distribute according to their own law and c:tom); and a representative of the body, or one for each main d ision thereof, is the intermediary who signs the engagement, ad deals with Government on behalf of the body. Where villages o the non-united type are brought under such a system, they are s in reality by changing their character : the joint responsibility, ^accepted by them, and a common interest in an area of adjacent v.ste is recognised. Notwithstanding, however, that under the joint-village system c revenue management there is a joint responsibility, and that it is te body, not the individual, that is dealt with, each holder's separate (stomary right and share is secured by authoritative record. It I s been, accordingly, claimed for this system, that the landholders live the principal advantages of a raiyatwari tenure, while the fovernraent avoids the enormous labour and risk of dealing direct iith thousands of small individual holdings. : The Bengal theory of an intermediary between the cultivator and te State is also here maintained, since the “corporate body," if I lay use the phrase, through its lambardar or spokesman is the squired middleman : it engages for the revenue, and is, in accord- ice with the system, recognised as proprietor 3 . The body, as I lid, may be reduced to one, and, again, be expauded into many; but le theory is not affected : so, too, it may split up into a number f bodies, or a number of units, but each resulting estate still is eld on the same theory of right. Speaking generally, the “ united ” type of village is the one with .diicli we have chiefly to do in the North-West Provinces. At cast that is the impression which a general reading of reports 3 While, on the other hand, Jn the application of the theory, a wide difference esults from the fact that while in Bengal the middleman proprietor was an actual individual, whose position was the result of a state recognition or grant, the middle¬ man here is an ideal body, and has interfered with no man’s rights. 352 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. gives, and it is certainly the impression which the celebrai “ Directions ” has stamped on the revenue literature generally t, only of the North-Western Provinces but also of the Panjab. § 3.— Question whether all the North-Western Provinces villages,< really joint in origin. I shall, however, have occasion at least to indicate that t! universal “jointness” of villages 4 is very doubtful; in other won that just as in other provinces, we have reason to believe that t oldest and most general form of Hiudu landholding was not tli joint, but the non-united village, and that the “ village communit or joint village grew up in the midst of it, and over it, in vario ways, so it is here. Anticipating the use of terms which will be explained presentl I may say that it is very doubtful, at the best, whether mai villages now called bhaiachara and allowed an interest in “cot mon”land, and held jointly liable (at least in theory) for tl revenue, were really of the joint type according to their historic origin. The doubt consists in this: if you assume that any givt village was originally a truly joint village community; that it w; really some three or four centuries ago started, say, by one man, ( one family, whose descendants for a long time remembered the common descent and held land or divided the profits strictl according to ancestral shares;—if you suppose that in course c time the ancestral holdings got modified by necessity or accident and are now held on a basis of custom, all original connection havio: been long forgotten, and perhaps some men of different caste o race have been in bygone years admitted into the body;—it i obviously very difficult, in its present condition, to tell whether th village had really the history I assume, or whether it was from th first a “ non-united ” village. 4 Jointness, I mean, in original nature, before the effects of partition, sale, reveuu default, and so forth, may have affected the constitution. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 353 On the other hand, a village may present to the observer at the i seut day, a very similar existing state of things, and yet the truth xy be that the village is ah origine of the non-united type. For ;]: distinguishing feature—the right to the waste—may have long >u obliterated, owing to its having all been appropriated, and the »y waste existing being such plots for cattle-tethering and so forth uwould naturally, under any form of village, be left open to the jieral use. Even if there is waste, which originally the villagers vuld not have claimed exclusively, the example of neighbouring n.ages, the effect of revenue systems, and the disappearance of the ‘taja” who was so necessary a part of the old society, and the ^.sequent absence of a superior claim to it, may naturally have exited in the group getting to regard the waste as their common nperty, although in days long past it was not so regarded. We 1 11 come later on to the facts which tend to show the true nature of •hiaehara villages, but, meanwhile, it is not surprising that they 1 uld have become popularly and officially regarded without dis- iction as a form of joint village. § 4 .—Classification of villages adopted in the “ Directions” The Directions of Mr. Thomason, then, started with the general lx that all the villages were joint: and the author regarded the fious customs which now distinguish them, and invite a classi- (tion of some kind, as the result of a gradual decay or develop- oot—whichever it should be called—of the perfect joint form. Mr. Thomason classified villages into— (1) Zamind&ri, imindan khalis ” (where there was only oue owner; and where 1 body was as still joint and undivided, “ zamindarf mushtarka (2) Pattidarf, (3) Bhaiachara. The secoud and third classes had “ mixed ” or “ imperfect 33 ms, which may be regarded as two additional classes. Y 354 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. These terms have become, as it were, the shibboleths of the No t . Western revenue system, and are constantly to he found in rep< s applied to tenures,—for example, in Ajmer, Kaugra, and Kumaoi - with which they have in reality nothing to do. Before going further I must make these terms intelligibly the reader by a brief explanation. § 5 .—Zawdnddri villages. The first term explains itself ; here the body is still undivic’u whether there is one man managingfor a number of joint owi s, or for himself, the features are the same. Where there are my sharers, the whole of the laud pays the usual market rents, and t ;e are thrown into a common stock, out of which the Goverunit revenue and the other expenses are paid, the profits being distribu ], according to the known shares, to each member of the bid The term, however, takes no notice of the very different princle on which these shares may depend : it merely takes note that t c is a joint and undivided body regarded as proprietor of the wle estate. It should be borne in mind that the term “ zamindan,' is here used, has not the meaning which it bears in Bengal. It is it used to signify the tenure of lands managed by a zamindair revenue agent who became proprietor. It indicates only the riit of proprietorship over a certain group of lands or estate, i- eluding both the waste and cultivated laud within its limits. This tenure may be that of a sole individual or a joint by In either case it implies, in revenue language, that there i 10 diminished or partial right, but the estate is held in full or in j it proprietorship. It was hardly necessary to say that in some cases there ma;ie no proprietor, in which case the Government is itself the zamfmr. As a rule, in Upper India, Government is averse to holding “klia khalf ” estates (as they are often called), and a proprietor is loced for among those best entitled, who are willing to uuefertakebe responsibility of settlement. LAND TENUEES OF UPPER INDIA. 355 § 6.— Pattidan. The second term indicates that there has been a partition of iferests by separate record and allotment of the ground. The jfate, as regards responsibility for Government revenue, still mains joint, and its general' management is also in some respects jmt; hut each sharer or group of sharers has obtained a separate [rerest in his holding, and he alone takes all the profits and bears tl> cost of cultivation : he pays the share of the Government .venue and village expenses, which corresponds to his theoretical sire in the estate. There may also be an “ imperfect ” or mixed pattidan estate, b reason of the fact that part only of the village has been divided, te rest still remaining joint. In a pattidari estate, where the ancestral connection is remern- Ired, the typical or natural basis of divisiou is often the frac- tiual share which belongs to the holder from his place in the jlnt succession recognised by the Hindu or Muhammadan law of inheritance. Thus, supposing the founder to ljave four sous : each sn’s family share or “ patti ” of the estate would be one-fourth < the whole. But these shares may be modified by circurn- 1 4,nces; it is then no longer possible to say that the pattidari tate is always held on legal shares; but the practical characteris- 3 is this, that the divided share of the land corresponds (or is icepted as corresponding) to an ancestral, or modified ancestral, I'stem of shares. When the landholding is allowed to be without fereuce to any system of shares, the estate is no longer to be assed as pattidari. § 7.— Bhaiachdra. The third or bhaiachara form represents a division where a scheme f ancestral shares has been forgotten or never existed. The term leans literally “custom of the brotherhood,” ?. §t 44 a> O a ij 3 S3 4-> O Es Ph s fl :° - s Cw ~P & .£ u w i —, o CL CL, 2 5 s ® 1 5 CS O -M ^■‘Vg a rS .22 Ph ' II.—Estates in wliicli die holdings o “ customary ” (and are de facto ho] mgs fixed by circumstances), anc< ■> tral shares being still partly rente bered, e.g., in dividing profits of “ sail (jungle, fisheries, fruit, &c.) or of coi ) mon land. (Forms) (i) Each holds a share as “ sir,” or land which he mana and cultivates himself out of proportion to his an, tral share, paying a nominal or low rent to the cornu fund : the rest of the estate is held for the comn benefit, and the profits are distributed according: ancestral shares. Here separate possession will usu; he recorded in the khewat. (ii) The same, separate possession of the holding not be recorded; this is rare. ■ c3 S^ p ® _ ° > CO P S ^ LL d o o> 2 ® fi < .a o a O —" oi & K*1> P .9 / III.—Estates in which the holdir are all customary and any theoretic system of fractional shares is qn\ unknown (may never have existed). (Forms) (i) When separate possession is recorded. • ^ (ii) When separate possession is not recorded 6 . ^ 9__ Origin of joint villages in the North-Western Province dismemberment of the old Baj, I may now proceed to offer some remarks on the origin a nature of these different interests in village lands. The ways in which the estates now owned by joint eomuranit and recognising ancestral shares arose, may be various : 6 This is rare ; but there are cases in which no separate possession of fixed bo j in gs ; s found recorded iu the khewat and where yearly arrangements are made for i cultivation. This is probably a survival of the forms noticed in the Chhatsgij division (see section on Central Provinces Tenures), where the landholders int changed lands every year, so as to give each an equal chapce of profit and loss w good and bad lands. LAND TENURES OF- UPPER INDIA. 359 (1) In the first place, there may be the same influence as I have ideated in the general chapter on Tenures and illustrated from tl Gouda district in Oudh. Certain powerful families, by usurpa- o'} or grant, obtained, besides their original landholders'’ rights, tl Rdja’s claim to taxes and the disposal of the waste. They divided tli lands among themselves, and the men who obtained each a. cer- t;n area iu full right, became founders of the families which are tij joint owners of the villages. Or the Raja had granted land ii jagir in the same way, and thegrautee's descendants form joint pprietary communities. When the Raj itself was divided on the bath of a Raja among his descendants, the tendency of the shall estates so produced would be, to get smaller and more sub¬ sided till a number of estates consisting of single joint villages i suited. It may be hazarded that all the higher caste communities— lijputs, Brahmans, and so forth—really originated in dismember¬ ments of the old “ Raj ” rights in this way. - § 10 .—Settlers on waste land. (2) Another origin is in grants for clearing the waste. The jaja makes a waste grant on favourable terms to an enterprising an, who starts as the leader of a party of cultivators whom he dlects : he establishes a group of buildings close to the best land, lid himself makes a beginning by digging a well on the most fertile nd, which thus becomes the nucleus of his "sir” or special hold- ag. This sort of proceeding is distinctly traceable in the Sainbal- jjiir district of the Central Provinces, and must have originated oramunities in many other parts. The founder’s family, in the jourse of time, developes into the proprietary community. The teople called in to aid reside on the spot, as either “ proprietors If their holding” or “ tenants ” on fixed tenure aud favourable erms. In some cases they may have been regarded as members >f the proprietary body from the first, because in these cases it is >y no means always that the leader of the party gets recognised as the proprietor of the whole settlement. I 360 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 11.— Desqendants of Revenue-farmers . (3) Another origin of communities is of much later date; t is to be found in the revenue-farmer, put in by the preced * Government, or even as late as in the times of our own, to man:; the village. He may have usurped the position of propriel, reducing the original holders of land to being his tenants; 3 descendants now form the proprietary community in the up r stratum of landed interest 7 . He may not have displaced any one, however; he may hi) found the estate deserted, from famine or the vicissitudes of wi: < it may have been waste originally, and he founded and broug 1 it under cultivation. From all these sources really joint communities would ari and whether they remained joint or separated, their ancestral legal-fractional share would be the measure of right. § 12.— Settlement of tribes. (4) In the Panjab we shall see that a prominent source joint-village holdings is the local establishment of a tribe section of a tribe which settled down in a district and divided t land among the tribesmen. Here the joint claim to an entire ar is manifest, whether to the whole area occupied by the larger se tion, or the smaller sub-divisions assigned to individual leaders groups of families within it. 7 In Bareli (Settlement Report, 1874, page 21) I find it noted that there t villages had been overrun by the Rohillas, who had stamped out, or refused allow, any rights that could be called proprietary. There were then only the t\ classes of cultivators, one resident and the other non-resident. The former we managed by a quasi-hereditary headman called muqaddam or pradhdn; but he w never looked on as owner, and only paid a little less rent than his fellows, to tl conquerors his landlords. At our settlement, it is curious that the proprietai right was not conferred on the whole body of resident cultivators (possib because they were not willing to be jointly responsible), but on the individu muqaddams who had no sort of claim by custom. Thus the villages were : first “ sole zammdari” estates, but in time became joint or in shares, when tl original grantee died and left the estate to be divided among his heirs. Exact the same thing happened in Pilibhit (Report, 1872, page 88). LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 361 The North-Western Provinces report^ do not afford evidence of this origin to village communities. But it would require an semination more in detail of the prevalent castes which compose the riages, to give any final opinion on such a question. In later tiieSj of course, the country originally occupied is not likely to cnsist exclusively of fellow-tribesmen; outsiders get admitted, pirchases take place, revenue-farming arrangements upset the b dings, and many ancient rights disappear during famine and nr. The result is a great mixture in the present inhabitants. Vo can now only trace the area originally peopled by one tribe, ) the predominance of a certain caste or clan, and by the exist- ;pe of traditions, or peculiar local names. But in spite of this difficulty, it may be said at least with pro- ooility that tribes of the same stamp as those that settled in the Enjab, did not extend their advauce to the North-West Pro- nces. Throughout the Gangetic plain, the general evidence points n the whole country having been divided into “ Raj’s,” each ifaller Raj being often a member of a confederacy owing subjec- in to an “ Adhiraj,” or over-lord. Within each Raj the villages \re mere groups of separate holdig's, as already explained. It was a later date that joint villages grew up and multiplied in the way [scribed ; and in the course of time even the remaining Don¬ ated villages came to be treated as jointly liable for the whole >enue, and as owners of the waste. These villages are now offi- ,lly classed as bhafachara communities equally with others which re essentially of the joint or united type. § 13 .—Variations from the ordinary North-Western Provinces village type. The foregoing list of the sources to which the origin of the jrth-West village may he traced, will apply generally to the tricts of the plains. But, as might be expected, the districts Jarer to Central India approach more nearly to the Central Pro- bces tenures. Thus in the Jliausi and Lalitpur districts, which 862 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. border on the Sagar and l^arbada territories, it would seem that •. j villages were originally of the non-united type, and that they hi ■ j become joint, under the North-Western Provinces Settlements i tern, owing to the creation of a proprietary right in the headm which is now held by a body of descendants. The Jhansi district 8 did not exhibit the regular type of stro ■ proprietary communities; anything resembling a proprietary rig was unknown 9 . But it is stated that this condition—the agg gation of landholders without any joint interest—was the res of the decay of a former joint constitution. The original ancest a shares had fallen into oblivion, and actual holdings alone w> recognised 10 . There was a headman, called “Mihta” (or Miht like the Maratha patel, and he had his lands 5nd perquisites office, here called “ haq-mihat 1 .” The plan at settlement was to make proprietors of the Miht and of all who, as members of the official families, held lai which formed part of the “ haq-mihat.'” To these were added who enjoyed special privileges and perquisites, and all who e peared on the merits to have been acknowledged as “ sharers ” i the estate in any seuse. All the residue then became “ tenants. Among the occupancy tenants recognised by the law, may noticed those called “ purana jotar ” or original cultivators (w paid a low rent in a lump sum (tankha) ou their entire holdinj They can sell and transfer; and they can relinquish their lands, w: right of re-entry on repayment of outlay to the intermediate hold 8 Jhansi is a scheduled district under Act XIV of 1874 (Notification No. 687A 9th November 1877), hut the Revenue and Rent Acts apply to it, since the names the Jhansi division districts do not appear in the schedules attached to those Ai and it is only the districts in those schedules that are exempt from the Revet and Rent law. The list of Acts in force in Jhansi is to be found in Government X fication No. 1148 of 29th August 1878. The old rules for Criminal and Civil Jusl legalised in 1864 are now repealed. 9 Administration Report, North-Western Provinces, 1872-73, page 14, § 23. 10 Jhansi Settlement Report, 1871, § 340. An attempt was made to draw u] “ pliant” or list of shares, which was all wrong, but was admitted as evidence some cases in Court and led to considerable confusion. 1 Settlement Report, § 31. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 3(33 There are also tenants at “ fixed rates/' and others at f * cus- tmary rates/' liable to enhancement if the village assessment is e lanced. Why all the cultivators were not declared proprietors of their hidings, as they would have been under another system, can oly be answered with reference to the principles of the North- Vest system, which will not admit of dealing direct with the actual citivator. Even as it was, there being no natural communities, the elation of proprietors has resulted in a number of small estates, nick have been since unable to make way and have become involved i debt 2 . In Lalitpur there was the same absence of cohesion in the immunities, if they can properly be called such. There were, bwever, many villages in subjection to local chiefs called Tha- jirs, who held the villages in jagfr or on a quit-rent by the ‘uban" tenure (see Section IV on Central Provinces Tenures), ihese were acknowledged as proprietors over the heads of the stual landholders 3 , but in such cases the original rights of the Itter were protected by making them “ sub-proprietors." This ittlement was carried out under the Sagar Rules of 1853, which were fterwards applied to the Central Provinces 4 . The whole district nd its settlement may be regarded as answering to the descrip- ion given in the section on the Central Provinces tenures. Where there were no Thakurs, &c., the revenue-farmers or [ieadmen 5 , as the case might be, were made proprietors. This was Re case with the parganas which had belonged to Sindia, and 2 This is to be noted as a curious result of the endeavour to create proprietors. |ln Jliansi there are no wells : the laud is dependent on rain, and each cultivator can \arely be sure of paying the revenue on his own field : a person, therefore, artificially Invested with the right over, hut with the consequent responsibility for, the revenue j)f a number of such fields, cannot, bear up. The so-called proprietors have had to borrow largely to pay their rovenue and have become hopelessly involved. 3 Lalitpur Settlement Report, 1871. The Board’s review gives a history of i;he difficulties and contentions of these chiefs. The Report, § 196, complains of their being incorrectly called taluqdari estates. 1 Lalitpur Settlement Report, 1871; Government Review, § 15. 5 The Report, § 193, says that the headmen were usually the descendants of the original clearers and founders of the estate (“ Jhnrya-hath”). 364 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. those of Banpur and Maraura which had been confiscated; here pr prietors had to he found. But in some cases where these farmers headmen had no distinct claim, and where the original landholde had kept up a local bond of connection which could be ascertained i the community was declared proprietor 6 ', on the typical Nortl West principle. In cases where the revenue-farmer or the heat man was made proprietor, the members of the original landholt ing families became (as usual) privileged tenants or sub-proprietor Forest officers will be interested in knowing the fate of wasi and jungle lands. Wherever these were in a Thakur’s estate (jagir or ubii estate) they were all held to be included in the grant. Elst where a rule .similar to that of the Central Provinces was ult: mately adopted. At first indeed (in 1865), all the ctmsiderabl tracts of waste were reserved to the State, and clauses to thi effect were entered in the Settlement “ Wajib-ul-'arz.” But ii 1867 this was considered unfair; the clauses were struck out, am the waste distributed to the villages, in amounts equal to double o I quadruple the cultivated area; only the surplus (about 10,90( , acres) was reserved to the State 7 . § 14 . — Details about each form. Returning, however, to the ordinary form of joint village, as now recognised, it remains to offer some details about their con¬ stitution : (1) as to the general features of the communities; (2) regarding the “ zamindari ” and “ pattfdari ” or ancestrally shared estates, and the process of the disintegration of joint estates into severalties; (3) regarding the bhaiachara estates. § 15.— General features of the North-West village. Whatever may be the true origin of the estates, they are jiow, all of them, as long as perfect partition is not granted, jointly liable for the Government revenue, and all of them claim the entire 6 Government Review of the Settlement Report , § 16. 7 Settlement Report, §§97 and 114. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 365 aba of waste and unoccupied land within the limits of the villages a “ shamilat ” or common property. Affairs are managed under all forms, by a panehayat, and there i: an annual audit of accounts called “ bujharat" in which the had man or managing members account for the expenditure incurred f- village purposes. In a completely undivided community, this adit will cover the entire expenditure and income, and explain the dstribution to the different sharers. Outsiders are, as a rule, not admitted into the community, hut c=es occur in which a family Brahman or some privileged individual hs been so admitted ; then, of course, the share assigned him is an ebeption to the general rule of ancestral or fractional division troughout the estate. There may be occasionally in the village, persons with a full jpprietorship in their holding (arazidar) or with a nou-transferable o nership (farotan milldyat) who are not members of the commit- my. Such a status may be acquired by some old proprietor of the \ lage whose right has been borne down in bygone days, by the jpprietors now in possession ; or it may be that a member of the l;dy had thrown up his holding (having arrears of revenue which he quid not pay) and he or his heir has now returned to the village : i such a case he would probably be admitted to hold land, but not t have a voice in tbe management, unless he paid back the arrears. There may also be in the village, old tenants who helped the cj/ners to clear the land originally; these, though not proprietors, sill have fixed rights, and pay no more on the land than the pro- pietors do, towards revenue and expenses. § 16.— Villages held jointly on ancestral shares. The simplest form of joint estate held on ancestral shares is ’here all the laud is either wholly let out to tenants, or held partly b sharers as tenants of the body, but in any case paying full market fnts. The rents and other receipts are then thrown into a common fud, and, after deducting expenses, the profits are distributed ^cording to the shares. This process, effected bv the managing' 1 386 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. member, is tested by the assembled coparceners at the ami 1 bujharat or audit of village accounts. Separate possession is not 1 such estates, recorded in the khewat. But there are also cases in which separate possession is t recorded, and yet each sharer holds and manages on his own aceoi t a certain area of “ sir ” land at low or nominal rent; this r being out of proportion to his theoretical ancestral share. 1 > remainder of the laud is held in common. The proceeds of the common land and of the rental, if any,' the sir land, may suffice to cover the Government revenue al other expenses ; if so, the profits of the sir are clear gain to e: man according to his holding ; if not, the deficit is made > according to ancestral shares. Such an estate, as long as no separate possession is recorded, is s' the “ zamindari mushtarka ” of the text-books, as much as that fi - described ; but it is obvious that there is a very real difference, which the official classification takes no account. When such method of holding is observed, it is obviously not only a step towai several holdings, but there is a material change in the principle ; sharing. In the oldest form of common holding, it is probable that custom of periodical redistribution was observed, so as to give ea sharer bis turn of the bad or less profitable holdings. We shall coi upon instances of such a redistribution in the Pan jab and also in t Central Provinces 8 . 8 I liave not found any direct instance in the North-West Provinces of this c ! tom of occasionally or at fixed periods redistributing the holdings with the object equalising the differences which result from one holding being better or worse tt another. But I am told that in Fatihgarh aud elsewhere the principle is by means unknown. It is said to be common in Bandelkhand, and under the name “ bhejbarar ” excited no small discussion in Mr. Thomason’s time. Section 47 of I Revenue Act acknowledges such a practice and makes provision for the Settleuu Officer to deal with it. But there are occasionally village arrangements of a pern nent character intended to obviate such inequalities. Thus in Mainpuri (Settleuu Report, 1875, page 105) there is what is called a tauzih tenure,—that is, the land divided into two classes, the rich gauthdn, or homestead, and the inferior distant lai or harlchd; each holding is of so many “tauzih bfghas,” which means that ea bigha is made up of a proportion of each kind of land. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA.. 367 § 17.— Villages held in severalty on ancestral shares. If the hitherto joint cultivators agree to a division on ancestral s ires, then that moment such a division is effected, the estate bomes “ pattidari; ” if the division does not go by ancestral shares, It according to actual and customary holdings, the form becomes ‘bhafachara.” It is, however, obvious once more, that the mere fact that the j nt holding has been divided, does not really alter the nature of ts tenure, and therefore the official classification which recognises te “ pattidari ” as a kind of estate, is only arbitrary. A pattidari estate is only a zamindari estate held on ancestral sares which have been divided out, and which are henceforth xanaged by each sharer on his own responsibility, he taking his fictional share of the lands, and paying the corresponding fraction c the revenue and expenses 9 . The fractional share commonly arises from the law of inheritance ; 1 us an estate is held by a man who has four sons ; one of the sons i dead and is represented by three sons ; then the shares are, that (tree sous hold one fourth each, and the remaining fourth is again < vided into three, one for each grandson. It may be also that a jactional share takes its origin from a sale or mortgage ; thus one of ae four sliarers may sell one half with the consent of the com- mnity ; then the estate is held in two fourth shares, two eighth aares, and three twelfth shares. This division may occur in various ways. There may have been 9 In Azamgarh (Report of 6th Settlement, § 9 of the Review) a curious form of fared estates is described, which is like the “ Khethat ” in Oudh. Here, it is not |ie mauza or village that is divided into shares, the whole being the property of one roup of families, but tho whole estate extends over several villages. One “ patti ” r sharer of the estate will have some lands in one or two mauzas, another patti in nother mauza, while all the pattis will have lands in the third. Often all pattis 'ill have lands in all the villages. It was necessary in order to clear up this con- usion to make statements called “ bachh-bandi,” in which each sharer’s lands in all he mauzas were brought together, and the total revenue*of the patti thus shown in ’lie. When there were in any village proprietors of lands, but not belonging to any lf tbe “ Pattis,” they are called nrazidar (Report, Chapter III, section 5, page 63). 368 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. certain original divisions of tlie village known as “ tliok l: ^ “ taraf ; ” these are, perhaps, the result of an original allotmen 3 f land of the village site to two or more main branches of ie original founder’s family. In each taraf there may be the joint holdings of minor fami ^ called “ pattis; ” or there may be no “ tarafs,” but the wile village may be divided at once into pattis. When an actual di- sion of holdings takes place, the partition may extend to the sevi J pattis only. The land inside the patti may be still held joiiv by a group. Or, lastly, the division may have gone down toind . dual holdings or “ khatas ” which may be separated off and record . As long as all these varieties of division have only sepan possession and record of holdings, but still form one mahal join? responsible to Government, we have the “ pattidari estate” of 3 text-books. Of course at any moment the remaining slender thread tl 3 still binds the divided holders into one estate, may at any momi; be snapped by perfect partition, and then we have no longer! pattidari estate, but a series of separate estates, each of which m be a sole or joint estate. The estate may also remain, as I have noticed, in an “ imp< feet pattidari” form,-—part divided and part still held in coimnoi The causes of division may be quarrels in the family, or simp the desire of each man to have his own land to himself. The “sii is then separated, the rest of the land being left in common be cultivated by tenants. This imperfect form is to this day ve common; the Government revenue is paid out of the cornmi land, the proceeds of it being taken in the lump for the purposi and each sharer gets his own “ sir” profits entire. Only when tl profits of the common land are not sufficient to meet the revenu then the deficiency has to be made up by a payment in the san proportion on the several sir holdings 10 . 10 Oudli Administration Report, 1872-73, Introduction : see also Bareli Settleme Report, § 59, &c. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 369 § 18 .—Nature of the shares. In a pattfdai'f estate the .shares may be the actual fractional sires which result from the law of inheritance, and the land- I'ders placed on the genealogical tree; or they may be these shares rdified bjp circumstance and by custom. But the characteristic is ;lt the correspondence between the holding as divided on the ground id the ancestral or modified share is always assumed, and the pro- ice and expenses are always divided according to these shares. The circumstances which tend to upset the fixed theoretical Ires are various. It may be, for example, that each pattfdar i; got an equal fourth share divided out on the ground with nfect consent and as equitably as possible under the circumstances .lfche time of division. But subsequently the conditions change, ,)[ jt is found that though the holdings correspond to equal t rths of the Revenue demand, one holding becomes in yield and cue out of proportion to the fourth of the revenue; it deteriorates li cannot pay it, while another fourth is more than able to meet t exact corresponding share. Men’s talent and capacity for agriculture also vary, and a lifty shareholder with g-ood land may make so much that he is fe to help his neighbours in distress; then he probably takes a le of his share in consideration of such help, and thus the old Lyes begin to change. Another and probably very common cause of change arose in days when the Government demand was excessive : it required ) act every one to cultivate all he could, in order to keep the iage going at all; and so one man’s means being greater n another’s, he got to cultivate land beyond his legal share. 1 1 as long as it is recognised that the owner has a special fractional lisrest in the whole, and his actual landholding is recognised as "esponding to the share of the expenses which he pays, the |,te is still pattidari h In the Punjab, and I have no doubt elsewhere also, the shares in a putt idlin'estate rarely purely ancestral. The days before our rule were rough ones; necessity >utcd to modify a strict adherence to ancestral shares. The result ol confusion ’L ■I 870 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The estate ceases to be pattidari when any specific share i the estate is no longer recognised. A man has a certain de fa 9 holding and he pays at a certaiu rate per plough or per well or r acre on this. If an owner denies that a stated share is the measj of his ownership, the result of such a contention is either a revis 1 of the share list or the estate is converted into a bhaiachara one. This process of change in the holding and ultimate abandonm t of the theory of a share, may very well have been one origin to 1 “ bhaiachara"’'’ estate. Such villages may have been originally hi on ancestral shares, and this origin must always he held proha j when the remembrance of a common ancestor is something re; than a mere fabulous tradition. It is especially probable wli ancestral shares are still made use of in distributing some of ; profits of the land. Section 46 of the Revenue Act enables ! Settlement Officer to distribute the assessment over the sevel holdings, so that there is no hard-and-fast rule that the fractiol share of the estate must bear an exactly corresponding share of ; revenue demand. § 19 .—Bhaiachara Estates. And this leads me to speak of the features of bhaiachara esta 5 generally. Such a type may have arisen in the mauner just >• scribed out of the joint village ; but the commonest origin is, tH the village was never joint at all, but was from the first the n<- united village of the earlier form of Hindu kingdoms; and evenwli: there are some traces of ancestral shares as regards certain of ! lands, this may be due to the rights of the headman andliisfami, not to any original ancestral sharing of the whole estate. If example, under what I may call the older constitution, culti - tion sometimes was taken up in a new spot by a person who, s aud of misfortune was that shares got altered according to circumstances, the vk and unfortunate losing, the stronger and more fortunate gaining. It may be, therefore, that the Government revenue is paid according to custom? shares, but the division profits of waste land or “sail - profits ” and the holding oft land may be according to ancestral sliaies. Such estates are still reckoned* “ pattidari.” LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 371 itdraau and leader of a body of colonists, bad obtained a grant nn the Raja. The headman got to look on himself as the i-ner of whatever land was not occupied by those who came with i a. They, indeed, had their right in their own plots, but new- oiers were approved by the headman, and acknowledged his rights > getting him to turn the first sod of a new tank or well that was (be dug; and if such settlers abandoned their land it reverted to 1 headman. The headman and his descendants then came to ok on themselves as entitled to the proceeds of the waste and occupied land, and hence shared this in fractional ancestral 1 res, while the rest of the land was held by the different settlers, cording to the custom which has acknowledged the holding of ;;:h 2 . Thus we may have a bhaiachara village with several holdings, .d no general scheme of shares ; and yet a certain body divides If profits of a certain part of the estate, by ancestral shares. I do not say that this accounts for all cases, but it is one way iwhicli such a state of things may arise. In ordinary cases, the whole estate would consist of several edings entirely unconnected; then thei’e would be a pure bhafa- lira estate : the waste remained at the disposal of the State, though i d for grazing aud other purposes, and only at a later time (tame the village “ common/'’ In these estates, the origin of the holding is simply what each rn who joined in the original settlement was able to take in hand. L is is expressed hy the phrase “ Kasht hash maqdur.” Each i ding is spoken of* as the man’s “dad illalii,” or gift of God i him : and as the right in it is heritable, it is spoken of as his yirasat ” or inheritance. It is very remarkable how this term, of Arabic origin, has qead all over India : the heritability of the land occupied and cleared o ug the important feature, land so taken up is described by a term siivalent to “inheritance.” And this is true, whether it is the | 2 An interesting example of this will be found described in Sambalpur, Central Hi vinces. 37-2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. land occupied in a non-united village, in Hindu States where 3 joint ownership of an entire village is unknown, or in the jot villages : the same term occurs, either as the “miras” right, lj “ warisi,” the “ wirasat,” the “ janmi / 5 or some similar name. T 3 we shall find all over India—in Kangra and the Himalayan Stat<; in Central India, the Dakhan, South India, Malabar and Kana, Among the most convincing proofs that the “ bhaiachara ’ estate may have sprung from the non-united village, is the f: > that the shares in some estates are counted according to 1 imaginary number of ploughs or masonry wells. It is obvious tl, in a settlement where a number of persons join and bring land uni■ cultivation, the area held was of little importance ; especially win it is recollected that in early times there, was no rent, and the Stn - revenue, as well as the headman's perquisites and the dues of t village servants, were all provided for by deductions from the gra heap. What was of far greater moment was the fact that a m had joined with one, two, or three ploughs and the necessary catt or that he had sunk a well, or that two or more joined to dig one Very often, in bhaiachara estates, the burden of Revenue ai expenses is now borne by the whole body, by a rate applied to ; cultivated land, or to the whole estate (dharbachh or bfgha-dam because that is, in the present age of money revenue and mom rents, an obvious and easy way of settling the matter. But many cases a distribution of expenses is still by ploughs and wells It may be asked : if, as described before, the original villac was a mere group of isolated landholders acknowledging* a head ms 3 A curious instance of the growth of a “ bhaiachara ” village under the Nort' West system, is afforded by Mr. Barnes’ Settlement of Kangra in the Panjab. He there was a pure old Rajput state, each villager with his “ warisi ” holding, and 1 claim to the waste except to use it for grazing, &c., and no idea of any liability beyoi that of his own grain-share to the Raja. The Settlement Officer proceeded, as matter of course, to allot the waste to the villiges, to treat them as jointly linb “ bhaiachara villages.” He did not seem to think that lie was doing anything ; all out of the way, in dividing up the entire forest and waste among the villages; ai the people seemed hardly to realise that the land was being granted to them. As totl joint liability which would result from the system, it is not even mentioned apparently, it was thought quite a matter of course, and of no moment whatever. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 378 ,* cl other institutions in common, but having no claim of ownership cer the unoccupied land in the vicinity, and having no joint lisponsibility, how was it that such a group came to be amenable t the theoretical joint liability for a lump assessment, and to claim te waste in the vicinity of their holdings, and so to have a pro- j.rty, just like an originally joint village, over the entire area in a rig fence ? It is easy to account for the present joint condition of the bhai- aiara estate. The old ltaja’s interest in the unoccupied land around te village cultivation ceasing to exist, it is very natural that the viole body should have claimed it, and occupied it entirely among temselves ; or in other cases, as above indicated, the headman’s f nily and his co-settlers should claim the whole, and subsequent etners should have looked upon themselves as subordinate to the 1st settlers. Although, in some cases, such “tenants” may pay 1 2 sum imposed by the “ dharbachh ” at no higher rate than the o iers, they are looked on as “ tenants ” and are not admitted to amice in the management of the affairs of the village. When, tierefore, the Settlement Officer recorded the village landholders as Ipprietors of all land within the local limits of the village, it dl not strike the villagers as anything unusual that a lump assess- rent should be levied on the village as a whole, since the custom b which the sum was distributed over the holdings was recorded ; ai the joint responsibility is itself too shadowy and remote a con- t gency to affect them much. § 20.— Taluqdari Tenure. I must now turn to the other class of tenures, where, besides the vlage body as proprietor, we have yet another proprietary interest Inveen the cultivator*and the State : this is called the taluqdari tiure. I shall make no apology for repeating that the historical cjinges and many vicissitudes which affected landed property in Ilia, resulted in the survival of interests in layers, if I may \i the phrase,—in the superposition of one “proprietor” over 874 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. another, and the consequent sinking of the first into a posi n subordinate to the second. First, for example, let us imagine an ancient district in will we find the usual groups of land occupants under the old Hi'u. Baja. Then the Raja grants one or more villages to some mility chief or to a member of his own family. This family becomes p. prietor, and the original cultivators and land owners gradu y sink into the position of tenants at privileged rates. This k s for some years, perhaps generations, and then comes the Mugil or Maratha governor, who, not satisfied with the revenue col i- tions, appoints a farmer over the village. This person get a firm hold on the village, and in his turn he and his sons joily succeeding, claim the proprietary right over the whole. There s j-hus a third layer; only that by this time, the lowest layer will, j- haps, have died out or disappeared altogether, and only the gran s of the second layer will appear now as “ tenants,'” “ proprietors if holdings/'’ and so forth; the farmer’s family are now the jit body of proprietors. Last of all comes some new Muhammam State grantee, jagirdar, or taluqdar. In process of time he mi t have become the proprietor. But our rule succeeded, and e process was arrested ; the “ taluqdar ” is now recognised as “ perior proprietor; ” and the village body is protected by a “s>- settlement ” as the inferior proprietary body. In Oudh we sill see this process fully illustrated. In the North-Western Brovins it is less marked. The double tenure is spoken of as “ taluqdari,” not beca.e there was here a defined grant called “ taluqdari,” or becaie the superior proprietor is always a “ taluqdar,” but because ie state of things is most analogous to the properly so-called tal[- dari tenure of Oudh, and because the term “ taluqdar” is essentiiy indefinite and covers almost any variety of superior positionn virtue of which some person may have got the management id the revenue collection and responsibility into his hands, andio succeeded to a kind of proprietary interest in the estate. The actual position found to exist at settlement would natuny LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 375 v;y, and the “ taluqdar’s ” degree of connection with the State iry vary from one closely resembling the actual proprietorship, t<( that of a mere pensioner on the land, who receives a certain abwance, but exercises little or no interference with the actual n nagement. Under the North-West system, it was left to the Sjtlement Officer to recommend, and the controlling authorities to d;ermine, whether the "superior" was in such a position that the sitlement should be made with him, or with the original body, glinting the superior a cash allowance paid through the treasury. Seaking generally, it may be said that in the North-West Iovinces it has been the practice, wherever possible, to recognise te original owners, making them full proprietors, and buying ot, as it were, the superior, by giving him a cash “ malikana ” or t uqdarii allowance of 10 per cent, on the revenue 4 . In Gorakhpur, for instauce, I find the Settlement Report 6 de- s'ibing what were apparently real "taluqdari" estates held by \rious ltajas. Under them were found people in possession of pbprietary rights in the second degree. Just as in Oudh, these Mire usually the rights created or confirmed by the grant called ‘[birt; ” there were cases of "jiwan-birt " or proprietary holding tauted to the younger members of the Rajahs family; the ‘Imurchhbandi birt," grants made on condition of service and leping order on the borders; aud "sankalp ” or “ birt" made to iligious persons or institutions. There were also many “ birtyas" .olders of birts) created (as was so common in Oudh) for the irpose of clearing waste or resuscitating old cultivation. Butin lose places, the North-West Provinces principle beiug generally : I have stated, the birtyas were made proprietors, aud the Raja as not maintained as taluqdar over them, but merely as the pro- bietor of his own “ sir," “ nankar,” aud other lauds held by him aider the local name of “ taufir”), aud with the usual 10 per cent. ; malikana, or commutation for superior rights besides. The 4 Tliis malikana is frequently fixed in perpetuity, and dues not alter propor- snately to the changes in the revenue demand. 5 Settlement Report, Vol. II, page 60. 370 I,AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. same is noticed in some of the parganas of the CawDpore distrii*. In these cases what was left to the Raja constituted in itself a \ y large property. In Azimgarh there is also mention of another kind of dote tenure; here there was no Raja, but the powerful families vi had become the joint owners of the villages, probably by gr t of some former Raja, had in their turn granted “birts”to e descendants of the former and long ousted owners who had <. giually cleared and brought the estate under the plough. Tli; persons are locally called “ mushakhsidar.” Sometimes these w> settled with as proprietors, but sometimes, owing to the arram. ments of former settlements, only as ^^-proprietors 6 7 . § 2.1.— Tenants ;—their position. What has already been said about the gradual overlaying the original interests in land, will have prepared the student understand that “ tenancy ” in land—that is, the holding of la under a proprietor—is, in these provinces, by no means a siinj thing. In other words, we have not merely to deal with perso whose position on the estate is due to contract , but with perso who, for want of a better name, are called “ tenants/'’ but who m; once have been owners themselves, and owe their position to i process of letting and hiring, but to circumstances which ha reduced them to a subordinate position. Besides, then, the modern and ordinary cases of contract tenanc the Settlement Officers had to deal with these other classes. In some cases it was no easy task to draw the line betwee proprietor and tenant, and to determine whether a particular cu tivator was most appropriately classed as a tenant, or as a propri( tor in some grade or other. But supposing the line drawn, we have next to consider how th u tenants” are grouped for legal purposes. 6 Settlement Report, 1878, page 43. So in Allahabad, hut onlj trans-Jumna Settlement Report, 1878. 7 Settlement Report, § 305. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 377 We have first tenants who anciently were proprietors. These a: recognised as having- a title to fixed occupancy and to fixed nt-rates 8 . Then, again, another class of tenants may be traced, viotn it would be hard not to include among those whose right to sne legal privilege is unquestionable. I allude to those tenants yjo were called in at the founding of the village, and who were oven a position in the estate, which was only second to that of the pprietors themselves. In many cases, practically, these ancient tiants differed in nothing from the proprietors but in the fact t it they were of a different tribe and had no voice in the raauage- i ;nt of the village or share in its common. In both the classes o tenants, which thus may be described as the naturally privileged, tjere is a right of occupancy ; and the rents payable are often nminal, and in many cases do not exceed the amount levied by te Government as land revenue. There can be uo doubt that the existence of these classes of lghts afforded a basis upon which our legislators proceeded to grint “a right of occupancy.” But, then, it was urged that all cultivators resident in the village whose lands they tilled, were, by c ; stom of the country, irremovable or not liable to ejectment. Whether this was really so in fact, I cannot pretend to determine, (mainly the question could rarely have arisen in old days, since : any time an ejectment of an obnoxious person by a powerful lndowner, however arbitrary, could not have been resisted, while i all ordinary cases uo question arose, since the landowners were (ly too anxious to get and keep tenants. The influence of this view, together with the undoubted fact tat there were many whose ancient rights might be at least par- tilly secured from oblivion, led to the desire to secure resident / 8 There is a modern class of “ ex-proprietary tenants” which is not to he confused 'th that spoken of in the text. This new class is recognised by the Rent Act, ..■rely in view of the condition of native society. When any proprietor is ppossessed by sale, Ac. (voluntarily or by process of law), he retains an “ ex-pre- ietary tenant ” right in the portion of his estate which formerly was his special riding or “sir” land. 378 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. tenants. The current of official opinion gradually set in the direc m of fixing a limit of twelve years (the then usual period oflimita m in India), beyond which proof of right should not be required : id the tenant who had twelve years’continuous possession was t« considered as an occupancy tenant. § 22 .—Opinions held about tenant-right. The justice of such a rule very much depends on the real his’ y of landholding customs. In Bengal, for example, in every per i. nently settled estate, the zammdari right was clearly an adventit is thing,—one which had grown up over the original landholders if, might therefore easily be admitted that the great bulk of the 1- lage cultivators were equitably entitled to a permanent posit i. The fixing of an arithmetical rule of limitation was no more tn an equitable expedient for putting an end to strife and savg rights which were in danger of being lost through failure of techn il proof. But it might be said that in other cases, where the histy was different, the claims of the proprietary body were far strong, and there was no occasion for such a general rule. That is e side of the case. On the other, it would be contended tit, whatever the theory may have been, in old days tenants were pi> tically permanent. Every one who got a plot of laud on c- senting to pay the Raja’s grain share, was originally on an eq.l footing, and one could not be turned out, except by the exercise! arbitrary power, more than another. However this may be, e first Rent Act (X of 1859) granted a right of occupancy toll tenants (irrespective of facts and history) who had held the sae land themselves (or by their ancestors) for twelve years 9 . The was therefore no occasion for the Act to make any allusion o the special rights of those ancient tenants whose claims I he described. They, of course, fall within the terms of a twee years’ occupancy, for their tenancy is practically coeval with e 9 Act X appears to have been passed with very little discussion. It was at it proposed that the right of occupancy should extend to every resident cultivator, d three years’ residence constituted a “ resident tenant.” LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 379 (Hiding of the village. I have already in another chapter mcated the general line of argument which has been taken iy the official advocates and opponents of the tenant-right law ■enectively. It is not likely that the controversy will ever be m rely laid at rest ; there will always be something to be said on ■iler side. There are, of course, inconveniences resulting from eimt-right when dependent on an arithmetical rule of occupa- io 10 . But it is to be feared that no law that can be invented vj ever be free from such occasional imperfections. Perhaps the safest solution of the difficulty is to be found n:ke practice and procedure of the Upper Indian Settlement. n> powers which a Settlement Officer has of informal enquiry, te nd by no technical rules of evidence, and the fact that he can nestigate matters on the spot, as no head-quarters court of iitice can, place him in a situation peculiarly favourable for Iciding such questions. It may be thought, therefore, that it v dd be better to leave the rights of a tenant to be dependent on h enquiry of the Settlement Officer, and on the usual subsequent i edies, exactly in the same way as questions of proprietary it are. On the same grounds it may be urged that it would have »|n much better to allow the Settlement Officer to fix, either for ;lji whole term of settlement, or at a progressive rate, as justice ill the circumstances warranted, the rent .which a tenant was ; classes of tenants—(1) ex-proprietary tenants who were c:e proprietors, hut have sunk to the grade of tenants; (2) those ' 0 had special and customary recognised privileges and hold ,t favourable rates 4 , and these are the “ natural” maurusi or per,, i nent occupancy tenants; (3) those who have acquired rights uc r the twelve years’ rule ; and (4) tenants-at-will. These the Rent Act deals with as follows :— (1) In permanently-settled estates, tenants 5 , who have 11 since the settlement at the same rate (and uniform holding r twenty years raises a presumption that the holding has been si > settlement), have a right to hold always at that rate, and they ; called “tenants at*fixed rates;” the right is heritable and t) transferable. (2) Next, ordinary (oeeupauey) tenant-right is secured to I persons who, having been proprietors, lose a part with their p. prietary rights; they retain the right of occupancy as tenants their former sir land, and for the purpose of the Rent Act “ si includes not only what is recorded at settlement as sir, or what recognised by village custom as the sir of a co-sharer, but a land which he. has continuously cultivated for twelve years for 1 own benefit with his own stock, and by his own servants or liir labour. Such tenants are called “ex-proprietary tenants.” (3) All tenants who have actually occupied or cultivated la continuously for twelve years have a right of occupancy. B this is qualified hy the following exceptions :— (a) No sub-tenant gets the right, i.e., if he is a tena holding under an occupancy, a fixed rate, or an e proprietary tenant. thought, in the landlord’s interest, if he waived the privilege and asked that t right be sold, he might buy it. As section 9 at first stood, there was no doubt mu to be said, legally, in favour of this view. 4 Rent Act, section 20. 5 The Act (section 4) also takes note of subordinate tenure-holders who are n exactly tenants (like th.apu.tni and other ialtiqs of Bengal), and declares that if, sin the permanent settlement, they have held at the same rate, such rate shall be he to be fixed. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 383 (6) No tenant gets the right in the proprietor’s sir land. (c) Nor in any land is he allowed to cultivate in lieu of money or grain wages. 3ccupaney rights are not transferable except to co-sharers, lir are heritable by descendants in the direct line, but not by col- itrals, unless such collateral was a sharer in the cultivation of kdiolding at the time of the decease of the right-holder. All tenants can claim leases specifying the land which they hold n the terms, and are bound to give counterparts or kabuliyats. '1 terms on which (A) the rent of tenants not being fixed-rate cants can be enhanced, and on which abatement can be claimed; b the conditions under which ejectment can be had in all cases; C compensation for improvements; and (D) compensation for /ingful acts are all provided for. Next (E) distress is dealt with, ,n then (F) the jurisdiction and procedure of Revenue Courts in 1'matters relating to rents and tenancy, questions of ejectment, e so forth. The produce of land is held to be hypothecated for rent, and the et is a first charge. Distraint of crops standing and cut, but i(j removed out of the homestead, is allowed after service of a vtten demand ; the produce must be that of the land for which et is due, and for one year’s rent only, not for older arrears : sale slffected by application to a properly appointed official. The natural distinction of tenants according to local custom, is is ally into resident {“ chapparband,” &c.), and “ pahi,” those who i ■) in other villages and come to cultivate for the sake of the wages e . 6 In Bareli the chapparbands were managed by a muqaddam or cultivator’s icilman of their own. They had to pay rent and give one day’s free labour to igh the proprietor’s “ sir ” land, to give him also certain lands of “ bhusa” pped straw), a gliarra or jar of sugarcane juice, &c. Certain of them belonging to the higher castes, or to the same caste as the pro- tors (Settlement Report, § 23) (a matter which often influences customary rents), called “ Rakmi,” and pay at slightly lower rents than the others. In Pilibhit (Settlement Report, § 93) the occupancy tenants are spoken of as cated by law. ” In Azimgarh (Settlement Report, § 305) occupancy tenants e partly created by law and partly had natural rights owing to “ birt ” grants relics of former proprietary standing. 3Si LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OR INDIA. Section II. —Land Tenures in Oudh. § 1.— Introductory. Iu the general sketch with which I introduced the stud of the revenue systems of India to the reader, I have already hr [y sketched the History of Oudh, as far as it concerns the id revenue settlement. I explained that the country was (as ts predominant feature) held by a number of chiefs called taluqos, each of whom had a right over a larger or smaller groupf villages 1 . I stated that all these chiefs, except five, had jo ;d the Mutiny, and consequently had their rights forfeited, n 1858, by proclamation, they were pardoned and restored, and vre then declared the proprietors of their estates ; but were bo d to admit certain rights and protective conditions, to be secured y record at settlement, for the communities over which they re superior proprietors. The “Oudh Estates Act, 1869 ,” cons this proprietary title, and lays down rules of succession and ink- itance in certain cases. Our study of the Oudh tenures will Id us, therefore, to enquire (1) what is the nature of the “ taluqdai” | estate, and (2) what are the natures of the tenures and rigs which subsist under the taluqdar in each village. § 2.— Meaning of the term “taluqdar.” For legal purposes, a taluqdar meaus a person whose nara s entered in a list which under section 8 of the Oudh Estates . t (1869) is provided to be prepared. But if we enquire further wt a taluqdar is, we can only say that the term literally means e holder of a taluq or dependency 8 . This is very indefinite, but 0 •attempt to define further has ever been successful. 7 Oudh Circular 19 of 1861, page 3. In Thomason’s “ Directions for Set - nieut Officers” (page 98) it is said that in a taluqdari estate there are two prop- tary rights—a superior and an inferior; that is true as a description of what usui.' is found in such an estate, but it does not defiue the nature of the superior r taluqdari right. 8 The word is derived from the root “’ulq,” implying connection or dependen. It is properly ta’alluq, ta’alluqa, Ac. t LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 385 The reason of this is that the tenure was ex origine indefinite in half. It was indefinite as to the extent of the power over the i iges forming the estate; it was also indefinite as to the area, .e to the number of villages which were included in it. At the same time, though we cannot give an accurate de¬ letion of what a “ taluqdar ” in the abstract, or in theory, is, we a clearly ascertain the actual features observed as existing in h different taluqdars* estates. The typical form of the taluqdari is simply a late modification, ner Muhammadan conquerors, of the old local Raja. Muham- n an power found it convenient to leave the old chief in posses- * 10 of his estate—having much of his former power, admiuister- i< justice, and commanding the militia, but being obliged to a a fixed revenue or tribute to the’Lucknow treasury. Such is 11 origin of the “ pure ” taluqdars. Several of them may now ol separate estates, formed by the division of the original estate f he ancestral chief 9 . Sometimes a revenue speculator or other e on would by court favour, acquire the same position,—villages a ng voluntarily put themselves under his protection as beiug the ict powerful individual in the neighbourhood. In such cases, the rerful man was very often the hereditary owner of one or more illges ; and then, when a group of neighbouring villages gathered ner his protection, he became taluqdar over the whole 10 . In the as of misgovernment it was almost impossible for small iudepeud- n holdings to maintain their position unaided 1 . They were obliged olintarily to place themselves under some taluqdar as “deposit iliges 2 .” I» many cases also the taluqdars annexed them forcibly u made the villages pay their revenue to them ; and villages From one-half to three-fourths of the revenue of the different districts of •nil is paid by taluqdars, holding for the most part large estates (Stack’s Memo- 11 mi, 1880). j See Calcutta Review, 1886—“ The Taluqdari Tenures of Upper India ls Sultanpur Settlement Report, 1873, page 48, &c. Digest of Oudh Settlement Circulars, section V, §11. / luqdar 3 . From this it will be clear that, as regards the origin of the estates, the taluqdari right was sometimes merely recognise by the governing power as an existing institution (in the case oi be chiefs and their descendants), and sometimes was created 'a # direct grant. All taluqdars now hold by grant, owing to the resumpti* of all titles after the Mutiny, and the restoration of estate by specific sanads in March 185 8 4 . § 3. — Nature of the estate. Next as regards the nature of the proprietorship or e:mt of the connection which the landlord actually held with .ch village; this varied considerably, according to circumstances. By the time the taluqdars were established as an institution,h revenue was paid in money; in many cases, the collection o be lump sum was arranged for by employing a lessee who engagi to make good the necessary amount, together with so much mori’or tho taluqdar himself. Then the taluqdar had little else to dent sit at home and receive the rental or amount of the “ tkeka/ ; ml pay iu such part of it as was fixed (by custom or his gran to the Government treasury. His virtual connection vfith the vi go was then but slight. Still in many cases he maintained a connection in other vys, For one, if he was the old Raja of the pargana, he may have retried 3 Bharaich Settlement Report, page 88. In the Alcona estate the tali an had been acquired seventeen generations ago by a “ Risaldar,” and for ven generations afterwards this military title was kept up by the descendants. It ] sc' away, therefore, some 200 years ago. 4 Digest, V, section 15. LAND TENDRlSS OF UPFEll INDIA. 387 inch of his ancient privilege of management; he administered jitice, decided disputes, and, in short, was very much what he had btn in old days, only that now the State revenue went to Lucknow al he had the collection of it, and probably got a good deal besides t; fixed sum he was bound to remit to the treasury. Then, again, uder the Native rule, he had the disposal of the waste 5 ,—at any rate ii all villages in which a zammdari community had not grown up, I the course of his revenue management, he had to look out for t; efficient cultivation of his lands, and no one doubted his ability ( s “ right"), if he was strong'enough, to put in this man and t - n out that, in any village-holding he pleased. It naturally fdows that the closer the connection of the taluqdar, the weaker nuld be the surviving position of the village-owners; whereas tho Is he interfered, the more complete the independence of the land- Llders would remain. “ It is well known®, ” says the author of the Oudh Settlement 1 gest, “ that the rights of the inferior proprietors ” ( i.e ., the villages ctnprising the taluqa) a will be found in different degrees of vitality. I some the taluqdar has succeeded in obliterating every vestige cj independent right and making the former proprietors forget it tp. In others .... he has reduced them to the con- tfcion of mere cultivators. In some cases, though he had origin- ;jy brought the village under his sway by force or trickery, the t.uqdar has permitted the representatives of the old proprietary My to arrange for the cultivation, receive a share of the profits, ad enjoy manorial rights. In some, again, he has left them m to fullest exercise of their proprietary rights, paying only through Im (but^ii; a higher rate to cover his risk and trouble) what they uuld otherwise have paid direct to the State. These (latter) are yat are called deposit villages, the owners of which voluntarily Diced themselves under the taluqdar to escape the tyranny •; the Nazims” (Government revenue officers). 5 Khnraich Settlement Report, page 88. * Quoted from section V, § 12, page 03. 388 LAND REVENUE AND LAND * TENURES OF INDIA. It must be remembered that, under the Native Governme the effect of the placing of a village in a taluqa, was to strike it f the revenue-rolls of the Government. The list only took accod of taluqas, and of such villages as remained unattached to taluqs § 4.— Local extent of taluqa estates . As to the local extent of the estates in old times, as alreif remarked, it was uncertain : it consisted of as many villages; the chief originally owned, or had conquered and could keep, • on the . number of deposit villages* which gathered under the p. tection of a local magnate. The extent of taluqa estates is now legally set at rest by l ; I of 1869. The “ estate ” means the property acquired or h ! in the manner mentioned in section 3, 4, or 5 of the Act, or co veyed by special grant of the British Government. Section 3 includes in the estate all villages which were sett, after 1st April 1858 with the taluqdar, and for which a taluqd sanad was granted, and which were included in his kabuliyat, . were decreed to him (even if not so included) by order of Cou Section 4 covers the case of those loyal taluqdars (mentioned in t 2nd Schedule) whose estates were not confiscated; the kabuliy which they executed after 1st April 1858 shows the extent of th estate. Section 5 covers the case of any special grantee. At settlement, also, a formal decree was recorded for every villa; declaring that it was, or was not, part of such and such a taluqd: estate 8 . The taluqdari estates are not always large, though they ger rally are so. Some question was consequently raised as to wheth the smaller estates were to be called taluqdari at all. This questi was decided iu the affirmative, provided that their real nature w taluqdari 9 . 7 Administration Report, 1872-73, General Summary. 8 Digest, section IV, §§ 24 and 29. 9 Circular 19 of 1861, § 3. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 389 § 5.— Other land tenures in Ondh. There are some small estates where there was a superior holder OTr the others (the result of au overriding of older rights), but u on a tenure analogous to the great chiefships. Here the estate w; generally reduced to a single tenure estate (as we have seen W3 the practice in the North-Western Provinces), the superior bmg bought off with a cash allowance, and the settlement being rrde with the inferior 10 . There were also some villages in Oudh which did not come under :1 sway of the great taluqdars at all, and I may dispose of them lie. These remained as ordinary village estates, the settlement jiug with the actual proprietor. § 6.— Sub-proprietors : flj those entitled to a sub-settlement. The rights of the sub-proprietors or original holders under the zuqdar, were determined and provided for at settlement according bffules promulgated in 1866 and made law by ActXXYI of 1866 h As this has all been done long ago, it is now of no importance ;ithe student to go into details as to the dates aud periods of i vitation. which were fixed. I shall merely state in outline the > nciples followed. The subordinate rights come under one or other of three eate¬ ries— (1) Sub-proprietor entitled to a sub-settlement. (2) Sub-proprietor not entitled to a sub-settlement. (3) Rights merely provided for under the head of tenant- right. As to the rights of first order entitling to a sub-settlement, the : imant was required to show, first, that he was really proprietor > ;r the whole of his claim 8 ; and, secondly, that his proprietary w Digest, section V, § 17. 1 Culled tlie Oudh Sub-Settlement Act, I860. 2 This would not be vitiated by the arbitrary seizure and alienation of a part of land in favour of some person whom the taluqdar desired to favour : the state of 1 case, as a whole, would be looked to. (Digest, V, § 12, Ac.) 3 9 () I.AND 15.11 VENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. right was recognised “ pakka,” as it was called, by the continuo enjoyment of a lease given by the taluqdar. What is meant I “ continuous ” was defined with reference to certain fixed dat which it is not now necessary to go into. The lease must have be' connected with, and given in consequence of, the proprietary rigl not as a “ farm 11 to a mere tax-gatherer to realise certain revenue The right to sub-settlement might again be affected by ti amount of profit which would remain to the claimant after payiv the taluqdar his dues. If by the terms of the contract, the sub-pr prietor got so little that, after paying the taluqdar, he had not nur than 12 per cent, on the gross rental of the village, no sub-setti ment would be made, and the sub-proprietor would then renia only in the second order of right. If the profits originally cl not come up to 12 per cent., the under-proprietor retained b sir laud, and if the profits of this were not equal to 10 per cen of the gross rental of the estate, more land was assigned to hi as “ sir ” so as to make up the profits to the minimum 10 per cent A sub-proprietor who was entitled to sub-settlement, becau: his profits came up to a minimum of 12 per cent., would be ent tied also to have the rent payable by him under his sub-settlemei fixed at such an amount as would bring his profit up to 25 per cent, in short, any one entitled to a sub-settlement at all , must get proji eoual to 25 per cent, on the gross rental. § 7.— Sub-proprietors : (2) those not entitled to sub-settlement. We now come to the second order, sub-proprietors who ba retained no general right over the whole of their origiual holding: having no lease which recognised such right. These would usuallj however, have maintained their right to some plots of land whic would happen in several ways. The commonest was that the plot represented the “sir ” or land which the sub-proprietor had alway held as his own by inheritance, and for which he is paid eithc nothing or a low rent. “ Sir ” or nankar 3 laud was in all case :i Iu Oudli these terms are generally synonymous. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 391 th laud which was left to the man when he was ousted from huoriginal position 4 . Then, also, the taluqdar would make grants called “ birf° ” of -h sub-proprietary right in certain lands. The birt was evidenced iyi deed “ birt-patr.” It was often given for clearing or im-* inviug lands that had fallen out of cultivation 6 '. The grantee niht dig tanks, plant groves, and locate cultivators, aud take ’e:ain dues from them. The grant was usually made for a ;o uderation : in a few instances, however, “ raiyati-birt,” grants n:!e by favour, not paid for, are found. It might be that the r rt ” was created before the village came into the taluqdar’s lads; these were recoguised equally with those granted by the a qdar 7 . The benefits which the grantee was allowed to get it more than 10 per cent, of the gross rental of the estate, rights in sir and nankar lands, birts, mu’afis and other gran, and rights in groves, are recorded and secured at settlement, t uo sub-settlement is made. § 9 .—Rights secured as “ tenant-right.” Where the occupant has not retained sub-proprietary rigl, either with or without a sub-settlement, he is only recognised? a tenant. If he could show that he was once proprietor, i.e., within thk years before February 13tli, 1856 (the date of annexation), i might, however, be entitled to occupancy rights, and his tenan would be heritable, though not transferable. He could claim i 8 Volume I, Introduction, page 6. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 393 u’i;ten lease or ff patta '' specifying his terms, and his rent could om be enhanced on conditions laid down in the Rent Act (XIX o£L 868). The Oudh law recognises no arbitrary or legal right of oc ipancy by mere lapse of twelve years or any other period; the At X of 1859 has never been in force. It will thus be seen, as the result of these protective provisions to under-proprietors and tenants, that taluqdars may possess almost any degree of right in their villages, i.e., their declared proprietary position may vary from a mere honorific title to full oviership, according as the villages under them have or have not re ,ined their original status. In some villages the under-proprietors may be all entitled to a st -settlement; in others, they may have preserved partial rights w|ich make them only sub-proprietors without such sub settle- mat; in others, they may have sunk to the position of tenants w h a right of occupancy; in others, they may have lost all vetige of right and become mere tenants-at-will. § 10 .—The profits of the taluqdar. In the same way, the profits, or portion of the rental which tb taluqd&r takes, will vary. In a simple proprietary estate, the gieral theory is that about one-half the estimated rental goes to Gvernment and the other half to the proprietor; so that in the dence of other coincident interests in the land, the proprietor's p >fit is at any rate equal to the Government jama'. But in a taluqdari estate, owing to the existence of varying Ijrees of coincident or inferior interest in the estate, the taluqdar p prietor cannot get this amount 9 . He can only have the half petal (together with such assets as Government does not claim i< share), subject to such deductions as represent the rights of ^proprietors and others. For instance, iu an estate where all village owners are entitled to a sub-settlement,—here, as no rson with a sub-settlement can get less than 25 per cent, of the 9 Circular 2 of 1861. ■ 394 . LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OK INDIA. gross rental, there would only remain about 25 per cent, for ue taluqdar. If the sub-proprietors (with sub-settlements) 're entitled to considerably more than 25 per cent., the talmav might have merely a nominal profit, were it not for the le that in no case can the amount payable by the under-propriov be less than the amount of the Government revised demand vh the addition of 10 per cent.: that is, the taluqdar’s profit on 10 estate must be at least 10 per cent, on the Government demai 10 (because the rest—the Government demand which he receives)! the under-proprietor—he has to pass on to the treasury). When speahing above of the different extent of the est :s which different taluqdars had acquired, I alluded only to the \ cumstances which made their holding consist of a greater or ;s number of villages or extent of land. But now we further e that, even in two estates nearly equal in extent, the amount of e taluqdar’s pecuniary interest may be very different. The me the taluqdar had obliterated the old proprietary rights ia e village, the more owners he reduced to the status of tenants, e larger his profits were. But originally, in Oudh the taluqi' paid much less to the State than the Bengal zammidar did. Ir in Oudb, when he got in his rents from the villages, he often ou paid in one-third, and in some cases not one-fifth or one-fceuthf the whole to the State treasury; whereas the amount of the Bern! zamindar’s payment to the State represented nine-tenths of b rental of his villages. The zammdar, however, made Jus profit < increasing the cultivation of waste (often a very large area) r; included in the assessed area, and by levying cesses 1 , whichi course did not appear in the accounts as part of his collections. Now, of course, the taluqdars being actually proprietors of ti estates, and not State grantees or contractors for the reveni, the Government never (save as a favour in exceptional case takes less than the 50 per cent, of the “ net assets ” which it levi: 50 See Act XXVI of 1866, Schedule, Rule VII, clause 3. 1 See Financial Commissioner, Pnnjab’s letter to Chief Commissioner, Oui, 19th June 1865, alluding to Sleeman, Volume II, page 209. LAND TENURES OK UPPER INDIA. 395 i a North Indian Provinces on all proprietors. Hence in theory ie iluqdars get relatively less than they did formerly in the way Etual percentage of the revenue. On the other hand, owing > t; increased value of the land, and the consequent great in- •ea; in the absolute amount of the revenue, their profits are te (absolutely) much larger. Section III.— Panjab Tenures. § 1 .— Points of resemblance to the N.-W. Provinces. lie Panjab is also a land of village communities. I therefore :o'T the Panjab. In a province which has a Pathan frontier and a intier of Biloch tribes, which includes also the Himalayan States, ]• Panjab proper and a bit of Hiudustdn, it will naturally be mected to find many differences of tenure. § 4 .—Present condition of the villages. The joint villages now form the leading feature, and therefore I nist first offer some remarks on them 5 . “The great mass of the landed property in the Panjab is held by small piprietors, who cultivate their own land in whole or in part. The chief ijtracteristic of the tenure generally is, that these proprietors are associated j 4 The account of the village communities which follows was written by Mr, 1[G. Barkley, and appearod in the Paujab Administration Report for 1872-73, 4-00 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. together in village communities, having, to a greater or less extent, joint inte h. and, under our system of cash payments, limited so as to secure a certain 0 fif. to the proprietors, jointly responsible for the payment of the revenue as: sej upon the village lands. It is almost an invariable incident of the tenure hat if any of the proprietors wishes to sell his rights, or is obliged to part ith them in order to satisfy demands upon him, the other members of the me community have a preferential right to purchase them at the same price as hd be obtained from outsiders. “ In some cases all the proprietors have an undivided interest i all the land belonging to the proprietary community,—in other words, al he laud is in common, and whaf the proprietors themselves cultivate is he by them as tenants of the community. Their rights are regulated by their # s es in the estate, both as regards the extent of the holdings they are entitl to cultivate and as regards the distribution of profits ; and if the profits from id held by non-proprietary cultivators are not sufficient to pay the revenui id other charges, the balance would ordinarily be collected from the propri ts according to the same shares, “ It is, however, much more common for the proprietors to have their n separate holdings in the estate, and this separation may extend so far that t 'e is no land susceptible of separate appropriation which is not the separate > perty of an individual or family. In an extreme case like this, the rigl if pre-emption and the joint responsibility for the revenue in case any of 9 individual proprietors should fail to meet the demand upon him are ah t the only ties which bind the community together. The separation, howc generally does not go so far. Often all the cultivated land is held u separate ownership, while the pasture, ponds or tanks, &c., remain in cornu i in other cases, the land cultivated by tenants is the common property of e community, and it frequently happens that the village contains several 1 known sub-divisions, each with its own separate land, the whole of which u be held in common by the proprietors of the sub-division, or the whole 1 < be held in severalty, or part in separate ownership and part in common. “In those communities with partial or entire separation of propriet r title, the measure of the rights and liabilities of the proprietors varies v • much. It sometimes depends solely upon original acquisition and the operati of the laws of inheritance; in other cases, definite shares in the land oi. village or sub-division, different from those which would result from the 1 of inheritance,have been established by custom; mother cases,referenceis ma, not to shares in the land, but to shares in a well or other source of irrigatio and there are many cases in which no specified shares are acknowledged, 1- the area in the separate possession of each proprietor is the sole measure of interest. It is sometimes the case, however, that while the separate koldin do not correspond with any recognised shares, such shares will be regard in dividing the profits of common land, or in the partition of such land; a wells arc generally held according to shares, even where the title to the la depends exclusively on undisturbed possession.” LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 401 peaking 1 of the village communities generally, 3,295 are joint or anudan estates, 3,652 are pattidari, divided in ancestral or modi- edmeestral shares, 9,542 are bhaiachara, or held in lots, having no ffiion to a system of shares, while the large number of Yf 215_ soiething less than one-half of the whole) are held partly in. walty and partly in common; that is, in official language, they are itir imperfect pattidari or imperfect bhaiachara. In them, as a if the holders of severalty manage and take the entire proceeds of m oldings; the revenue and other expenses are met by the proceeds t‘ ,e land held in common; if these proceeds are insufficient, the sfit is made up, according to the nature of the estate, by shares Responding to the shares in the severalty, or by a rate on the clings. § 5 .—Measures for the preservation of the communities. Before I proceed to describe a number of districts where le tribal origin is very distiuct, I must mention that in the aiab much greater stress is laid on the preservation of the llge bodies than elsewhere. Perfect partition is a process by h h not only are the holdings separated, but the joint respou- bjity is severed, so that the perfectly partitioned lands form new u! separately responsible “ mahals.” This process is (unlike the uth-West Provinces) not allowed as a rule, it can be arranged at settlement, if the Settlement Officer thiulcs i cessary; but at other times only under exceptional eircum- ,aces. Moreover, a very strong right of pre-emption is recog- id, and especially legalised by the Pan jab Laws Act IV of Si® (as amended by Act XII of 1878). ; This, of course, tends to hold the body together, since, if a member of the body It the others have a right of refusal, before an outsider can get in. (The order, as stated in Act XII of 1878, is that the right of pre-emption (1st) digs to co-sharers in an undivided estate, in order of near relationship; (2nd) in 11 ;es held ou ancestral shares, to co-sharers in the village, also in the order of h onship to the vendor; (3rd) if no relation claim, to the laudowners of the U ; (4th) to any individual landholder in the patti; (5th) to any landholder in n illago ; (6th) to occupancy tenautsou the property j and (lastly) to tenants with. 2 B 402 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE’ INDIA. We shall see also presently that not only was the joint re on. sibility of the villages theoretically preserved as much as poible, but it has been created artificially in Kaugra, Dera Ghazi 1 an, and elsewhere, where the joint-village system did not originally .ist, § 6 .—Nature of Tribal Settlements ;—how far joint. It is easy to imagine a tribe coming into a district suitat to cultivation for the most part, and either finding it unoccupi. or else driving out the inhabitants; they would at once proceed to lot the whole area, first into “ilaqas ” or major divisions for the ibe or clan, then into smaller allotments, the ultimate or third it. division of which again was into unit-holdings for iudividua or single families. The “ ilaqa ” is looked upon as the common property o lie tribe, in the sense that any lot-holder has to give up and ke another at the bidding of the tribal authority or the establi el custom. How far is was joint, beyond this subjection to a com on authority and the necessary union for defence and for society,: is difficult to say. I hear, for example, of a great area in one district held a tribe in 36,000 shares; but does that mean that the whole prods of cultivation were thrown into a common stock, and after payg the common expenses the profits were divided? Probably it; but however this may be, and whatever may have been the le form of the management of these tribal allotments of land, the t- come of it has been (and it is this the students of this Manual re concerned with) that a number of really joint and ancestrally u. nected village-estates are the modern representatives or survivabf the system. occupancy right in the village. In all cases it belongs to Government if it is id occupied hy trees which are Government property. It will he* observed thnin some cases where relations and pattidars refuse, any landholder has the ri t; this gives great opening to money-lenders and others to increase their lands, ‘rc having got a plot, they eagerly exercise their right of pre-emption on all coi?< uous lands, and it is not difficult to secure it if the prior claimants are poor, onn be persuaded not to assert their claim. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 403 § 7 .—Principal tribes. The tribal settlements which I have been describing seem to a's been governed by “ jirgas” or councils of elders, not by Rajas, !h fs, or Princes. fhe tribes that most prominently appear in evidence are (1) the i :s on the frontier, and (2) the great Jat and Rajput tribes of the ’a ab proper. Iu the Rohtak district and in Jalandhar, for ssnple, completely joint villages, •thoroughly understanding a >it responsibility, are abundant, and they are chiefly “ Hindu Jats. ,J Troughout the Delhi territory and the Panjab proper up to the mis,” writes Mr. Tupper, “ the Jats are spread in great numbers [lover the country. At the last census they reached the total f 2,187,490, being chiefly Hindus and Sikhs towards the east, and Inammadanswestwards. They are agriculturists; their organi¬ sm by clans is notorious, and they are habitually grouped t illage communities. Wherever Jats are to be found, their :iil influences and kinship are still at work 7 .” [t should be remembered that it was where the Rajputs settled s people they exhibited all the features of land allotment and ihge divisions which I have been describing. It was where they ajied a footing, not as a tribe, but as a conquering army only, and s uruishiug rulers to a conquered country, that they established li peculiar quasi-feudal organisation which we associate with their aie. How far the Rajputs ever established kingdoms in this k■ iu the Panjab, it is now difficult to say. They did so, we know, l he hills, and they seem to have done so in other parts, at a a; much subsequent to the tribal settlements. In the Gujrat district we find the “ Chibs”—a Rajput tribe r anally holding the country iu petty chiefships. Under Ranjft ligh, the chiefs lost their power, and only held such villages as / people, that we are able to trace their early history. In the midst f them may be found villages of modern origin, which are held - groups of descendants from some revenue farmer, some Sikh grant or some powerful chief who had conquered an area of corny (at a date subsequent to the formation of the tribal settlement), a [ > whose rule has now left no mark but the proprietary right certain villages owned by his descendants. Whether the bhaiachara villages in the districts nearer Ilinc stan may not be relics of the older Aryan-Hindu races, such as form kingdoms in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, I ami. i able to say. But it may well be that some districts have a histc such as I have traced for those provinces where the villages are .the first instance “ non-united/* but zammdari rights grow up the midst of them. In the districts of the south-east Panjab, however, there s d villages which have an origin traceable to quite recent grants ai dj settlements of waste land. In Sil’sa joint villages are very common, but, as might expected, they are of recent origin. The country had been deva tated by wars and originally was not favourably situated as regar rainfall, so that, when it was re-peopled ou the restoration of st tied government, it was so mostly by grantees whose families course became joint-owners. But it is here noteworthy that wh< more than one man started a village, if they were related, the shares were not what they would have been on the purely ancestr scheme, hut all the founders took equal shares. In this distri also these joint estates show the usual and natural tendency break up and to go by possession, not by shares 10 . It is curious to observe that in part of Dera Ismail Kha called the Makkalwad, villages arose out of joint associatioi 1 10 See Mr. J. Wilson’s letter quoted by Mr. Tupper (Vol. II, page 42). LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 411 t cultivate; two or three leading 1 men would get a grant and invite aiumber of persons to join them. The cultivation was carried on t means of irrigation from streams, for which purpose the fi.cjs have to he banked round. But here, though the term “ala malik ” is applied, the original holders claimed no superior pprietary right or rent charge from the others. The headmauship ad its privileges went in their families, but otherwise the other sutlers got a share in the land on precisely the same footing, and te land being now often divided into shares the estate is called ‘ lattidan,'” In some cases the shares fixed (on the basis of the i.mber of “joras” or pairs of oxen brought to the settlement) lve become altered by circumstances, and the village is called lafachara. In some cases the smaller villages are held by the cseeudants of one man, and then there is a joint holding. I must also mention the Firozpur district as another case in ’lick villages arose without any tribal settlement, and as the isult of grantees bringing waste under cultivation. In this district (which is a great grain-producing one) it was iund at settlement (1855) that many villages of Jats could ! traced to an origin not more than sixty or seventy years "evious, and that the institution was due to a certain number of en getting a grant from the “ Kardar ” (Sikh revenue official) • found a new village iu the waste. Having reached their location, id decided on a site for the village, the land was at once ivided by lots into major shares or “ tarafs,” then into ■“ pattis,” le pattis into “ laris ,’’ and then, according to the number of loughs, bought by the individual members of the company x . The ressure of Sikh taxation and other accidents caused these shares 1 many cases to be lost, and actual holdings to_supersede and e maintained. It appears to have been chiefly where land was aluable and there were distinct groups among the settlers that 1 Here it will bo observed that we have an initial division which probably artly followed ancestral connection; the settlers would naturally form groups, which ,iay have been connected by relationship; such relations would naturally con - regate in a patti and might or might not hold it jointly. 412 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. the formal partition took place. In other cases, the settler sinly took and cultivated the plot which came to hand and kept win he could. These villages have come under the official classificatio of pattidarf and bhafachara like any others. Before leaving this district, I cauuot help stating the disl ct 1 instance it affords, in other parts, of tribes settling and gi ig rise to joint communities. Parts of the district are held by Do:as (near the river) and the Naipals,. occupying the ilaqa of Mam and part of Fatihgarh. The Dogras seem to have curtad the area of the Naipals. Both are tribes of Rajput descent. It would seem that neither tribe divided the land into shares, it held it, the report says, “in common.” I cannot ascertain whehr iu this case they actually held and cultivated the land themse'ns after having driven out the previous occupants 2 , or whether t y merely subdued them, leaving them iu occupation of the laud : I treating them as tenants; iu that case the tribesmen wol naturally settle as proprietors over the different village groups d jointly take the payments exacted from the tenants, and dividet without any necessity for allotting land shares. If this was 3 case, it closely resembled the effect that the incursions of Sii misls or fighting companies (for they were not true clans) had 1 the villages in Ambala, though there the Sikhs did not becoa ^ joint proprietors of the land, but joint over-lords, receiving a pa' a ment from the original village body or group, as I shall desbrh further on. In the GrUl’g'aon district there were very few villages wbi could be traced to a .remote past; the majority were rece villages, granted to individuals whose families and desceudau formed the joint communities of the “zamindari” type 3 , and wil them came inferior castes, and perhaps some men of the founder caste, and these received either a share iu the village, or becan 2 Settlement Report quoted in Tupper’s Vol. Ill, page 40. 3 See Mr. Wilson’s letter in Tupper’s Vol. II, page 42. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 413 prjileged tenants, as the case might be. There is now a very ai-it tendency in the villages to become separate. In some cases the villages were formed by voluntary associa¬ tes of men of different caste. • • § 11 .—Creation of joint responsibility to Government. It may, perhaps, surprise the student who has' seen in how may different ways what are now regarded as joint villages grew up that it was possible to make the people accept the principle of oint responsibility for the Government revenue, where there tv; no original bond of common ownership between them. It m/ be replied, in the first place, that the grant of a common lot ofvaste surrounding the group of holdings as in Kangra may lire had a powerful influence in reconciling them to it: but pro- brly more than this, the assessment is, as a rule, easily paid, at the joint responsibility is rarely enforced ; hence it becomes a ve/ shadowy thing and does not appear formidable, even if it is throughly understood when first introduced 4 . The Administration Report of 1872-73 makes the following remarks on this snject (page 13):— ‘In the Simla Hills and in the more mountainous portions of the Kangra di Act, the present village communities consist of numerous small hamlets, each wii its own group of fields and separate lauds, and which had no bond of union ni l they were united for administrative purposes at the time of the Land Revenue St loment. In the Multan Division, again, while regular village communities w ■ frequently found in the fertile lands fringing the rivers, all traces of these di ppeared where the cultivation was dependent on scattered wells beyond the imence of the river. Here the well was the true unit of property; but where tl proprietors of several wells lived together for mutual protection, or their wells we sufficiently near to be conveniently included within one village boundary, the oprtunity was taken to group them into village communities. The same course hi been followed in some parts of the Deraj at Division, where small separate p >erties readily admitting of union were found. These arrangements were nr le possible by the circumstance that the village community system admits of ai amount of separation, i.e., as (among themselves) of the property of the ii vidual proprietors, and by care being taken that in the internal distribution o he revenue demand it should be duly adjusted with reference to the resources o the separate holdings. They also, in general, involved the making over in jut ownership to the proprietors of the separate holdings of waste land situate "Thin the new boundary in which no private property had previously existed.” 414 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 12.— Villages under Rajput Rulers in the Hills. I have already remarked that there are districts which didot originally show any village communities. The Kangra distil i s one: at the time of annexation (1846) it was a Rajput She. The Raj* was the head of the society, and he was content with grain-share, his cesses, and his taxes, and with the right to the w: L The circumstances of hill cultivation do not favour the aggregam of dwellings into large village sites, so that in Kangra we he small scattered hamlets, as the ground permits the formationf I terraced or level fields on the hill-side. Kangra was one of a group of States. I have already remar J on the frequency with which the old Hindu States, which were n the most part small, grouped themselves in feudal subordination o a great Raja, and this is really, on a larger scale, the Raj t tenure we find in Ajmer, where the head of the “federation,” I may so call it, has his klialsa or royal demesne, and the chi s estates are the counterpart of the smaller Raj’s subordinate to s Adhiraj. The Kangra group included Chamba, Sfba, Detarp ) Guler, Suket 5 , Mandi, and Kulu, which still exist. The Jamulj ij (under the Maharaja of Jarnu and independent) formed another ce ■' siderable group. Mr. Barnes remarks that in Kangra he cerns the primitive form of property in Hindustan.” The eh J racteristics of this are, I have no occasion perhaps to repeat, |j .1 that the society recognises a chief to whom it pays a share i the grain, who takes toll and tax, who has a right to deal wn»jl the waste, subject to the practical rights of user of the landholder . (2) that the landholding right arises in the original clearer of fi i land for cultivation and his descendants, the right in that heiug : that is claimed, and it is called warisf (as in Kangra) or wiras; of miras, &c. The theory is, that an ousted proprietor can refill after ever so long, and though our Courts necessarily bring a law ' limitation to bear on such claims, still the people recoguise t. right uncontentiously in many cases 6 . 5 Strange to say, this state has now a Brahman ruler. 6 See Barnes’ Settlement Report, § 32. I.ANO TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 415 Aud in Kangra the right was never sold out-and-out (just as wobserve in Malabar and Kanara). The bolder of each plot of land regards bis bolding as bis on inheritance, but has neither joint responsibility for revenue wii bis neighbour, nor claims anything but a right ofiigettiug gning and firewood from the waste. It was only at our set- tlaent that, following the North-West system, the waste was di ributed 7 among the villagers as their property, subject to the G.'ernment right to the trees. The villagers were then told they wee jointly responsible, and thus.a “ bhafachara ” community was arficially created. It is true that in Nurpur tabsil of this district 8 aud in the tract caed Shabpur Kandi (later transferred to the Gurdaspur district) tb:e were villages of a larger kind, and claiming a right over an er re area 9 ; these were due to foundation by a powerful individual ar the joint succession which extended the proprietary right into a jo t ownership over the whole area : this in time split up into ju'iddn, and may pass into the bhaiachara form of holding. It is curious to remark that where the tribes were pastoral, not ajicultural as Ghjars and “ Gaddis/-’ they took plots of land, n> for agriculture, but for grazing, and subject to a toll to the fi a, which was no doubt the equivalent of the agriculturist’s g in-share. They regarded the grazing grounds as their “ warisi ” ab 10 . § 13.— The Simla Hill States. In the Simla States and Chamba, still held by their own Rajput Ijas, the customs of landholding are just the same. Members of The hill-sides were allotted, says Mr. Barnes (with delightful naivete), by the :<.iguous villages with the greatest unanimity.—Barnes’ Report, § 296. See Lyall’s Riort, § 27. * i 1 See Barnes, § 133. In these villages the superior class who formed the pro- p 'tary body paid the Raja’s grain share, but took the taxes and tolls icitTiin their 1 1 from the inferiors ; in some cases (as the Indaura taluqa) this developed natu- ri:y into a regular landlord-village, jointly owned by the predominant family. 9 See Roe’s Settlement Report of Shahpur Kandi, 1873, para. 60, page 19. • 10 Barnes, § 129. 41G LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the ruling' family are provided for by grants of tbe revenue of a t- lage or two, and tbe “ birt,” which we found so clearly characteri e •of the old form of Raj, was everywhere known : but in these St::s chiefly, if not solely, in the form of grants for religious or ch i. table obj^ts. “ Jiwan birts,”or grants of land to members of e Raja's family, are not known h In these States, transfer of a win fc holding still requires the sanction of the Raja, though thiss perhaps more connected with the custom of levying a tax or e (nazaraua) on succession, than connected with a superior right 1 the soil residing in the Raja. There were also none of the “ zammdan birfcs ” known in Oiv, nor was there any division of the Raja’s rights in the lauds, on ;j occasion of a demise. Thus there is no opportunity for a powerful man or his fanr to acquire the Kaj rights in his estate, and so originate joint p:. prietary villages. The Raj in these countries has always descend* n entirely by primogeniture, and it is theoretically indivisible. II, did split up to a certain extent, it was only into a'series of smal Raj’s, each also indivisible. But the succession to all property, not being the Raj rights, joint, though there are traces of primogeniture, in the fact tb (as in Kaugra) the eldest son gets some addition to his slia i (jetansi), even though it be only a cow or some article of proper! Naturally, Rajput settlers, not of the royal race, might found cor munities, and would do so in States like Kangra, if it were n that they are fewer in number, are not rich enough to acqui large landholdings, and the families are apt to disperse aud set other means of livelihood than agriculture. The local difficult too, of obtaining land for cultivation compels families to separa and settle apart wherever they can find lands to clear and occup; even if they desire to remain in their native State and live fc farming. 1 I am indebted to Major Nisbet, Superintendent of Hill States, for informatic regarding tbe Simla Hills Raj. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 417 The student will not fail to note from the examples afforded bj-lie Himalayan States, as well as by Ajmer, bow different an Divr of things results when merely a Rajput Chief with his army ■oiuers a country and obtains the chiefship of it, to what happens iv ln as in so many districts the Rajputs settled as a people § J4 .—Some special tenures in the Panjab. In Multan there are some curious tenures to be noted. Along h rivers, Jat cultivators formed communities, some apparently oit 2 . Away from the livers, cultivation could only be undertaken ywoviding permanent means of irrigating the waste. The waste an was unowned, and was consequently claimed by the ruling >o er in later times, and we see some curious tenures arising from boccupation of land connected with the construction of canals or ii;ing wells. Away from the rivers,” writes Mr. Roe, “the villages are generally aOly a collection of wells which have been sunk in the neighbourhood of a ail, or in the more favourable spots in the high lands. In these there never aoeen any community of interest: in very many cases there is not even a o mon village site; each settler has obtained bis grant direct from the State, in sunk his well and erected his homestead on it. Under our settlements the n e land between those wells has been recorded as a matter of course— s imilat.deh ’ (common property of the village), but originally the well-owners la no claim to it whatever. ‘But whilst this is the origin of many or most of the villages, there were t r tracts where a particular tribe or family was undoubtedly recoguised as icling a zanundari or proprietary right over all the lands, cultivated or un- uivated, which we call a mauza or village.” But under the rule of the Sikhs, the State did not much respect 1 rights of the proprietary body, and when there was culturable r;te in the village, it gave direct grants to settlers just as it would n lauds over which no zanundari claims existed. Such a new f ler, however, could have been much annoyed by the proprietors, l he secured his position by paying a sort of rent—a half-seer in 1 maund of produce—known as haq-zamindari; he also paid an i tnllation fee (“jhuri” or “ siropa”). 3 Tupper, Vol. 11, page 25; and Roe’s Settlement Report, § Off 2 C 418 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ Sometimes,” continues Mr. Roe, “ the agreement was that the zam ar should be proprietor of half the well sunk, the sinker being proprietor o: he other half, and having a permanent right of occupancy as tenant of the n n . dar’s half. This custom is known as ‘ adhlapi,’ and it prevails chiefly i be south-west corner of the district.” Mr. Roe also mentions a custom in the south-east, where ie well-sinker digs the well entirely on behalf of the zammdars, id becomes entitled to nothing but a portion of the gross product is long as the well remains in use. This is the “ kasdr-sil-ckah, id the recipient is called “ kasur-khwar 8 .” The person who sinks the well is called “chakdar i /’ and this (53 form the “ adna-maliks,” or inferior owners, under the zamin ii family or “’’ala maliks.” It is noteworthy that in cases where ie sharers in the zamindarf right were numerous and occvnd the whole land, so that no outside settlers came in, they ;o paid a half-seer, just like the liaq-zammdarf, only that it s called half “ haq-muqaddami ” and went to the headman. It s only when the body of outsiders who paid were sufficiently numer s to afford a fair income to the headman, that he would cease to col k any haq from members of his own tribe. In time the rent colled from the outsiders ceased to go to one headman and was divid among the whole family. § 15.— Jdgrr and Mu’afi Tenures. We have now reviewed the Pan jab village tenures and a if other customs which arise in connection with them. There si J 3 “ Or kasfir-kbor ”—the “ eater ” of the “ fractions ”—ai share in the grain-bn, The term is also applied in cases where the chakdar gives his land to tenants, leav; ' them to pay the revenue, and giving him only a balance or “ kasur.” 4 This term is applied either to settlers introduced hy the State or by : zammdars themselves : it is derived from “cliak”—the woodwork of the Pern wheel, by which the water is raised. There may he cases where the chakdars wero 1 called when no zamindarf right other than that of the State existed. It s formerly supposed (and so stated in the first Settlement Report, and followed f Mr. Barkley in his account of the tenures) that the zamindar could buy out the cbak r by repaying the cost of the well; aud this idea was perhaps encouraged by the it that the chakdar would employ tenants to cultivate his well lands, and this tenar ijjight be taken up by one of the old zammdars. It is now known that this view) mistaken; the chakdar is full proprietor, though subject to payment of a quit-rent LAND TENURES OE UPPER INDIA. 419 , e ain to be described certain tenures which are derived from the mt of the State, other than a mere lease or sale of a plot of uiccupied waste. In the grants here alluded to, there were already villages in pos- sedon of at least a part of the area, and the grantee obtained the not of collecting the revenue, and appropriating the whole or part aft for himself ; while at the same time he could increase his profits 3 mproving the estate and by locating tenants on untilled holdings. In some cases the grantee was proprietor of the land to begin ,vh, and then the grant amounted merely to .a remission of the Stte revenue on the land. The chief forms of such grants known in the Panjab are the a r and the “ mu'afi.' \ • The jagir was originally a grant of the revenues of a certain viage or number of villages, to be taken by the grantee in support if, fixed military contingent. The jagirdar need not be owner lithe lands, but he usually was of some, and had opportunities (; we observe in such grants all over India) for acquiring others. Shaking generally, this circumstance did not affect the jagirdar’s pfition to the same extent as in other provinces; and in the Pan- ja, as a rule, the jagirdar is not by any means looked on as the pro- p’itor of all the lands in his estate by virtue of his grant. He h; his own lands 5 , or perhaps whole villages of his own, but that isill; nor is he owner of the waste, unless he can show a title to it ike any other land. In the Cis-Sutlej States the jagirdar, so called, was often not a gmtee of any Government at all, but was simply a marauding chief 1 1 Sikh “misl,” a fighting body, not properly a clan at all, but having aortof feudal organisation, and a scheme of sharing and succeeding 5 When jagirs are hereditary, and not for life only (which they often are), Gov- ei inent has the right to fix the rule of descent (Act IV of 1872, section 8) ; a Gil Court cannot entertain a claim for right to a jagir unless the Government sj daily authorises some question to he so determined (Pension Act XXIII of 11). But this, it will he understood, refers to the assignment of the revenue— ip ter of favour in which the State as grantee is the sole judge : it does not refe r ■i rdinary proprietary claims in the land itself. 420 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. by inheritance to property acquired. These chiefs took possessi and claimed the whole area, of large tracts of country; tl/ called the cultivated land “sir 6 ’” and the waste “bh\” But as the so-called jagirdar had no actual occupation of 1 the land (except where he chose, or was able, to take actual p. session), be left the old village body in possession, claiming t. himself, as over-lord, all the rental except a chaharam or fou i share in the produce, which remained to the villages. Under our settlement arrangements the jagirdar now recei \ the revenue, the original landholding communities or individuj being settled with and retaining full proprietary rights. Hei fact is a mere assignee of the revenue, taking what otkerwi would go to the State. Among these “ jagirdars ” there is a regular custom of shark the income of the estate. First, there was a share for the chief, a minor shades for the “pattidars” or “ horsemen.” These sha:i are inherited according to a special rule; no widow succet nor a descendant in female line, and a collateral can succeed or if the common ancestor was in possession at a fixed da (1808-9),—the date when the British Government took the pel chiefs under its protection. The greater chiefs, now called jagirda were originally in fact the sovereigns of petty states which tb conquered and held on the Rajput system. Sovereign powers we •' withdrawn in 1847, and the estates became jagirdari, and were he t on condition of loyalty and rendering of service when required, > the British Government. In most cases of these jagh* grants—t support of military force being now no longer necessary—Gover ment has imposed a “ commutation tax,” i.e., a certain cash rs! per acre, which is levied in lieu of service. § 16.— Mu’afi grants. By a f< mu’afi ” is properly meant a remission (by royal grar of the obligation of paying revenue on a fixed plot of land, a 0 Melvill’s Arnbala Settlement Report, § 61.« The jagirdar’s own land is a) called “ lana " in the Cis-Sutlej districts. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 421 tb was made often in favour of some religious person or institution, 01 or some good service. According to the original meaning, the ten implies that the holder of a plot of land is “ excused ” from pay- in the Government revenue ; and usually it would be the person’s oil land that is “ excused” from revenue payment, or a grant of lad at disposal of the State has been made “ re venue-free.” Bat in tl older days, when proprietary right was less thought of, the State nffioubt granted in ma’afi a village or plot of land which was abady in the occupation of some one else. Here the mu’afidar C( tented himself with leaving the original occupants in possession, b, he took “ batai”—a share in the produce—from them. The n’afi also had no condition of service attached to it. The terms L '‘igfr” and “ mu’afi ” have now come to be used very much as sionyms. This is owing to the fact that service is not now re- cpred as the condition of the grant. A “ mu’afi ” is, moreover, u:ally a small grant; the jagir grant was commonly held by psons of some family and consideration. At the present day^ h.vever, one hears the pettiest revenue-free holdings called" jagir.” In any case when a jagir or a mu’afi, which was for life only, l;ses, then if the grantee was the mere recipient of Government n enue, he or his heir has no further claim ; but this in practice is r;ely the case, for the grantee may be actual owner of some of the 1 : d, and may have improved the waste, and may have also reduced tb proprietors of the villages to being his tenants on some favourable bms. In this case the position to be assigned to the successors of tb grantee may be difficult to decide. And when such grants 1; se, special proposals are submitted to the Financial Commissioner s >wiug with whom the estate is to be settled and at what rates. In settling a resumed revenue assignment, the practice depends o whether we are dealing with an entire estate , or with revenue- f e plots inside an estate which pa} r s revenue. In the former case, a the estate was settled like any other, on lapse of the assignment a that happens is that the revenue is in future paid to Government. 1 hen a plot lapses, the assessment has to be considered and also vio is to be settled with, the ex-mu’afidar or the estate owner. 422 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In a few places, on the border of Hindustan, State grants ca. d istimrari-muqarrari are found 7 . They might or might not e proprietary grants. If not, they only gave' a right to receive e Government revenue, of which only the fixed sum specified in e grant had to be remitted to the treasury. § 17.— Taluqdari or superior rights over proprietary villages. Besides these cases of revenue assignment, other circumstan 5 may create a double tenure or iuterest in the land. The unsett 1 and precarious tenure of former Governments, and the disturban; and oppression which marked their era, constantly tended to set > one class of proprietors and throw down another. A revet); farmer might acquire a certain right, or villages may havep; themselves under the management of some wealthy or power!! person for the sake of his protection. Had the course of thin 1 gone on unaltered, these persons would have in time become pi; prietors, obliterating the original rights; but as it is, the grow of the superior has been arrested before it had reached the stage ’ completely absorbing the original rights in the village below hii At the present day, therefore, there are rights on both sides whi< demand recognition at settlement. The class of cases in which tb occurs in the Panjab are neither numerous nor important; f want of a better term the superior right is called taluqdari, and tl right of the original holder is still called biswadari, a term whi< properly implies simple proprietorship in the soil 8 . As in the North-West Provinces, the rule at settlement i wherever possible, to acknowledge the actual proprietors and alio the superior a fixed cash allowance or malikana. The law, howeve 7 In Karnal for example. See Barkley’s edition of Directions, § 133, page 51. 8 The “biswadar” is the actual soil-holder, the “ taluqdar” (or the “zumindar ”) the superior right-holder. In the Cis-Sutlej States, in the case of the Sikh jagirda described in the text, the practice is said to he reversed ; the conquerors call themselv “ biswadar ” and the soil-owners “ zamfudar ” (using the term in its literal sensi This is only because the conquering chiefs chose to assume the complete right iu tl laud, and so called their “ right ” the biswadari, deposing the real biswadars to beit mere “ landholders.” LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 423 ,v«s power to the Financial Commissioner,, as the chief controlling piority, to determine which party shall be settled with 9 . The cases in which questions of double tenure arise are often ose in which a mu’afi or a jdgir tenure exists, and when the revenue- ee right lapses, a settlement has to be made; it may be that the wndarn grantee or his family have actual proprietary rights in the tate, besides the fact of the revenue assignment; or it may be lat bis right was quasi-proprietary, aud it is for consideration hether he shall be admitted to engage, or the body under him. § 18.— Inferior proprietors. The superior and inferior interests which arise from the existence the revenue grants or some person with the “ taluqdari ” interest, escribed in the last two paragraphs, are concurrent over the entire state. But there may be many vestiges of former proprietary rights hich do not extend beyond particular plots of laud now in posses- on of the holders. In the Panjab, just as elsewhere, these have sen provided for according to the state and degree of survival, by icognition as inferior proprietors, or as tenants with privileges of mt-rate and fixed occupancy; and, naturally enough, it is not I ways easy to draw the line between the two. One of the commonest ways in which the “ adna-malik ” right, I it is often called in the Panjab, arises, is in the case of ersous who originally settled along with the proprietors, but who 'ere not of the same caste or clan, and were not admitted to the all proprietary position as members of the community 10 . Descendants of the female relatives of the original founders Iso got into a village on similar terms. There may be also “ proprietors of their holdings ” who are out- iders, but have got land by grant of Government (of abandoned or 9 See Barkley’s edition of Directions, § 128, and Revenue Act, section 34. 10 This kind of inferior right constantly arose in cases where one or more leaders ;arted under a grant to found a village, and required help in so doing. I n some ises, indeed, as in the Dera Ismail Khan district already noticed, the whole of the sttlers became equally proprietors, but in other districts the owners were adna- iftliks, as in the case of the settlers in Multan, 424 LAND REVENUE AND HAND TENURES OF INDIA. ownerless lands), or by purchase. In some cases tenants purcb> the proprietary right in their holdings. In some parts of the Rawalpindi division, certain classei' occupants of land have been declared sub-proprietors of th&la in their own possession, and settled with at fixed rates on a st of sub-settlement. In some cases the village community c require the sub-proprietor to join the community, taking 1 share in the liabilities, and becoming entitled to a corr&pon ing share in the profits 1 . In the Hazara district, the inferior pr prietor, or “ malik-kabza ” as he is called, is found just as in ti 1 Rawalpindi division. Major Wace 2 has devoted some iuterestii remarks to this institution. The malik-kabza of these pai pays no rent, beyond the revenue demand and cesses due on b holding : he isjiot a member of the coparcenary body o.f village pr prietors, and can claim no interest in the village common, except tl user of grazing, wood, and grass, to the extent of his personal want I must pass over the objections which were made to the allow ing of such a tenure. In truth, it is one which accords with fac and that is its complete vindication. Major Wace points out tha it is quite consistent with native history. Such rights, so limited were granted to faqirs and other religious persons. An old Sik mu’afidar often occupied the same position, since when one of th original warisan or proprietors recovered his village on the establish ment of British rule, after years of dispossession, it was only reason able to allow some privileges to those who, durisg all that long tern of years, had had the management of the village. It would be con trary to past prescription to require such persons to pay any reu on their holdings ; at the same time it would not be consistent with facts to admit the malik-kabza to all the privileges of th( actual proprietary body, who had many other rights and privileges as such, besides the receipt of rent. 1 Jhelum 1st Settlement Report, § 267 (2). 2 Settlement Report, 1868-74, Chap. V, 18 (p. 121). In Haz&ra the whole dis¬ trict contains 1,925 such sub-proprietors, cultivating 12,769 acres, about 3 per cent, of the total; the uverage holding is 6 4 acres. LAND TENURES OE UPPER INDIA. 425 In the Hissar settlement the sub-proprietors are the same as tise who iu Rohtak were classed as occupancy tenants; and t; saI ne may, without doubt, be found in other places. It is of cirse, as I remarked, not easy to draw the line between persons no are inferior proprietors and those who are occupancy tenants, j: a rule, they differ practically, in the fact that the sub-proprie- t ,5 s tenure is not only heritable but also transferable. § 19.— Tenants. As already remarked, it is not easy to draw the line in cases vtere these subordinate rights appear, between those who should l called proprietors, even in an inferior grade, and those who are r>re properly called tenants, though entitled to some special jivileges. And in point of fact there are cases where very similar gilts may be found treated in one category or the other, according t the opinion of the Settlement Officer on the spot. There are people who have paid no rents beyond the Govern- unt revenue, and are called sub-proprietors in one place and jivileged tenants in another. And the Panjab Tenancy Law liich does not apply to any one recorded as under-proprietor) ipressly states as a ground for claiming a privileged tenancy, the try facts which I have above alluded to as constituting in some (ses a sub-proprietary right. Now, this jeads me to speak of the Tenancy Law. Its history i different from that of the North-West Provinces law. Act X i 1859, with its artificial rule of a tenant-right after twelve ; ars’ possession, was never formally introduced, but still the rule is had a considerable influence on the fortune of tenants, and has used the tenant-right battle to be waged with peculiar vehemence. I have mentioned that the settlements were, at annexation, jrected to be made on the North-West system; and the North-West Directions” and the tabular forms prescribed for settlements were troduced. The forms, when thej' referred to tenants, often contained lumns separately for “ tenauts-at-will ” and for “ occupancy- nants. ” It was then very natural that subordinate revenue I 426 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. officials, and “amins” trained in the North-West Provinces, sho 1 in filling up the columns headed “ maurusi” (with occupay rights), insert the names not only of those tenants who natuny had a claim, but also those whom they found to have been n possession for twelve years or more. In the course of the controversy to which I have alluded, i g fact was brought to notice, and in some districts an enquiry > 3 ordered, and it was found that many tenants had been recon 1 solely under the rule which was not in force in the Panjab; he ;3 a revision of the tenant lists was in some instances order. When this revision -was complete, it was held that the entries tl , remained unchallenged might fairly be considered to represent just statement of actual right. So when the Tenancy Act was passed (Act XXVIII of 186 , although its principle evidently is to recognise only rights whi. are on the merits entitled to consideration, still the Legislati included, as also entitled to such recognition, those rights whi had been recorded at a regular or revised settlement. But wh admitting these rights on the ground of their having been recoi'de the law is careful to prevent the stereotyping of errors, a: the landlord is still allowed to prove against the recorded right, 1 establishing certain circumstances which the Act describes. The occupancy tenants are in two classes—those under sectic 5 and those under section 6. The former include— (a) tenants who pay no rent beyond the amount of rev nue and village cesses, and whose ancestors paid nom ( b ) people who, once being proprietors, lost their rig -1 (otherwise than by forfeiture), and notwithstanding coi tinned to hold as tenants; . * (c) representatives of those who took part in the origin: • founding; ( 1 d) a tenant who is, or has been, jagirdar of the village, ( part of it, in which the land is situate, and has contim ously occupied the land for twenty years. Those under section 6 are the tenants recorded with occupanc rights at settlement. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 427 Any one is also entitled to claim a right of occupancy on any oler grounds if he can establish this in a suit. Thefe is a difference as regards ejectment. A tenant under sec- tii 5, andone under section 6, if of thirty years’standing (personally ^through his ancestors), can only be ejected for non-satisfaction of a ecree for rent. Ordinary “ section-6 tenants ” cau be ejected on ttder of compensation for right, besides compensation for im- p vements as provided by the Act. Beyond these recognitions of right, no artificial tenant-right is contemplated. The Act contains only the necessary pro- v ions as to ejectment, conditions of enhancement, compensation fc tenants’ improvements, and so forth, and such general provi¬ sos relating to teuants of all classes generally as are necessary. So-letting and alienation of holding are allowed to occupancy touts, but to others only with consent of the landlord. The right of tenants to plant trees or sink wells, without the C isent of the owners, is a matter on which local custom will be fi nd definite enough; the Act takes no notice of the subject and d;s not declare whether the tenant has or has not such a right. 1 is matter will be determined by proof of local custom. The Act o y deals with the legal effect of improvements when made. The tenant “ at will” has theoretically no right beyond his year otenancy, but under the Act he is entitled to notice to quit, except uder certain circumstances ; so it is really a tenancy from year to jar, not exactly at will. The Act does not apply to Hazara, which has a Tenancy Regu- 1 ion of its own, but the rights recognised by the Regulation are i principle identical with the above, and will therefore need no social notice. As regards the local customs and names relating to tenancy, tey are numerous. The terms frequently relate to the fact that te tenant was the first to clear the land (butamar tenants, See.), or ley indicate their residence or non-residence in the village, or epit- aise the nature of the contract, the share in the produce which >e teuaut receives, and so forth. 428 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section IV.— Land Tenures in the Central Provinces. § 1 .—Peculiar features of the Central Provinces tenures. In the common form of village-tenure of these Provinces, e are introduced to a feature which is not found in any other part f Upper India. The’proprietary right as it now exists—the ir- guzari tenure—is a creation of our own system. In the Nor. West Provinces and the Punjab,, the idea of the middleman p. prietor has found expression only in an ideal form. The villa:- body as a whole is the proprietor in theory, but the actual shan are for all practical purposes in the enjoyment of proprietary rig ; in their holding. In Oudh a distinct proprietary right has bti recognised in the taluqdar, but under him the village commuuit: may retain their own constitution, to an extent which leaves, well-nigh perfect, and makes the taluqdar a landlord whose power very restricted, at any rate as regards all villages that have sub-settlement. In all these cases, *the tenures, however much th may owe to our legal shaping and development, are still natural their origin, and are based on customary features of landed intere i which have arisen, become modified, and ultimately fixed, by t! historical circumstances of the country, the effects of conquest, military occupation, and of the changes and chances of Native rul But in the Central Provinces we come back to an almost who! artificial tenure, which has grown out of our revenue s} r stem on tl same principles that the zamiudari tenure grew in Bengal. Tl circumstances of the villages were such, that a strong body entitle ■ to be called proprietor not appearing, there was the usual latitud . for the growth of the power of the persons who managed the Stal revenue collections, and the ultimate recognition of those persons a proprietors. That is an epitome of the history of the villages in all the dis tricts, except some in the Sagar and Narbada districts; my objec in this section is to explain in more detail, how this new proprietor : ship over the villages originated, and how it developed. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 429 I have already explained how, as the territories that form the « sntral Provinces ” came up for regular settlement (on the termin¬ al n or the failure of the tentative leases and settlements that h; marked their earlier days), the Government orders all pointed tc;he “ recognition of a secure right of property ” as the principle wich would, if applied, set everything straight. That meant that en-y group of lands was to have a proprietor or body of pro- p 3 tors to be settled with on the North-West system. When, as in some of the Sagar and Narbada districts, there we existing joint proprietary communities as in the North-West- ei Provinces, the plan was carried out without difficulty. But ir most districts the villages were of the non-united type, and k ;w of no common property or joint responsibility. Consequently, ii the case of such villages^ the orders first seem to have aimed at e ating the joint liability, and so constructing village communities o the required model. Nor did this seem anything very difficult, de villages were, or might easily be, divided into local areas with (Unite boundaries (for under either form the villages are localised ^oups of cultivators ); there was the hereditary “ patel ” or village Lidman, and other officials of the village, or there was a lump assess- rmt 3 on the whole village, engaged for by the Maratlia revenue- f’mer, and by him (or by the headman) distributed among the oiupants. Might not such a village be easily made into a joint pro¬ petary body ? Might not the cultivators be persuaded to agree to ling declared owners of the land on condition that they -would (gage as a body for the assessment and be jointly responsible for it - their “ patel ” taking exactly the representative position of the l:>rth-West lambardar ? But it was found that this could not be me. It was tried inNimar, for instance, and failed. Under the .orth-Western system there was but one other course. If the land- llders were not a proprietary community with the security of . int liability to Government, there must be found some other s This will be explained presently.' The Maratha assessments were sometimes in i lump, sometimes ou each holding. 480 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. proprietor over them ; who was the proprietor to be ? I will ans\ ■ the question first, and explain the reasons afterwards. The pais or village-headmen, and also the revenue-farmers of the Mara \ system, succeeded in so many instances, as give a general charac r to the settlementin acquiring or being' recognised as propriet; of the village. In fact, their position and opportunities enabled them to grjj :■ into something really very like proprietors. In most cases tt- had a close connection with the estate. It is only I belie : i J n a few villages that the recognised owner has little or no n management of the property. It is chiefly in the vicinity of lar towns that the malguzar owner does not live in his village or in o of his villages, but is an absentee, drawing his rent, and perhr. not having been twice inside the village in his life. In such cas he has a “ karndar ” or agent on the spot to represent him ; and is with reference to such cases also, that the appointment of muqaddam or executive headman, contemplated by the Reven Act of 1881, will be convenient. Thus a proprietary right was created by “ consolidating the pos tion of the revenue-farmers, whom we found managing the villag and paying the Government revenue 4 5 .” § 2.— Early history of the villages. — Revenue-farmers. The primeval system of the ancient Gond kingdom was> in a probability, that typical form of the Hindu Raj which has bee described in the introductory chapter on Tenures. As a rule, circumstances had not led to the development c village communities, except in the districts nearer to the North West Provinces. The villages remained of the non-united type. They consisted of local groups of cultivators, each with a hereditary right over hi 4 It is usually called the “ malguzari settlement ” of the Central Provinces, be cause our system admitted the man who engaged for the revenue —the malguzar- to be proprietor. 5 Grant’s Gazetteer, Introduction, page clxii. _a. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 431 on holding only, and each paying his own share of the grain as re inue to the Raja. Each village had, as we shall see, its staff of vi ige servants and a recognised headman, whose office was gener¬ al], but not always, allowed to become hereditary. The headman's tie is “ patel 8 .'” This system the Maratha Government did not, as a general rule, in Mere with. In countries where its power was firmly establish¬ ed it fixed a separate revenue for each landholder and collected it >y means of the headman. This system was followed in the neighbouring countries of Berar, Khandesh, Satara, and Poona : it fas essentially “ raiyatwar.” Butin the Maratha districts of tl Central Provinces a somewhat different system was developed : tl> is often called a “ mauzawar ” or village system, but it is by no nans to be confused with the village system of the North-Western Pivinces settlement, with which it has really nothing in com- nn. The Marathas under this system levied a lump sum on the wile village, and the headman (patel) made out a yearly “ lagwan,” a art of “ jamabandi ” (as it would be elsewhere called), showing h,v each man in the village was to pay a share according to his h ding and according to custom. Wherever the patel was not strong enough to secure the pay- q nts with requisite punctuality, or wherever from any other cause t :y thought it would pay better, the Marathas either reduced the pel to a nominal position, or at any rate gave over the village > a revenue-farmer, who engaged to pay in the whole sum 1 essed. A malguzar might in this way be put over several dlages, just as a “ patel ” may be head now, of more than one \ lage. 0 The office of “patel,” or in the Marathi form patil (often incorrectly written pel or potail), is of great antiquity. Copper grants have been dug up in Ujain dressed to the cultivators and “patalika” of a village (Niniar Settlement Report, ;e 149; see also page l\2, &c.) It is still regarded as an office of considerable nity ; great princes like Holkar and Sindia retain the title of “ patel; ” and in jae districts of the Central Provinces where there are Rajput Chiefs or great mudars, they often hold the office of patel of their own domanial villages (see also : Section on Berar Tenures, Book IV). 432 . LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. This system is said to mark the decadence of the Mara i power, or to have been adopted when that power was in an uu<. tain position, owing' to its rivalry with other powers. The Marathas were keen financiers, and always recognised 3 fact they made more by dealing (as far as possible) with the ir. vidual raiyat direct: then there was no one to intercept a port 1 of the revenue payment, as would be the case directly a midi. man was employed. But such a plan required the Government) be strong and in a position minutely to overlook and control 3 own officers as well as the headmen of villages. Hence : > “ farming system ” marks a stage of less complete control. 1, even then, I believe I am right in saying, the Maratha nev allowed its farmer to get hold of enormous estates, as the Mug! Deputies of Bengal did when their power was declining. f i 1 point of resemblance is, that the farmer, when once able establish himself firmly, took the place of the ousted heredita patel, and became the virtual head aud proprietor of the villag gradually growing into his proprietary position,_ on the same pri ciple (though on a smaller scale) than the great zamindar of Beng did. He bought in lands, took mortgages for loans advanced pay the revenue, and located tenants on waste lands; and justice to those who recognised (or created, if it be so) his pi prietary character at the settlement, it must be remembered tli in many cases (I do not say in all), by the time the regular settl ment began, the revenue-farmer really had, in virtue of his oppo t unities/got to look like a true owner 7 . § 2 >.^~The Patel. It was not in all cases that a revenue-farmer was employed, 1 if employed that he succeeded in thoroughly displacing the pat 1 It should be remembered that by the time our settlement began, there was on one person or family in virtual proprietary position, whatever was the origin of th person. The conflict which in Maratha days had existed between the patel ai the revenue-farmer put over him had long ceased. Either the patel or the farmc whichever it was, had become firmly settled as master of the village, and when oil settlement began was in such a position that he could not be overlooked. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 433 an reigning in his stead. But in those cases in which the old pal had survived, or had managed to dispense with the farmer’s asntance altogether, he had originally not a bit more of a gene¬ ral' proprietary character over the village than the revenue-farmer ha The patel had not, in many of the districts (those of the Blnsla Rajas), any special holding in the village. The office was vt hereditary only on sufferance 8 . He was merely the repre¬ ss ative of the cultivators and the agent of the Government in a portioning and collecting the revenue of his village. [n Nimar, however, as in the Bombay districts to the west, the pa 1 held a “ watan ” or certain lands originally acquired by him n irtue of his office. The actual official duty could of course be iir performed by one person ; and the State would always inter- } ei in case the immediate heir was not fit to perform the actual filial duties, and would appoint some member of the family, or •vi some coadjutor, to do the work. But still the “ watan” itself eiained in the family. It included the titles 9 , the official dig- ii and precedence (or manpan), as well as certain dues and fees ’ii marriages and other solemnities, and the ownership of the i.rhi” or central enclosure of the village site. But its central b:ct was tfie “ zira’at,” or lands held in virtue of office, as a sort femuneration or means of support (or both together), and lightly s ssed 10 . Not only the patel, but all the village officials were clers of a “ watan ” on the same principles. The pandhya or a.vari and the “ mojamdar ” (majmu’idar, a sort of patwari of a -ion of a village) had each a watan, and so had the “desh-pan- } ” and “ desh-mukh,” who were superior headmen (over the pan- )s and patels respectively) in a whole pargana. Various other lies of village servants, and even hereditary artisans (alauti), His hereditary character was recognised chiefly in those parts of the Nagpur itory which had been ceded by the Nizam. Nimar Settlement Report, § 187. Chhindwara Settlement Report, § 178. The zira’at often consisted of the fields in the village, as the headman had great opportunities of getting what he 1 into his own hands. 2 D 434 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. had also their petty watan 1 . The “ patelgi ” or patelship is in is district hereditary. The Government at the present day acts st as the former Government did in respect of the performance of ie actual official work. It selects the heir who is most fitted; .it though only one can hold the actual office, the whole family c- ceed together—as many as are entitled by the Hindu lav of inheritance—to the watan. In this, consequently, there ma jp several sharers ; in fact as many branches as the original stock is thrown out 2 . Often, when the shares were numerous, the youi jr branches got a plot of land rent-free in-commutation of t ir share. There have been many cases where the watan has 1 m partitioned into many shares, and this is excessively disadu- tageous. In the absence, however, of any custom of pri )- geniture, or of one heir succeeding, it is unavoidable 3 . To make the “ patel ” proprietor of the village was therefore 4 as much an act of artificial creation as it was in the case of ie malguzar or revenue-farmer. And this is still more the cast u those districts in which the patel was not a watandar. At ie same time the fact that the zira’at lands (when those exisil) constituted a nucleus of property, and that the patel had ie power of settling the waste, would go security witll the vill ;e banker for a villager’s advance, and then would take the land n mortgage, afforded opportunities which produced just the sue result in gradually building up quasi-proprietary position in ie whole village as in the case of the revenue-farmer. 1 See these described in the Nimar Settlement Report, pages 138-40. 2 In the Berar Gazetteer Mr. Lyall notices how in Western Central India l ie “ watan ” is more prized than anything else. Speaking of the Sindkher Chain the south-west corner of Berar), he tells us that the family had held large ;l't estates in the 16th century. In Upper India he would on this basis have deveM to a great “ zammdar ” or “ taluqdar,” but in the Dakhan he was content to be lie “ deshmukh ” of a dozen parganas, the “patel” of fifty villages, and in his vn town of Sindkher the pluralist holder of all the grants attached to menial servie — washing, shaving, sweeping, &c. The family had.let go its jagirs, yet hal s^ed every sort of “ watan ” on which it could lay hands (page 101). 3 See also Nimar Settlement Report, page 112, and Hushangabad Report, KS 55, para. 23. LAND TENURES OP UPPER INyiA. 435 This side of the question should not be forgotten. Thus in re ewing the Nimar Settlement Report, the Chief Commissioner obrves— Though not proprietors in the English sense of the word, they undoubtedly haan interest in the village far beyond that of mere collecting agents. If u’odmit the principle that a degree of independent interest in the soil is the be guarantee both for the prosperity of the land and for the facility of col- |e 3 to he found in the Chanda Settlement Report. In the troublous times which flowed 1801, when the Maratha power was waning, and every district almost was a sue of struggle for the supremacy, the patels everywhere came forward and boldly I 'tectedthe villages, erecting the mud or stone forts still so commonly seen in the 1 1st of Central Provinces villages. In such times the people leaned almost wholly i the patel and submitted to him in everything concerning the affairs of the village. also an account of the growth of the patel’s power uudcr Sir R. Jenkins’system the Nagpur Province, and the remarks on it by the Commissioner in his review of ? Chanda Settlement Report, page 10. 436 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. matters were concerned, a separate revenue lessee was pul n without the least hesitation. Mr. Elliott remarks that not (y had the patel. no recognised claim to take the revenue lease h t. self, or if he had it, to get it renewed, but that the custom oho renewing it to the same person was not even sufficiently eomi n to create a quasi-right. If there was no competition, the reve e official of the pargana had no motive for ousting the holder, wliei r patel or farmer, but if any one bid higher, there was nothing o restrain him from accepting the offer 5 6 . So it happens that sometimes a patel had retained his positii, and sometimes a revenue-farmer had usurped it, and either ■ s recognised under our system as proprietor, according to the circr • stances of the case. § 5.— Illustrations from Settlement Reports. I have noticed the following instances in the Settlement Repcs which may illustrate the subject:— In Baitul 0 the patels had mostly been displaced and malguz; or lessees had taken their place and were recognised, except in a f r cases, as proprietors. In some districts, as Wardha 7 and Jabalpur 8 , the malguz, or “ revenue engagee,” is spoken of, and it seems that here it; meant that sometimes he was an outsider lessee, and sometimes h local patel holding the lease. In Chanda again 9 , and, indeed, in most of the districts whii had been managed under Sir R. Jenkins’ system (under which i outside lessees were admitted), the patels had retained their pin and were recognised as the proprietors. In Nimar, which is par excellence the country of the watand' patels, the system preceding the present settlement had been o: 5 Hosbangabad Settlement Report, page 150, para. 15. 6 Settlement Report, §§ 98, 99. 7 Id., § 144. 8 Id., § 92. ,J Settlement Report, §§ 32 and 277. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 437 , >r fically, though not in name, “ raiyatwan,” dealing direct with th individual land occupant; so that here also there had been no pl;e for usurping lessees. The orders of Government first con- t e plated making the cultivators or “ junadars 10 ” into proprietary to munities, provided they would take the joint responsibility. Bi the “ juuadars ” would have none of it, and so the old patels ■vie made proprietors over them. In South Nimar also, the Indhari, a sort of “assistant patel,” was also recognised as pro- prtor 1 . In many districts it would seem that where there had been ron for a possible choice between ‘a village patel and a revenue - aaer, as one only could be selected, it was customary to grant the oter a “malikana” or cash allowance or compensation; or perhaps Imvould be allowed a bit of land rent-free, still called his “ haq ” o) ' watau,” as if in recognition of a past hereditary title. § 6.— The Gaontiyds of Sambalpur. I cannot close this account of the growth of the malguzar tun res without alluding to the curious case of the gaontiyas of Smbalpur 2 . This district is close to the tributary states of Orissa, a 1 the institution of a village headman or gaontiya is the same, aparently, as in that province. The villages here present the usual features of the old non- tited village, but with the headman, or gaontiya, grown into a 10 I cannot trace the meaning of this word nor be sure of its true spelling; some t es it is written junar-dar. 1 Nimar Settlement Report, page 266. 2 The Sambalpur Settlement Report is not published. There is an allusion to t district, quoting a report of Lieutenant Birch in 1857, in the replies from the (itral Provinces Gbvernment to the questions of the Famine Commission. My infor- rtion is derived chiefly from official correspondence in the office of the Revenue De- I tment of the Government of India. This correspondence is interesting as showin l>v Western terms and the arrangements made by different powers for collectin r enue, affect our views of proprietary character. Because the Marathas or other I vers made short settlements for five years or so with the gaontiyas, and because in r language we called these settlements “leases,” and the gaontiya consequently fame the “lessee,” the correspondence is filled with discussions as to whether the s. mtiya is anything like a proprietary of the village, or is only “five years’ lessee.” 60 bo 438 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. position which shows how easily the lion-united village type < i )j 0 overlaid by other forms. The present settlement arrangements have virtually av pted such a complete transformation, and has secured to every landllder what is practically a raiyatwari tenure, while the gaontiya. haunly a sort of superior proprietorship which I will describe present Under existing circumstances, the local area of the vill cis grouped into “ bhogra’'’ lands which are the “ sir ” or home fa i of the gaontiya, and “ raiyati ” lands which are held by the v age cultivators. But it will be best to describe what was the earlier ci om in these villages. In many of them the gaontiya is the found of the village (of course the present gaontiya is probably on n descendant or representative of the man who first cleared the v'lge, for cultivation 3 ; but it will simplify matters if I speak of the a es- tor himself). He obtained a grant from the Raja and set ; nit clearing a site for residence and land, for fields. Sambalpuris i ;ed for its tanks and its mango groves. These are usually d to the gaontiyas. When the headman or founder began the worl lie established a great tank and planted a grove. As his naval reward, he took the land nearest the tank as his own (this wa;.hc foundation of his sir or bliogra holding, as it is locally called). All the people who came with him to the work,—for is obvious a single hand cannot found a village,—out of deferent to natural superiority, or out of necessity for some sort of tacit unir- standing as to subordination of the led to the leader, regarded ra as in a superior position 4 . 9 I do not mean that in all cases the present gaontiya founded the village, aer himself or in the person of his ancestor. A man may have come to the headship ib- sequently by the Raja’s appointment or otherwise, and thenceforward maintucil himself in the position. 4 And this no doubt gave rise to the custom that if the raiyat is wealthy engli to make a tank iu his land, he gets the gdontiya to turn the first sod, which is a t en that the tank does not give him such a claim, that if he relinquishes the holug 1 he can reclaim it afterwards, or prevent the g&ontiya dealing with the relinquied land. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 439 !ut each “ raiyat ” or cultivator, none the less, regarded himself s jrmanently entitled to the land he cleared, subject to the pay- ne; of the Raja’s share. Should he leave the village, he lost his land. l new-comer taking up land with the gaontiya’s permission ■otust the same position as any older settler. t is remarkable that in these villages the custom of redistri- ubg land was in force, and still remains so. It is not merely that or.in holdings, or plots, are made to change hands periodically; ujin order to secure an equality, the whole of the land is classified, Jeach cultivator gets a little soil of each kind from the best to a vorst, and these little lots, making up a holding, are periodically attributed 6 . Supposing a raiyat is entitled to a twelfth of the m, he gets his twelfth, not in one plot, but in twelve pieces con- ;s ag each of one-twelfth of each particular class of soil into which u:om has divided the area. Under the British settlement the gaontiya is declared proprie- >i but his proprietorship is limited. In the first place he is b lute owner of his own bhogra land, and is responsible for the rime on the entire village. In order to remunerate him for this responsibility, he is allowed a have so much of his bhogra land revenue-free as equals a fourth E he entire assessment; for the rest he pays revenue. But his bhogra is his absolute property, and any tenants he nloys to cultivate it are merely tenants-at-will. He is also allowed to locate new cultivators on the waste (which i dlotted as elsewhere to the village area) or on lands which may relinquished ; he is allowed to charge rent ic old and forgotten debts e . In the Bilaspur district, which is in this neighbourhood, the gs i. tiyas were apparently made malguzari proprietors of their villi 9 , leaving the raiyats to secure their “ occupancy rights ” under ie Tenant Law 7 . § 7. —Tenures from grant of the Sovereign Tower. Such are the ordinary proprietary tenwres in villages as de mined by our settlements. Next I have to speak of the speil proprietary titles arising from royal (service and other) grants. In some parts of the country, especially in the hill tracts, e chiefs of Gond or Rajput origin, who are recognised as owners of ti r estates; and these are now spoken of as zamindan estates , almosla the Bengal sense. These are in fact either minor and subordine chiefs' 1 estates, surviving from the old days, or are estates deriv, as I have previously described, from the division of some great Raj ; or they are estates acquired by some grantee or local magn e who has risen to a position superior to that bf the ordinary lai- holder. There are also here, as elsewhere, a few “ jagh’” estates gran t originally on condition of military service. Other grants call taluqdari (or locally tahatdari) are sometimes found. 6 The gaontiyas themselves were very anxious that the villagers should not be the right of transfer, partly, no doubt, from the fear of losing dignity,—since Je new-comer might not be as subservient to them as the former one; partly also fil the long-descended desire to keep cultivators lest the land should go out of culti- tiou and thus the revenue for which they are responsible he endangered. 1 See Bilaspur Settlement Report, section 317.| LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 441 There are also State grants called “ mukta ” or ubari, which 0?e the estates at a fixed quit-rent or assessment. O Lastly,, there are revenue-free grantees, also recognised as pro- t etors, called “ mu-’afidars ” or ‘ ‘ mukasadars 8 ,” or sometimes “namdars.” It did not follow that all these were originally, or in their rture, grants of the proprietary title; but the grantees readily squired the superior right. Some of these grants were made uere there was waste to be cleared, or old cultivation to be resusci- Ited, so that their'proprietary character is not far to seek. I will now proceed to offer some remarks illustrative of these inures as they appear in different districts. § 8.— Zamincldris. The zamfndari is a large and often semi-independent tenure rmed in certaiu districts 9 ; it is always held by one proprietor 10 . he owner has the right to all waste and forest in his graut, but is quired (or may be required) to observe Government rules in re¬ ject of its management b In Chanda the zamindari is indivisible fad untransferable save to the nearest male heir, and is tenable uring loyalty and good conduct- It descends by primogeniture, and lembers of the family get only a maintenance. The lord also gets lie Abkari (excise duty) and Pandri (or house tax) in his estates 2 . In some estates the zammdar or chief appoints a patwari and a .‘presentative patel for each village. In the Bilaspur district these zamindaris may also be found, ud the Settlement Report 3 notices the dislike of the families to division or separation of shares. 8 This is a term used in the Ndgpur province ; districts of Nagpur, Chanda, &c. 9 As Raipur, Ilalaghat, Chanda, &c. 10 In the Ahiri zamindari (Chanda district) there are two “ sub-zannndars ” rested by the present owner. In Chanda the quit-rent is called takoli (Chanda Settlement Report, section 359). 1 See Settlement Report, section 324, where the rules arc given in detail, 2 Raipur Settlement Report, section 246. 3 Settlement Report, section 311. 442 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. § 9.— Jagirs. The jagir tenure, which is practically only another name r zamindari, exists chiefly in Chhindwara i . I find no mention o t (except incidentally and apparently as synonymous with taluqd) in the other reports. The jagir w r as originally a grant of the revenue of a village r group of villages, either on condition of furnishing a military-fo 3 or of service by keeping open the passes on the hill routes. 11 now such a title does not differ from the zamindari. Origins; also it was a life grant only, but became hereditary in many cas, $ because of a feeling that it was beneath the dignity of the Gove:, ment to resume it. The succession to the jagir, as to the zamindt, whole estate, but under him the entire village is regarded as “ ferior proprietor.” Thus in a zammdari or jagir estate there m- be whole villages under the chief, with their original headman ■ patel, and their cultivators, who perhaps had been there from I > day the ground was cleared. The same thing might occur in the malguzari tenure, the nr recognised proprietor having indeed a superior position, but notsu as to have obliterated the village rights, which now appear as s> 8 See specially clauses 12-17 of the Sagar Rules (Government No. 173A., dal 30tli November 1853). The Settlement Officers were “ to recognise fixed rights claims and interests in whatever form they may have already grown up, and to avc any interference with them by any speculative acts or views of the officers of Gc eminent.” This was probably said with special reference to the maintenance of I proprietary communities where they survived, which would give a kind of tenure i uniform with cases where a sole proprietor was found. The officers were to ta rights as they found them, and not be too desirous of moulding them all on o model. These orders can scarcely now he read without a smile, when we reflect tli notwithstanding the largest allowance for cases where (as above explained) the patel malguzar had in fact acquired what we could not help calling a proprietary positio still there were many places ( e.g ., Nimar) where the recognition of such a position w an act of almost pure creation. Aud the creation was, pace the orders, solely t) result of “ speculative views,”—of a system which laid down that iu no case wou Government deal direct with the individual occupants of laud. Had a purely natur plan been followed, of recoguising rights as they were, there must have been rnai cases where the settlement would have been raiyatwan; and it is little wonder tk: many advocated such a system for the province generally. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 447 ornferior proprietary rights in the village. In these cases there is is already noted, always a sub-settlement made with the in- fetor proprietor. § 14.— The Malik-maqbuza. But in other cases there may be no general inferior proprietary ic^rest over the estate, but an individual here and there may have p served sufficient vestiges of his ancient rights to make him entitled t cular G (1865) ” 4 5 was issued ; this solved the difficulty by rung that tenants in six classes should be protected specially by bug called “ unconditional 6 ,” i.e., not liable to be ejected, even if \d X were repealed or modified - . The protection was to be effecteov - entering clauses in every “ wajib-ul-’arz ” (or paper notifying ie. customs of the village and its administration) agreeing on ie part of the proprietors to the absolute right of such tenants, le clauses declared the rents fixed for term of settlement, the teuc heritable and transferable (subject to paying a “ relief ” of ie year’s rent to the superior or owner). 2 See Narsinghpur Settlement Report. In some estates there was a stag repugnance to recording the lands as divided, or the members of the fainil as separate sub-proprietors ; this from motives of maintaining the family dignity, ee Hoshaugabad Settlement Report, page 163, section 39. 3 Hosliangabad Settlement Report, page 168, section 52. 4 Printed in Settlement Code (Supplement), and also in Nicholls’ Digest, >1. II, page 430. 5 Also spoken of as “ Circular G tenants,” and “ mutlaq ” or absolute, so “ mustaqill maurusi” or unconditionally, fixed hereditary tenants. LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 451 The sis classes may be summarised as follows : — 1) Occupants whose tenancy was hereditary ex origine , 2) Who had expended an unusual amount of capital on their lands. 3) Who were relations of the present or former proprietors, and whose tenure may be considered as to some extent a substitute for a share in the proprietary right of the family. 4) Tenants of new villages who had held ever since foundation or reclama¬ tion from jungle. 5) Tenants who were holding before the present owner acquired his position. 6) Tenants whose holdings had descended by inheritance, provided they had held for twenty years at least. Practically, therefore, these persons were in as good a position as;hat of the “ malik-maqbuza ” originally intended for them. All others who had claims based merely on possession for a ten of years were to he occupancy tenants under Act X. The results were very various in the different districts. Mr. Elliott states that in Hoshangabad, while lie recognised n ny of the classes which I have referred to as allowed on all h ids to be sub-proprietors, no rights of the “ Circular G ” class ure either claimed or allowed 0 . In Wardha nearly 15,000 7 persons were admitted as proprietors o holdings, on the ground of their being representatives (calling timselves “ muqaddam”) of old “ proprietary ” families 8 . § 17.— Controversy about the tenant-right. The circular of 1863, however, placed one restriction on the rc- cpiition of the rights which it called attention to. It proposed t,t the persons who were entitled to consideration on grounds idependent of mere length of possession, should themselves take t; burden of proving the circumstances that warranted their aim. f ’ Hoshangabad Settlement Report, page 169, § 53. 7 There is a misprint in the Report of 149,203, probably for 14,902. 8 Settlement Report, § 203. For the way iu which sub-proprietary claims were • lit with in other districts, see Settlement Reports of Nagpur, §§ 19-21 ; Chanda, 369; Bliandarn, § 203. 452 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. To this restriction Mr. Campbell, then Chief Commissione (in 1868), took exception. He urged that the original orders of s< de¬ ment of 1853, directing the careful record of all subordinate riits laid no such burden of proof on the claimant. The right t( die general ownership or superior title in the village was “ confer on certain persons, and therefore it was not right to public original occupants to any proof; rather they were to be recog sed as matter of course, and if the newly created superior did not ike it, he was to show that there was no ground for so recogn ng them. Mr. Campbell contended that as the Central Proves lay midway between the North-Western Provinces and Boniyi ' so the settlement was meant to be midway between the abs ite proprietary settlement of the North and the raiyatwari settle 1 mt of Bombay. This, it must be confessed, is rather a neat ad taking phrase than oue which accurately expresses the facts, he North-West Government had no idea of modifying their sysra, but they knew that in many cases the making of a patel or 11- guzar into a proprietor would be an artificial proceeding, an so they felt it necessary to be sure that existing natural rights ’re not overridden in the process; but that involved no modificatic of the system, and was certainly a well-recognised part of the ha¬ lation VII procedure. Mr. CampbelPs main position was that the m'alguzar wasintd- ed to prove his strong title, not the ryot to prove his ; but su y> though this is true, it does not follow that it was right to aept all raiyats as sub-proprietors where the malguzar’s title was vik or artificial, and ignore it where it was otherwise. The malgua’s title may have been very strong : still if the raii/at claimed tha le had been antecedent to him, that he had spent capital in excetof what a mere tenant would be likely to do, though it would be cly fair to recognise the tenant’s claim, it would be equally faito require him to prove it. At the time, however, notwithstanding the existence of ae Circular G, and that the circular of 1863 had been in forceor several years, the latter was cancelled. Then there was a long r- LAND TENURES OF UPPER INDIA. 453 residence ; the Settlement Commissioner justified his circular in m ble note, the opinions of other experienced officers were called p () iand the final orders of the Government of India, though they lit not restore the circular of 1863, thought that the case was ■ alciently met by recording rights (other than those already idritted as “ m&lik-maqbuza ”) under Circular G. So that practi- al the result has been to provide for all subordinate rights :— • 1) By declaring the person to be a “ malik-maqbuza ” (usually rendered “ proprietor of his holding ” (i.e., not a mere privileged tenant). His right is heritable and transferable* (2) By declaring an “ unconditional tenancy right ” protected by clauses in the wajib-ul-’arz, under Circular G, which gives almost tiie same rights as the first, only that it does not carry a share in the profits of waste, and makes the right of transfer subject to a relief or cash payment (see page 88). (3) By recording an ordinary tenant-right of occupancy under Act X of 1859. § 18.— The new Tenancy Bill. The new Tenant Law for the Central Provinces, which still re- rrins in the form of a Bill in Council, will provide for the tenant- rints which have thus arisen. It recognises the “ absolutely occupancy tenants ” of the set- tlnent, and it maintains generally the twelve years’ rule, so that tb ordinary occupancy tenants of the settlement will not be affect- though Act X will be itself repealed. The twelve years’ rule is to be subject to the usual exceptions. Ccupancy rights cannot grow up in land which is held on a lease pvidiug that the tenant shall quit the land on the expiry of a s/'cn term, or agreeing that occupancy rights shall not be claimed, ie right does not grow up on a proprietor’s sir land. It is also provided that tenant-rights may grow up on land wdiich i exchanged; that is, a practical holding of a given area, although vlage custom prescribes that holding may be now here, now there, ■ to its actual locality, shall give the occupancy right. To suit the peculiar circumstances of the tenants in Chanda and .imar, who really appear to be the old laud cultivators, long over- 454 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. ridden by incoming families who have grown to be the ,r 0 . prietors, all tenants will have occupancy rights, except those lti. voting sir land of the proprietors, and holding lands which ere recorded as waste at settlement, and are held under special settle entfl terms. For here it is obvious the tenants were evidently locab by the proprietors to till the waste, and they have not the same ui- • table and ancient claim which they have on the old cultiv: on. There are also special rules about the rent of such lands. In Sambalpur the right of the tenants, already alluded , is protected by the fact that there is no power of ejectment, e.?pt one consequent on an order of Court passed when a decree inr arrears of rent has remained unsatisfied for fifteen days. The at is also to be that fixed at settlement; and agreements to pay monvc void, except under an order consequent on some expenditure o: lie landlord which has improved the productive power of the land. In Sambalpur (as also in Chanda andNimar) the occupancy)lit ■s fully heritable like any other property. In other distric it only descends in the direct line, not to collaterals, unless they w co-sharers in the cultivation. The occupancy tenant-right is made transferable without he landlord's consent, but only to a person who by inheritance as become a co-sharer in the holding. In Chanda and Nimar, and in the case of all “ absolute” on-, pancy tenants, the right is transferable to any one who could sue ;J as an heir on the death of the tenant. I mentioned these features first, to show how the rights dor. mined at the settlements will be recognised and provided for by he new law. But the whole law contains several novelties; and botbiu arrangement and detail it represents a great advance on the oer rent laws of the other provinces. I have mentioned no sectns by number, because in the process of final revision, even iiio serious alteration is made, the numbers of sections are sure tbe changed, and to give those of the Bill would only introduce in¬ fusion. It will be a profitable exercise to the student, when the ct LAND TENURES OP UPPER INDIA. 455 insgjj to compare this account with the provisions that ultimately kcae law, and to note the points of difference. § 19 .—Arrangement of the Bill. t may be convenient here to give a summary of the contents )f le Bill. liter a series of necessary definitions, occupying the first hater, the Bill treats (in Chapter II) of the relations between an.ord and tenant generally. It lays down certain general rules is ■ the presumption which arises in regard to the amount of a coat’s rent in any rent suit, and fixes the beginning of the next g cultural year (1st June) as the date from which all changes hi! commence, unless otherwise ordered in special cases. The Chief Commissioner is to fix dates for payment of rent by liniments, where no contract has been made. Provision is made for a ei nt to deposit in Court the rent he thinks he ought to pay : penal- ic are provided for exactions by the landlord, and for refusal o rant receipts for rent. It is also provided that if G overnment e itsor suspends payment of revenue owing to drought or famine, x the landlord may also be required, in bringing a suit for rent i, to abate a portion of the rent, on the tenant’s proving that h land is that on which the damage or loss, which led to the emue remission or suspension, occurred. It is provided that no ;t whatever, whether contracted for or not, is to be less than the rvernment revenue. The next division of the chapter treats of the procedure for : t payment by estimation or division of crop; and the next, of the dlord’s lien on the crops for his rent. Distraint is not allowed, j a prior claim for one year’s rent is given over all other claims 1 all other attachments of the crops. And to give the full benefit this, a period called the “ landlord’s fortnight ” is fixed, and runs • fourteen days from the date of any rent-instalment falling due. that if any person attaches the crop, say, for a debt, during is period, he cannot proceed to sale till it has elapsed, and the 456 ‘ LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. landlord has an opportunity of exercising his prior right to sati ac. tion from the crops 9 . The next division deals with the surrender and abandonme of holdings by tenants ; and the next with ejectment generally. ro . vision is made for the tenant’s interest in crops unreaped, and nd prepared by his labour for sowing, at date of ejectment. ' eu follows a further division on improvements and compensatior ; or them. All agreements by the tenant not to make improvement or to he ejected if he makes them, and all entries in the former ree ds of rights having the same effect against the provisions of the it, are declared void. The next division of this chapter deals with cases where sei al persons are joint landlords. The chief provision is to prevent le tenant being harassed by having to pay fractions of rent to twor more persons. The last division deals with miscellaneous matters, such as le power of requiring written leases showing the terms of hold the measurement of holdings, and the awarding of leases win the Government assessment is changed. These general rules being disposed of, the third chapter deals i ;h the special features of holdings by tenants-at-will, which it els “ ordinary” tenancies. The chief of these relate to notice of ej t- ment and to certain remedies against ejectment which are avK able, and to rent, which may he fixed by the Revenue Court in cer n cases only ; otherwise this is not a matter for interference. Chapv 1Y describes tenants for a fixed term, and Chapter V deals wh tenants with a right of occupancy. Most of the provisions of lis chapter have already been noticed. The last chapter (VI) is occupied with jurisdiction and p. cedure. As usual, a number of subjects are made over to Reveie Courts, and the Civil Court’s jurisdiction is excluded. 3 If the produce is liable to speedy decay it maybe sold at once, but e proceeds are deposited for the same purpose. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OEEICIAT.S. 457 CHAPTER III. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. Section I.—The Revenue Ofeicials and their Duties. § 1 .—Subjects of Revenue Administration. It will be readily understood that, apart from all other branches of by,—registration of deeds, stamps, "excise, &c.,—the land-revenue afrds the District Officers a large, if not the largest, part of their of’ial occupation. In enumerating the branches of work that are icluded uuder the general head of “ Revenue-busiuess/’ I might bcin with the charge of the district treasury, for the treasury isfche place of deposit for all revenue payments. The village col- lebious are, as a rule, in the first instance, paid into the tahsil trea- 31 y, the latter transferring its receipts to that of the district. But t asury work is so specially connected with the rules of public a ount-keeping, that it forms a practically separate branch, and flil not be further alluded to in this Manual. The remaining branches of duty may, however, be summarised n follows. First, the Revenue-officers have to supervise the col- ktion of the revenue, and watch the effects of the assessment, ting their power to compel payment when it is necessary, but iscriminating carefully where real misfortune necessitates a sspension or even remission of demand. Next, they have to ipervise the working of the local revenue machinery, especially ie patw T aris or village accountants and the headmen ; and in mnection with these offices, claims are constantly coming up for earing regarding appointment, dismissal, or on the occasion of a iccession. Then there is the maintenance of the record of rights, .roprietors die and are succeeded by their heirs, or they sell aud 458 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. mortgage their holdings; these changes have to be register so as to keep the record of rights up to date. Applications 1 r > to be heard for the partition of joint estates. Lands affected by ll lu vion or diluvion have to be settled. In some districts ieve revenue-free holdings abound, much work bas to be done wkei uch estates lapse, in determining at what sum they should be asused and with whom they should be settled. In some cases bou ary marks may be obliterated and disputes arise, or orders are rer red for the restoration of the marks. When laud is taken up for ]blic purposes under the Land Acquisition Act, the Collector has the uty ■ of managing the business, which, besides the award of compens; on, may involve the reduction of l;he revenue-roll 1 . These are sou of the chief heads of duty, apart from the more formally judicial ork which as “ Revenue Courts/-’ hearing rent suits, and other ap ca¬ tions connected with tenants, the officers may have to perform uid which vary in different provinces according to the laws in for,. It will therefore be necessary, in order to render our stu of the system complete, to consider, not in detail, but in outline, lat the grades of the Revenue-officers are, what their duties are ,nd bow the business of their offices is done. § £.—May be contentious matters. It follows naturally from the nature of the business to be >ne (as above indicated) that many questions cannot be dispose of without hearing both sides. One party may apply to have me record made, some succession recognised, and so forth, and some ne may have an objection or a counter-claim on his side ; a refer ee to documents and a hearing of witnesses may be necessary, so at 1 The Act itself has nothing to do either with the system under whitli id- revenue administration is carried on, or with land tenures ; consequently 1 have pied my description of the Act, by preference, in the Manual of Jurisprudence for lest Offoers. The only points of contact with revenue administration are (1) that >eii land is expropriated, of course the land-revenue charge ceases to be paid by thefcier proprietors, and the revenue-roll is reduced accordingly ; (2) that the Collector,™ his greater knowledge of land and its value, is appointed in the first instant to make an award or offer of compensation to the owners. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 459 lie roceeding becomes one analogous at any rate to a “suit/’ ml; is therefore necessary to provide for an appeal to rectify rrO' in such proceedings, and a procedure under which these flics shall be able to compel the attendance of witnesses and the .reaction of the documents they require to inspect. These pro- tccegs are, many of them, only'quasi-judicial, but many are also ■ g arly contested law-suits. Such, for example, is a rent case. am not here alluding to the cases in which land suits are efired, or may be referred, during settlement to the Settlement itFers under the law of the Panjab, the Central Provinces, &c. In he: cases the Settlement Officers are empowered as Civil Courts. Jut to dispose of the questions arising in the course of land- iwiue administration the officers sit as “ Revenue Courtsand a ‘der to avoid confusion, as well as to secure the advantage of no matters being disposed of by persons specially cognisant of ha, the Civil Courts have no jurisdiction where the Revenue- fljjr acts under the powers legally entrusted to him. ’he subjects which in ordinary land-revenue business are excluded rn the notice of the Civil Courts, must be learned by a reference to h several Revenue Acts themselves 2 . Those which are so excluded n uestions of tenancy or rent can be seen by a similar reference to h Tenancy or Rent Acts 3 . The different provincial arrangements eirding Revenue Courts are as follows :— In the North-Western Provinces, Chapters VII, VIII, and J of the Revenue Act refer to the powers of Revenue Courts to peals from their orders, and to procedure. The Rent Act also (stitutes Revenue Courts to hear rent and tenancy cases 4 . 2 North-Western Provinces Act XIX of 1873, section 241. Oudh Act XVII of 6, section 219. Panjab Act XXXIII of 1871, section 65. Central Provinces Act | III of 1881, section 152. 3 North-Western Provinces Act XII of 1881, sections 93-95. Oudh Act XIX of .18, section 83. Paujab Act XXVIII of 1868, section 42. Central Provinces Act t yet passed). 4 Act XII of 1881, sections 93-95; and Civil Conrts here also have no jurisdic. la. 460 LAND liEVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. Id the Pailjab the Revenue Act leaves the procedure of Celts and appeals to be regulated by rules made under section 66. Wn the Settlement Officer is given jurisdiction to hear land cases it is, as I said, as a Civil Court 6 . Under the Tenancy Act, all at suits and claims to tenant-right are heard in the Civil Courts 0 . In Oudh the Act contains provisions about procedure d appeals 7 . The Rent Act constitutes “Revenue Courts 8 ” lieai g rent and tenancy cases, as in the North-Western Provinces. The Central Provinces Act does not speak of “ Reveie Courts ” by that name, but it specifies the powers of the diffei it Revenue-officers, and regulates appeals 9 . The Tenant Bill will provide (as in the Panjab) that C 1 Courts are to hear suits arising between landlord and tenant; t certain miscellaneous matters connected with rents, division of p. duce, measurement of holdings, &c., are to be disposed of onlyy revenue officers. For the hearing of suits in which the Cil Court's jurisdiction is maintained, the Judge of first instance mt be a Revenue-officer. I will now proceed to describe (separately for each proving the grades of Revenue-officers. § 3 . — Grades of Officers. North-Western Provinces. —The general supervision and fill appellate power in revenue cases is vested in a Board of Revert consisting of one Senior and one Junior Member, with a Secret." and Junior Secretary. The Members divide the territorial jurisd - tion and the subjects which come under their notice, according » rules of practice sanctioned by the Local Government 10 . 6 Act XVII of 1877, section 49. 6 Act XXVIII of 1868, section 42. 7 Act XVII of 1876, Chap. X, and rules under section 220. 8 Act XIX of 1868, section 84, &c. 9 Act XVIII of 1881, sections 16-26, and rules under section 19. 10 Act XIX of 1873, section 4, &c. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 4GL Each division (or group of three or more districts) has a Commis- siier, and each district a Collector with Assistants of the 1st and 2nd c ]< 3 . The ultimate revenue sub-divisions of a district are called ta ils, a modern institution which has replaced the pargana of Mglial times. In these provinces, however, the pargana limits are pifectly well known and are constantly made use of: a tahsil may cctain several pargauas 1 * . An Assistant Collector of the 1st class may be put in charge ola sub-division, or more than one sub-division, and there he exer- cis a variety of powers 3 in subordination to the Collector. Under section 17 of Regulation IX of 1833, officers called Deputy electors were appointed, and are so still 3 . They are practically 1; class Assistant Collectors, and receive powers under the Re- viue Act in that grade. Being uncovenanted officers, this title dtinguishes them. Second class Assistants can only investigate and report on cases o which orders are passed by officers of higher rank : but they ny be employed on other revenue business, such as maintaining t; records, which do not involve decisions on contentious matters. The officer directly in charge of a'tahsil, subordinate to the (Hector and to the Assistant (if there is one in charge), is the r J hsilddr. The above grades of officers are alone vested with any powers as hvenue Courts 4 , but there is an important subordinate agency t be alluded to. Under the tahsildar are qanungos, whose chief duty is the tpervision and reduction of the statistics furnished by the 1 A further sub-division called a “tappa” is ofteu mentioned in Reports. Some- ties the term denotes a group of villages in which one is the principal giving its line to the tappa, the others being hamlets or outliers. 1 Defined in section 235 of Act XIX of 1873. 3 Sections 2-15 and 19 of the Regulation are repealed, the rest is iu force, ee Legislative Department edition, North-West Provinces Code, pages 101-2.) * i. power to pass orders or investigate cases under the Revenue Act or to ar reut suits. Settlement and Assistant Settlement Officers have certain powers ider the Act during the progress of a settlement. 462 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. patwaris, on whose inspection of the villages, and initial i 0 h] 9 of transfers of interests, of payments of rents and revenue md other matters, almost the whole working 1 of the district re 1 aue administration depends. § 4.— Grades of Officers. Oudh.—Here the chief controlling authority in revenue infers is the Chief Commissioner 5 6 . Under him are the Commission! of Divisions (a division being a group of three districts) : L ch district has a Deputy Commissioner (Oudh being a Non-Regul on Province) B ; and there are Assistant Commissioners of the 1st nd 2nd class. An Assistant of the 1st class may be put in charge of on or more sub-divisions of a district, and exercises powers define in the Act 7 under the control of the Deputy Commissioner. Y en in such charge, he may also be invested with all or any of he powers of a Deputy Commissioner, but in subordination to lie Deputy Commissioner. Assistants of the 2nd class only inv li¬ gate and report on cases 8 .* Tahsildars are also appointed under the Act; their duties ay be defined and powers conferred by the Chief Commissioner 9 . These powers, it will be seen, are in all essential particns identical with those exercised in the North-West Provinces. 5 Act XVII of 1876, section 3. At one time there was a Financial Coiris- sioner, as in the Panjab. 6 I may remind the reader who does not remember the preliminary chaps sufficiently, that this difference of title, coupled with the fact that the office m- bines civil, criminal, and revenue powers, and that it may be held by a Militaror an Uncovenanted officer, now constitutes the only practical distinction betweene Non-Regulation and Regulation Provinces, at least as regards all Upper India id the Central Provinces. In Oudh even this distinction has passed away, sincne Deputy and Assistant Commissioners do not exercise civil powers, for which ck there are Judges, Subordinate Judges, and Munsifs. 7 Act XVII of 1876, sections 178-79. n Id., section 180. 9 Id., sections 13 and 220. LAND ItEVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 463 'he subordinate revenue agency consists of qdnungos and wtaris, just as in the North-West Provinces. § 5.— Grades of Officers. The Panjab.—The Financial Commissioner is the chief con- wing authority, and there are Commissioners of Divisions, Deity Commissioners of Districts, aided by Assistant Commis- ,io;rs and Extra Assistant Commissioners. Tahsils or local sub- >rciate revenue charges are held by tahsildars, as in the North- \Y tern Provinces and Oudh. Nothing is, however, said in the \.c about placing an Assistant in charge of a sub-division (as in ,b other provinces), but the Local Government has power to ■O'er on any Assistant or Extra Assistant all or any of the powers >f Deputy Commissioner, and has power to make rules 10 to re¬ fute proceedings and prescribe who is to do anything for which h Act makes provision. Under the rules, Assistants (usually the mor ones who have not yet passed their examination) have only ‘ dinary ” powers,—that is, they may prepare and report on cases, k cau issue no orders. Assistants with “ special 33 powers (who a e passed by the lower standard) can also pass orders as to ap- iling the milder forms of coercion'to recover arrears of revenue, it. in some cases of partition. Officers with full powers have more cended powers, for which the Rules made under the Act must i referred to. In some districts in the Panjab,— e.g., Amritsar, Ambala, and [bore,—there are divisions of districts in which an Assistant has 10 Act XXXIII of 1871, section 2. The Act, it will be observed, only mentions in i ion 2 the Financial Commissioner, the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner, 1 the Tahsildars, because the Assistants afterwards mentioned have uo powers and . is standi as revenue officers till they are invested with the powers. The rules template all Assistants having (according to their experience and having passed 1 mination, &c.) “ ordinary,” “ special,” or “full” powers, and a full-power officer if be further invested with all the powers of a Deputy Commissioner, this institution does not appear in the other provinces. The Chapter on Tenures explained how it came to pass that in the Central Provinces there may be a able proprietary interest in an estate throughout. The superior is then ropre- ■ted by the lanibardar, the inferior by the sub-lam bard kr. 46i LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. criminal and civil jurisdiction. In these sub-divisions he possi es I as an Assistant with full powers, the power of disposing of 1 Uv revenue cases ; and he consequently does dispose of a great de of i the revenue business ; and he may be invested with the full rev ue powers of a Deputy Commissioner under the Act; he is then ire practically as much in charge of the division as an officer in lie other provinces. It is often the practice in the Panjab to let an Assistant vc charge of the current business of a tahsil. According as he as special or full powers he will be able to dispose of eases or on] to report and prepare them for the Deputy Commissioner’s ores, But such an officer is not in charge in the sense of the North A st Provinces Act. The Tahsildar is 1 the executive revenue authority in a tahsbr sub-division. I may here add that the pargana division is ill known in the Panjab aud .often referred to in revenue records d official reports and maps ; but the tahsil is the actual administrate unit of a sub-division. The system of qanungos and patwarlis of course in full operation ; rules prescribing the duties of the officers are to be found in the rules made under the Act 2 . § 6.— Grades of Officers. The Central Provinces.— The Chief Commissioner is (suh;t to the control of the Governor General) the chief controlling v venue authority 3 4 . Over divisions are the Commissioners, and over districts Depy Commissioners, as in any other “ Non-Regulation ” Province. The Act also recognises Assistant Commissioners (includd Extra Assistants), Tahsildars and Naib ( i.e ., Deputy) Tahsildars 1 Act XXXIII of 1871, section 2. Naib or deputy tahsildars, who assist c tahsildar and prepare cases for him, exist everywhere, but are not specifically n.- tioned in the Act. 2 Id., section 66. Revenue Rules, Chapter I, head “Powers.” 3 Act XVIII of 1881, section 5. 4 Id., section 6, and Definition I in section 4. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 4(55 Power is given in any tahsil, district, or division to appoint an " ilditional^ Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, or Tahsildar, uiito vest him with all or any of the powers of the office 5 . Nothing is said -about an Assistant being in charge of a sub- fivjion; but this can be arranged, because the Act allows 8 any \sstant to be invested with the powers of a Deputy Commissioner, ns i the Panjab. he method in which the subordinate officers are to work is ds specially stated 7 . The Deputy Commissioner is empowered lifer to refer individual cases to his Assistant or other subordinate :o investigation and report (or for disposal if the officer has been msted with the necessary powers), or direct that the officer is to ;,a j up all cases, or certain kinds of cases, within a specified .local u\, either to report on or (if vested with power) to dispose of. The qanungo is not mentioned in the Act, but such officers >*;t on the tahsil establishment; they have no powers and are a f useful for purposes of record, supervision, and statistics. § 7.— Remind. It will thus be seen that in all the provinces there is a general n.ilarity. At the head of each is a chief Revenue authority who deals »y with matters of final control, and in appeal, and has the power i inspection necessary to those duties. In the North-West Pro- t ces this authority is the Board of Revenue. In the Panjab it .she Financial Commissioner. In Oudh and the Central Provinces f s the Chief Commissioner. In all provinces, a group of districts, called a division, is presided srby the Commissioner, who is also a controlling and inspecting ) cer "with appellate powers. In each district we see the Collector, or the Deputy Commis- ner with his Assistants, and his native subordinates in each 5 Act XVIII of 1881, section 10. * Id., sections 11-15. 7 Id., sections 15-16. 2f -166 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ tahsil,” (ultimate revenue sub-division of a district). ie authority rests with the Collector or Deputy Commissioner, ui ss we are dealing with a sub-division where an Assistant is inve id with these powers. The other Assistants according’ to their g J e exercise certain more or less limited powers; while the lowest g Je Assistant and the Tahsildar usually only report on or prepare c es for the orders of the District Officer ; they also.record certain f: s, and exercise only a direct power of deciding or passing on -s, when such powers are specially given them by the Act or Rub in force in the province. § 8 .—Local machinery for statistics and accounts. I must now proceed to notice the important machinery iy which matters are brought up from the place where they occu to the authority at head-quarters. The same machinery also is ie means not only of collecting statistics which will he wanted at iy future settlement, but also of keeping up the revenue record of the time, both as regards the collection and realisation of the re- nue and the maintenance of the records of rights. On the accuracy and the efficiency with which this duty is performed a great deal is dependent. Not only is the possibility of dispensing with lengthened operations at a revision of settlen it dependent on it, but almost all our knowledge of the statistic of production, the advance of agriculture, and the prosperity of is district, is also bound up with it. The village headman and the village patwari are the promimt elements of the machinery, and it is important that their duty slidd be well understood. The supervision of these village officials is directly entrusteto the qanungo, who in fact is the link that connects them with be tahsil, to which all their reports and records go in the fksui- stance. It is the tahsildar, as the local representative of revenue an o- rity, who passes it on \yith his report and recommendation for be orders of the District Officer. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 467 § 9.— The TahsUdar. 'lie tahsfldar is thus a most important functionary. On his utt igence, knowledge of the district, and experience,' depend, to g';at extent, the working of the whole system. t is not necessary that he should have large powers of deciding n ers, but he generally reports on all cases, sending them up ir ;he orders of the district officials. His great duty is to watch heirogress of the revenue collections and the state of his tahsfi, o ipervise the qanungo, the patwaris, and the headmen, and see lia none neglect their duty. le is usually empowered to enforce, of his own authority, the iier process of coercion when necessary to get in arrears of iviue. He is allowed also to make certain “ dakhil-kharij ” ot.es, i.e ., to record changes in the record of rights in some a,S>. In the Central Provinces this is done always under the vers of the District Officer. He also can order the repair and laitenance of boundary marks, and act in certain cases of parti- 10 of estates, subject to sanction 8 * * 11 . ’ § 10 .—Duties of the Qanungo. The village revenue machinery which thus supplies the original a. and facts for record, which sends in the ultimate revenue c unts, and so forth, must engage our attention in some detail, ’it I will take the Qanungo. § 11.— The Qanungo in the North-West Provinces. In order to supervise the patwaris directly and see that they really otheir work and keep up their books accurately, a system of i lection is carried out through the qanungo, an officer deriving 8 k’or the North-Western Provinces, see S. B. Cir. Dep. IX, page 161. At a ^ so will be found an account of an inspection book to be written up when iisil office is inspected. A glance at the headings of inspection will at once show h variety of duties involved in a talisfldarsliip. In Oudh the tahsildar’s duty is described in the Circular 4 of 1878. In the Panjab the rules under the Land Revenue Act explain the powers of 11 Ildars (head I, Powers), Part II. 468 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. his title from thS old Mughal system of revenue, but exe sin? functions in many respects, if not entirely, different from the of his historic predecessor. The patwari receives his blank books from, and is cons ntly supervised in the course of their being written up by, the qalngo appointed under the Revenue Act 9 . There are two or tli 3 of them to each tahsil,—one, generally the elder, is kept the office as the “ Registrar qanungo ; ” the others are the acte or “ supervising qanungos; ” over them all is an experienced adr- qanungo 10 , who remains at the Collector's head-quarters. The office is by law hereditary, if a qualified heir can be foul in the direct line of descent. A qanungo's heir who is deqned to succeed him, must be sent to school and must pass a ex¬ amination 1 . Various subordinate posts connected with rcuue work are then available to him when he grows up, and iu lese he may gain experience till such time as he actually succeeds the appointment. The “Registrar qanungo Jl pays the pat iris, keeps (at the tahsil) the “ filed ” patwarks papers, keeps and sues the blank volumes of forms ; he also makes reports to the Rev iue- officers when called on, and keeps up a series of registers ■ rich need not be detailed here. Some of them are, in fact, regters which give the totals of the patwarks books, so that on act register one line only has to be written annually, being a trail ript of the corresponding totals in the patwarks records. “ Supervising qanungos ” are charged with constant soer- vision and inspection of existing patwaris, with the instructi of the patwaris'’ heirs in their future duties, and with making’ >cal enquiries. They keep diaries showing their occupation 2 . The “ sadr-qanungo ” remains at the district head-quart's 3 , He compiles statements for the whole district from those ofacli 9 Section 33. 10 S. B. Cir., Part III,—Rules for Qanungos. ] Id., Chap II and Chap. IV, § 30. 2 Id., Part III, Chap. 15, page 35. 3 Id., Chap. XXII, page 47. I,AND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 469 ■XI a bs staff. He also makes a tour in tbe cold season, and sees owhe tahsil qanungos are working. § 12 .—The Qauungo in the Punjab. i this province the qanungo’s duties will be found described i ti same chapter of the Rules under the Revenue Act which etis the duties of the patwari. They are not formally classified itcupervisingand “registrar" as in the North-Western Provinces, utire generally supervised by a (< sadr " or “ district qauungo ” ie Deputy Commissioner’s head-quarters. 'he duties are succinctly described in the Rules which may erbe quoted:— ' (1) To maintain registers of village accountants and village headmen, and to report for orders all vacancies in these offices. ‘ (2) To maintain registers of assignments of land revenue, and to report all lapses of such assignments. ‘ (3) To maintain registers of mutations of proprietors, mortgagees, and other incumbrancers and tenants with right of occupancy, and to bring all changes to the notice of the tahsildar for orders. ‘(4) To assist at all measurements of land by revenue-officers, all local enquiries in the Revenue Department, and all audit of accounts of estates held under direct management. " (5) To compile and produce, when required by any Court of Justice or any revenue-officer, information regarding articles of produce, rates of rent, and local rules and customs. “ (6) To superintend and control the patwaris, examine and countersign their diaries, ascertain that their records are correctly maintained, and all changes entered and reported, and test the annual village returns prepared in duplicate by them, retaining one of the copies until the papers of the following year are filed, and forwarding the other to the District Office after examination, and to discharge such other duties as may be assigned to them with the sanction of the Finanoial Commissioner. “ (7) Re shall visit the circles of the patwaris subordinate to him, in order to ascertain by personal observation and enquiry on the spot that their duties are punctually and correctly performed, that no changes, a report of which is required, are overlooked, and that the boundary marks are properly maintained. * Rules, Head B„ Chap. II. 470 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ (8) The district qaniingo shall be the head of the qaniingo estailW ment of the district: “ 1.—The annual papers prepared by patwaris shall he examinee ml tested by him before they are sent into the Record Office. “ 2.—Mutation and partition cases shall be examined and check hj him when received from tahsils, and all reports and o.ts i relating to the appointment, dismissal, or control of lambai vs and patwaris shall be communicated to him before the files .re sent into the Record Office. “ 3.—He shall check alluvion and diluvion returns, and accom ay the Assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioner deputed tc st I the measurements and report on the settlement of lands aff»d by river action. “ 4.—He shall from time to time examine on the spot the registers id records maintained by qanungos and patwaris, and bring tie notice of the tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner any e re or omissions which he may discover.” § 13.— The Qanungo in Oudh. Qauungos are provided or appointed by the Act as Supei- tendents of Revenue Records. I have not seen any rules relaig to them 5 . § 14.— The Qanungo in the Central Provinces. This functionary is not mentioned in the Act, but I uuderst d that he is employed as a member of the tahsil establishment mli as in the other province. Indeed, where the system of patwis is in force, some such supervising agency would seem necess;^ not only to instruct and direct the preparation of records, but ;o to abstract and compile the information received village by vilhe. j § 15.— The Patwari. Ihe patwari is, speaking generally, a Government servant 8 . On the successful performance of his duty depends the accui:e maintenance of the records which may be said to be “ started ” it • 6 Oudh Act, section 220. 0 In the Panjab and North-Western Provinces he is purely a Government sent. In Oudh his position is slightly different. Iu the Central Provinces the statei A ij of the text is perhaps hardly true. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 47 L sctement, but require to be kept up to date by timely notice of derhs, transfers, and successions which affect the rights in land amthe succession to village offices. On the patwari also depends tlu maintenance of the village accounts, and the record of pay- mets made by ignorant tenants to the landowners, or of revenue by 20 -sharers, through the lambardars, these persons being usually unde to keep their accounts themselves. Lastly, on the patwari de'inds in a great measure the record of statistics and facts about crus and the area under different kinds of cultivation, the sinking of -ells, aud other facts which will at a future settlement be soffit for and compiled, to enable the assessment to be revised, an which also show the present condition and progress of every urge, and whether the revenue q,t its present assessment can be re ised steadily or not. Though exhibiting a very general similarity, and though the re¬ als aimed at are precisely the same, each province nevertheless has town rules, and I therefore must notice the patwari of each pro- me separately. The system has, perhaps, been brought to its patest perfection iu the North-West Provinces,* and I shall there- ’o describe the system there pursued as a sort of standard. § 1 Q.—The patw&ri iu the North- Western Provinces. Here patwaris are required to be appointed by the Land Beve- M Act. A patwari is not ordinarily appointed for each village, over circles of villages as arranged by the Collector 7 . The landholders in the circle nominate according to local custom >: the Collector (or Assistant in charge) controls the appointment, le office is not necessarily hereditary, but preference is given to member of the family of the late holder, if he is qualified. The uwari has a salary the amount of which is fixed by the Board of venue, and a rate is levied along with the land revenue, to meet • : cost of this salary. Every patwari is a public servant, and 7 North-Western Provinces Revenue Act, section 23 et seq. 4 72 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the records he keeps are public property 8 . His duties and I> forms of records and accounts which he has to maintain and si. mit periodically have all been prescribed in a very complete gro j of circulars by the Board of Revenue 9 . In order to provide that future patwaris shall be sufficien' educated to enable them to perform their duty, rules are m;; . compelling the successor-designate of the existing official to > i sent to school. Means are also provided through the agency of 1; qauungo for teaching the patwaris to survey. § 17.— Patwaris’ papers. The “ patwaris’ papers” are so constantly alluded to in fev nue proceedings, that it will -be desirable to give some account these documents. They may be grouped under the head of ( village accounts, (2) official records for the information of t Collector, for use at future settlements, &c. For the purposes of village account he used to keep— (a) A “ siaha ” or daily cash book in which all payments i or disbursements by, the proprietors or their agents the revenue or rent account were entered. In the Nort Western Provinces this is now obsolete. (b) The principal account, or “ bahi-khata/ 1 is a ledger showii the holdings and accounts of each proprietor and ci tivator. Besides there are— (< c ) The wasil-baqi. This is a rent account showing t holdings and the tenants who cultivate them, the rei claimed for each, with the amount paid, the balance, ai the arrears, if any. (cl) The “ jamabkharch.” This is a profit and loss account ■ the proprietors. Disbursements for revenue, cesses, lau fl See Act XIX of 1873, section 35. 9 Circulars about patwaris are now grouped together in Part III of the S.. Circulars. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 473 bardar's allowances, and village expenses are entered on one side, and the receipts from rents and other sources of common profits on the other. Besides these accounts, the patwari keeps for general purposes i rozuamcha ;j or diary, which is simply a narrative of every¬ th g that he does, or that happens in his village or circle. These books are preserved for four years after the close of the ve' to which they relate. But the patwari has also_ to maintain another set of records re’ting to the condition of the village and its produce, showing thimprovement or deterioration of the estate, and containing other -t. istical information of a similar character. The maintenance of the village maps is also an important dbct. IRhe maps, once correctly drawn out at settlement, could be ac- ■utely kept up, so that all changes in cultivation and other features we carefully entered in distinctive red lines, the expense of re-survey il'uture settlements might he almost wholly avoided. And this olect is aimed at under the improved system of cadastral survey wich has recently been introduced. In the same way with the sltistical records. If a really reliable account of progress incul¬ pation, of the produce of land, and the rise or fall in value of 1: d as shown by the true rental, the actual terms which proprie- t s can get for the use of their laud, were available, the task of rrisiDg settlements, and of judging whether revision is necessary v all, would be almost indefinitely lightened 10 . It is also need- 1 s to point out how valuable such statistical information is for nny other purposes connected with good government. Great effort is therefore directed both to the proper prepara- 1 m of the patwari's papers and to the maintenance of the maps. Both objects are dependent on a field-to-field inspection done * ider supervision; and the first thing is to furnish the patwari 10 See an excellent note prefaced to the Board’s Circulars, Part III. 474 IAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. with copies 1 of the village maps when tlyjse have been prey ei ] ' with sufficient accuracy. He has also a “ kliasra ” oV field-boo or I index to the map. This shows the numbers of the fields as ii he settlement kliasra, but the columns are all blank, and it is he patwari’s duty now to fill them, according to actual facts as ey j are at the time when he makes his inspection 2 . During the iussc- ! tion, also, he marks all changes in the size and division of fi [ s or any other changes, such as roads, drains, or wells, in his vilj*e 1 map. These maps and their corresponding tabular kkasras or i each year are filed and kept in the tahsil, being deposited there as soon as the year closes. A second volume of records consists of statements or abstrts compiled from these field khasras, so as to show in couvemt forms, and separately, the different classes of facts. These st>. «| ments are :— (1) “Milan Kliasra,” a statement showing the total area of the yeas ' compared with that of the previous year, under the heads of c i- vated, culturable, and barren ; and showing also what land is irrigd ! and what is unirrigated, how much is barren, covered with ti• and so forth. The number of wells of each kind is also stated. (2) “ Nalcsha jinswar,” or abstract statement of crops. This shows * area under each kind of crop, both on irrigated and unirrig;i land. ' It is prepared separately for each harvest. (3) “Nalcsha hdglidt,” a statement of groves and orchards. (4) “ Jamabandi.” This paper is the annual rent-roll to which allu.- i ■ has been made. It is brought on separate forms for tenants io " pay cash rents and those who pay in hind. (5) Lastly, there is the Kalcliil-leharij Khewat, or register showing 1 ' the changes in the proprietorship and shares in land. It is prepal so as to show, first, the “ opening khewat ” or state of proprietors^) as it was on the last day of the previous year; and, second, * intermediate changes or “ closing khewat ” as it stands at the c!e of the present year. 1 Now usually prepared by photozincography. 2 For example, his khasra before the rabi’ harvest will show all the fields, l, that have spring cropS of different kinds, and when again he makes an inspection the kharif he will show these that bear sugarcane and other autumn crops. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 475 k.11 these records are bound into four volumes : Sim stica l Records Vi age Accounts { Volume I .—Tlie Khasra. Volume II .—The land and crop statements compiled or abstracted from the Khasra. Volume III . — The Jamabandi and Dakhil- kharij Khewat. ( Volume IV .— The Wasilbaqi and Jama- l kharch, or village accounts. § 18 .—The Taiwan in Otidh. [n this province the system has not received quite the same lelopment as in the North-West Provinces. It must be borne in mind that originally, under the Native sys- te:, the patwari. was purely a village servant, getting paid by ■eain perquisites, and perhaps a bit of laud held free or at a a lurable rate. In Bengal, as we have seen, the system of pat- v;is on this basis has fallen into disuse, not, however, without neh difference of opinion among reveuue-officers as to the wisdom ifbermitting it, and not without some serious difficulty in Ileve- n-administration, where the estates of “ zaminddrs ” are numer- >i and small. In the North-West Provinces it was early seen I fc with proprietary communities and small holdings, the pat- vi was a most essential institution. He was therefore lifted up it of his original position; he was made a Government servant I I given a fixed salary. His education was provided for, and i duties multiplied and minutely prescribed : only the appointment 1 1 the succession to the office are regulated to some extent by i dent custom. In Oudh, where the patwaris had long been regarded as i servants of the landlords, and remunerated by them in such inner as they thought fit,—by grant of land, by cash allow- ces, or hy customary dues levied on the landlord's tenants— would have been distasteful to introduce a complete change d make the patwari's appointment to depend entirely on the strict Officer, and his remuneration to be a Government salary 476 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. raised by a cess. It was decided, therefore, not to impose y “ patwaris cess/’ but in their kabuliyats, the landlords engaged Ht it should be open to the Government hereafter to make such md- fied arrangements as they thought fit. Finally the matter is dealt within the Land Revenue Act 3 . By this the Chief Comr;. sioner was authorised to require the appointment of a patw&ri * any village or group of villages or other local area, and to m e rules for regulating the qualifications and duties of these offic;, In estates other than taluqas the Deputy Commissioner is t. powered (subject to rules made by the Chief Commissioner', o appoint, suspend, and dismiss the patwaris ; and the Chief Comn - sioner is also authorised to provide for their remuneration il supervision. In taluqa estates the law leaves these matters to the tab • dars, who are not interfered with, so long as they make p. per arrangements for the performance by the patwaris of thr prescribed duties, and for the submission of the accounts and • turns required by the Act and Rules. On the failure of the tali, dar to make such arrangements, the Deputy Commissioner : authorised to take action, and in cases of continued or repeall neglect the Chief Commissioner may declare that 4 the rules 1 estates other than taluqdari are to be applied. It has not yet be found necessary to exercise this power, to make a distinction which, a rather invidious one, between taluqdari and non-taluqdari estate and the practice has been to allow all classes of proprietors, equal, to appoint their own patwaris and to exercise the power (which by law only secured to the taluqdar) of fixing the remuneratic, dismissing and suspending; but this is allowed as long as ra are appointed according to the standard of qualification require and as long as their duties are properly performed. Patwaris are required to hold certificates of qualification reading and writing and arithmetic, and in the duties of a patwa 3 Act XVII of 1876, Chapter XII. 4 Id,, section 213. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 477 T1 maximum area for one patwari is land paying a jama of Ri 2,000 (or Rs. 3,000 in a taluqdari estate). The patwari keeps up books much as in the North-West Pro- vi:es, has his village account, his diary of occurrences, his field [i s which he checks and fills up by the inspection of every field, ju, in the same manner as already described. He prepares at the end of the year , from the ledger which shows tl payments of tenants, &c., a rent-roll or “ jamabandi” showing tl reuts that actually have been paid in the previous year. § 19 .—The Patwari in the Panjab. Here the duties of patwaris are described in detail in the rules rrde under the Revenue Act 5 6 * . One is appointed for each mahal (restate, unless two or more smaller mahals have been united iuto a : circle 8 .” The patwari is nominated by the headmen, subject to condi- t : ns of fitness and approval by the Deputy Commissioner. He itpaid by a fixed percentage (not exceeding 6^ per cent.) ou the renue, which is collected by the headmeu, and paid to the pat- vri on his receipt. His duties being concisely stated in Rule 15 i:der the Act, I shall not apologise for extracting it, although it neats to some extent what has been stated under the North- ’est Provinces. “The duties to be performed by patwaris shall be as follows :— “ (1) To keep a diary in which every fact coming to their knowledge, bear¬ ing on the preparation of their returns, or upon the revenue ad¬ ministration of the estates in their circles, shall be entered at the time, the date of the entry, and the manner in which the fact was learnt being shown. J “ (2) To keep a ledger containing the accounts of demands upon and pay¬ ments by the proprietors*md tenants of each estate. 5 Head A, Chapter II. 6 In especially large or heavily worked estates or circles an assistant patwari may appointed (Kulcs, II, § 4). 4-7S land revenue and land tenures oe india. “ (3) To report 7 to the qanungo the death of village officers and of i L; ees of land revenue, and all transfers of, or successions to, pi r i fl j • tary right or rights of occupancy. “ (4) To conduct the survey and prepare the maps and measurement i U > • of the estate or estates included in the circle, “ (5) To report to the tahsfldar without delay the occurrence of cala ties of season within the estate or circle. “(6) In the cold season of each year to inspect all the fields inclm j,, I each estate in the circle, and, while so engaged, to ascertain the Li ; grown during the kharif season and those sown for the rabi’ si on, and to record all changes affecting the village field map or tin ire! paration of the annual papers, and all mutations and laps of assignments of land revenue which have not already been rep ted • ' for orders. “ (7) To prepare and file in duplicate with the qanungo to whom the Ire subordinate, as soon as may be after the annual inspection, a tc- ment of the crops grown in each estate during the year, am iot ' later than the 1st October, the remaining annual returns fo the past agricultural year beginning with the kharif and ending ith the rabi’ season. “ (8) To preserve the copies of settlement records and records of subseont measurements which have been made over to their charge, am ,he ' annual papers of each estate in the circle for the past year. “ (9) To perform all other duties and services which may be requir of them by the Deputy Commissioner.” The accounts and statistical records for the year (besides le village account and diary) are kept just as in the North-Tst Provinces 8 , and consist of the milan kliasra, or fluctuations in be area cultivated and uncultivated, irrigated arud uuirrigated, i; the jamabaudi, or rent-roll; the naksha jins war, or record ofeps for each harvest; the jama-kharch, or village’accouut current; id the dakhil-kharij khewat, or record of the changes in the propriet y interests of the village. The patwari is bound to furnish extracts from his record.,o persons who want them in order to file suits, &e. 7 The Report is called the “ fauti-nama,” and states the facts regarding ie deceased’s holding and the prima facie right of succession. 8 Only the Panjab patwari does not keep a list of orchards, as this is m a . sufficiently common feature, nor do I find mention of a tenant’s wasil-baki; tenant’s accounts sufficiently appear from the village account hook. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 479 § 20. — The Patwari in the Central Provinces. he patwari orpandya (as lie is sometimes called) lias at present itis very similar to those above described. Pie has to see that I joprietary changes are duly reported at the tahsfl, so that the dfhil-kharij ” may take place. He also keeps a “ lagwan ” or •n'foll showing the holdings of the cultivators and the rents each iso pay for the year. A good deal of correspondence at one time ■olplace as to the system. It was proposed to introduce the 011 -West Provinces plan of patwaris"’ “ circles/"’ each official >ir a Government servant, paid by a fixed cash percentage on leima. This would be to upset the old Native system, under hh the patwari was a village servant of a quasi-hereditary la'cter. If he were purely' a Government servant, he would >n from the usual official class of Maratha Brahmans, and would d induce discord in the village and make the people dependent i im, instead of letting them learu to know their own rights u liabilities. It was finally decided to maintain the Native •fm, merely placing the patwari under the control of the District liter. Each “ wajib-ul-’arz ” was to define the custom of the ilge as regards the patwari, who would be appointed and main- li id accordingly 9 . L’he Revenue Act has left scope for the maintenance of these rciples. ft does not say that the patwari is a public servant, nor thlt nmust be appointed, but it does say 10 that his papers are pub- clocuments and public property. At the old settlements the i ntenance of a patwari was sometimes made optional; and the ’’ef Commissioner may make rules as to how the Deputy Commis- i< er is to deal with these cases, and what is to be done if a : vari is not appointed. In all cases, the Chief Commissioner v make rules as to the selection and qualifications of patwaris, i the appointment of substitutes for persons having a hereditary | Circular B appended to Settlement Code. See also a note on the subject in I Bernard’s Memorandum on the Chanda Settlement. ” Act XVIII of 1881, sections 1G-A7. [ 1 430 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. claim to the office, but who are personally unable to act. ] | eg may also be made prescribing the duties of patwaris. No lamb; \{t can be required to levy more than 6 per cent, on the revenui for the remuneration of a patwari. This does not apply, howevi tn cases coming under section 145 of the Act, viz., those above all ed to, where it was necessary to appoint a patwari by the Di; iefc Officer’s order. § 21.— The Village Headmen in the North-West Provinces The village headmen are called 1 larnlardars. “The Iambi iat of an estate is a person who, either on his own account, or join)’ with others, or as representative of the whole or part of a propriety community, engages with Government for the payment of the nd revenue.” His duties are to pay in the land revenue to the local treasr to report to the qanungo encroachments on roads or on Go verm; ot waste lands, and injuries, &c., to Government buildings, and so the same with regard to boundary marks. If he is representative of a number of proprietors he In to collect the revenue and cesses, also to defray, in the first insta:e, the “ village expenses,” and reimburse himself in accordance -tli village custom. He must account to the co-sharers for thesou the occasion of the “bujharat” or audit of village accounts, he lajmbardar as the representative of the body acts generally as agt for the sharers in their dealings with Government. He is appointed in the North-West Provinces accordin'to local custom,_ subject to a right on the part of the Colkor to refuse a nominee on certain specified grounds, chiefly regain® his competence, character, and his- baing a sharer (in possess a) of the mahal. 1 If there happens to be only one proprietor in an estate or in a “ patti,fbe owner is owner and lamhardar in one. Most commonly there are several, an;he lamhardar is then the representative. 2 S. B. Cir. Dep. Ill, page 9, issued under section 25.7 of the Revenue cl. These duties are irrespective of the responsibility enforced by the criminal la to report crime, &c. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 481 § 2 i .— The Village Headmen in Oudh. 4ules regarding lambardars were published in 1878 s . [n estates not being those of taluqdars they exist as elsewhere m get the usual remuneration of 5 per cent, on the jama. In alpi estates the lambardari of the village under the taluqdar is an io>rary office. Hie rules regarding the lambardar in non-taluqdari estates are •x: tly like those of the North-Western Provinces. In taluqdari ■sites the lambardar becomes the revenue engagee, not with Icermneut, but with the taluqdar. The lambardar is appointed nc- o;ing to local custom, but he is required to be aide to read and .re Hindi and to understand the village accounts. If there is no ->c custom, the appointment is elective, subject to certain condi- i os of competency and other matters to be found in the 11th rule. L’he duties of .an Oudh lambardar are — 1) To pay- fa) the Government demand on account of revenue and cesses to the officer appointed to receive it, when he represents a mahal or part of a mahal held in direct engagement with the Government ; ( b ) the rent payable to the taluqdar, when he represents a mahal or part of a mahal held in sub-settlement or under a heritable, non- transferable lease. (2) To report to the qanungo all encroachments on roads or on Government waste lands, and all injuries to, or appropriations of, nazul buildings situated within the boundaries of the mahal. 3) To report to the tahsildar the destruction or removal of, or injury to, boundary marks, or any other marks erected iu the mahal by order of Government. jin mabals where the lambardar is a representative of other ners, his duties are, in addition to those enumerated above— '4) To collect in accordance with village custom— [a) the Government demand on account of revenue and cesses, when ho 'Notification (Revenue) No. 2899 R., dated 27th September 1878, and republished Ocular 23 of 1878. Under section 220(a) of the Revenue Act, the sanction of the o nor General in Council is not required, the words in the Revenue Act having S' repealed under Act XIV of 1878 to assimilate the powers of the Chief Commis- -v-in Oudh with those of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Pro- i< i, the two offices being now united. 2 G 48 2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. represents a mahal or part of a mahal held in direct engagi j n t I ■with the Government; (b) the rent payable to the taluqdar, when he represents a mal or part of a mahal held’in sub-settlement o^ under a heritable on- transferable lease. (5) To defray, in the first instance, village expenses, and to reimburse im- self in accordance with village custom. (6) To render accounts to the co-sharers of the transactions referred in clauses 4 and 5 of this rule. § 23.— The Village Headmen in the Panjah. The manner of appointing and the duties of the larabdar are laid down in the “ Rules 4 * ;” the number is kept as av as possible, but one is, if possible, appointed for each priii «l or well-known sub-division of an estate. The lambardar mm be a sharer in possession, and must not be a man obnoxious tJ. lector's (or Deputy Commissioner's) office. And it is (with an exception presently noticed) never altid i.e., in its own pages, hut registers are kept to account foul] subsequent changes. There may be errors, corrected by the C it or by consent of the parties ; owners die and are succeeded by ie or more heirs ; lands change hands by sale or mortgage,—all t ie have to be recorded. Partitions of estates may also necessitate iv • entries. § 2.— Provisions regarding records in the North- West Proving The North-West Provinces Act 5 requires the Collector o register all such facts, the Board prescribing the forms, and the Lul Government prescribing the fees for registering them. The proas is commonly spoken of as “ dakhil-kharij," literally “ enterin’' (one man's name) and " striking out" (another's). All persons succeeding to any proprietary right, by any proc s of transfer whatever, are 0 bound to report the fact to the tahsilc, who must get the orders of the Collector (or of the Assistanin charge) before recording the change. The Collector causes an - quiry to be made as to the fact. Questions of right are notf course entered upon. But there may be a dispute as to possession. A person outf possession, for example, will often try and assert his (or his suppos) right by selling or mortgaging, and when the vendee applies to hie his name entered, it appears that some one is already in posses^ , who declares that he never sold the land and has no intention 1 doing so; or a widow sells and some relative asserts that the tra ~ fer is invalid. In such a case the Collector will decide on the bas 5 Act XIX of 1873, section 91. 6 Section 97. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 489 of )Ssession. But if he is unable to satisfy himself as to which par' is in possession, he must ascertain by summary enquiry lhe>arty best entitled to the property, and must put such person m assession. He will then record the change, subject to any decree thsj may be passed subsequently by the Civil Court. 7 Ul changes in landed interests other than proprietary are reeded by the qanungo and patwari, and only if there is a dispute, thunatter is reported for the orders of the Collector or Assistant. § 3.— Provisions of the Oudh Law. The Act 8 requires, first of all, a series of registers to be me out “ on the basis of the settlement records/"’ and occur- •e :es rendering alteration of these necessary are to be noted. The Clef Commissioner is to prescribe the form of register and the imuntof fees. Report of the change, if of proprietary right, is ;o>e made to the tahsildar ; non-proprietary changes are to be ldt with as the Chief Commissioner may direct 9 . § 4 .—Provisions of the Pan jab Law. The Act provides that the facts above described shall be 'forded. 10 , and leaves it to local rules to provide details 1 . The i ctiee under the Rules is, that the patwari reports through 1 qanungo to the tahsfl the death of a headman, a revenue-free rintee, or a person interested in land, including an occupancy ten- i ;. In the first two cases the Deputy Commissioner or his Assist- io passes orders, in the others the tahsildar does, if the succession not disputed \ but if it is, reference is made to the Deputy 7 ActOHX of 1873, section 101. 8 Act XVII of 1S76, section B6 el seq. |j 9 Section 66. No rules have yet been issued, but it will be seen that the procedure kely resembles that of the North-YVest Provinces, but owing to the complication subordinate tenures it is more intricate. 1,1 Rcveuue Act, section 39. 1 Id., section 40 and" Rules, bead E., — Registration, §§ 1-14. 490 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Commissioner, who maintains the heirs who are in possession, ul refers objectors to the Civil Court. Mutations necessitated I a decree of Court are also registered by order of the Deputy Cu. missioner. Mutations arising from voluntary transfers are made be re the tahsfldar, unless there is an objection, when the order of the Deputy Commissioner are obtained. It is, however, expre y stated that the' mutation, if the transferor is a minor, oruur legal disability, or if the land has been hypothecated as security >r a farm, or other Government contract, is to be refused 2 . As in the other provinces, fees are charged, and a notice t fifteen days is issued to allow of objections being made. § 5 .—Provisions of the Central Provinces Law. Here the original record may be altered after it is handed oven the District Officer, but only on one or other of the grounds specill in section 120 of the Revenue Act. The Chief Commissioner is ei- powered, by section 125, to direct that the village muqaddam si 1 prepare (or, if there is a patwari, cause to be prepared) such paps as he may prescribe, showing proprietary and other changes. ,\ persons in possession of proprietary rights are bound to give i; information necessary for the preparation of these papers. Such changes will be recorded in such registers as may be p, scribed. As in the other provinces, persons entering into possession' proprietary rights and interests in land are bound to give notice i the tahsildar. A yearly enquiry is to be made 3 into revenue-free holdings, as to see what holdings lapse and become liable to assessment, a whether the conditions on which such may be held are kept*. 2 Rules, head JE., — Registration, § 8. It is the rule in the Panjab to report the Commissioner mutations whereby an outsider acquires land in a village owned a community. This is one of the several precautions taken to watch those chauf which tend to break up the communities. 3 Act XVIII of 1881, section 130. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 491 (JB.)— Partitions. § 6 .—Nature of partition cases. ’bis is one of the ways in which proprietary changes occur. I'h chapter on tenures will have informed the student that in some as the village-owners enjoy the estate in common, pay the whole iwseds into a common stock, and then, after discharging the euiue, cesses, and village expenses, distribute the profits according o ncestral or other recognised shares. But besides this, the vile body is jointly liable to Government for the revenue. There n< r he a partition, therefore, which affects the private joint interest; Ire may also be oue which affects the joint liability also. The , a ition is called (in legal language) “ perfect ” when the joint e. • Revenue-officer may enquire into and decide the matter hiimf under the procedure laid down in the Act. § 8 .—Partition Law in Ouclh. Chapter V of the Revenue Act is devoted to the subject., ai Act XIX of 1863 was repealed 8 for the same reason as in h 1 North-West Provinces. The provisions are exactly the same as the North-West Provinces, except that the Act does not require t assent of all the co-sharers to an imperfect partition. The Circui 1 Orders, however, show a disposition to defer perfect partition, ift t people can be persuaded to agree to accept an imperfect partiti instead 9 . § 9.— Law of the Panjab. In this province Act XIX of 1863 is not in force. A ve decided objection, on public grounds, is entertained to a pevfe partition ; it is thought that, if allowed generally, it would be tl i 5 Revenue Act, section 108. 6 Section 112. Partition is (in this and in all the Acts) one of the subjects ov 1 which Civil Courts have no jurisdiction (see section 135 : so in Panjab Act, section 6! Section 131. 8 See Oudh Laws Act XVIII of 1876, Schedule I. IJ Which it often really is. The definition of shares is what is really needed if I family disagree; the separation of the rarely enforced joint responsibility is ve exceptionally of real importance to them. See Circular 21 of 1878. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 4-93 • iigal for the break-up of the communities, aud this would destroy th(power of internal self-government according to ancient and far liar custom, which is one of the best features of the system. flie Revenue Act says nothing on the subject beyond barring th(jurisdiction of the Civil Courts in such matters. It is conse- quitly dealt with by rules under the general powers given in sec- tic 66 10 . As regards imperfect partition, any member of a community m r apply to have his share separated off, irrespective of the eo;ent of the others, provided there is no dispute about the accuracy of die record as regards who are the sharers. Perfect partition may be made only at settlement (provided the section of the Financial Commissioner is obtained, if it is not the fi t regular settlement), but only on the written application of a si rer, or one who holds a decree and is executing it. Even then (as in Oudh) the Settlement Officer is to explain tl matter to the people aud ascertain if a division of land with- o; dissolving the communal bond will not suffice to meet what t;y really want. § 10 .—Law of the Central Provinces. The Partition Act (IX of 1863) is in force. Both forms of j rtition are recognised. The simple separation of holdings (called ielhat ) is effected under the superintendence of the tahsfldar, ;bject to sanction of the District Officer. The Revenue Act has it dealt with the subject, except so far as it affects the question revenue responsibility. A Revenue Act, it was held, has nothing ' do with questions of partition of property as between the owners, Rich have no effect on the Government revenue, or the liability ■r it. This is, no doubt, the logical view. The 136th section i the Act allows perfect partition or separation of the revenue jsponsibility, as well as of the holding, on application to the deputy Commissioner. But the creation of a new mabal must 10 Rules, head E, — Registration, Chapter II, §§ 1—11,for imperfect, aud Chapter II, §§ 1-29, for perfect partition. 494- LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. be when the lands are separately held, and when the malgu 2 s, applying for separation, are not also co-shai-ers in other land n the mahal, besides having their several holdings which theyvh to separate. (C.) —Minor' settlements necessitated by lapse of grants, rivi ACTION, &C. § 11. —Lapses of revenue-free grants. Changes in the settlement arrangements liave also to be p. vided for; they arise chiefly by the lapse or resumption of mu's orjagirs (revenue-free grants). Many of these are granted 07 for a term, or for life, or are held conditionally. When the feu or the life expires, or the conditions are not fulfilled, the giv, may lapse, and then the land has to pay revenue. This iuvob the sanction of superior authority ( 1 ) to the fact of the lap, in case it depends on a question whether it ought to lapse or n(; ( 2 ) to the revenue to be in future assessed on it; (3) in case t grantee is not owner of the land, as to the person who is to settled with. For the purposes of this Manual it is only necessa to indicate, not to give details regarding, this subject 1 2 . § 12. — Alluvion assessments. I have already alluded to the way in which, at settlemen lands liable to be washed away or added to by the action rivers are dealt with, whether formed into separate “cliaks liable to be resettled after short periods, or left as part of tl estate at large, but requiring an alteration of the assessment wlie assets as a whole are affected beyond a certaiu limit. The Collect! has to provide for the inspection of the lauds, either annually^ 1 Called “Summary Settlements” in the North-Western Provinces; but tb term has quite another meaning in the Panjab, where it refers to the temporal arrangements in districts before a regular settlement was introduced. 2 For details of practice the Acts, the Revenue Rules, and the Province Revenue Circulars must be consulted, ft would exceed the limits of the work 1 give them in the text. Half-yearly returns of “lapses” are usually require. Sometimes when such grants are held by several sharers, local rules have to L applied as to whether the share lapses to Government or the survivors absorb it. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS." 495 lie-the period for alluvion and diluvion settlement comes round^ , ue n a specially heavy river action has produced extraordinary ii'Ci, as the case may be. The checking of the measurements liU J by the patwari, and the inspection of the lands with a view i isessing them, or to seeing whether the estate assets are leased or diminished at the beginning of the cold season (when le iver has subsided to its normal limits), is one of the iustruc- veduties of the District Assistants who submit their reports ;> e Collector (or Deputy Commissioner). The latter ultimately io)ses an assessment for the sanction of the chief revenue utility. (D.)— Maintenance of boundaries. § 13.— Legal provisions for repair of marks. The settlement proceedings, as we have seen, could not be aied out, if all boundaries were not in the first instance settled ivproper marks set up. But it is of hardly less importance that Ive should continue in a state of repair. A Forest Officer will l a find this a matter which comes practically under his notice, s lie estate under his charge may be immediately contiguous to venue-paying estate. All boundary disputes 3 are to be decided on the basis of pos- eion, or, iu some Acts, by arbitration with the consent of the uties; and an order may be giveu to maintain the marks as they i till the dispute is lawfully adjudicated. Obviously, it is the l y of persons disputing a boundary to go to Court aud get the l-'stion settled—notin the heat of excitement to try and take 1 law into their own hands and destroy existing marks. § 14.— -Law of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. The Revenue Act 4 gives power to the Collector to maintain I undary marks. Owners are responsible for their maintenance, 3 We are always now speaking of disputes arising after the Revenue Settlement >ver. 4 Sections 140-45. 496 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. and persons erasing or damagiug marks may be made to pa, f 0r the damage 5 6 . When the author of the mischief cannot' b< J 9 . ay with punctuality. These conditions may, in the North-West Provinces, be regu- ili by rules made by the Board 2 , in Oudh by the Chief Com- 0 Act XIX of 1873, section 2 (definitions). Also Rent Act, section 196(c), and ;iIVII of 1876, section 2 (definitions). See also sections 21-24 of the Act, as to ejectment dates. Section 147. The rules will be found in S. B. Cir. Dep. Ill, page 9. Pan jab i Revenue Rules, F., Chapter I. 2 H 498 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. missioner 3 , and in the Panjab 4 by the Local Government. In s ic cases the Settlement Officer determines at the time of settlen it when the instalments are to be paid. In the Central Provinces the Chief Commissioner may fix ie number of instalments, and the time, place, and manner of paym t, This be may do notwithstanding anything put down in the seg¬ ment record 5 . Revenue is in all provinces paid into the tahsil, unless a m gets express permission to pay it into the “ sadr,” or Collect’s head-quarters, direct. The tahsildar keeps up a “ kistbandi ” or register showing ic revenue payments, and when the instalments fall due. § 19 .—Recovery of arrears. The important question concerning the land revenue its recovery, when not voluntarily paid on its falling due. A m not paid at the proper time and place is in arrear, and the pern failing to pay is a defaulter e , I may here remark that the Revenue Manuals are usually II of cautions as to the exercise of powers for the recovery of revet:; nor is this unnecessary. Why does not a man pay ? Either beeise he will not, i.e., he is negligent, careless, ought to he able to jy, &c., or he cannot; famine, drought, or some other calamity as reduced him, or his assessment is really too heavy. Native offivs are prone to attribute the failure to “ shararat wa nadahinda.” (wicked refusal and contumacy). But the Collector must disi- minate. If there is reason to suppose that there is misforhe rather than fault, he can suspend the demand, and ultimaly 3 Oudh Act, section 109. 4 Panjab Act, section 42. 6 Act, section 90. "North-West Provinces Act, section 147; Oudh Act, section 111'; Punjab it section 42; which latter adds that it must be paid before sunset on the day cd. Central Provinces Act, section 91, LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 4yy ooi mend it for remission under the rules in force in his province, tloiot propose to deal with these matters in detail. ] terest is not demanded on arrears of revenue 7 . § 20.— When the arrear is disputed. r ie Acts recognise that a certificate of the tahsildar is sufficient idice of the arrear being due. But a person can pay “ under otit,” and then is allowed to bring a civil suit on the subject. f ie Panjab Act says nothing about proof of arrear; but only lo;s the fact to be contested by a suit (not after payment, but tetinding security), so long as the milder processes of recovery n .t and imprisonment in civil jail, &c.) mentioned in section 43 tl Act are going on. ut supposing that Legal process has to be resorted to, that o(jss is as follows : — § 21.— Processes of recovery : North-West Provinces. he procedure is sufficiently described in the 150th section e Act, which is as follows 8 : — An arrear of revenue may be recovered by the following processes : — (a) by serving a writ of demand (dastak) on any of the defaulters ; ! (t>) by arrest and detention of his person ; (c) by distress and sale of his movable property ; (d) by attachment of the share, or patti, or mahal in respect of which the arrear is due; (e) by transfer of such share or patti to a solvent co-sharer in the mahal ; (/) by annulment of the settlement of such patti or of the whole mahal ; ( g) by sale of such patti or of the whole mahal ; (A) by sale of other immovable property of the defaulter.” North-West Provinces Act, section 148; Oudh Act, section 111 ; not alluded t lie Panjiib Act; Central Provinces Act, section 119 ; conditional, however, on the ( Commissioner’s not ordering it: interest may be awarded on revenue due I a sub-settlement, because non-payment then does not only affect Government lie superior proprietor. North-West Provinces Act (XIX, 1873), sections 119 and 189 ; Punjab Act i 111, 1871), sections 13-11; Oudh Act (XVII, 1878), sections 113 and 15(> ; ml Provinces Act (XVI II, 1881), sections 92 and 114. BOO LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Under the first process, simple detention may last for fi eu days if the arrear (with costs) is not sooner paid 9 . Whether arrest has taken place or not, movable property (ex> it- ing implements of husbandry and cattle or tools of an art n). may be sold 10 . In addition to, or instead of, this process, the estate or sha in it may be attached and managed by a Government agent, 01 he Collector may transfer the defaulting estate or the defaulting sue (or pattf) for a term not exceeding fifteen years, to a sol ut co-sharer, or to the body of the co-sharers 1 . Another remedy is to annul the settlement, and take the ei,te under direct management, or farm it out. In this case, as ah in the milder process of management without annulling the settle* nt just alluded to, a proclamation is made, and no one can pay at or any other due on account of the estate to the defaulter, bi to the Collector: if he does so pay, he gets no credit for it 2 , a part of an estate only is affected by an order of annulmenof settlement, the joint responsibility is dissolved as betweeu :li part of the estate and the rest. If the Collector thinks that t se processes are not sufficient to recover the arrears, he may ind- dition to ( i.e ., after trying them), or instead of all or any of, tin sell, subject to the Board’s sanction, the pattf or the estate>y auction : the sale must be for arrears that had accrued before, id not during the time of its being held under management, as le of the processes for recovery of arrears. The land is sold free of all incumbrances, except certain spi¬ lled ones, for which the Act may be consulted 3 . Last of all, if the arrear cannot be recovered, immovle property other than that on which the arrear accrued may be sd, 9 Section 152. 10 Section 153. 1 Section 157. 2 Section 161. The annulment of settlement is applied when other proms are not sufficient, and requires special sanction. 3 Section 167. LAND BEVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 501 mtsoltl ivilh its incumbrances 4 . The procedure for conducting ali is given in the Act, and need not here be detailed. m;.. § 22 .—Law of the oilier provinces. 'he procedure in Oudh is practically the same 6 . ’he Panjab law 0 is also drawn on the same lines. 'he Central Provinces Act devotes Chapter VIII to revenue dbtion. The compulsory processes are practically the same as i te other Acts. There are some provisos as to the applica- onf the different processes, for which the Act must be referred to. Vhen land is sold in satisfaction of arrears, it is sold clear of l icumbrances; but this is subject to some exceptions. They lit y relate to saving the other proprietary or under-proprietary tl , when either the upper or under title is put up for sale 7 . Vhenever land is sold, the Acts all recognise that the former rf shall remain on his own holding (or sir) as occupancy u it of it. ’he differences in detail of the provisions in each province must i scertained, if there is practical need, by consulting the proper cf I do not consider it necessary to do more than describe the :iral conditions and purposes, which are the same in all. § 23.— These provisions are applicable to recovery of other Government demands. t may be important to public officers generally to be aware of di provisions, as public revenue is very generally recoverable Section 168. It is only the land itself that is held hypothecated, so that when v. brances are created on it, they are so in full knowledge of the Government’s ( lien. This is of course not so in the case of other lands. Revenue Act, sections 108-35. But taluqdars and female proprietors are not t to arrest and imprisonment. Revenue Act, Chapter V. There are some differences to he noted. The Act appears to omit the first process of the other Acts — the issue t - “ dastak ” or warrant; and logically so, for the dastak is a demand for pay. i not a compulsory process, except so far as the levy of its cost acts as a compul. i Section 95 provides for the preliminary process practically, by saying that the (is of imprisonment may he carried out by the issue of a warrant, conditional i f the money is not paid, then the arrest and imprisonment are to take effect. 502 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. under themfor example, the Forest Act (VII of 187S) j. vides 8 that money payable under the Act, or rules made pursu t to it, or on a'ccount of the price of any forest produce, or expert incurred in the execution of the Act, may be recovered “as it were an arrear of land revenue.” § 24. — Recovery of arrears under a sub-settlement. "When the inferior proprietor is responsible under a sub-settlem t with Government for the revenue, the Oudh and Central Provii s Acts 9 regard the revenue as recoverable just in the same way at is under a settlement. The lambardars pay up the revenue of e sharers whom they represent in the first instance, and consequery need to be armed with powers of recovering revenue payments f;a the individuals on whose behalf they have paid. In the provii) s where cases of double tenure are rare (North-Western Provins and the Panjab), the superior proprietor recovers from the infeir by a suit. In the Central Provinces and Oudh, where wle villages show the double tenure, and where some more ready . rangement for recovery of money due under sub-settlement, or re! from an inferior proprietor not holding a sub-settlement, is necessa ■ special provisions are contained in the Acts. Not only may lambardar (or sub-lambardar), or anyone to whom an arrear is Jd 8 And apart from these specific provisions, the Panjab Land Revenue Actst s generally that the Deputy Commissioner may exercise all or any of the po 1 ' provided for the recovery of land revenue, for the recovery of any other revenue : c from any person to Government. The only question then is, whether the parties sum sought to be recovered can be called “ revenue due to Government.” Nonof the other Acts contain such a general provision. It is, indeed, hardly necessary id A cts dealing with special subjects always eontain such a provision where :is necessary. 9 Oudh Act (XVII, 1876), section 103 et seq. ; Central Provinces Act, soefcio )l et seq. The Central Provinces Act regards arrears under a sub-settlement on it same terms as it does money due on a settlement, and there are the same facil ;s for recovering it (sections 115-16.) The same thing practically results from is Oudh Act, which by section 158 gives power to the proprietor to apply to the Dej.y Commissioner to realise the [arrear under a sub-settlement by the ordinary rcvcic procedure. '.AND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 503 mviue claim, nor any payment alleged to have been paid on , cc .uit, which is paid before the revenue instalments in question al'lue. (F.) Rent cases. § 2.5 .—Constitution of Courts. 3y the Acts of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, the ledug of suits and applications for rent, for ejectment of teuauts, oienhancement of rent, and for other matters connected with cults, is entrusted to Revenue-officers sitting as Revenue Courts, ’h “Tenancy” Act of the Panjab (XXVIII of 1868), on the tlr hand, makes the Civil Courts hear these cases, but refers to Ik Revenue-officers (certain matters not being regular suits in Jcrt, though connected with rent arrangements. The Central Provinces Bill has provisions regarding the Courts li ;ly resembling those of the Panjab Act, but the Judge of the !i 1 Court hearing rent suits must have had Revenue experience ej»re he can be appointed to the duty. Each Act provides for its own procedure aud its rules of peal 10 . The following extract from the North-Western Provinces Rent .. (Chapter V)— (a) as regards suits, (b) as regards miscellaneous plications—will sufficiently indicate the matters which the Re¬ cue Courts hear. The other Acts have, of course, their own uific provisions on the subject, but this lately drafted and complete i of 1881 will serve as a specimen, and will sufficiently indicate : he student what, as a matter of practice, the cases are, which 10 North-Western Provinces Act (XII of 1881), Chapters VI-VIII; Oudh Act iX of 1868), Chapters VII-IX; Panjab Act (XXVIII of 1868), Chapter VII; 1 .ral Provinces Act (not yet passed), Chapter VI of the Bill. 504 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. I am referring to. It will be remembered, however, that the Pai ib and Central Provinces divide the jurisdiction, as just now statei The suits cognisable by Revenue Courts only are_ (a) suits for arrears of rent, or, where rent is payable in kind, for be money-equivalent of rent, on account of land or on account of ij rights of pasturage, forest-rights, fisheries, or the like; (b) suits to eject a tenant for any act or omission detrimental to ia land in his occupation or inconsistent with the purpose for w ;h the land was let; (c) suits to cancel a lease for the breach of any condition binding or 19 tenant, and which, by law, custom, or special agreement, invc ;s the forfeiture of the lease; (ce) suits for compensation for, or to prohibit, any act, omission, or hr k mentioned in clause ( b) or clause (c) ; (d) suits for the recovery of any over-payment of rent, or for com; i- sation under section 48 or 49; (e) suits for compensation for withholding receipt for rent paid; (/) suits for contesting the exercise of the powers of distress conferred n landholders and others by this Act, or anything purporting tie done in the exercise of the said power, or for compensation ir wrongful acts or omissions of a distrainer; ( g) suits by lambardars for arrears of Government revenue paye through them by the co-sharers whom they represent, and r village-expenses and other dues for which the co-sharers maye responsible to the lambardar; (h) suits by recorded co-sharers for their recorded share of the profit 1 ' a mahal, or any part thereof, after payment of the Govermrt revenue and village expenses, or for a settlement of accounts; ( i ) suits by mua’fidars, or assignees of the Government revenue, for arris of revenue due to them as such; (7c) suits by taluqdars and other superior proprietors for arrears of revc 0 1 due to them as such; (/) suits by recorded co-sharers to recover from a recorded co-sharer vo defaults arrears of revenue paid by them on his account. The applications cognisable by Revenue Courts only are ts following :— (a) application to determine the nature and class of a tenant’s tern, . under section 10 ; (b) application by a landholder, or his agent, to compel a patwari to p« it duce his accounts relating to land ; (c) application to resume rent-free grants under section 30, or to assess > rent land previously held rent-free; LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 505 .') application from a landholder to eject a tenant under section 35, or to have a notice of ejectment issued and served under section 38 ; ) applications made by a tenant, under section 39 ; f) application from a landholder, under section 40, for assistance to eject a tenant; ') application from a tenant or landholder to determine the value of any standing crop, or ungathered products of the earth, belonging to the tenant and being ou the land at the time of his ejectment, under section 42; t) application by a landholder to determine rent payable for land used by a tenant for the purpose of tending or gathering in the crop, under section 42; j application by a landholder or tenant for assistance in the division or appraisement of a standing crop, under section 43 ; ») application by a landholder or tenant to determine compensation for improvements of land ; k) application by a tenant for leave to deposit rent; l) application for enhancement or determination of rent; m) application for compensation for wrongful dispossession ; \n) application for the recovery of the occupancy of any land of which a tenant has been wrongfully dispossessed ; io) application for abatement of rent; p) application for leases or counterparts, and for the determination of the rates of rent at which such leases or counterparts are to be delivered ; q) application, under section 7, to have the holding of an ex-proprietary tenant divided off; r) application, under section 22A, to survey land ; s) application, under section 33A, to have a notice of relinquishment declared invalid; j t) application to take out of deposit any amount deposited, under sec¬ tion 55A. 500 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. NOTE A. Extra Regulation [or “Scheduled”) Districts in the North Western Provinces. The scheduled districts calling 1 for a brief special account a — (1) Kumaon, (2) Jaunsar-Bawar, (3) the Tarai District, (4) S tli Mirzapur. South Mirzapur. The southern portion of Mirzapur requires a very short nee, so I may take it first. The notifications declaring this a scheduled district were is.jd by the Government of India, No. 636, dated 30th May 1879; id the Local Government, No. 63A., dated 14th July 1879. The Civil Procedure Code is in force, but there is a spul organisation of Courts, the Commissioner being the Court of lal appeal. In revenue" cases there is power to refer (exercisable by ie Local Government) to the Board of Revenue, when the Comis- sioner reverses the decision of the Collector. The revenue rules are special. The settlement is made for n years. The system of village settlement is not in force, for here e villages were, like those in the Central Provinces, mere groups f cultivators under management of a village headman. In ts sparsely cultivated tract, the Settlement Officers, however, rare, or never, found the village headman, or “ sipurd-dar,” in such position that they could reasonably call him “ proprietor ” of le village, and make him responsible for the revenue. In a few villages indeed (in the mahals or estates of Goir, Bajia, and Hira-chak) the sipurd-dar was recognised as the “ zam ■ dar ” or proprietor, so these are zammdari villages, and as regais them the ordinary revenue law is in force. But in the otlr LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 5U7 illj-es the proprietary riglit is held to vest iu Government, and |, 0 ictual holder of land is deemed the permanent “ occupant," ,’itla heritable, but not transferable, right iu— i) bis house, premises, or site in the village ; ’}) his fields which are or can be permanently cultivated; ;) any grove or garden which he planted by permission of the Collector or officer in local charge. Trees in such groves may be sold or mort¬ gaged. 'he right of occupancy mentioned uuder (5), viz., that recog- isi. in permanently cultivated land, is acquired after three years' olng. Every occupant receives a patta, or written document being the terms of holding, and the patta contains a clause firing the tenant to break up a certaiu area of available waste. It maintains his right so long as he makes regular payment f mt. If he was already on the land at settlement, the rent is in settlement rate of assessment; if he entered afterwards, it is ■ft he has agreed to pay. Dther lands not occupied on these terms are held as simple )i ncies-at-will from the State. The whole village is managed by a headman, or sipurd-dar. I office was recognised at settlement in some cases as hereditary, u not always ; and it is not transferable. The sipurd-dar collects the rents, being allowed a deduction for a rent of the “ sir, '' or land of which he is the occupant, and from Go 30 per cent, on the collection, as a remuneration for his risk i trouble. He cau locate cultivators on the waste, but he is bound to nect the amouut of waste that is granted in each occupant's atta;" nor can he eject occupants, as he can the tenants on uls not held by occupants. The rents are recoverable by “dastak" or writ of demand, or by traint of property ; and if this fail, the Collector may order sale the property. In the last resort a defaulting occupant may be ejected from 1 holding. 508 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. A Government “sazawal” supervises the sipurd-dars ii tlio “ zamindan” estates. Where the sipurd-dar is recognised aipro¬ prietor of the village, the sazawal becomes the tahsildar. Kumaon and Garhwal. § 1 .—The Administration. The criminal law and procedure does not differ from wha ,i s elsewhere, but the “ Rules for the Administration of Justice ” is ted under section 6 of thg Scheduled Districts Act, determine lie powers of Courts and Magistrates, the Commissioner beinclie Court of Session, the Senior Assistant being the Magistrate o 'h District. The Civil Courts are also governed, as regards procedure, by he Rules 1 . But there is little regarding the substantive law the is exceptional. Parts of the Revenue Act relating to the settlements and to ie recovery of arrears of revenue are in force, but not the Rent .1 There are Revenue Courts —“ Summary and Regular ”—-just le same as in the Tarai. A number of other Acts have been extended to and are deelud f in force in the District, by notification. The Senior Assistant is the Collector, and the Junior and Esa Assistants are the Assistant Collectors 2 . The tahsildars he powers as elsewhere. § 2.— The Settlements . The present settlement was begun in 1863. Dealing wit a country consisting of mountains and deep valleys, the procedi) of survey was different from what it would be in a pin district. The cultivation of a permanent character is confined to ts valleys where some alluvial soil has accumulated, and to such of b > 1 But the portions of the Civil Procedure Code not touching the Rri ave in force (Notification, North-West Provinces, No. 566A,, 5th December 1876) 2 Rules, Chapter III, 1. 509 LAND RENENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. ill ides as have good enough soil to make it worth while to terrace ;,ei. There is also some casual cultivation (ijran),—that is, land ha is broken up and cultivated only for a time; when the soil is xtusted, the plot is abandoned. The survey maps, therefore, ;h(V the villages, and not the intervening waste 3 . There was no •eiral demarcation of village boundaries (for this was unneces- ar under such circumstances), but boundaries were determined i) when disputed, (2) when adjoining Government forest, or 3)ivhen the area was adjusted by cutting off an excessive amount >f aste. In this operation there was nothing previously on record ,o sip the Settlement Officer. At the early settlements there had )eu no measurement. In 1823 a “guess measurement” had been me, and a description of the boundaries recorded, and at the next ;el ement of 1846, also, no measurement had been made, but a 'frd pbant,” a sort of list of sharers, tenants and rents, was made :>u showing holdings : that was all. Only at the last settlement (now current) was a survey made, n measurements of the khasra survey were recorded in “ visis ” 4 ,800 square yards .(40 square yards less than an acre). § 3.— High t to Waste Land. Allusion must here be made to the waste, as included in village bcndaries 4 . It would appear that in many cases the jungle of gizing land was, in Mr. Traill’s early settlements, included in tl nominal boundaries of villages : that is, it is known by the sale name ; but it does not follow that it belongs, in any proprietary stse, to the village. General Sir H. llamsay quotes with approval 5 a passage from 3 Board’s Review of the Kumaon Settlement Report. 4 Some misunderstanding may arise in the original Report from the fact that if some of the statements “ waste ” is used to mean simply fallow land. I speak h. s of waste or jungle land. 0 Settlement Report, page 24. The reader who remembers how the original onnisation of small Hindu States dealt with the waste, and how those ancient ii itutions survive in the hills, will be disposed to think that this extract is e lently, in theory at any rate, correct. Private right did not arise except on the puud of clearing and possessing the soil; and there are no communities or grantees t :laim the entire lordship over an entire area of land, waste or tilled. 510 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Mr. Batten's Garhwal Report, iu which he says —“ I take is opportunity of asserting that the right of Government to use fc st and waste lands not included in the assessable area of theestc, remains utterly unaffected by the inclusion of certain tracts wit n the boundaries of mauzas." No one has a right, merely on ie ground of such inclusion, to demand payment for grazing or wd- cutting from other villages. Nor does such iuclusion of it If interfere with the Government right to offer clearing leases in e h waste. Mr. Batten thought, however, that the inhabitants of ie village should 0 have the first refusal of such leases, and lit grants should not be made so as to bring them up too close to ie village ( i.e ., that a space for grazing and wood-cutting should ie left). General Ramsay's own account slightly differs from 1 5 . While admitting the Government right 7 , he says that the villus have a prescriptive right to grass, grazing, timber, and firewcl, and even to grazing dues from outsiders who feed their cattlui the grazing lands within the village boundaries. All that e landowners can claim outside their cultivation, is a fair amountif culturable waste, with a sufficient amount of waste for grazing ;1 wood-cutting. In paragraph 48, again, he says that the people “ owned tl r jungle in away" before we came; and so when we recognid their proprietary right in the cultivated land, the people acquil a “certain right to the use of the forest 8 ." § 4.— Revenue assessment. The revenue assessment was made on a principle which it is t 6 Clearly as a matter of convenience and policy. 7 Report, section 40. 8 I make no comment on this ; I simply note the statements as they are, Ica^g ;t to be gathered by a true interpretation of the facts, what the real claim of |G villagers on the waste amounts to, It is, however, certain that under the old Him constitution of society, while no landholder claimed a heritable right in any il beyond his own holding, rights of user, or what were practically such, existed» grazing and wood-cutting in the neighbouring waste. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 511 syo understand ; it was arrived at by calculations made on the isjS!SS the right of transfer and has to pay a fixed sum as “ mali- In” to the proprietor ; this “ malikana ” being the result of con¬ ing various cesses and perquisites levied under the former sun into a fixe.d cash payment 3 . he khaikar (tenants) also have headmen (in their “ stratum " i;ht) called “ gharpradhun; " and when the landlord is non- si ;nt, the “ gharpradhans " manage the village 4 . he khaikars thus form a class of “occupancy-tenants" on a it’al tenure, and no others are known. No Rent Act has ever e in force; hence there is no artificial or legal tenant-right is l on holding for a period of years. labourers called in to help are “sirthans," who are onlytenants- - ill : it may happen that a khaikar of one village will cultivate nin another village as a “sirthau." lands assigned to temples are spoken of as “ gunth." ’he headmen are remunerated much as elsewhere, having a r in privileged “ sir ” holding, and a percentage of 5 per cent, r ollectiug the revenue. § 7 .—Official organisation. ’he local sub-division of Kumaon for revenue purposes is into Ills and parganas; the latter being again sub-divided into a nber of “ pattis." ’he superior headmen or thokdars, or siy^nas, have now been ,d under sanction of the Government through the chief cv^ue authority (the Financial Commissioner). ,tiles appear also for the appointment of village headmen of imardars, So also for patwaris, one of whom ordinarily is on 1 for each village. he instalments of revenue are apportioned one to each ar;st, the dates of payments being fixed by the Settlement )fder, so as to fall about one mouth after the principal crops are taiested. 'he cesses levied in addition to the land revenue are special : neper cent, is for schools (the location of which is to be deter- niad at the time), and a small rent and revenue-free plot is to be lbved to the schoolmaster. One per cent, is also to be levied alie relief of disease among the population of Hazara. § 3 .—Object of the record: exceptional finality . Jnless (as in the case of the record of rights in the village it for example) it is otherwise expressly provided, all records of iets, customs, liabilities, and all rules drawn up by the Settle- i< t Officer, are, when submitted to the Commissioner and con- red by the Financial Commissioner, to be considered as “a final e lenient of all matters treated of.” These cannot even be revised t future settlement, -unless they relate to office-bearers and hr duties, to the amount and method of paying the Govern- q it revenue, to cesses, or to proprietary rents of any description. No suit will lie to enforce a right or usage contrary to the set- tient record, except in so far that a suit may be broug'ht-to show ft the record of a holding does not represent the actual award Settlement (in which case the record may be amended). This, it wall be observed, is different from the law regarding uinary settlement records. There is, however, a general excep- ii in favour of persons who cau prove (within three years of the lie of final report) that they were not in the Paujab during ''dement, and did not know what was going on. 520 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In short, the object was in Hazara to give no ground for n. tinuing feuds and jealousies, or to long drawn-out lawsuits ml appeals. Everything that could concern anybody, lamllor or tenant, was to be carefully enquired into and recorded then ml there. After a cautious examination and approval of the recoi it. was made final and all questions settled and hopes of eh; ge rendered futile. Such a course was essential in a district inha) ed chiefly by primitive and quarrelsome mountaineers. In other respects, i.e., as regards recovery of arrears, mutton of names in the record, appointment of officials, &c., the ordi ',vv Revenue Act is in force. § 4.— Tenancy. Tenancy is also dealt with in a special Regulation 10 . Not eg in it affects decrees of Court under which a tenant holds,' o an agreement in writing, or a record of settlement in certain ues (see section 2). Occupancy rights are only given to persons who naturally ve such rights, the terms being copied from section 5 of the Pakb Tenancy Act of 1868. But there is no other ground on which right can be claiiid, neither an artificial period, nor the fact of any entry in a settler nt record of former times; nor could entry at the present settleijnt have that effect, under the general clause, unless it was an “ape* ment ” reduced to record. Enhancement of rent is only allowed by decree of the 1 vil Court, and ejectment also. I do not, however, go into details, 'lie whole, it is remembered, is controlled by the general clause a he beginning of the Regulation, as far as it applies. § 5 .—Forest lands. The whole question of waste and forest was settled, and a spial Regulation under the 33 Vic., Cap. 3, No. II of 1879, was p:sed 10 Regulation III of 1873. Panjab Code (page 225) and amending licgu:aou cancelling section 9, clause 2, page 242. LAND REVENUE BUSINESS AND OFFICIALS. 521 mirseding some earlier ones) for the management of the ii'os. There are certain forests reserved as permanent forests and ibct to very much the same prohibitions and protections as the ■lral Forest Law of India contains. Other forest (village forest) vder protective regulation, but not managed directly by depart¬ ed officers. Waste land, not dealt with either as reserved or 11 je forest, may be brought under cultivation without restriction, s re country is mostly mountainous, it is prescribed that forest • -rfed land must be kept up in all places where there is danger o landslips, falling-stones, ravines, torrents, and the like, hi principle has been that, practically, the Government so far x i the waste, that at least it has a right to take up any part f for forest purposes, hut it gives up the rest freely. Moreover, i ie people were in former days allowed a very extensive user, ncertainly were never prevented from treating the forest as if it e: their own, they have been allowed a certain share in the value ees felled in reserved forest estates partly to compensate them mxclusion from the tract. Government reciprocally has a right i part of the value of trees cut in non-reserved tracts, because iGovernment always asserted a right to the trees, if not to the >ist itself. The principle adopted was, not to raise any theory of aersliip, which it would have been impossible to settle, hut to en^ ue practically what the villages had enjoyed, and provide for that ;■ >r its fair equivalent. The rest then remained at the disposal of '.State for the maintenance of public forests. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER IV. Land Revenue System of Ajmer. § 1 .—The early history of Ajmer. The province of Ajmer, together with the Merwara parg: is, was ceded to the British Government in 1818. Ajmer wa a settled country : but the parganas of Merwara were most a stretch of jungle-clad hills, in which a few rude settlers had c!< cd patches for cultivation, hut hardly possessed anything like a sy m of government or of customary landholding. Ajmer is specially interesting to us, because it is the ue British district in Rajputana; and it still preserves for us lie features of the Rajput organisation as it appeared when the ij- puts came as conquering armies, not as an entire people immign lg and settling on the land. Originally, the Rajput rule was in 1 sh greater force, and extended over a far larger area than it >w occupies; but the great kingdoms of the Rathors of Kanauj be Solankhai in Guzarat, aud the rest, were reduced by the Muln- madan power. 1 The chiefs were driven from the more open id fertile plains, and the existing Rajput States represent the ren ns of the dominion. These somewhat inaccessible districts to he north-east and south-west of the Argyalli hills, mark in fact lie place of retreat of the tribes, and the site where they were abito hold their own to some extent, 2 in spite of many subseq ut wars, both internecine and with foreign foes. 1 Tlie Rajput dynasty in Guzarat came to an end in the fourteenth ce irj under Ala’-ud-din Ghilzai. 2 “ We may describe Rajputana as the region within which the pure-bljled Rajput clans have maintained their independence under their own chieftains md have kept together their primitive societies, ever since their principal dynast in Northern India were cast down and swept away by the Musalmau irruptioi Gazetteer of Rajputana, Vol. I., page 39. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF AJMER. 523 Ajmer itself saw very various fortunes. In the fifteenth century jt assed into the hands of the rulers of Malwa. During' the !ii' quarter of the sixteenth century, however, the Rajput power rewed under Rana Sanga of Udaipur, but it again declined as die empire of Humayun and Akbar grew and consolidated. Ajier became a “ Subah ”.or province of tbe empire, and the city itsf was an imperial residence. But the Rajput customs were n0 obliterated or even interfered with ; for, in those days, it was th policy to encourage the Rajputs : and the chiefs became simply feilatories of the Mughal power. As the Mughal empire waed, war and confusion again formed the order of the day: :li Rajput chiefs attempted to combine for their independence, hr in the midst of the general warfare, the Marathas came on to th scene. In 1756 A.D. they got possession of Ajmer, and “ euceforward Rajputana became involved in the general disor- gdsation of India/'’ “ Even the Rajput chieftainships, the only anient political groups left in India, were threatened with immi- iut obliteration. Their primitive constitution rendered them que unfit to resist the professional armies of Marathas and Pathans, ar their tribal system was giving way, or at best transforming itdf into a disjointed military feudalism.” About this time some of he Jat leaders rose to power, and founded the Jat State of Birtpur, which still survives among’ the Rajput chiefships. In 1803 all Rajputana, except the north-west portion, was pay- in tribute to the Marathas; but these plunderers never got such hid on the country as in auy way to obliterate the old customs ol.andholding. At last the British Government interfered, and, after a series o changes in policy, which it is not here necessary to allude to, th Rajput States entered into treaties with the British power. r lese were all executed by the end of 1818, in which year Ajmer b:ame British territory, it being ceded by Sindhia. The Merwara P’ganas were ceded at the same time, but were so uncivilised and mote, that they had still to be reduced by force some few years rewards. • 524 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 2 .—Peculiarity of the Rajput organisation. This very brief outline of the history-of Ajmer is neces ry ' to explain the general position of affairs, and how it i§ that A Lr represents so exceptional and at the same time so interestin'an illustration of peculiar landholding customs. I have remarked that there was no tribal or general settlei nt of Rajputs. The Government, the domiuant power, alone as Rajput. The bulk of the individual landowners are not jj. puts 3 ; there, consequently, has been no growth of village cn- munities ; indeed these were quite unknown in Ajmer till introd 2 d by our own North-West Settlement system. I shall at once then proceed to describe what was the Raut organisation of the country, as regards the ruling classes or elks, and as regards the tenures of the actual cultivators of the soil. The first thing that strikes us is that there is not one ruler, at a series of chiefs, who, by the exigencies of the ease, are graded a quasi-feudal order, and are bound to obedience to the head chior Maharaja, and to appear in the field when required with a cerin force of foot soldiers or horse, as the case might he. A it from this., the chiefs really regarded themselves as coparcers or sharers with their leader in the kingdom. The Mahaja is the head of the oldest or most powerful branch of te dominant clan ; the chiefs are the heads of the other branches)!' of subordinate clans. The system of sharing or dividing le conquered territory into feudatory estates does not extend beyjl the main or upper grades of the organisation—the heads of le chief branches of the clan. We do not find any further shares)r small allotments of laud to leaders of troops and so forth, as 'e do in the organisation of the Sikh misls in the Cis-Sutlej Stss of the Panjab. The Ajmer territory exhibits a division of ie whole, first into the royal domain orkhalsa land—the estate of ie • 3 Rajputs now rarely hold land, except as bhumiyds or as holders of istamri estates.—Settlement Report, 1875,•§ 98. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OE AJMER. 525 Miaraja or leading chief—and then into a series of estates (taiqas) for the Thakurs, Raos, or other chiefs subordinate to hii. [n each of these estates, the right of the chief was almost inde- pe lent; it was subject only to doing homage to the Maharaja, and pa ug a nazarana on succession, appearing with the proper military foie when called on 4 , and rendering extraordinary money aids win the necessities of common defence required it. There were als other feudal dues paid in some cases. The estate was liable to seuestration ( zalti ) (if the ruling Prince was able to enforce it) as iDixtreme penalty. Inside the estates, the tenures of land must be described in senate paragraphs: we have some cases of grant as jagfr lands, so.e special tenures, and then the ordinary customary landholding of he villagers. But first a few words must be said regarding, the remue. § 3.— Zand Revenue. The Raja in his estate, and the chiefs in theirs, took a share in tl grain, and some other cesses and local taxes also, from the land- kders. As between the chief and their suzerain no regular reenue was paid; a fee or “ nazarana ” was paid on succession ail aid was given as required. But when the Marathas established tl ir power, they made every chief pay a tribute called “ tankha ” (< “mamla” or “ am ” in Ajmer 5 -), and this afterwards was paid b custom to the sovereign power, whoever it might be. § 4.— Ordinary tenure of land. As regards the tenure of land within the Maharajahs or the chiePs e ate, the ordinary form of landholding was very simple : every oj who wished to cultivate land permanently, must do so with Which is ascertained and laid down for each estate according to custom.—See U putana Gazetteer, Vol. I., page 59, - Tauhha is tho Marathi form: it indicates.a fixed assigned sum; “am ” is the 1 in of the Arabic ’ain which has a similar meaning. 526 LAND I?EA 7 ENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the aid of a well, a, tank, an embankment or some work of i. gation ; for the rainfall is too limited and uncertain to render pen. nent cultivation otherwise possible. Any one who chose co 1 apply to the Raja's or chiefs officials, and get permission to m; 3 the work, and he acquired a permanent right (biswadari) to > tank and the land which was watered by it. Other cultivation be * only temporary, aud rendered possible by a favourable season i regards rainfall, no one acquired any right in the land; it wasc. tivated by permission for the time being, and then lapsed into 1; general estate of which it was part. It was of course natural that landholders should settle togeth and so to form villages that had a separate local name; but 1 biswadar had any claim to anything beyond his own holding. '.1 one was responsible for his neighbour's revenue payment, nor ( the body of landholders that happened to live together, and w submitted to a common headman, who looked after the cliie grain-collections, ever dream of claiming any “common" laud, any right to an area of waste within certain boundaries. § 5.— Jdgir Grants. In the khalsa lands charitable grants were made, and, in t chiefs estates also. These are always found in Oriental countri in favour of religious institutions, persons of sanctity, charities, ai so forth. In Ajmer they are called “ jagir;" and here the term li not the meaning which it elsewhere bears. For military service 1 part of the regular system of the country, consequently grants wou not be made on a condition that was the normal one; aud jag simply meant a royal, or princely grant in full proprieta: right, with a total remission of revenue, or a reduced revem demand only. When a jagir was given, th§ grantee became entitled to all tl unoccupied land in the grant, and to such as he had himself provide the means of irrigation for ; but lands already in the occupation persons who had made wells, tanks, or embankments, continued 1 LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF AJMER. 527 e kd by them, and the biswadari right was not destroyed by he rant, 6 though the holder had to pay his revenue to the ssipee. .1 jagir estates, the grantee collected a grain share by estimate f t] crop, and fixing of the weight which each payer had to give, lory assessment was, and still is, unknown. 7 ^hen the district came under British rule, the true position of lie igir estates was not at first understood, and in 1874 a com- rite reported on the whole subject. The status of the jagirdar, i ration to the land occupiers, was formally declared iu a Settle- ier proceeding on 13th August 1872. ut of a total of 150,838 acres, with a revenue of Its. 91,000, 5/2 acres, with a revenue of Rs. 43,000, are held in jagir by hres and religious institutions 8 . § 6 .— Bhum Estates. mother ancient tenure recognised in Rajputana was the b un 9 .” It consisted in an absolute estate iu a given area of land, liir might be coupled with the condition of maintaining good rd, being answerable for crime, and so forth. t seems most probable that the blnim holding really represented lerst remnant of the former estate of a Rajput chief whose family aoeen displaced, in the continual struggle for supremacy that was oi * on. The family retained, or were allowed, out of consideration, v lie chiefg who gained the upper hand, to retaiu a certain “blnim” olng, and this being of ancient date and hereditary, was looked pc with great respect. It was an f allodial 7 holding, that is, free o: feudal obligations. From time to time bhumiya holdings were ie ed by grant. It was given, for example, as “ mundkati,” or Jnensation for bloodshed, to heal a feud, or as a reward for j, u Ajmer Gazetteer, p. 23. " Settlement Report, 1S75, § 87. s Gazetteer, p. 23. • From bhum, 'the soil.’ 528 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. service in keeping watch and ward, &c . 10 Some owed their ori u to grants to younger sons and brothers of chiefs. These holdings still survive as revenue-free holdings not resu. able by the State. Up till 1841 they paid a quit-rent. They e inalienable by the proprietor . 1 They descend, however, notonha the male line to lineal descendants, but without restriction. En < great chiefs like to hold blnim estates ; one Maharaja and sevi.l • considerable Thakurs are “ bhumiyas,” or holders of bhum est: a 'i in Ajmer. The bhumiyas were hound to give aid in repressing dacoii 3 and other crimes in their village, and to protect travellers. ' r some time they were held responsible to make restitution to pers s who suffered from a robbery within their limits 2 . There are still 109 bhum holdings in Ajmer, but 16 are heldy > chiefs who hold “istimrari ” estates. These are, consequently a the hands of a single owner. The others are shared like other p- -<■ perty, and there are now 2,041 shares in bhum holdings. § 7.— Effect of British settlement. It will now be interesting to explain how the settlement of ie country under British rule has developed or changed the custts thus described. The first thiug that strikes us is, that we Ire now two parallel revenue systems as it were—one applying toie ■ khalsa land, the other being a system for the management of le ;i chief’s estates, which has quite a different form. The khalsa estate, comprising about one-third of Ajmer (id i the whole of Merwara), became the property of the British G.ovu- ,’i me lit, and was therefore subject to British law, and has been setid A on the North-West system, and proprietary rights which never exied oj ' 10 BMm holdings in all cover an area of 21,800 acres, of which 14,800 ai in >| khalsa villages, 5,900 in jagir villages, and 1,000 in istamrari estates. 1 See Regulation II of 1877, section 36. 2 Ajmer Gazetteer, page 25. This last arose out of the custom in Rajputanjiiat fl the Raj should compensate travellers. It is obvious, however, that ny s “bhum” estates would be quite unable to make any such compensation, an be custom is consequently dying out. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF AJMER. 529 ;fce have been conferred. The same procedure could not, how- r ei have been equitably followed in the chief’s estates. These idherefore to be separately dealt with. The chief’s rights were ccuised by f sauad ’ grants, and uo interference with their internal las has been contemplated, nor has any settlement been made r le villages. Our Government has not in fact interfered to fh the right of any one, except the taluqdar or estate-holder m:lf. I shall first describe how matters developed in the khalsa IK r § 8.— Early management of the khalsa. t first the British officers managed the khalsa domain exactly i le lines of the original custom. The early administrators were f;t the stewards of a great estate. They built tanks and made fiukments; they founded hamlets and gave out leases to settle dmprove the lands. In 1849, however, a settlement of the nrevenue on the North-West system was ordered. A sketch of ehistory of the settlements will be given further on: here is only necessary to say that the result was that the contiguous ops of biswadars were formed into villages ; and that the waste, tlrto at the disposal of the estate, was allotted out and divided Kg these “villages.” The hamlets founded by Colonel Dixon iralsomade into villages, the neighbouring waste being given up t;m. Thus, a very important change was effected. The group citivators, some of whom possessed the biswadari right, others viom were mere temporary lessees, now became a “ proprietary d;” they were styled in official revenue language “ bhaiachara ” l:,’es; the waste within the area of each became the “shamilat” cnmon property of the village body. his course was afterwards much regretted 3 . As soon as forest eie was sufficiently appreciated to enable people to recognise 3 sa matter of general principle, it is always undesirable that State rights should rt lily given away, instead of keeping them carefully to. be utilised as occasion Uts. I have no doubt that the existence of many rights of user (or what we s Tactically admit as such) in the waste, had its influence in commending to the bities the idea of partitioning the waste. It is often unfortunately overlooked, 2 K 530 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. that the clothing’ of Ajmer hills with tree vegetation was esutial to the welfare of the country, to the supply of water in its tai;, to regulate both the surface and the subsoil drainage, and nc im- jj probably to affect the humidity of the atmosphere, it was desi 1 to form forest estates, to be placed under conservative manage;nt, But by that time the work of 1850 had borne its fruits. Die laud, once the undoubted property of the State and availal tip form forest reserves which might have been the wealth (tlie country, had, in deference to a system, been given away, and : tvas necessary, therefore, in 1874, to make a Regulation under tl 31 Vic., Cap. 3, for forming forest estates, recovering for that pnose the available waste, and allowing rights in it as compensate for the process of re-annexation 4 . Fortunately, this plan of constituting State forests ha an¬ swered well. The benefits are so great that the peopi are beginning to appreciate them. It is certain that it was or byrl such a step as that taken in 1874, that the water-supply in the nks can be preserved, and that supplies of fodder, against tin of famine, can be secured. § 9 .—The present tenures. The Land Revenue Regulation 5 now orders the rights rich exist under the village system. The old biswadars have be me proprietors, and now, if a settler desires to come in and lear the waste, he has to obtain the permission of the village-overs, who are the owners of the waste as their common laud. Partition of the common land is also allowed as of any her jointly-held lands : a minimum is, however, fixed, below whichivi- sion is not allowed to go. Some special arrangements counted that a most extensive user of the land by one set of people does not necessarily npj that the people had, or ought to have, a proprietary right in the soil »s 1 have explained fully in my “ Manual of Jurisprudence.” * The terms under which Government can now take up what has become kg® land, for forest purposes, may he seen in section 6 of Ajmer Regulation VI of 87‘h 5 See Regulation II of 1877, section 7, &e. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF AJMER. 531 nth the levy of the revenue had modified the strict action of the iorth-West system; and no doubt care has been taken to mould ie settlement arrangements as much as possible to suit the actual .udition of the villages. • § 10 .—Stale rights reserved . Under the new system, moreover, the State reserves to itself me considerable rights. Besides its usual right of revenue, it re¬ ams proprietor of tanks it - has constructed, and owns the laud wailable in the bed of the tank at certain seasons for cultivation), id the land on the slopes of embankments. It reserves also all lineral rights, and may quarry for stone, gravel, &c. § 11.— Ollier land tenures in the Ichdlsa. The biswadari right has thus considerably altered from what it riginally was. The “jagir” teifure and the bhum tenure retain leir ancient features, as already described. Bhum holdings are ealt with in the Regulation (sections 31-36); sanads are granted ir them, and the sauad-holder and his successors iu iuterest are lone the proprietors. A rule of succession is also laid down, 'here can be, as I said, no alienation of a bhum estate, except tat favour of a person who is a co-sharer holding under the same anad. No jagir is recognised which has not been granted, confirmed, r recognised by a sanad issued by proper authority 6 . In this anad conditions may be entered making the rules contained in the jand and Revenue Regulation, regarding alienation, succession, or naintenance prescribed for istimrari estates, or bhum estates (as the :ase may be), or any other special rules on these subjects that shall >e iu force as regards the estate, binding; and the jagirdar must iccept these rules or resign the estate. There are some bhum loldings inside jagir estates. Regulation II of 1877, section 37, &c. 533 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 13.— Subordinate tenures in Ichdlsa villages. Under tlie original system of landholding implied by t biswadari right, there was but little room for the growth of su ordinate tenures. ' “ A non-proprietary cultivating class/- says IV LaTouche, “ hardly exists in either district.” Where tenants exi. they generally pay the same rates of produce as the propriety themselves paid before the regular settlement 7 . But though there may be but little opportunity for the grow of tenant-right, there are cases in which a right has to be provid for, which cannot now be conveniently described otherwise th as an occupancy right. In the days of rapine, raid, and internal war, which make up ti history of the Rajput State, it was inevitable that land should he; changed hands; one tribe got the upper hand and had little hesitati H in displacing others: not only so, but the repeated occurrence : famine has caused the landholders to get into debt. Heri it may often have happened that an old biswadar was turn! out of his land, or was obliged to give it up owing to poverty,ina- lity to pay the revenue, and so forth, but still managed to retain p:; of it as the “ tenant ” of the supervening owner. It is now impossih i that the effects of such ancient wrong-doing can be reversed; so t: “ tenant ” remains, but is privileged, and the Regulation specia f protects him as an “ ex-proprietary tenant 8 .” Such a tenant is • lowed a permanent tenure, at a rent which is to be five annas f« 1 pie per rupee less than the prevailing rate paid by tenants-at-vl for lands with similar advantages in the neighbourhood. J agreement to pay higher rent is valid. There may be other “ occupancy tenants 9 ,” as they are mentiorl in the Regulation. This is a wise provision. It virtually alios full latitude to actual facts; Any one can claim an ‘ occuparir 1 Settlement Report, 1875, section 96. 8 Regulation II of 1877, section 41, &c. 0 For example, they may have taken part, though in an inferior positionn ■building the tank and cultivating the soil that gave origin to the owner's or )• wadar's right. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OF AJMER. 533 rilit’ and prove it by the custom of the village, by special agree- mat, and so forth. The Regulation admits the possibility of such a ght without defining it, and merely attaches certain legal pro- tefive provisions to such a right when proved to exist. The main security such tenants have is, that besides the right oficcupancy (which cannot be defeated, except pursuant to a decree ofourt given on specific grounds or on failure to satisfy a decree fi rent 10 ); the rent is always fixed, or may be fixed on application, Settlement, or subsequently by the revenue officers. It is unnecessary for me to describe the simple provisions of the Relation regarding the division of crops between landlord and teint, the practice for ejecting tenants when they are lawfully to b( ejected, and regarding the relinquishment of holdings by the ieiut. The Regulation itself may be consulted. § 13 .—Modern state of rights in Taluqas or Chiefs’ Estates. Side by side with the khalsa villages, which we have just been jcsidering, are the chiefs’ estates, in which no such settlement ;);em has been applied. The estate itself and the right in it has x i defined, but its internal affairs are not interfered with. The ibfs’ estates, called taluqas (the chiefs being taluqdars), are leired to them by law. The more important of the chiefs’ estates or taluqas have been icferred in absolute proprietary right by virtue of sanads called ‘ timrari” grants. Hence the important taluqa and jagir estates u held as “ istimrari estates. ” The istimrari estates only pay revenue to Government in the on of a permanent and uneuliauceable tribute. Till 1755, they t; paid no revenue, but then the Marathas imposed a tribute, and u ous other cesses also. The British Government abolished the ieeg, but at first asserted a right to re-assess the tribute. This i;it was, however, formally waived in June 1873. 10 Regulation II of 1877, sections 52—54 An “ex-proprietary” tenant cnn- io >e ejected even .on a decree without the sanction of the Commissioner. 5:34 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. The istimrari tenure is also associated with certain spul rules legalised by the Land Revenue Regulation of 1877 1 . (e estate is inalienable by any permanent transfer : mortgage bey id the life of the mortgagee is also invalid. Succession is now by primogeniture only. Hence there is 10 division of these estates, a fact which has a very important in- ence. The “istimrardar ” enjoys also some special immunities id protection regarding criminal proceedings, and as regards me >y decrees of the civil court. Nazarana is paid according to old custom to the Government the occasion of a succession. The istimrari estates are now some sixty-six in number, wl e- as the original fiefs were only eleven. But this will illustrate he importance of the principle of succession by primogeniture, I - have iu a previous chapter had occasion to remark, in speakin of the old Hindu Raj, how in some families the principle of indisi- bility was preserved, while in others the estates were divided ill nothing but small estates, which practically formed zammdariil. ' lages held by a number of selected owners, remained. In Ajmt it seems the principle of indivisibility, that is, succession to he eldest heir alone, was not at first recognised. In former timedie estate was divided among the succeeding sons and heirs, aceordit to u Hindu law, though the “ patwi/-’ or heir to the dignity of die ■ chiefs seat, got’a double share 2 in recognition of his position as cef. .1 Then in course of time the eldest came to take the estate at l.ge, and the other brothers got a village or two each, on whatvas called a “ gras ” tenure 3 . It is thus the result of the former divisibility of estates thathe eleven original fiefs broke up into the present number; at least rat 1 Regulation II of 1877, sections 20-30. 2 See Ajmer Gazetteer, page 22. It is interesting to notice that just the anw ; thing may he observed in the estates of the Sikh jagirdars and chiefs of ttCis- i Sutlej States. If there are four sons, the estate will be divided into five lk of k which two go to the eldest. 3 “Gras” means literally ‘a mouthful,’ and implies that the grantee ts n portion of the produce of the villages to which the grant extends for his mainteuce. i LAND REVENUE SYSTEM <*>F AJMER. 535 s (e chief cause, for during' the stormy history of R&jput estates, i jwerful branch of a family map have succeeded in effecting a ep.'atiou of a portion of the estate for his own benefit, without mgeneral principle of divisibility being recognised. n short the existing number and size of the estates or taluqas , a; resulted from the dismemberment of larger estates ; and u )m e cases, where division of the estates has been effected, the nch estate has remained separate hut subordinate to the larger ,n«. Had the principle of division gone on, the estates would in in have become completely broken up into mere village-estates, •is as we saw in the curious case of the Tilok Chandi Bais in ia Bareli. But the custom of indivisibility gained ground, n it is now fixed by law. Younger sous now only get a as maintenance, or a life-grant of villages, or something of h; kind. 1'he istimrari estate-holders (as well as some of the larger igdars) became, in the course of time, heavily encumbered, and a 872 a Regulation was passed for their relief. Government dmced some seven lakhs of rupees, which was the aggregate nunt of the debts, and these were paid off or compromised under bRegulation : the advance with interest is being gradually paid a: to Government, he present position of the chief’s estate is, therefore, a somewhat r lfied one as compared with what it formerly was. In old days lichiefs estate was held conditionally on military service; it The Commissioner, Mr. Leslie Saunders, writes to me as follows:— : ‘The lesser istimrardars are banded together in groups according to their sent, under the present chief representative of the original stock from which a have sprung; such holders of divisions of estates are sometimes called sub- Li dars, The lesser istimrardar is, nevertheless, full proprietor of his estate, i he pays his revenue or tribute, not direct to Government, but through the chief i whom he is lineally connected. He sits behind the chief in darbar, and is rd to observe the ceremonial acknowledgments of social supremacy custom- " n native courts. This is, however, sometimes evaded. On failure of an heir instate of an inferior istimrardar would ordinarily revert to the head of the n and in two instances estates unable to pay their revenue have been made v permanently to the head of their clan.” 536 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. vvas liable to sequestration for misconduct, at least in theory. n the first days it paid no revenue, but afterwards not only lg a revenue levied, but the revenue was not fixed, but was liable ;o enhancement, at least virtually so, in the form of cesses cl forced aids. Our Government has conceded a fixed revenue, grante a permanent estate, rendered the estate indivisible and inaliewle by permanent transfer, and has enforced no condition of milit y service. § 14 .—Subordinate Tenures in Istimrari Estates. There may be bhumiya holdings and grants in jagir inside e chiefs (istimrari) estate, just as there are on Government laM, but thsv are few in number 5 . As regards subordinate tenus, I have already remarked that Government has not ini), duced any settlement into the istimrari estates. Having fi d the extent and declared the nature of the tenure, no inter! interference in the way of sub-settlements has been contemplate Government was opposed to the policy of making records or - quiring sub-settlements for the protection of the village landholdo, and in this respect the istimrdri villages are entirely different situated from what they are in khalsa lands. In the early days of British rule, Mr. Cavendish (1829) m;e a formal enquiry, and the istimrardars admitted that the pern- nent improver of land had a right which was virtually the sae as the biswadari right recognised in the khalsa 6 . Consequently, though the chief is legally the sole owner, al the people are his tenants, those who would have been “ biswadar' in the khalsa, have a practically indefeasible right. As a mafcr of fact, disputes between a chief and his tenants rarely or nen 1 come before the authorities. The Land Revenue Regulation, givij effect to the full proprietary right in f istimrari ’ estates, proviis 5 The bhumiya holdings in istimrari estates only amount to about 1,000 acres. 6 Settlement Report, 1875, §§ 85, 86. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OE AJMER. 537 (s;tion 21) that all tenants on such estates shall' be presumed toe tenants-at-will till the contrary is proved. § 15.— History of the settlement of Khalsa villages. The territory of Ajmerjras remained as ceded in 1818, with tl exception of five villages given over by Sindhia in I860 6 , IV. Wilder was the first Superintendent. The Maratlias estab- li ed an arbitrary system of taxation, but shortly before cession a ind revenue had been fixed, which was, however, exclusive of tl cesses. The chiefs estates paid a fixed tribute, and an agree- nrat was come to that any future increase should be in the form otepafate cesses ; the chief, no doubt, feeling that if a change of rurs occurred, they might succeed in getting off payment, which wild be difficult if such cesses were once consolidated with the tnute. Sindhia farmed the villages for the amount of the “ am ” or fiid .revenue, but extra cesses were levied under 44 different h .ds 7 . This system was, of course, abolished by the Superintendent, wo returned to the earlier system of estimating in cash the value o one-half the grain produce of the village. The assessment, hvever, broke down, owing to famine and failure of crops ; and air that a short settlement was made under Mr. Middleton. In 1827 Mr. Cavendish succeeded to the district and revised tl settlement. This officer was much more desirous of moderation in • tl revenue assessment ; and he seems also to have conceived the idea tl ,t the groups of biswadars, with their patel or headman, formed ommunities ” who might be regarded as owners of the area s\ hin the village limits 8 . Gazetteer, p. 75. 1 One such cess was the perquisite of Sindhia’s wives ; another, called “ Bhent B Sahiba,” went to his sister: his daughter and “ pir, ” or spiritual adviser, a i received a certain cess (Gazetteer, p. 75). ,5 Settlement Report by J. D. La Touche, C.S, 1875, § 77, &c. 538 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Iu 1835-36 Mr. Edmonstone proceeded to make a settlemen or 10 years, still spoken of as the “ decennial settlement, ” and rep< ed on the 20th May 1836. This report did not endorse the id of the village being proprietary. The tenure was compared to that described by Sir T. Munro (Governor of Madras) in Axt. The holdings were separate, though cattle of the village gred in common over all unenclosed lands, when the crops were off lie i ground. The most important fact in the revenue history of Ajmer is he appointment of Major Dixon in 1812. This officer had e- viously been in charge of Merwara, where his success had en great. On the expiry of the 10 years’ settlement, Major Dxn held the whole district “ kham, ” as the Merwara parganat re held. Within six years, more than four and a half lakhs of rupees were wisely spent in tanks and embankments, and a njh ' lower rate of collection was established ; the assessment was redicffl to two-fifths of the produce, and the “ zabti” or cash rates lead on certain of the more valuable crops were lowered. Mr. Thomason, when Lieutenant-Governor of theNorth-Wesm Provinces, visited Ajmer in 1846, and though he could not but adire the work of Major Dixon, he felt that such an administration as solely dependent on the skill and energy of one man ; some sysm that could be worked by any ordinary officers was necessary, is Mr. Thomason was naturally in favour of the North-Wesra system, he concluded that the plan of village assessments was le pnly one that would answer as a permanent arrangement. A settlement was accordingly carried out in 1819-50 on le if mauzawar” plan. It has been said that the settlement as mauzawar only in name 9 . This may be true as regards the cole- ■ tions, which were levied on the individual holdings, since it wasp i practically possible, in a country so liable to famine or failurof crops, really to make the whole village responsible for failurof some of its cultivators. But what is at least equally important, id 9 Gazetteer, p. 86. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OE AJMER. 539 . I m made the settlement essentially mauzawar, was, that under dei received, Colonel Dixon divided out the land among 1 the ilses, giving the adjacent waste to each, and thus erected the lidepeudent biswadars and their patel into a proprietary body 10 'ecame the joint owners of the entire area, waste and cultivated, t: village. The village boundaries on this plan were demar- le in 1849 10 . § 16.— Present form of administration. /ith Colonel Dixon's death ended an important era in Ajmer nuiue History. In 1858 the district of Ajmer was united with eMenvara parganas under one “ Deputy Commissioner, ” who {subordinate to the “Agent to the Governor General and Com- isoner.” This lasted till 1871, wheu a separate Commissioner ^appointed, and the Agent to the Governor General for Raj- itia became ex-officio Chief Commissioner. ['or Merwara there is an Assistant Commissioner at Beawar. tudistrict is divided into tahsils under tahsfldars on the usual oh-West plan. 'he province is organised generally, as a non-regulation pro- nj*. Its laws will be found collected in the Ajmer Code, issued by ^.legislative Department of the Government of India. It also {Scheduled District under Act XIV of I874 1 . § 17.— Recent Settlement proceedings. n he history of the district since the settlement of 1850 must :i be passed over. It is a record of struggle with difficulties owing i ufavourable seasons. At one time the rain fell in unseasonable Settlement Report, 1875, §§ 80, 81. The villages were now called bliaiachar a i ual with these official changes, the people did not appreciate them. “ Even now, ’• ) VIr. La Touche, “ the change is hardly understood and is not appreciated by the ce. Daily petitions were filed by men anxious to improve the waste land of a 11 ;e, praying that Government will grant them leases in its capacity of landlord.” E urse such petitions have to be referred to the “ village proprietors ” who now v he waste. Gazette of India, 20th October 1877, p. 605. 540 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. torrents, bursting embankments, breaching the banks, and cau ig floods which rotted the crops and swept away the soil. Atano jr, drought lasted late into the season, cattle died and revenue c Id not be paid. But in spite of everything the condition of ie country, under wise management, slowly improved 2 . Iu 18649 the district was visited by a famine of exceptional severity id duration 3 . After the famine, which destroyed a large number of the ca e, as # well as a high percentage of the population, and produc< a fearful state of indebtedness among the people, a revision of sets ment was made. The old custom was that biswadari holdings were not salea so that mortgages are the custom of the country. Even now, lid is never sold in execution of a decree of court. After the fam:*, the last settlement operations disclosed the fact that the mortgie debts amounted to Bs. 11,55,437 4 . The report of the revised settlement is dated 1875. Of coue the village settlement is maintained, but arrangements have ba made which mitigated the difficulties of the theoretical joint resp< - sibility 5 . " In 1860 Major Lloyd minutely inspected the'district and made a compe and interesting report on its condition, which fully bears out what is stated above. 3 See a good account of this in the Gazetteer, pp. 90, 91. 4 Gazetteer, p. 95. 6 On this subject Mr. LaTouche writes as follows (Gazetteer, p. 93):— “The village system of the North-Western Provinces is not self-acti; beyond a certain point, and a mouzawar settlement cannot succeed in Ajmer-Menrf. By the term ‘mouzawar’ is mbant a settlement where the assessment is based on ti average of good and bad seasons, and where the principle of joint responsibility enforced in the collection of the revenue. The seasons present too great vicissituu to allow of an equal annual demand being assessed, but this difficulty has been par surmounted in the recent revision by the assessment of water revenue * * * separately from the land revenue on the unirrigated aspect. The assessment on t> dry aspect includes the full assessment of well land, but in each village where t tanks fail to fill, the water revenue will he remitted each year. The principle; joint responsibility has not been formally abolished, for cases may arise (though t cultivated area cannot he largely increased in any village) iu which it would be jij to enforce it. One of the main objects of the recent settlement, however, has be 1 to reduce it to a minimum. LAND REVENUE SYSTEM OE AJMER. 54-1 ; the present settlement each biswadar or khewatdar has his revenue payment recorded, so that in reality the defaulting dig can at once be traced, and the joint responsibility remains tl background, to be had recourse to only if circumstances k it right and proper. § 18 .—Assessment of revenue. j 3 all permanent cultivation is dependent on tanks, or on xil tanks formed at the head of a ravine by the aid of embank, n, the classification of soils for the purpose of assessment i defly reference to the tank and its capabilities. The tank 3 double importance. It is the source of irrigation, and 4 s that, as the water dries up, the bottom becomes culturable. n so cultivated is called “ abi ” land. "e find accordingly the following classes of tank lands : — ) The tank supplies water for both spring (rabi"’) and autumn (kharif) harvests: here the tank always contains water, and so there is no abi cultivation on it. “ 1 well-known and recognised divisions of a village have been allowed to cboose ic man, and each cultivator has been permitted the option of deciding through ic of the headmen he will pay his revenue. The total amount payable through h pntel’ has been added up, and a list of each headman’s constituents given to 1 dmcn, and filed with the settlement record. Thus, in a village paying Rs. 1,000 rc iay be five patels, two responsible for Rs. 250 each, one for Rs. 200, one fo r 55, and one for Rs. 75. Under the old system the tahsfldar demanded the ei 3 from those among the headmen whom he considered the most substantial in \ age. Now, he can tell exactly how much he should collect from each patel ; 1 the representative of any thole or patti cannot be made to pay, very valid sc i indeed should be adduced before the representative of the other divisions of i i ;age are called on to make good the deficiency. * # * * * No 1 oks and pattis exist in Ajmer-Merwara, and for a number of more or less arbi- rj ub-divisions of land has been substituted an agglomeration of holdings bound N >r by the fact that the owners have selected one of the headmen, sanctioned 1 1) village, as the representative through whom they will pay their revenue. ” T.s illustrates the remark I above made about “bhaiachara. ” The Ajmer la i are not naturally bound together by common descent, and cannot therefore hi any real divisions or sub-divisions according to the main and minor branches t family, so that there can be no natural lien, whereby one patti is answerable i' ‘ ■ default of the other. 512 I AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. (2) The tank gives water enough for one or two wateriip f or the rabi’ harvest, and the land at the bottom of tli tank becomes culturable late in the season. (3) The tank only gives water enough to start the rabi’ g< and the land consequently emerges early in the scan. (4) Tanks which, when the rainfall has been so favourat that not much water is required from them to irrigate harif crops, have water enough to start the rabi' sowings after which the soil of the tank itself can be sown). (5) Tanks which only have scanty water for kharif irri: 1 at “ zabti 33 or money rates per acre. At the settlement of 1850, the village settlement was intro- bed, and farmers were settled with for each village. § 20 .—Revenue Procedure. The revenue procedure does not call for any explanation. I’ t VI of the Regulation contains the details of it. It is notice- 6 Settlement Report, 1S75, §§ 200—205. 544 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. able, however, that when matters are submitted to arbitration appeal lies against the decision. The process for realising arrears of land revenue is not di similar to that under any ordinary Upper Indian Revenue Ac arrest, imprisonment, attachment and sale of movable propert attachment of the estate, transfer to a solvent ‘shareholder and sequestration of the estates for a period—these are f processes as elsewhere. If all these fail, other immovable proper may, under - special sanction, be sold, but not the land itself < which the arrear has accrued. Headmen who have paid up in the first instance may realii the revenue from the co-sharers by a suit, in which they may jo as many of the sharers as are indebted for the same instalmeu There is no power of distraint without a suit. BOOK IV. THE RAIYATWARI SYSTEM. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 547 I ?i. ~ CHAPTER I. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. Section I.—Introductory. § 1.— Special reasons for describing the system. It was my original intention to confine this Manual to the jovinces directly under the orders of the Government of India, ;id this would have* precluded my giving any account of the Avenue systems of Bombay and Madras. But inasmuch as lese provinces represent two different developments of the jeat rival to the Bengal system—if I may so call it— “the hiyatwan ” system, the total omission of them would leave the sident with so very incomplete a notion of the revenue administra- tm of India, that I feel it impossible altogether to drop the sub¬ let, the more so as I do not see any prospect of local Manuals, vitten with the same general object as the present, being prepared. For introducing- some account of the Bombay system, I have ileed another reason. Berar, one of the provinces with which I a directly concerned, was settled on the Bombay system, and its Venue business, already conducted on the general model, will in i probability before long be guided definitively by the Bombay hvcnue Code (Act Y of 1879). § 2 .—influence of the system on other provinces. Nor is the raiyatwari system one that has no connection with (3 systems of other provinces. It certainly was not without its i lueuce on the subsequent developments of the Bengal system, ’hen the Regulation VII of 1822, which is the foundation of the lor til and Central India systems, was drawn up, the Minutes of 548 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Sir T. Munro, iu favour of dealing with the individual cultivnr, without any middleman proprietor over him, had excited astng interest. It is impossible to doubt that they had their iofli ice on the views of revenue legislators, whose minds were at the - ne, I may almost say, iu a state of recoil from the tension, whic in the previous years, had been all in the direction of a settlement ith great landlords. The North-West system which deals with an ‘ah landlord,—the communal-body of the village—is in effect, th glj. not in intention, still less in set terms, a sort of f happy non£ between the settlement with a middleman, and a dealing ivitlit individual cultivator direct. The suitableness of every revenue system depends on he past history of the country to which it is«to be applied. IS ages it has been the custom to regard the village as a sort ofn poration, it may; prove difficult, or at least unadvisable, to chanjt a raiyatwari system. If the villages have never been accustomi tjl a joint responsibility, it is practically impossible to iutroducf® lump assessment. In the discussions that took place many years ago as toi relative merits of the village and the individual holding sysii this was rather lost sight of. It is not possible profitably to sir cuss the merits of systems in the abstract. The Collector, wss official life has been passed- in a district where one or more ree sentative headmen manage the village affairs, feels that it woul M impossible for him to deal with many thousands of individual If ings ; the Collector who has succeeded to a Native rule u;ej which individual assessments were always practised, feels no f-3 ,1 difficulty. It is therefore to little profit, that an objection assumed and counterbalancing advantages are set forth 1 ; althoii; ' 1 An elaborate comparison of the two systems will be found in a letter, dated 111 October 1840, by Messrs. Wingate and Goldsmid, printed as Appendix I to “ OfficiaT-1 respondence on the system of Revenue Survey and Assessment in the Bombay Pres nv cy, ” reprinted in Bombay in 1877. This volume contains the celebrated Joint Re‘t* 1847, of the three Superintendents, Messrs. Wingate, Goldsmid, and Davidson, id it is to the reprint that I refer, when in the sequel I mention the “ Joint Report.’* THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 549 yloubt, when theoretical objections are started against a system, noriginators of that system are entitled to assume the objections, ishow that they can be overcome. § 3.— Early history of Bombay Settlements . [n the Bombay districts, the method of revenue management i hich the British Government succeeded was that of the Mard- ii. Many of the Dakhan districts had been before that settled i t Malik' Ambar 2 , who had taken pains to preserve, wherever i 'ound it, the joint-village organisation ; and consequently his isisments were usually in the form of a “ tankha,” or lump assess- et on the whole village. But when the Maratha power was •i y established, they usually abandoned the old tankha for the knal " assessment 3 , which dealt with each individual holding and a based on a classification of the soil. The Maratha was too a a financier to allow any middleman to intercept the profits, u t was only where his power was insecurely established, or in edays of his decline, that he called in a revenue-farmer to make x a certain lump sum to the State treasury. n the early days of our rule, endeavours were made to con- n|i the old management such as it was found, and from want ’ i perience and defect of the machinery of control, frequent over- sisment and much mismanagement doubtless occurred. It was o apparent that the Government must take a new point of depar- ir The Governor (Mr. Elphinstone) was desirous of introduc- gi system which would have in effect coincided with that of the oh-Western Provinces. He would have bound together the Malik’ Ambar was an Abyssinian who rose to power as minister under the later •'got the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar at the end of thel6tb or beginning ,317th century. The kingdom had various limits, according to the power of e jjaler ; but during the long seiies of years that this able minister sustained the ft esof the house, it included all the Aurangabad province and the west parts of and also a part of the Koukan on the sea coast, t; Elphinstoue’s History (5th edition), pages 553 and 758, and Grant Duff's ist y of the Marathas, Volume I, page 95. 3 3e Report on the Settlement of Iudaput talma, Poona Collectorate, Selections* ). [jI, New Series, Bombay, 1877. • 11 550 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. separate holders of laud iu each local group of fields which we c: a “ village/’ and made them a joint body of proprietors toge'tb liable for a lump sum assessed on the entire area of the esta; But this plan, as a general one for the whole of the Bombay di tricts, failed. Though there were still surviving iu some pai of Bombay village communities 4 naturally of this order,—eoi munities which the student, who has read the account of the Nort Western Provinces tenures, is now familiar with—in other lap tracts of country, the local groups were only uuited by the fact tli they were neighbours, and that their affairs were managed bv headman whom they all acknowledged, and that they had also oth hereditary officials, artisans and menials whose services belougr equally to the whole village. It was not found practicable create or restore a joint responsibility for the revenue in thei cases. Then the question arose, what system should be adopted ? 0 the one hand, it is probable that the influence of Sir T. Munro Minutes in favour of the raiyatwan system, which were then we known, operated a good deal in favour of a decision against M Elphinstone's plan. There was also the impossibility of alterin the constitution of the villages. Facts are always stronger than theories, and the ultimal decision may be traced to the actual previous existence, in bow 4 Though rarely. These are the Narwa and Bhagdari villages in the Kaira an Bnroch Collectorates. It is no doubt true that the recognition by the people of mirasi tenure, i.e., a tenure where some persons had a superior right in the lam while others were only “ uprfs ” and holders on a gatkuli tenure, pointed to a earlier form of proprietorship which had fallen into decay. But these terms do nr necessarily imply the existence of areally joint village syst'em. (Cfer the case di scribed at page 438). In fact, iu Bombay, it was difficult to avoid recognising win is so clearly indicated in other parts of Southern India, that villages are of tv\ classes, one where there had been an original joint constitution, and another wliei there was a mere aggregate of individual cultivators, held together only by tl institution of hereditary headmen and officers. See Stack’s Memorandum on Current Land-Revenue Settlements (Home Depar ment, Calcutta, 1880), page 9. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 551 ( er imperfect a form, of a raiyatwan settlement. The non- , ited type of village, found as it was over the whole of the plain cuntry of the Dakhan 5 , formed the preponderating type over le major part of the presidency ; aud when it is recollected lat the Maratha Government always recognised separate and dividual rights, even when in bygone days a joint constitution light really have existed, it is almost obvious that a raiyatwarf fttlement was the only one that suited the habits of the people aud informed to the traditions of the past 6 . It was not the necessity of taling with thousands of individual cultivators (although that was lged by Mr. Elphiustone), but the want of a proper survey, a jnnanent demarcation of fields, and a settled principle of assess- lent, that presented obstacles to successful revenue manage- lent. Section II. —The Survey System. § 1.— The Joint Report. When therefore the period of tentative farming and similar irangements for collecting the revenue came to an end, and a 5 I am assured by one of the most experienced Revenue Officers in Bombay • at the plain country of the Dakhun never had anything but non-united villages. \e author of the general sketch prefixed to the Administration Report of 1872 uttks of the whole of the Dakhan as being occupied by villages in which two ■ isses of persons were recognised, the “ mirasi” or hereditary proprietary class, and s “upri” or tenant or inferior class These terms do not, however (as observed a previous note) imply that the really joint village was ever prevalent. It may -11 be, that the “ mirasdars ” are merely representatives of headmen’s families which ■ icted a rent from all who did not come in with the first fouuders of the villages, t joined by permission at a later time. Whatever may be the true explanation, seems quite clear that, for all practical purposes, the Dakhan districts may be i scribed as in the text,—an actually general prevalence of joint-villages cannot 1 asserted. 6 And when it is said that the “ raiyatwari ” settlement was “introduced” into onbay, it should be remembered that the phrase is not strictly correct. It was not .reduced as a system, it had always existed from the Maratha days. What was 'introduced” was the improved method of survey assessment. 552 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. regular survey system was devised, it was to the method of :o- perly determining the revenue unit of land, and to the rule by which it was to be surveyed and assessed, that attention was st directed. The regular system of Bombay was inaugurated by the app,r- ance of the “ Joint Report” of the three Revenue Superintend ts in 1 847. The system itself had indeed been put into practice see 1836, but the several revenue surveys acted independently, id their operations were “somewhat diversified,” so that it rema :d for the Government, on the basis of the Joint Report, to bring- ie practice into uniformity, and to insure the results of the surws being turned to the best account and maintained in their origal integrity in the future management of the districts. § 2.— The importance of the “ Field ” or survey number. It has been already stated that one of the great featuresif the l’aiyatwari method is, the facility it affords for the contractn and expansion of operations by the cultivator according to his men. H e is bound by no lease. The amount of his assessment is indd fixed for thirty years (or whatever other term may be ordered), hut s title to the land goes from year to year : he may perpetuate it at 9 pleasure. So long as he pays the assessment, the title is practical indefeasible. But if he feels unable to work the laud he hoi, he may relinquish (under suitable conditions) any part of it; oif prosperous, he may take up more land, if land happens to be ava- able. It is therefore impossible to deal with an entire “ holding 1 which may thus vary from year to year. It is necessary to deseel to a smaller unit,—the field or survey number—one or many of wliii may, according to circumstances, constitute a holding. It will be well to state at the outset that the “ field,” under t; system we are considering, is far from being an arbitrary thing. It necessary of course to lay down, in ideal, an area which as far aspo sible it is desirable to attain; but existing and well known divisio; into fields were always allowed due consideration, and under no ci cumstances were differences of tenure and marked natural distinctioi THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 553 icfjred in order to attain an arbitrary standard. In waste lands, t as of course open to adopt a size for the survey number cor- eionding 1 to tbe standard officially prescribed. The idea of the Joint Report was to start from the area which a a at could cultivate with a pair of bullocks 7 ; this would vary Hording 1 as the cultivation was wet or dry, or as the soil was ic t or heavy, and generally with the climate and circumstances sfhe locality. § 3 .—Standard size of cultivated fields. It was found that in each class the following area was cou- veient as a standard : — 20 acres for light dry soil. 15 „ „ medium. 12 „ „ heavy. 4 „ „ rice land (irrigated). Then, as a rule, every “ number" should contain a number of tics, of which the foregoing table gave the nrinimum ; double that w; the maximum. If, however, it should appear that an aggregate of the proper nmber of acres could not be obtained without including plots held uiier a different tenure, as where part was a revenue-free plot, an another held at a special quit-rent (found in Bombay and called rf ;di”), then such separate tenures would not be comprised under on number, but were made into separate numbers, even though the in imum dimensions should not be attained. In the same way, if possible, different kinds of cultivation—wet, dr &c.—would be put under separate numbers. Where one man’s holding, or that of a body of sharers, formed a pt of an extent approaching the standard, it would of course be lade into a separate number. If it exceeded the standard, it “ As farming cannot be prosecuted at all with a less number than this, when a rUat has only a siugle bullock, he must enter into partnership with a neighbour, or tain a second by some means or other, in order to be able to cultivate at all.” (Ji t Report, § 13.) 554 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. would be made into two or more numbers, because there would no inconvenience iu one man or one body holding two or mi: numbers. Where there were small holdings of the same kind, two or me were clubbed under one number, which was also no ineonvenieui, since by recording the holders as having shares separately lia!: (pot-numbers)—in case the sharers desired it—all separate rigl were preserved. But this practice, as already stated, was never applied to separ; holdings of different kinds; they were to be given separate uumbe even though the prescribed standard could not be attained. § 4.— Size of numbers in waste land. Lands not fit for cultivation, or those still covered with jutig were not divided ou these principles, but were merely mark off into large blocks, each under one number. This of com did not include land _ which was culturable, but happened to : fallow, or temporarily unoccupied, but only to large tracts of was or jungle which could only be brought under the plough, uni 1 the operation of the “ Waste Land Rules ,” and by the gradual grow, of the demand for land and the spread of cultivation 8 . •§ 5.— Size under present rules. The Code now prescribes 9 that no survey number is to i made less than a minimum size to be fixed from time to time 1' the several classes of land in each district, by the Commissioner: Survey, with the sanction of Government. For the Dakhan d- tricts (above Ghat) of the Northern Division, as well as for t; Southern Division, the rule now is, that any recognised occupaiu is made into one field, if under 30 acres. A field of more than 3J and less than 50, is divided into two ; one of more than 50, It less than 70, into three; and so on. 8 These rules were in force when the Berar survey settlement was made. 9 Soction 98. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. § 6.— Village and.field boundaries. The Bombay survey is just as much concerned with the village Ik ndaries 10 as the North-Western Provinces survey is. If the mge boundary was not ascertained, it is clear that the bounda- i.j, of the fields lying on the boundary would not be. Moreover, []- revenue-rolls and jamabandis are made out village by village, and Li re are also questions of jurisdiction which require the indication olvillage boundaries. The maps therefore lay down the village boundary as well as tb internal division into fields or survey numbers. Village boun¬ ties are settled by agreement, or by reference to a panchayat, or b’ the survey officer, subject to an appeal. The field boundaries are also laid down, if there is no dispute, • 3 i the assertion of the occupant attested by the village officers. If .here is a dispute, the survey officer takes evidence and decides. A)itration may be referred to by consent of both parties. If the dispute arises after the survey, the Collector decides. It is of course of the greatest importance that the boundaries >1 fields should be permanent and well maintained. The Superin- olent of Survey is empowered to determine the size and material like marks 1 . The plan usually adopted is to make earthen ridges • onet up stones at the corners of the field. Code, section 118. Whicl), of course, varies according to climate and locality. In some climates oa ten ridge3 are washed away: stones have also their disadvantages. The m and of corner mavk'nsr will be understood from the sketch. 556 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. To connect one mark with the other, a strip of land is' t unploughed, and this soon gets covered with grass, palm-hush, and so forth, so that it is impossible to mistake the boundary. In Berar there are rules for the maintenance of these str s between the marks (Berar Settlement Rules XXIV, XXV). Strict rules are in force under the Bombay system for > periodical inspection of the field marks, and the Code, in Chapter 1, gives ample powers for their maintenance. These will be alluded ) under the head of Revenue business. It is obvious that the enti ' preservation of the results of the survey depends on the keeping > of the boundary marks. § 7.— The survey . The field survey is on a scale of 8 inches to the mile. Gir, pains are taken in constructing the maps. In all the later surveys the Great Trigonometrical triangu tion has been taken as the basis, and the system of village trave ■ ing has been adopted, so that the maps have a topographical as w as a revenue value. The survey work is afterwards combined into taluka 2 and d trict maps, which are furnished by the department, as well as t 1 ) large scale field-to-field maps. § 8.— Commencement of a Survey ^settlement. A survey settlement is set in operation by direction of the Go ernor. The Code 3 does not require any notification in the Gazet to begin with ; that comes afterwards, when the assessments a declared. For the purposes of survey and assessment the Governor Council appoints such officers as may be necessary 4 . The Code speal of any one appointed under this section as a “ Survey Officer.” 2 In Bombay they use the Marathi form—taluk&—of this (originally Arabic) woi 3 See section 95. 4 See Code, Chapters VIII, IX, and X, and section. 18. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 557 There is a Survey Commissioner who supervises the whole; while n vidual settlements are in charge of Superintendents of Survey (purvey Settlement-Officers, with assistants, under whom again if staffs of surveyors, classers of soils, &c. Appointments are to jeiotified (in the Gazette). , A convenient clause distinctly specifies that subordinates may, (^delegation, exercise such portion of the powers of their superior isae may direct, but always subject to a right of revision by the sujrior. A special Chapter (III) deals with security to be furnished by )fi:ers when necessary, and this includes not only the Survey but ,h ordinary Revenue staff. Section III. —The Assessments. § 1.— Classification of soil. All land, whether applied to agricultural or other purposes 6 , and vlreversituate, is liable to the payment of land revenue to Gov- ament, according to the rules of the Code, unless expressly xnpted. While the survey is done by the proper establishment, i parate staff of “classers” examine the soil of every field and >l:e it in a certain class in the following manner : — The classes and soils actually described (tak^i from the Joint hort) apply ouly to the above Ghat districts of the Dakhan 6 , but h manciple of classification is the same for other districts, only the le il of the rules differs according to local circumstances. The cla3ser deal's separately with— (1) Unirrigated or jirayat (j’erayet) land. (2) Rice land. Code, section 45. I have not in this chapter taken any notice of the assess- nes of sites in towns, &c. Chapter X of the Code must he consulted, if necessary, '.v e student for himself. In Bombay we have (apart from Sindh) (1) Guzarat, (2) Khandesh, (3) the )aian, including Nasik. Poona, Ahmadnagar, Satara, Belgam, Kalddgi, Dhdrwar, ni ibolapur, (4)theKonkan (comprising the below Ghat districts—Thana, Kolaba, inrlatnagiri) and North Kanara. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 558 (3) Garden land called baghayat (begayet), wliie i? motastbal if watered from wells, the water b in raised by buckets; and patasthal if from taukor dams, the water being brought on by small war. courses 7 . Bice land grows nothing but rice, though some garden land w grow rice also. Rice land may be entirely irrigated by rain or by artif al' means. Commencing then with jirayat (always taking the Dakhames as an example), it was found by experience that soils could be grid into three orders—(1) tine, uniform black; (2) coarser, red; 3) “ barad,” or light soil. Three feet (or If cubits) is the maximum depth of soil w :li it is of any importance on agricultural grounds to consider; wihn that limit, however, the value of each soil varies with its depth; id the gradations are fixed from If cubits to f of a cubit, nil less than which, land of any kind is not culturable at all. The soil of each order will thus require seven classes—If, f If, 1, f, f, and \; but as soils of \ and f cubit depth in thepocst order, are lower valued than any others, two additional classes ire added; and for some years past a tenth class has been recognid, to be used for tire poorest soil of all. The best class in the highest order is relatively valued as te ■t whole, or 16 anas in the rupee, the second at 14, and so on, id I the lowest at 4| anas 8 . The best class in the second order isva.nl : at 14 anas, and so on, down to the lowest at 3 anas. The best iil of the third class rarely or never exceeds one cubit in depth, so at • the highest class is valued at 6 anas and the lowest at 2. 7 Whence the name. “ Mot” is a large bucket, “ pdf’ is a raised wntercou'. •% It may be necessary to remind the student unfamiliar with Bombay that sc -_‘tj numbers have nothing to do with an actual money rate for assessment. The re relative numbers only. If, for example, the actual highest rate fixed for 1st iss hi soil was Rs. 3 an acre, the 16-ana land would pay Rs. 3, the 12-a'ia land §thsofR3< or lis. 2-4. and so on. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 559 This will appear from the following table :— Class. Value. First order, black. Second order, red. Third order, light. Anas. Cbts. depth. Depth. Depth. 1 16 If 2 14 n if 3 12 u i* 4 10 i it 5 8 3 4 i ... 6 6 1 2 3 4 1 7 4* 1 4 1 2 S 4 8 3 1 4 1 2 9 2 1 4 10 1 § 2.— Accidents affecting soils. Then, besides each order of soil being in a particular class icording to depth, there are accidental circumstances which, again, (preciate the value. These have been found in practice to be wen in number :— 2. Admixture of nodules of limestone. 2. Admixture of sand. 3. Sloping surface. 4. Want of cohesion. 5. Impermeability to water. 6. Exposure to scouring from flow of water in the rains. 7. Excessive moisture from surface springs. Each of these accidents is held to lower any soil by one class, id if it occurs in excess, by two classes. Certain marks are used to denote these accidents. § 3.— Method of recording class and relative value of land. The classer now makes a sketch of the field on a piece of paper, ad after studying the ground on the spot, he determines to divide 560 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the sketch into a number of compartments of equal area. l u > number of spaces or compartments necessary is fixed by pal orders according to the variability of the soil. Usually ey average about 1 or 2 acres each. It is a general rule that, w. ever small the field or survey number may be, at least two com] it- ments are to be made. Here, for instance, is such a sketch— 9 Compt. 1 2 3 4 7 4 AA 3 ™ 2 3 4 if ~ If If 6 1 5 1 4 A H 3 V If 5 6 7 • 8 Beginning at the lower left-hand corner of each square lie dots indicate the order of soil, one being the best (fine black), vo being the red, and three the poor soil. The numbers 1, f, &c., just above, mean the depth. Noulet us take the first compartment. The soil is poor (three dots), ed being f of a cubit deep, by reference to the above table, it i in the 7th class; hence the class of this «is marked 7 in the u>cr corner. The No. (2) is of the 1st order, and is If cubits deep, so at it would have been in the 1st class, but it has some acciddal defects. It is impervious to water (A) in a double degree; be j mark is repeated twice; and it is also liable to be swept oveiby drainage water (•»-); hence, as each defect lowers it one clas it ^ has to come down from the 1st to the 4th class, and the figui 4 ^ is entered. 9 The figures are imaginary; but in the Dakban the soil is so exceedglv variable that varieties from class 1 to class 9 or even 10 may occur in one field,s haps of no larger extent than 5 acres. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 561 n the same way we find t re h give— Anas 1= 3rd order 7th class = 4 2= 1st 11 4th 11 = 10 3= 1st 11 3rd 11 = 12 4= 1st 11 2nd 11 = 14 5= 3rd 11 6th 11 = 6 6= 2nd 11 5th 11 = 8 7= 2nd 11 4th 11 = 10 8= 1st 11 3rd 11 = 12 -he whole 8 compartments of the \ Total 76§ anas, or an average of 9 anas 6 pie for the whole field. As regards soil, then, this field will bear 9i py of the maximum or full rate of assessment, whatever it is. § 4 .—Addition for irrigation. lice lands and irrigated lands have to be classified in this way 5 jgards their soil or natural unirrigated aspect; but they require mer examination to test the effect of the well or other means f -ligation, which may result in their being assessed with an Irion over and above the unirrigated rate, and the addition will e he full or maximum, or a part only, according to the character ;k value of the means of irrigation. die area of irrigated land is separately measured, for it may 3 tat in one survey number part is irrigated and part unirrigated, ales can be made out showing the value to be assigned to wells icding to the supply of water in the well, the depth, quality of a r, sufficiency of extra land around the well to allow a rota- oi of wet and dry crops? and the distance of the garden from the illge which affects the cost of manuring 10 . The following paragraphs from the Joint Report explain the subject:— If these elements, the supply of water iu the well is of most importance, adhould be determined by an examination of the well, and enquiries of the illfers, in addition to a consideration of the nature of the crops grown, and the stt; of land under irrigation. This is the most difficult and uncertain operation in cted with the valuation of the garden, especially in the case of wells which av alien into disuse, and, therefore, that to which attention should be particularly ireedin testing the estimate of the classer, and fixing the assessment of the ar n. The remaining elements admit of being determined with accuracy. u deducing the relative values of gardens from a consideration of all he: elements, which should be separately recorded by the classer, it would greatly tci ate the operations, were the extent of land watered always in proportion to 2 M 562 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. It is obvious that the rate to be added to the soil class-vi e may be applied to the whole acreage of the field; or if the ini - tion does not cover the whole, a fair number of acres is calculad which it is estimated the well waters; this number depends on e capacity and water-supply of the well. This rate can then le adopted at its full figure, or reduced by the consideration that e well is very deep, that the water is brackish, or that it is r away from the village, so that the profit of irrigation is redtd by the difficulty of getting manure, which is the complement if garden cultivation. Rice land 1 requires special rates, even when not artificiiv 1 irrigated, because it is different in character from ordinary jiff it land. the supply of water in the well. But it is not so, as in mauy instances the exit | capable of being- watered is limited by the dimensions of the field in which the 11 is situated, or the portion of it at a sufficiently low level; and in others, suppag , the capacity of the well to be the same, and the laud under it abundant, the r- | face water will be more or less extensive, as the cultivator finds it advantageoiuo , grow the superior products which require little space, but constant irrigation the inferior garden crops, which occupy a more extended surface, but require u- i paratively little water. “Wherever the extent of land capable of being watered is not limiteciy j the dimensions of the field, the most convenient method of determining the r- -ji tion of it to be assessed as garden land, is to allot a certain number of acres tue -i j well in proportion to its capacity. By this means, the most important elemciof all is disposed of, and our attention in fixing the rate per acre restricted to a u> q sideration of the remaining elements which are of a more definite nature. “The relative importance of these elements varies so much in different |ts'J of the country, that we find ourselves unable, after a careful exaininatioof ,i| the subject, to frame a rule for determining the value to be attached to each. id <1 the consequent effect it should have upou the rate of assessment under all cirIp stances. It must be left to the judgment of the superintending officer to deterae the weight to be assigned to each circumstance affecting the value of garden id, 4 and this determined it will be easy to form tables or rules for deducing from ae q the relative values of garden land under every variety of circumstance.” ] On this subject the Joint Report states as follows: — “In rice, as in other irrigated lands, the chief points to be considcrec.re a the supply of water, the nature of the soil, and facilities for manuring. The 8 i)ly,l of water is often wholly, and always to a great extent, dependent on the ord ry rains. In some parts of the country, to guard against the effects of intcrv; old dry weather occurring in the rainy seasoD, small tanks arc formed from whirl lie i THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 563 § 5.— Assessment rates. JVhen the classer has classified the soil according- to its nature no prepared tables showing the requisite facts regarding the irri- aon of “ baghayat ” land, and those regarding rice, the Superin- ■nent of Survey, as assessor, has now to adopt actual rates. Ie has to ascertain— 1) the full or 16-ana rate for dry cultivation, and for other lands considered in their unirrigated aspect; 2) the addition he will make to form suitable “ irrigated ” rates; 3) the additions he will make to get his rice-land rates. his he has to do by aid of careful local inspection, and by kig into consideration all the circumstances with which the a; 2 r has nothing to do (whose business is only with local facts nil, water, &c. ), namely, the climate, the facilities for market, oroductiveness of the land, and so forth. He has also here the 1 f figures compiled, just as in any other settlement; he has the t< of former Native and British settlements ; he sees whether e have been paid easily, or -with much compulsion and large e ay be irrigated for a limited period. In estimating the supply of water, there > o distinct circumstances, therefore, to be considered, viz., the inherent mois- •e/esulting from the position of the field, and the extraneous aid derived from it or from channels cut to divert the water from the upper slopes into the rice n Is below. The weight to be given to each of these elements, in the classifica- n f the supply of water, depends so much upon local peculiarities, that we feel i: lossible to frame a system of universal application; and consequently the leiination of this point must be left to the judgment of the superintending c All that we can do is to indicate the principles according to which, as wa if vc, the operation should proceed. The classification of the soil should be effected by a system similar in n >le to that already described, though modified in details to meet the peculi- ti of different districts. But the circumstances of the rice countries to which ' orations have yet extended appear to vary so much, that we have not been e ) agree upen any detailed rules for the classification that would be suitable d The facilities for manuring rice lands will he determined, as in the case of '•bp soils, by distance from village, or the locality from which manure is pro- 564 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, balances; he considers whether rates that would be high ten, would be, owing to changed circumstances, easy now. The Revenue-officers from time to time make experime 3 as to outturn of crops, and the assessor can make use of them. § 6 .—Maximum or full rates. He then takes certain tracts of country which he consider can bear uniform rates and fixes a maximum for each, which repuent his full or 16 ana rates 2 . • 5 The Joint Report should be quoted verbatim on this subject : — «##### It now remains for us to point out what we deem to be tl best mode of fixing the absolute amount of assessment to be so distributed. 1 first question for consideration is the extent of territory for which a uniform stau -dof assessment should be fixed. This will depend upon the influences we admit incon-li sideration with a view to determine the poiut. Among the most important o ka influences may be ranked climate, position with respect to markets, agricturaL skill, and the actual condition of the cultivators. The first of these may cooa sidered permanent; the second and third less so ; and the fourth, in a great nsuw; temporary. And as our settlements are intended to be of considerable d tion,) there is an obvious advantage in regulating the assessment by considerate of ji permanent character, or, at least, such as are not likely to undergo any very twill change during the term of years (generally thirty) for which it is to endure. “ In determining, then, upon the extent of country to he assessed at ■ fora rates, we are of opinion that the more permanent distinctions of climate, nfoti i and husbandry should receive our chief attention. We should not think of insiw different rates of assessment on a tract of country similarly situated in resit of these three points, in consequence of the actual condition of the cultivators ,-yiny in different parts of it. # # # # * # # “ Each collectorate being divided into districts (talukas) of which tlrirfi agement and records are distinct, it is an obvious advantage to consider thnscs'i inent of each of these divisions separately. And were the points beaig assessment, collections, and cultivation, for each of the years to which they h •, so as to convey to the miud clear and definite conceptions of the subject, icias it is scarcely possible to obtain from figured statements, even after the most beous and attentive study. The information to be embodied in the diagram best itl for our purpose should be restricted to the land of the district subject to the lhsessment; the extent of this cultivated in each year, the assessment on the u and the portion »f the assessment actually realised. # * * * * ### Furthermore, to assist in tracing the causes to which the prosperity or decline \lages, or tracts containing several villages, are to be attributed, independent a'neuts of the annual revenue settlements of each village should be prepared; and oi these, again, a general statement for the whole district, or any portion of it o 1 be framed, and its accuracy tested by a comparison with the general accounts e taluka, and from the returns so prepared and corrected, the diagrams o 1 finally be constructed. The nature and amount of the various items of n revenue and hnqs (holdings revenue-free or at reduced rates) excluded from ie liagram, should be separately noted, and taken into account in considering the in -ini results of the proposed assesment. And, finally, with the view of affording the fullest information on this tf taut subject, detailed figured statements should be furnished, exhibiting the uiand amount of every item of revenue hitherto derived from land of every ■s ption, whether Government or alienated, comprised within the limits of the 11 es for which an assessment is proposed. The information thus collected and exhibited, with that obtained by local q fies into the past history of the district, will generally enable us to trace the LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. 566 but Indapur itself had a very good market for its produce, s< the land in a group round the town was raised to Re. 1-2. The in parts of the taluka certain groups of villages were badly c as regards communication, and still more so as regards the stea( ess of the rainfall average, so these are grouped into tracts pnng ' 14 anas only, or even 12 anas; in other places there \j ajj fertilising overflow of the river which bounds the taluka, a. so improved the conditions of agriculture, rendering them com«. tively independent of rainfall, the general rate was there raisi to« Re. 1-8 per acre. § 7 .—Application of the rates. These rates being fixed, the classer's data could be brougl to bear: the fields that showed the 16-ana class would pay Re. 1 -ItheJ 14-ana class, Re. 1, &c., according to the group they were in ; ose j that were in the 2-ana class would pay one-eighth of the .to. Fields that were irrigated by wells 3 would have certain ,tcs1 added on to represent the well, the rates being added to the nuberi of acres considered to be irrigated, and the full rate or a part ling; added according to the scale given in the tables showing tke.cts j regarding irrigation facilities. Rice land would be similarly dealt with as regards the rat. d It is then easy to test these rates by comparing them ifffl former assessments and taking into consideration the general ate causes which have affected its past condition ; and a knowledge of these, aidedy t comparison of the capabilities of the district with those of others in its neighbovooJ, will lead to a satisfactory conclusion regarding the amount of assessment;) 1* imposed. “ But instead of a particular sum at which a district should be assed.it amounts to the same thing, and is more convenient, to determine the rates > imposed on the several descriptions of soil and culture contained within its liui.so as to produce the amount in question. And to do this, it is only requisite to I the maximum rates for the different descriptions of cultivation, when, of course, i tin inferior rates will be at once deducible from the relative values of our classif tiou: scales.” 3 At a revision, a well is an improvement made at the cost of the occupan f ^e therefore gets the benefit without addition for the term of revised settler but here my object is to speak of the general plan. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 567 if tie country and whether the increase percentage produced by the ie rates is excessive with reference to improved roads, railways, x nt of population, and facilities for export 4 . The selling price of 'r;n is also carefully considered together with the yield of the ai : this affords a good means of comparison. § 8.— Rvles in other parts of the Presidency, The rules described are suitable to the Dakhan districts, ai though the details differ, the principle is the same in other in s of the Presidency. In the Konkan, for example, the rain- a is so abundant that soil depth is of no consequence; in Sindh t s uniformly of great depth; but everywhere the rules lay !on the observance of well-known classes of soil having different ir luctive capabilities, both with water and without 5 . § 9. — Method of working. The work of soil classification is very rapidly done, and so c irately, that test classifications do not differ by more than 6 or 7 )i«in a maximum valuation of 1 rupee. The classification will not ae more than 20 to 25 minutes for a 20-acre field, and 7 or 8 ids will be done in a day by a classer, of whom 13 or 14 form the s blishment of one Assistant Superintendent. The establish- oit will get over 45,000 to 50,000 acres of plain country in a nith. The Assistant Superintendent tests from 5 to 15 per cent. ii seif by doing the work over, without reference to what has >ei recorded by the native classer, and it is surprising how small b corrections are as a rule. It will be observed that, under the Bombay system, no less than it other, the actual fixing of rates is a matter for the Settlement For example, in Indapur, the making of roads and the introduction of carts, pi h had before been almost uukuown, made the people much better off, and a o il larger return was obtained from agriculture. Thus, iu a recent settlement of the Morad taluka in Haidarabid (Sindh), I io :o “ river kachi” taken as an order of soil, and this is classified into (1; land drill- o i, aided by wheel to raise water ; (2) land simply drill-sown ; (3) laud ; bearing pi it or barley, broadcast; (4) land roughly ploughed. 563 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Officer or assessor; it is dependent on a consideration of circa g. tances, on wise calculation, knowledge and experience ; but w ;n once tlie general rates are determined, they are applied to i ;k field by an arithmetical process, resulting from the classer’s f c. tional valuation of each. The whole assessment is not made by rule of thumb, as is see- times supposed; it is a matter of estimate by experienced men, st as in Upper India; but each field has a relative value, fixed acc 1- ing to rules of classification, and the application of the rate toie ' field, whether the full rate or only a fraction of it, follows exaly '■(, and regularly from the classification. The value of the system consists in this, that the soil clasfi- cation and record of facts about wells and rice-irrigation can bso easily and satisfactorily checked, and that great experience is ga:;d by the trained staff who are constantly employed as classers. fo system can dispense with the assessor’s (as distinct from ie.' classer’s) personal judgment, or exclude altogether an element! Si estimate or guessing; but this system leaves as little as possiblto estimate, and when the rate is determined, applies it by unifm and exact methods to each field. § 10 .—Settlement of alienated lands. Alienated lands (as they are called in Bombay), that is, reveie- free grauts or grants held on special terms, are not, as an enre class, assessed. But the Code gives power to survey the villies as regards their boundaries and to settle disputes regarding the i boundaries. There may be an estate, or group of lands of consir- able size, alienated, and there may be merely alienated field® groups of fields in Government lands; or, possibly, Governmt i may have a share in alienated lands. In the former case Gov la¬ ment would ordinarily not interfere : the grantee would make is own arrangements with the occupants, who, in fact, pay revenuto him instead of to Government. In some cases, however, the ini-1 dar will request the survey to determine the assessment; and the if he accepts the rates, these are binding on him as regards the oil- THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 569 ns; and Government pays tlie expense of the survey 0 . In ill* cases, however, the lands would be assessed like the adjoining ;b, only the assessment would not be levied, or only so far as ojrnment had a share in it. Jut in such lands the assessment should be known, because the c cess is levied on the basis of it. Ihe only local cess (the one-ana local cess) is devoted—one- lil to education and two-thirds to district roads. jands belonging to the ‘ watan ’ of the hereditary village fials (and now held conjointly on joint succession by the *e:nt occupant as member of a watandari family) were usually aged by the Maratha Government with a ‘ jodi/ or quit-rent, :ti sufficiently heavy. In all cases watan lands are now assessed i sum sufficient to provide a remuneration for the actual office- )br, which remuneration is calculated on the basis of a certain ■r ntage of the revenue of the village. Should the full survey s.sment be not sufficient to cover this, the balance is paid by o;rnment. § 11 .—Revision of Settlement. Vhen the period of settlement comes to an end the land is re- tiid. This, in Bombay, is always called a “ revision settle- e;.” t is generally assumed that a re-survey and classification of ilwill not be necessary at revision; but although this is true as g - ds a general re-survey, in practice a good deal of work of itdass is found necessary. 'he Indapur revision, for example, was one in which, owing to :c iar circumstances, a re-survey and classification were found to ; avoidable. t is a cardinal principle of revision that no increased assess- 8 i is imposed, consequent on improvements made from private sc rces and capital during the currency of the settlement 7 ; but 6 See ou this subject Nairne’s Handbook, Chap. XXV, page 3Gt, &c. : 7 See Code, sectiou 106. 570 LAND If3 b;VENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. only with reference to improvements made at the cost of G em¬ inent, or with reference to natural advantages when private im fo¬ ments have merely created the means of utilising such advan o>es, Consequently, if, during the currency of a settlement, a wi has been constructed at revision, an additional assessment will r bj : imposed for the well ; the land will merely pay at the rate c un¬ irrigated land, the benefit of the well being reaped by the : iker for the term of the revised settlement 8 . The improvements and changes, however, which may affec the 1 assessment will often necessitate, the revision of the groups, vieh 1 bear uniform maximum or full rates. The chief points fonon- sideration in this re-grouping of villages for the establisbm t of new assessment rates, will be—the state of present eommunic iouH as compared with those existing at the time of the original itieJ ment, and the establishment of new markets, or the decli of those which were the principal ones when the first grouping oolc j place. Climatic differences will probably not alter, but the'nay have been neglected, and thus on revision they must be taken.nto consideration 9 . The assessment of land, which has been increased in vali |jy building, quarrying, &c., may be enhanced, because, thoug tlmd immediate work may be due to private enterprise, the g< oral, value of the land and its being in demand for such non-remuraJ five purposes has greatly been brought about mainly a the 'i expense of the State. § 12.— The Survey Department. The following concise account of the constitution of the S vey and Settlement Department in the Bombay Presidency is takeiroini Mr. Stack’s Memorandum :— “ As at present constituted, the Survey and Settlement Department is ndani one Commissioner for the whole Presidency, including Sindh. Each pamlar. survey is under the direction of a Superintendent, subordinate to who are several Assistant Superintendents, having charge of parties of measure) anil fi Code, sections 106, 107. 9 See Report on Revision of Indapur Taluka, paras. 129—42. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 571 a< rs. The operations of measuring and classing are conducted, as a rule, ., parate establishments, and, generally, the classification of a district follows ie neasurement at an interval of one season. Every detail of the survey letions is closely supervised and tested by the Assistant Superintendents, hare European officers. On the Superintendent devolves, besides the general m ol of the Survey, the duty of fixing the rates of assessment, submitting the roisals relating to them through the Survey Commissioner to Government, icintroducing the settlement when sanctioned. The Superintendent submits is roposals regarding the assessment of a taluka to the Collector, who for- ai3 them with his remarks to the Survey Commissioner, who again forwards proposals with his observations to the Commissioner of the Division, who il its the whole correspondence with his opinion to Government. In many is, and especially when there is any difficult point involved, the Super - it dent consults the Survey Commissioner regarding the details of his pro¬ ofs before submitting them in formal shape to the Collector. In the intro- u< on of the assessments, the Assistant Collector in charge of the taluka is si ly associated with the Superintendent. It has always been the practice to ic de no larger area than a single taluka in a proposal for settlement, and eiently the area is very much smaller, comprising only 10 or 12 villages. A peculiarity of the Bombay settlement system is its purely technical meter. In other provinces. Settlement Officers are selected from the civil ;a of the province ; but in Bombay ‘ there is not at the present moment an ffi r in the Civil Service who has done a day’s practical work in the Settlement >c rtment, or has any real knowledge of the detail of its operations.’(a) This ec unity has operated to the prejudice of the Settlement Department. Act I of 1865 was passed to legalise the survey and settlement after it had ec twenty-seven years in operation. That Act was amended by Act IV of 1868. lo these Acts have now been repealed by the Bombay Land-revenue Code V V of 1879, B.C.), which embodies the whole of their provisions, and is the xi ing law of survey and settlement throughout the province. The following table shows the time occupied in making the settlements o- current in the various districts, and the dates on which those settlements, xpe. The time occupied in making the settlements has been reckoned from ac beginning of survey, except in the districts marked with an asterisk, where i< nitial dates are those of the first introduction of the revised assessments, he urvey dates not being ascertainable. Revised settlements are distinguished y ie letter R. 1 Survey and Settlement Commissioner’s No. 232, dated 1st March 1880, to the BomOay Ic ament, para. 47. Duration of settlement operations. Disteict. Ahmadabad.1851 to 1862 Kaira 1857 „ 1868 Surat 1859 „ 1873 1866 to 1887. 1892-93. 1894-95. 572 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Duration of Hate of settlement expiry of operations. settlement. District. Baroch (Broach) . . 1803 to 1877 1 Panch Mahals . 1865 „ 1879 j 1900-01 Khandesh Satara . 1854 „ . 1855 „ 1870 1864 } 1884-85 Belgam . 1849 , 1857 1878 to 188' Ahmadnagar . 1845 „ 1852 1879 „ 188i Nasik (R) . *1871 „ 1880 (unfinished) 1902-03.5 Dharwar (R) . *1874 „ 1880 1904 to 191( Kaladgi (R) . . *1874 „ 1878 (do.) 1904-05 (5) Poona (R) . *1867 „ 1880 (do.) 1897-98.(5) Sholapur (R) . *1872 „ 1875 (do.) 1902-03.(5) Thana .... . 1854 „ 1867 1884-85. Kolaba . . . . 1854 „ 1867 1886-87. Ratnagiri . 1866 „ 1876 (do.) 1894-95. Kanara . 1863 „ *L880 1893 94. (b) These are the earliest dates of expiry of the revised settlements. “ The two districts settled before 1860 (Belgam and Ahmadnagar) '5 . disposed of much more rapidly than those subsequently taken in hand. Su j { and settlement work has steadily tended to become more and more exact, eh-jfl rate, and tedious. The average duration of settlement operations seems t)j •) about twelve or fourteen years. “ The term of settlement is thirty years in most districts, but where these :• 4 ment of a whole district expires at once (as in Surat, for instance), the la it d settled talukas have a considerably shorter period. Some backward tracts l e >1 been settled for twenty years only. The revised settlements are all for thy ij years.” § 13.— Settlement of Sinclh. The land-reveuue settlement is also described as follows 10 : (e ^ frontier districts have not been settled and are not included in ts ,J account) — “ Upon the introduction of civil administration in 1847, a seven years’ set-.t* ment was made by measurement of crops and commutation of the Govermrt * share at assumed prices on raiyati lands, and by leasing out the zamnukiri est:s 1 at lump rents. Prices subsequently fell, the assessments proved heavy, and e 1 settlement expired in 1853-54 amidst general demands for reversion to the d 1 10 Selections from Records of Government, No. XVIII, 1855, pages 8, 9—Pajs ' i relating to Revenue Survey in Sindb, 1875, page 43. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 573 a/e system of dividing the crop and taking revenue in kind. At the same a the revenue records were exceedingly imperfect. There were no village a nor even any taluka lists of villages ; boundaries were undefined, and land o-;ers were unknown, all existing information being exhibited under the name ; )3 p e vson by whom, not of the place for which, revenue was to be paid. It therefore determined to institute a ‘ rough survey and settlement,’ as pre- n ary to a complete revenue survey and settlement at some future time. Set- ;i nt Officers were to demarcate village boundaries for the Topographical Survey ie at work in Sindh, and were then to measure the fields, fill in the village a, classify the soils, and make the settlement. This ‘ rough survey and settlement’ went on till 1862. By that time about lthird of the provinces had been surveyed for settlement purposes, at a cost '; lakhs ; but no settlements had been made, the Settlement Officers having fully occupied in demarcating boundaries for the Topographical Survey, and ft wards making their own interior survey of the villages. In the absence of rese rules, the system followed had more or less modelled itself upon the i a ^n revenue survey, and the assimilation was now made complete by the e] tation in 1862 of a Bombay Settlement Officer to draw up a scheme of classi¬ cs on and settlement. The rules then framed still form the basis of set- ennt operations in Sindh, though in practice they have been subjected to re , and material modification as regards details, so that the present form of itiment differs largely from that adopted about 1864-65, the failure of which x ue more and more evident eight or ten years later. The organisation of the ej rtment was completed by 1864-65, and regular survey and settlement work a^een going on ever since. At first there were two Superintendents, one upon lefight bank, and the other on the left bank of the Indus; but a single officer a:iad charge of the department since 1874. Cultivation in Sindh is almost entirely dependent upon irrigation. A :r in area of land, composed of rocky detritus, along the skirts of the hills, in )e cultivated with the help only of rain; but even lauds of this kind ar e eirally dependent upon hill torrents, which are caught in enclosed fields and llced to soak into the soil. Excepting these tracts, the province consists oirally of alluvial deposit, with a greater or less admixture of sand. The la ification rules of 1862 divided this soil into four orders, differing.from each tl • by their proportion of sand, and these again are liable to be degraded by fa ts,’ viz., the presence of salt, a sandy substratum, or an uneven surface. Tsecond stage of the classification process relates to the nature and quality f e water-supply. The greater part of Sindh is watered by canals filled y ie rising of the Indus. They are constructed so as to receive water during lunundatiou season, and most of them lose their supply when the river falls to rv vater mark. Some of them are under the Irrigation Department, others are aaiged by the zamfndars. In the latter case, the zamindars are bound to do lu nnual cleaning out and repairs, and the expenses are recovered by a special es if the Government has to step in and take the duty out of their hands, n ation from these canals is either by flow or by lift, that is, by the Persian 574 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. wheel. Besides the canal-water area, a considerable extent of country, ;p e . daily in the Shikarpur district, is rendered capable of cultivation by n lra | flooding. These floods are quite beyond control, and often do more harm ban good; but where they are tolerably certain, as is the case with the Mahar lake in the Karachi district, they are very favourable to the growth o abi crops, especially wheat, on the land which has been temporarily submred. Thus, in making the settlement, water-supply has to be classed under o of three heads, viz., flow (mole), lift (charJchi), or floods ( saildbi ), and then fiber classified according to the sufficiency and constancy of the flow, the expeni in. curred in bringing the water by lift to the field, and the certainty and dui ion of the flooding. Section IY.— The Records of Settlement. The Code is remarkably simple iu its provisions on this sb« ject. • The village maps are among the most important reeds- Accompanying these is the “ Settlement Register/ - ’ showing ie area and assessment of each survey number, together with theme of the registered occupant of the number L The Code leaves it to the Local Government to prescribe sli other records as may be necessary. One record is, indeed, expre y mentioned in an earlier section of the Code 2 —a record of all al i* ated lands—that is, what would be called in Upper India ‘ lakhii ’ lands, lands of which the Government right to revenue has bn wholly, or within certain limits, alienated or granted away. A third record is mentioned in Nairne’s Handbook, called e ) “ botkhet,” which is a detailed record of each holding—that, each field or group of fields held on a separate interest or a sepal'c tenure by one person or more than one, with detail of shares, &e These registers are lodged by the survey officers with te Collector. Copies are given to each landholder of the record of his ho- i ing; and in khot villages (to the khot), such papers as £2 necessary to enable him to administer the estate properly. 3 Code, section 108i | a Section 53. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 575 be original registers when complete, are not altered, except to .rrst clerical errors or mistakes admitted by the parties inter- tec. Mistakes as to a wrong entry of a registered occupant’s im by error, fraud, or collusion, may be corrected within ten years, er if the parties do not admit it; but all subsequent changes by •osion, partition, transfer, &c., are not made in the settlement gi.ers themselves, but in separate village registers kept up fov ie urpose. here is no place in the Bombay system for a ‘ Record of gls/ such as is noticed in the settlement papers of Upper India, he: being, as a matter of principle or general rule, no inter¬ cede landlord between the landholder and the State, there is it ittle room for those questions of sub-proprietary right which j ei such careful reservation in those settlements. In special sc where there are such superior rights, as in khoti villages, nord is made of the subordinate rights as specially provided ■ ;e Khoti Act (Bombay) of 1880. There also other cases of icul tenures, such as the taluqdars of Ahmadabad, which are :a with in a special Act (VI of 18(52). Section Y.— The Land Tenures. § 1 .—The subject stated. Varieties of tenure. he principal form of right in land in the Presidency is, of u e, the “ survey tenure; ” that is, the ordinary tenure under hh every landholder appears as the registered occupant of his Tug, when he does not hold as a grantee, a sharer in a ava village, or under some special form. It is, naturally, the d ary and most general form of landed right under a raiyatwari ttiment, and, except in those estates where there is a superior vi r, as a jagirdar, or taluqdar, or khot, &c., all the earlier tenures nd tend to become practically assimilated under the simple ns of holding as recognised by the Revenue Code. ’ Code, sections 100, 110. 576 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The great bulk of the villages in the plains part of lie Dakhan were, as I Lave said, of the non-united type—aggregat of separate holdings. In the Konkan also there are only indiv ial • holdings, and in them it is not often that anything but ar n- dividual right of occupancy can be traced. In the districts of bo Guzarat province, in Kaira, Baroch, and Surat, however, vilbes exhibiting a joint tenure still exist; but even in these, in ray cases, the enforcement of the joint responsibility is rare or wl ly unknown, and the tendency is naturally for the holdings to heme separate. This subject will be dealt with further on. There are, however, in villages now non-united (and treatf as groups of occupants on the survey tenure) some vestiges a former right in the soil which was of a different nature. In Khandesh and all the Central Dakhan a tenure called misi is remembered. The mirasdars have an original and heredi ry claim to the land, and this tenure is distinct from the “gatki/ which is an inferior tenure of lands 4 which belonged to he village and on which the proprietors had located outsirs, The term “ upri ” (upari) is adso remembered, showing a dis ic- i tion between the old soil proprietor and the tenant who ad f no original proprietary right. Such terms may be expired on the supposition that once the land was possessed by a dy i of joint owners; probably a group of families descended :>m i a conquering or ruling family who constituted themselves be a 'landlords/ the others being 'tenants: ’ or it may be that theca- sidars are the original founders (not necessarily a joint bodyjnd the others are later settlers looked on as subordinate to the st. Under the modern raiyatwari system, however, no practical differ ice i 4 ‘Gatkul’ means literally the land of a “family” which has “ deserted ” deft the place, but is applied to all the lands in a village not being the direct holdiis of the mirasdar. In Maratlia times, when the joint claim to an area of waste insif tho , village boundaries was little respected, the rulers would often grant the 'ste, treating it as at the disposal of the State, and the holder would then get it as ‘geul’ THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 577 ;is!. The holder on gatkul tenure is the registered occupant of ie elds in his holding, no less than the mirasdar in his 6 . here are, indeed, cases of superior tenures or right in -two a !s°, dating hack from the Rajput conquests and otherwise, but ies, are almost entirely confined to certain localities. here are also in all parts lands held on a tenure, already de- ri ?d in the chapter on the Central Provinces. I allude to the ‘ haq 3 ‘/atan 3 lands acquired originally in virtue of his office by the tt< or other wataudar village officer. Such lands pass by in- r ince to the members of the family, so that many occupaucies aprigiuate in this way. As noticed in the chapter on Assessments, e'atan may now beheld revenue-free, or subject only to a limited stsment. he Maratha Government did not, as a rule, interfere with md rights. When its power was firmly established, it dealt it the individual landholder, caring, indeed, very little for the it-*e of his tenure, and treating all tenures very much alike, ^consequently was no opportunity for the growth of grades roprietary right, and for conflicts between original pro- iors and the later growth of powerful individuals who had isibed the profits and acquired the position of proprietor; and lue such had at one time grown up, as in the case of the ltd rights, the system tended to restore all classes to a V(. he villages retained their hereditary patels and their village fids, with their hereditary emoluments and their watan, and now, Jiaer the holding was originally by mirasi right or was a watan, i;aeld by the occupancy tenure of the Code. nless, indeed, the mirasdar has not a more unrestricted right to trees on his d ; (see Nairne, Chapter XXV, pages 367, 368). The mirasdar was also allowed a i't l consideration under the Maratha rule : thus a right of re-entry was recog- eivhen a mirasdar had been obliged to abandon his laud. 6 nd then the “occupant ” is the person who has the highest order of rights >d definition clause). I . : 2n 578 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 2 .—The siavey tenure. The first form of tenure to be described is, then, the ordiiry tenure of landholders who have no special grant, or other peeuli ity in the title by which they are connected with the soil. It wi be observed that the Code does not enunciate any theory of propriury right: it does not call the landholder proprietor, but it describ in Chapter VI what the practical incidents of his right are. 'he “right of occupancy ” is itself a property, but that is quite dev. ent to saying that the occupant is owner of the soil. The student should also read the paragraph in Chapter II, ec- tion II of this book, headed f Occupancy Tenure. ’ I have there ore in detail described the limitations which mark the occupit’s right. The right of occupancy (unless expressly limited) is a ppe- tual right, subject to the payment of the revenue assessr ut 5 failure to pay this involves the land and everything on it to lia ity' to forfeiture and to all processes for recovery of revenue 8 . It is a heritable and transferable property 9 . It does not, in the absence of special facts, give right to mines and mineral iro*j ducts which are reserved 1 . The occupant has a right to erect farm buildings, construct ells or tanks, and make improvements for the purposes of agricuire, But land must not be diverted from agricultural purposes wi out the Collector's permission ; and the Collector may, subject ttlie orders of Government, require the payment of a fine for anyuch concession, in addition to any change in the assessment vicli may be legally made consequent on the different use of the 1 id 3 . Neglect to obtain this permission will entail liability to sum ary eviction. 7 Code, section 68. B Id., section 56. 3 Id., section 73. 10 In uualienated or “ Government lauds. 1 1 Section 69. 2 Section 65 THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 579 The occupant may continue to hold the fields he lias, as long as e kes, subject, as before stated, to the payment of the assessment; ii he can relinquish his entire holding, or any entire survey num- ei or a recognised share in a survey number, provided he does so j iving written notice 3 to the land revenue officer (mamlatdar ahal-kari, as the case may be). f the relinquishment is absolute, the notice must be given ffi - e th% Slst March (or other date that the Governor in Council a fix), and it will take effect after the close of the current year, icthe occupant remains liable for the remainder of the year. Transfer is dealt with by the Code as a relinquishment, only not isiute, but in favour of a specified person, and this may of course 5 ade at any time. In this case the transferee, or the principal : veral joint transferees, must agree in writing to the transfer, ldiis name is then substituted in the register. The Code makes further specific provision for the case where a u) assessment is fixed on an aggregate of fields or survey niters. ts a number is liable' to forfeiture if the revenue is not duly ii there is a power given to a co-occupant tenant or mort¬ al e to prevent forfeiture by paying up the revenue. Jut in all cases where there are several occupants and the regis- l-' occupant fails to pay, the Collector must not forfeit the he ; but if he thinks it would be unfair to the other’s interest, he m eal with only the defaulting occupant’s interest by transferring t one of the others who pays up. ust as the occupant can relinquish his holding, so he is berty to apply to take up a number or numbers which are ujupied. All that is needed is that he should submit a written >p cation 4 , since any occupation without proper authority is made in by the law. 3 Called a “ raziuama. ) 1 Section 60. 580 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In such cases the right of occupancy may be granted at a - ce (which shall include the right to all trees not specially reserl), or the right may be put up to auction, which will usually be .ne where land is much in demand 6 . Only one person is entered as the registered occupant of nv number; so that if several persons are co-occupants or co-shars, one among them will be registered, but the others may apply to ,ve their recognised shares recorded; and when that is done, ,cb recognised sharer is liable only for his own revenue, and his sue is treated practically as a separate number, except that it need iot be so separately demarcated ; and there is the condition about i iu- quishment to which I have already alluded 0 . On the death of a registered occupant, his eldest son, or ier person appearing to be his heir, or the principal among serai joint heirs, is entered as registered occupant. In recording at settlement the person entitled to the occupier right, the survey officer does not go into any question bed the bare fact of occupancy. The person in occupation ire- cognised; if he admits that he is nffi occupant, but a taut 1 on behalf of some one else, that person's name will beented, that is all. If there is a dispute, the parties are referred t die Civil Court, and the survey officer or the Collector (as thepe . may be) recognises the decision and enters as the registered pu-il pant the person whom the Court's decree declares to be cli.i The others have then just what rights the decision asps 4 them. There may in ordinary cases be two conditions under vicb 1 there will be a “superior" and an “inferior" landholder,In i one case the superior will be a grantee of Government, or talular, | or jagirdar, or khot, &c., and the occupants on the land mayucu become the inferior holders; in the other the superior may btliei registered occupant, and the inferior may be his “ tenant." s Section Gi. Code, section 95 THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 581 § 3 .—Inferior rights. Here I may conveniently notice how, in registering the occu- )ats of land, any questions of tenancy or other inferior right are li; osed of. he rules about inferior right are very simple. E a person admits himself to be, or is decided to be, on the land is tenant, the terms of the tenancy are those of the agreement; m if no agreement appears, the tenancy is presumed to be on the ens of rent payable or services to be rendered, according to the usage >fhe locality, or failing proof of such usage, according to what s ist and reasonable (section 83). And the duration of the tenancy is dealt with on similar priu- iij3S. If there is no proof of its commencement and of terms ig;ed on, and no usage as to duration, it is presumed to he co-exten- i' with the duration of the tenure of the landlord. There is no ir t to the landlord’s power of eviction or enhancement of rent, !x;pt the terms of the agreement or the usage of the locality. Questions regarding tenant-right can thus be simply and lasfactorily disposed of by the Civil Court if they ever arise. Annual tenancies, in the absence of proof to the contrary, run no the end of one cultivating season to the end of the next: the uivating season “ may be presumed to end on the 31st March” s tion 84). Annual tenancy is terminable by giving three months’ notice neither side. In the case of superior and inferior occupancy arising from the is fence of the taluqdari or other tenure, or from the land being ‘ ienated,” that is, granted by the State to an inamdar, here the ■e tion of the parties again entirely depends on the facts, as deter- n ed in the Civil Court if there is a dispute, and by the terms of ir special law applicable, as the Khot Xct of 1880, the Taluqdari r< ure Act of 1862, and so forth. The actual occupier of land may ic lit that the superior is absolute owner, and that he is a tenant )icertain terms; or he may claim to be irremovable and bound to 582 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. pay only a certain sum, which may or may not be in the povve of the superior to alter. The Revenue Code is only concerned to protect the inferior >y >jj requiring' that in all cases where a hereditary patel and vil*e accountant (kulkarni) exist, the payment shall he made thro ji such official; and the superior is liable to penalty if he atterto to receive or collect directly (section 85). • 1 § 4.— Narwa and Bhagdari villages. J While the “ survey tenure ” thus described has come to be ie really important one in the Presidency, it is at the same time!th instructive aud interesting to notice how various other ten ea have survived from former days; though such tenures are w confined to certain localities only. In the first place, in two of the Guzarat districts, Kaira id Baroch, we have instances of the joint-village presenting all ie essential features of the North Indian village; and here not ia | state of decay, or traceable only through the use of certain teis, i but alive and in full vigour 7 . The bhagdari and narwa villages are really of the same k d, i though circumstances have impressed upon them the diffeit names, and have issued in something of a practical distindn. j But both are forms of the true joint village. At the preat i day the term “ bhagdari ” is applied to the villages in Baroch, id • the narwadari is that of Kaira (with a few examples in Ahmadad 1 and Surat). In both there is a joint responsibility for the entire revenuof V the village, as a lump sum, to Government. And there was this practical distinction 8 , that in Barocbin the bhagdari village, every field was always separately assessed ain ■ any other village. But the amount of revenue payable by eh I sharer and sub-sharer did not necessarily correspond to the amut j 7 The narwa villages are described in the well-known paper by Mr. Pent I Selections from Records, Government of Bombay, No. CXIV (New Series). 8 Administration Report, 1872-73, p. 57 ; see also Mr. Pedder’s paper, p. 15. ’ THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 583 etilly assessed on the individual fields in the share or sub-share, mt>n the proportion which is payable according to the customary cbne of division of burdens and profits in the village. This ieiod of assessment is still kept up, and the shares into which the }ti burden is distributed are ascertained from a record made at ot sment, and called the “ phalawani ” register. n the narwa villages of Kaira there never was a separate field ss sment ; the revenue was a lump sum arbitrarily imposed by heVfaratha ruler. In British times, the fields have been separately ssised, but still the plan is retained of treating the village as uole and maintaining the joint responsibility for the total sslsment. Whether the* origin of these villages is to be traced to a tribal etement, or merely to the dismemberment ahd division of a eiy kingdom among the families connected by relationship with huncient ruler, I am unable to say ; but in these villages we. have yoprietary body in possession of a certain area ; they built the il ge on a convenient site, called in artisans, gave them houses and it of land for their support, and so provided the villagers with the leas of getting their household pottery, their doorposts and rude uiiture, their ploughshares, and their cotton cloth. Then culti- a rs were located to till the land, which was more than the pro- ri:ary families could manage, and thus the village system was per- ec;d. At first all was in common, but soon the different groups 21 rated ; the major division held by each section is spoken of as In ‘ gambling,” and the sub-division, “ petabhagi.” The villages x bit just the same stages of passage into severalty as elsewhere, nome of the villages (the perfect pattidari of the North-Western ’r iuces) all the land is divided into shares. In others (im- ei;ct pattidari) part is held in shares and part in common (maj- ff), the revenue and cesses being paid out of the proceeds of the o nion land. All “ patidars” 9 or sharers were addressed as r ] tel,” but the head or senior, or principal man among the 9 Here the form is “ pati, paticlar,” &c., not “ patti,” as in the north. 584 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES 0U INDIA. sharers in each pati, had a sort of representative character for e rest, and is spoken of as “ miiksh-bhagdar,” or chief of the shar; or as “ muthadar, the man who puts his “signature” to docunn ,9 ( on behalf of the others. In such a community, Mr. Pedder says, the tenants sn j became classified by custom. Those who cultivated the conn « « land .(or had been on the land from the times of the founder) v eia never disturbed, but those employed on the land of the sepai e j sharers (sir holdings as they would be called in North Iiu) '1 were mere farm servants or ten ants-at-will. These villages beca;!, rfl in some cases, “ narwadari ” in consequence of the revenue-syst 1 i of the day. The Marathas never established an orderly rule u these parts, but were in Guzarat mere plunderers; and exac/ as in other provinces where their rule was not consolidated, tp i did not exhibit the prudence and steadiness in revenue matt 3 1 which they did in provinces under their undisputed sway. 3 qj usual in such cases, the villages were made over to revei 3 ; farmers. Speculators who agreed to pay a certain sum to L 1 11 State coffers had full license to get what they could out of U 1 people, over and above that amount. In many villages these far- k ers soon broke down all distinctions. Every one—tenant al a family shareholder alike—had to give up all he could make out: d the land, so that all became equal in the burden they had to bes . ri proprietorship no longer had any value. The people in many car I fled the spot, and the farmers usurped their rights. In Su;, '* there are cases in which the revenue farmer has become the owr 1 of the village, just as we have seen to be the case in the Cent t Provinces. The village communities of the narwadari tenure came unc|| the same oppressive system of revenue-farming, but their inhere >ij strength, or the excellence of the village system, proved itself enabling them to bear up and survive. The shareholders succeed I in retaining the management of their lands, but no longer coir the proceeds of the common land meet the heavy demands of t j farmers. They therefore invented the plan of dividing the exi TRE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 585 iii had to be made up, by an additional rate to be paid by each Dadar” according to his share. Each pati was jointly responsi- 3 or its share of the narwa, and all the patfs together were ny responsible for the whole. The amount of the narwa might ■on time modify the extent of land held, so that a man’s hold- >ame to be according to the amount of narwa he paid, instead a:ording to his original share as it would stand by the geuea- »'i d table. he bhagdari villages, then, I take it, were simply those in im a field-to-field assessment was levied, and the sharers bore 2 ird.cn, not according to the land they held, but according to ei ancestral shares. This practically produced no inconvenience ie the division of the state was not complete, and a considerable j;nf land remained common, and its produce was devoted to eng the revenue burden. In the Kaira villages the form had ■i of necessity, altered, since there, the Marathas abandoned ; ield assessments and ordered the village to pay a certain lump m this they had to provide for among themselves as they best ,gjt; and in consequence the old theoretical shares would be mo. ie ; the richest men were obliged to pay the most and naturally hnore land to compensate them ; in time, the narwa formed the ;ure of rights not the ancestral share. Moreover the system ltd to weaken the ancestral connection by necessitating, or at any ;o emitting, the introduction of outsiders not originally of the ny, who undertook a share of the revenue burden 10 . I Mr. Redder (page 21, section 40, &c.) describes the modern method of Hi'!; the villages. All the lands were separately surveyed and their survey-value or ined; and this revenue valuation of the laud was imposed by a new distribution, pci donate to the several “ uarwas ” or shares in the village. If this was less than t o! lump assessments, the difference was adjusted by a percentage deduction from 8118 paid by cultivators with rights (not being proprietary sharers). The cultiva- s v.o pay direct to Government are on the majmun land, and they pay according to holdings. Consequently the sum which the nanvadars have to make good, orjng to their shares, is the total survey-valuation, less the amounts paid direct tl|cultivators who pny direct to Government as occupants. The shares of each •w ar proprietor are shown, but not the field assessment j only the lump assess* •m nd the share. 586 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The joint village tenures are recognised by Bombay Acfv of 1862. A field-to-field assessment is in practice actually jade because if the village should escheat or be sold for arrears oi •evc- nue, Government would at once be able to’ manage the Hage on the raiyatwari system, knowing the proper assessment f each field. As long as the village remains joint, the sharers ha\ their portion of the revenue-payment assigned, according to a cust navy distribution shown in the ph ala warn register. The sharers e re. sponsible jointly and the sub-sharers severally, for the rejmuc, whether the land is cultivated or not; there is no relinquishg or taking up, as under the survey tenure. Whenever (as most often happens) all the land of the lage is not held in “ bhags ” and “ patis ” of the bhagdari form, r m holdings according to the narwadari form, the remaining comim or majmun land is treated exactly like any other raiyatwari ind; that is, the revenue of each field shown in the register, is vied from the actual occupant according to his occupation. T oc¬ cupation may be by the proprietors themselves, but as tenas of the body at large, or it may he by tenants or “ inferior ho rrs." The Collector takes the assessed revenue from the holder in ther case according to the actual fields in his possession. The main object of the Act of 1862 was to prevent condom being introduced by the sale, or mortgage, of the sites for Imita¬ tion (gabhan), and the homestead land belonging to eachlwe or bhag (apart from the share in the village land), and also t pre¬ vent portions of the land other than recognised shares beinpold, and so obliterating the ancient and recognised divisions andsub- divisions. Power is given to render null and void all such vena¬ tions. The people themselves are averse to the breaking ) of the joint responsibility 1 . Nevertheless there is a tendency f the; holders of land to prefer to pay the survey assessment on the bids J The people, Mr. Pedder says, are unwilling; to dissolve their joint-teuurj Hit; i would lose their reputation and dignity ( abru), and would be unable to uiaijtheu sons and daughters as advantageously as they do now, if they did so. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 587 t*ir holding 1 rather than according- to a scheme of ancestral ii-ig. And it is permitted, if the people choose, to make a nt illag-e raiyatwarf, by giving up any surplus waste to Govern- ni each holder of fields then becomes the registered occupant, jxsible only for the assessment of his own holding. As long tfc village remains joint, however, the sum fixed for the share l e recognised sub-share, must be made good as a whole, irre- iclre of whether certain fields are cultivated or not. I is exceedingly remarkable that though it is these villages ie are really in character joint, yet they have become so tho- g-y “pattidari ” in form, that the people call them shared vil- es{bhagdari), and the term “sanja,” i.e., joint or united, is hi to . the ordinary village of the country—the non-united In:!'—because there is no “ sharing ” and division of lands; all tjether on the same footing and under one headman. 5.— Cases of double tenure. Mewasd and Mali/ci tenures. 1 some parts of Guzarat some villages are held on what is lc the “mewasi” tenure, which simply means that certain eloter Rajput Thakurs or chiefs got hold of the villages in in- days, just as the Sikh jagirdars did in the Cis-Sutlej States tl Panjab. They established themselves as over-lords, taking re:; from the villagers; and now their descendants form joint li(, each having major and minor shares according to their ;ihn in the genealogical tree, and dividing the rentfimong them. 1 the same way the “ maliki ” tenure of a few villages is e 5 the grant of them to certain families called malik- la nearly four centuries ago, in the Khasra taluka of the ;ir Collectorate. The Marathas afterwards made them pay an idu- jamabandi,” or quit-rent, and then, at a later date, levied ui ler tribute called “ ghasdana 11 (for grain and grass for the °I • These families have now become over-lords in their vil- ;et paying revenue to Government at a certain reduced rate, and di - rent from the villagers. 588 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, § G.— Ahmaddbdd Taluqdars. But a more remarkable case of double tenure is to be foui in the western taluqs of Ahmadabad adjoining Kathiawar, fhe taluqdar is here by no means to be confused with the propriet of the same name in Oudh. Here the tenure is due to the division of the districts aim> the descendants of certain Rajput chiefs. Each taluqdar is now owner of an estate consisting of one, yo, or more villages; and in each estate there are many joint ownt or several holders, but all in the position of sharers in the estate iml over-lords over the people of the soil who have become their tents. The tenure is in fact closely analogous to that of the Nairs of Malar, The proprietary right of the taluqdars was recognised by Bonay Act VI of 186:2. It is, however, limited by special condi ns, As is the case in the Ajmer chiefs' tenures, the lands ca be mortgaged, they cannot be permanently alienated. When the taluqdari estate is held by numerous sharers, the is I a manager (wahiwatdar) appointed to collect the Govern ent revenue due from the sharers, and there is a joint responsil ty. ■ The taluqdari family takes its dues from the land- in grain, fhe crops are divided according to known customs. The taluqdar its, speaking roughly, one-half. It may be here mentioned that many families in Guzarat, rich r once held estates as chiefs, were dispossessed by the Muhamim.ns,l but allowed to hold some portion of estates as s on to what they hold in Ratnagiri. There the khot is a mere as-holder paying a certain revenue to Government, but he does >tlaim to be actual proprietor of the land. The isafat tenure is mar, except that here the landholders under the isafatdar hold on ie rdinary survey tenure, while the khoti villages have not been ir ;yed, and the people have only their own original tenures under ie hot, the superiors holding on the suti tenure as it is called, id, he inferiors on the gatkuli. On the Coast certain lands are dll shrilotri,—they were reclaimed from the sea and embanked, Hire owned by the slirilotridars. n the Southern Konkan (Kolabaand Ratnagiri) the khots were, ; i Ratnagiri, originally only revenue farmers of the Maratha k But in this part of the country, they grew, on the same prin- pl as the Bengal zamiudar did, to being proprietors of their vil- g. They consequently now own as superior landlords all the land ti village. Their rights in the waste will be mentioned presently. Ik have to make good the Government assessment of the estate ic :au deal with the land as they please, so long as they respect e ights of permanent occupants and other privileged landholders icr them. These pay a fixed rent, only liable to increase at jneral revision of the settlement. Other cultivators on the 1; 3 pay a grain-share to the khot. They are, however, protected 'A great deal of mystery was at one time made about tliis tenure, and a great idsion took place as to wl»at the rights of khots were. The difficulty consisted iu ke nning any general rule, or in applying such a rule to particular cases. On paper is ,‘rfectly easy to describe the khot tenure. There was nothing proprietary iu the gal character; but the position was one which readily developed into a pro- e y form. Each particular case might therefore be iu a different stage of vtpinent, and the question whether it was yet proprietary or not, could be hotly bed. 590 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. in their holdings, only they cannot transfer them. A special >t (I of 1880, Bombay Code) has provided for khoti tenures. T1 Act, primarily applies to the khots of Ratnagiri, and it may he ex aded to those of the Kolaba Collectorate. This Act recognises the rights of the khot as heritab and transferable, so also is the inferior right of the original culti .tors under the khots, called dharekari. There are other kiuds of md- holders, called in the Act quasi-dharekaris, and locally daspuavi, dupatkari, &c., names which indicate landholders whose rare is permanent, but who, unlike the dharekari 3 , pay something aore than the survey assessment;—their rent-rates are fixed i tlie schedule appended to the Act, and amount to 2 anas ii the rupee more than the assessment in the case of the dasp::ari, and to certain weights of grain in kind, for the other classes. Besides these, all cultivators who have held continually sin the revenue year 1845-46 have an occupancy right as tenants, lich is heritable but not transferable, as a rule. There may, hoivcr, be proof of the existence of a special right of transfer. As already remarked, the law of succession causes these hot • villages in many cases to be owned by several joint-owners • co- sharers. In this case they are jointly and severally lial to ■ Government for the revenue, and they have to appoint a 'iraag- ing khot ’ who is like the lambardar of a North Indian villag If there has been a partition, the khoti sharers are sepaiely dealt with by the Collector, and become only severally liab for < the jama of their share. All cesses ( phaslci , veth, &c.) are abolished. The khot is hie . to pay the Government local fund cess, which he recovers om dhara and quasi-dhara lands, but not from the other holders. The khot pays a whole lump sum jama on the village iuead : of an assessment on each field, and consequently he has the cc;rol of waste numbers in his village. This led to a dispute as to whether Government had the ?ht . 3 See section 33a of the Act. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 591 i iterfere with forest waste in the village ; the dispute was ulti- a t y compromised, and the Act now provides that Government avconstitute reserved forests in any waste in a khot village (unless m special graut or sanad prevents it) ; but that, subject to the a f'mance of any condition for duty or service in connection with ie >rest, the khot receives one-third of the net profits of the § 8 .—Alienated lands. here were many lands throughout the Bombay Presidency, pe ally in Muhammadan times and under Hindu chiefs, which iirt “alienated ” by the State, either as jagir lands, held condi- ohly on military aid or as a reward for political services. Serviae iu3s are called “ jagir ” or “ sarinjam.” These latter are found osy in the Southern Division and in Nasik and Khandesh. Grants emlsomade for “services/' 1 i.e., to pay the services of village and irana officers, for the support of police, &c. There are also reli- oi and personal grants (inam). 1 Guzarat, where these lands were numerous, the “ service ” nd were called “ chakanyat/’ and charitable grants were “ pa- et 6;J It did not follow that the land was originally granted, ihthe State revenue ; but of course it might happen that the n(already was in the occupation of the grantee, or was waste, or asinoccupied, or that the grantee grew into the sole proprietary ^s: on, or at any rate into the superior proprietary position. In ie ited villages there may therefore be superior and inferior occu- im , or occupants (the descendants of the grantee) and mere ;n,its- 2 t-will cultivating the soil. “ Alienated lands ” are not w r s entirely revenue-free (nakra); in some cases they were ;ction 41 of the Act. Administration Report, 1872-73, page 60. When the original grantee's family id kl the laud, it was said to be “ vachauia,” and so a plot of land might be se;>ed by a series of names, as “ pasaeta, vacliania, salamia,” land granted origi- illyn charity, &c., sold to some other person, and made liable to a quit-rent, ‘■lii jus grants of Hindu origin are “dewasthan.” 592 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. “ salamia,” i.e., had to pay a sort of fixed tribute or tax tlie Marathas mposed a “jodi,” or quit-rent, often heavy enoug on others. Iu Bombay, as elsewhere, great doubt hung over the origi uid validity of many of these grants. A systematic enquiry wa set. I on foot under an “ Inam Commission” or Alienation Departm t“; but this did not meet with great success. At all events in 163 Acts II and YII were passed for the summary settlement of am estates. The main principle involved was that Government on- sented to forego a special enquiry into the title, if the inamdar osc to accept a summary assessment on the entire estate, as mat by the Collector under the Act, and tc submit to the conditions cthe Act 7 . If the inamdar thought that he could establish his titl he would submit to an enquiry, which might possibly establis! his right to lands either absolutely free of revenue payment, or sued to a lighter payment, as “ salamia (quit-rent) or udliar jamabali” (reduced assessment), than the Collector offered. But if he fed, his land was liable to full survey assessment; and in many eai it was profitable to avoid the expense, delay, and trouble of an in est and to submit to a summary assessment of the estate, on acce; ng which the alienee got his estate confirmed by f sanad/ or grai iu perpetuity. Some inams, not under the Summary Settlement its, 1 ' are heritable, but the inamdars succession is only to actual, in to adopted, heirs. . The estate granted under the Summary Settlement Ac is granted in full proprietary right, and is heritable, transferable md - # adoption is allowed 8 . The estate pays revenue survey ratefor land which has been surveyed and assessed, and rates agree* on between the Collector and the inamdar for unassessed lands If 6 Constituted under the Governor General’s Act XI of 1852. 7 The Acts apply to the districts iu which Act XI of 1852 was iu force, n. to all e ‘ inams” not being “ political, i.e., jagir or sariujam grants, nor lauds In lor service, nor uuder treaty, nor formerly adjudicated on as “not contiuuablc 1 edi- : tary.” 8 Bombay Act VII of 18G3, section 6. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 593 qit-reut (jodi), &c., is already payable, the assessment is at ,i s t>lus one-eighth of the difference between the jodi and the full sement. The inamdars are therefore considered entitled to all le aste and forest included in the terms of their summary settle- el, unless it was specially agreed that such lands or the trees i le land, were reserved to Government. They are also allowed 1 nd actually in possession, even if in excess of the original ra;. : on receiving a notice to elect between a summary settlement • a enquiry, the enquiry was called for, the Act itself contains rules ? t the principles to be observed on enquiry, such as, for example, •oi what date a title was to be considered as prescriptive; what lives and officials of former Governments were to be considered ; tnpowered to grant mams, so that sanads signed by such riiles and officials might be recognised as valid; when adoption vu he recognised ; and so forth. lie operations of the Inam Commission and of the procedure Lie r the Summary Settlement Acts have resulted in a consider- blisaving to the State. At the commencement of the enquiry, le'nnual revenue alienated amounted to Rs. 1,20,88,034. Of this is. 50,13,936 have been disallowed, leaving Rs. 69,87,423 still heated. Most of this is in land revenue-free, but a portion is paid y ie State from the treasury direct. Up to 1872-73 the cost of ie lepartmeutal ageucy of enquiry into and settlement of inam ol ngs had been Rs. 24,10,813 9 . § 9 .—Bights in trees. . lights in trees may be here conveniently alluded to. n Government (unalienated) lands under settlement made be- mthe Code became law, all trees (unless reserved under special rdl’s) are held to belong to the occupant of the number. Settle- ae s, however, made not only before the Code, but before Act I of 2 o 9 Administration Report, page 71. .V 591 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 1865 was passed, do not give right to teak, blackwood, or adai->! wood, unless conceded in express terms. In settlement after the Code, all trees not expressly r irvudi go with the occupancy, 10 and so when an unoccupied nureriu applied for and granted. Al! trees otherwise belong to Government, and so do ro -siin trees. 1 The latter trees are said to belong to Governmen vhile? they live, but if they die, are blown or cut down, they lonj. to the occupant of the land, and the usufruct, produce c lopil pings, &c. (when lopping is allowed by the Collector), also loii to him. But for a term of two years from the date of the Code beuiin? law, the landholder was allowed to get the strip of la l og which such trees were growing cut off from his holding nil the assessment reduced accordingly; then the trees and the land isted in Government. • When trees have been reserved to Government, as above it may be that the reservation is accompanied with certain rim. leges of wood for fuel or domestic purposes ; in such cases the rivw lege is exercisable under rules to be made by the Collector csudij other officer as Government may direct 2 . In alienated lands, as a rule, the trees belong to the grant, bn not teak, blackwood, or sandal, unless they have been special!cow ceded 3 . § 10.— Land tenures in Sindh. There were doubtless old customs of landholding in .inda times, but these have become completely obliterated by succsiva conquests and by the adoption of the Muhammadan faith by arjt proportion of the population. There are still traces of a ilaga 10 See Code, sections 40—44. J Revenue Code, sections 41, 43. 2 Id., section 44. 3 For this information I am indebted to Colonel the Hon’ble W. C. Al* Survey Commissioner. See also Nairne’s Handbook, pages 367, 368. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 595 a . “ deli ” of a group of families acknowledging but one head ; Ml trace of an organisation for administrative purposes, all ue f village officers with assigned duties and remuneration, has g nee passed away, and at the present day is unknown even to lion*” lie land then seems to have passed into the hands of chiefs pverful landholders, who appear each to have held as etas his power enabled him to protect and his means to con¬ ic irrigation canals for. The cultivators would only too gladly rcblous times acknowledge themselves as inferior proprietors of ir oldings under such a protecting landlord, and paid him pi” or rent. In many cases the landholders, for whom I have lined any local or more distinctive name than “ zammdar,” ri ;; in others they have disappeared, leaving the individual sat proprietors of holdings. In the latter case, the raivatwari kient is naturally suitable, and it has been introduced even M i there are zamindars, because it is easy to assess each hold- ,; d allow the zamindar his dues as over-lord. But the raiyat- i fstem treats the waste, whether divided into numbers and isd, or left in large blocks unassessed, as at the disposal of the te and in the zamindari estates the landlords had such a claim k 5 that it was contemplated to allow them the right over the >k state. It was obvious, however, that if they paid the raiyat- i sessmeut on the whole, the result would be ruinous to them, “S; they could cultivate it all. In 1875 therefore, the zamindars e Tered leases providing that they might retain the waste, but ; lump assessment, calculated at something (not exceeding pi cent.) less than the total of the amounts of the included band survey numbers. The area of waste included was >h limited to what the holder could bring under cultiva- , irmanently or in rotation, during the term of settlement, st of this kind have, however, not been accepted, and tlujt | 1 Administration Report, 1872-73, page 65. 5 See Stack’s Memorandum on Settlements, 1880, pages 9 and 523. 596 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the zammdars prefer to hold under the ordinary £ 'atandars. In the Coast districts generally, it has not been ?o ,ve preserved; in Kauara there are no hereditary village officers at ill in the Khoti districts of the Southern Konkan few watan- l;u of any sort; and in the Northern Konkan no kulkarnis, ini but few inferior watandars. But everywhere under our rcernment there is for every village, either hereditary or stipeu- iia/-, a patel, an accountant, and a menial servant 0 .” § 3.— Inspection. It is here necessary only to notice as a feature of general duty, hi repeated inspection is made a great point of in Bombay. Jiier any revenue system, indeed, inspection is of the first impor- arfe. Revenue officers must constantly control their subordinates; llrwisethey cannot develop the revenues of the district, or aseer- ai whether the revenue assessment is burdensome or easily borne, .her public health is good, whether irrigation works, and the naing of roads, tanks, and wells, tree-planting and such like im- nements are attended to ; whether education flourishes and the >eile are happy and well governed; without constantly seeing for hnselves and freely mixing with the people and hearing what h( have to say locally, and without the restraint of a public (lb and the presence of subordinate officials. Moreover, for e\nue and statistical purposes, the village accountants have viywhere to furnish statistics of crops, of land-transfers, and o >rth : these will be filled in anyhow, if the makers of them io rot know that a supervising officer will examine the records .n check them occasionally on the ground. Village accounts will 6 Nairne, Chapter VI, page 88. 600 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. fall into arrear, and revenue receipts fail to be properly given, the accountant does not know that at any moment his papers m; he called for. There is no province in India to which these rei rks do not apply. But a raiyatwari settlement requires, perhaps ore than any, such inspection. It is therefore laid down as a ruhliat Collectors and Assistants are to pass the greater part o5i the ear n camp; only the four monsoon months, as a rule, being spt; at. head-quarters. The Government deals with each individual landholder md therefore it is essential to see that his payments are pro rly acknowledged; the examination of raiyats* receipt books ul- ruzuwat) is therefore an essential branch of inspection duty. So also in the constant maintenance of the field boundaries on which everything, I may say, in a raiyatwari settlement, dep'ds. The local subordinates are primarily charged with the duty mt their work has to be examined and checked by the superior sta § 4.— The jamabancli. Still more imperatively does the raiyatwari system dermd control over the actual extent of fields in occupation; for undenis system every field has its own assessment, but the numbe of fields actually held by any one raiyat is liable to vary, and in- frequently the revenue for which he is responsible. Any raiyat may abandon a field, or take up a new one; cc;e- quently it is essential not only to check the fields relinquishei or occupied during the year, but the actual revenue amount payle by each raiyat has to be made out accordingly. The revenue-lb or “ jamabandis ” are therefore to be prepared annually, and not ly is every assistant made to check a proportion of them by mahg them out himself, but even the Collector is required to make ut a certain number himself in such a way as to go over the wile district in the course of a few years. The jamabandi work should be all done by the 15th Februy, or at latest the 15th March, as the official year ends on the 1st March. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 601 § 5. — Relinquishment and occupation of land. ihave already said something 1 under the head of rights in land i edain the procedure in taking up and relinquishing fields. The iziima or application in this matter goes to the mamlatdar. If n (tire jiumber is relinquished the process is simple. The relin- nis-ed number is grauted to any applicant, and if not applied for : s(d byauction as fallow land (for the grazing on it) during the eai ' a recognised share of a number only is relinquished, the share ius be offered to the other sharers in the order of the largeness of ie nount payable by each as revenue. If all refuse to take it iei remain proportionately liable for the revenue of the relin- lised share, till some one takes it up. This in effect compels le'harers either to take up the share, or else join with the sharer 'situs of relinquishing, in giving up the whole number 7 , § 6.— Maintenance of boundary marlcs. s already remarked, the maintenance of the corner marks, liner stones, earthen ridges, or otherwise, so as to make perma- n the survey division into fields, is of peculiar importance. he Code definition of a boundary mark, it should be recol- ctl, includes “ any erection, whether of earth, stone, or other atrial, and also any hedge, vacant strip of ground, or other object. In her natural or artificial, set up, employed, or specified by a iry officer 8 or other revenue officer having authority in that b f in order to designate the boundary of any division of land.” : y section 123, every landholder .is responsible to maintain e larks of his holding in good repair, and for any charges in- ir d by the revenue officers in cases of alteration, removal, or si lair. The duty of the village officers and servants is to pre- ■B destruction or unauthorised alteration of the village boundary a s. The duty of looking after .the marks and requiring their 7 Code, section 99. 8 Section 3, No. 9, i.e., the officer nppointe under section 18. 602 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. repair and erection devolves on the Collector when the su ay officer’s work is over, and he has powers under section 121 to require the erection or repair, or to do the work himself (at the st of the landholder) if the landholder neglects. By section 125 power is given to the Collector, survey off :r, mamlatdar and mahalkari, to summarily convict offenders or injuring marks and inflict a fine not exceeding Rs. 50 for < di mark. Half of the fine may he spent in rewarding the infoier and half in restoring the mark. § 7 .—Partition : recognised shares. The terms "perfect” and "imperfect” 9 partition are not !i applicable, because there is not, as a rule, any joint responsibili ■; but under the Bombay system there are two operations which i ,y be performed in respect of shared lands which are in some resp ts analogous to partial and perfect partition. For example, tire may be a partition which goes so far as to separately demanfce and number in the revenue records, the partitioned plots, if by do not already consist of fields bearing separate numbers ; or tl re may be a process which is analogous to a partition, in which ic shares are ascertained and "recorded,” but not separately denr- cated or given new numbers. The "recognised shares” are phii- cally separate, as far as the liability for revenue is concerned, d each recognised sharer can ordinarily be held liable only for is own share. If a partition, or at least a record of shares separa y assessed, has not been made, the one person whose name is, accd- ing to rule, always entered as "registered occupant” of the numlr, remains liable for the whol£ revenue, no matter how many shars really hold along with him. Under the Code, the partition spoken of is the complete pai- tion. It must be made, if possible, so as not to divide exist" survey numbers, but it should be contrived to give one or nre whole numbers to each sharer. The splitting up of an exist" survey number is only resorted to if really necessary, and even tin Sec Code, Chapter VIII, section 113 et seq. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 603 .nnot be carried out so as to leave any of the newly-constituted ubers below the minimum size 10 . Any bit of land that is over, mcannot be further divided out, owing to this restriction, is it 3 r given over by consent to one of the sharers on his making up ii value of it to the other sharers, or it is sold aud the proceeds i: ributed 1 . At time of survey or revision of survey, the survey officer can, f is own motion, subdivide any field and give new numbers aud e .rate assessments without any formal procedure for partition. Any one can apply for partition if he is admitted to be a co¬ il er, and be so recorded, or if he can get a decree of a Civil Court b. he is a sharer. § 8 .—Lands affected by river action. The Bombay Code provides that an alluvial accretion of not a e than half an acre, and also not more than one-tenth of the aiding” against which it has formed, is at the disposal of the cipant of such holding. The term “ holding ” here means either role survey number, or a portion which has its separately e< rded assessment. If the accretion exceeds this amount, the ui is at the disposal of the Collector, who must, however, if he eli it, offer it to the adjacent holding and at a certain price 2 . If a holder of land loses by diluvion a plot of not less than half mere, and not less than one-tenth of his holding, he is entitled to , icrease of assessment 3 . § 9 .—Recovery of arrears of land-revenue. In Bombay, as already remarked, # the registered occupant is tmarily liable for revenue in Government lands 4 , and in alienated a Is (where revenue is payable) the superior holder, — the grantee. 1 The minimum size has been variously fixed according to the circumstances of hdifferent districts. See page 554. There are also special rules for joint estates like khoti tenu res,’.into the details if rich I do not enter. Code, sections 63, 64. f Id., sectiou 47. ! Id., section 136, 1st cl. 604 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. If the person primarily responsible fails to pay, a co-oecv int of any alienated land, or a co-sharer in alienated land, or the ini ior holder or person in actual occupation, is next held liable 6 '. In he latter case credit will be allowed the inferior holder for such iy. ments in all demands against him by the superior , holder for at. The revenue is paid in instalments fixed by the order of Govn- ment fi . It is technically due any day after the first of the agricu ire - year, which begins on the 1st August and ends with the clo of j the 31st day of July following. The Bombay Code requires revenue officials and others to ive receipts for payment of revenue; “ superior-holders are edlly bound to grant such receipts to their inferior holders 7 . The land-revenue is a first charge, taking precedence of alloer debts and mortgages on the land, and is also a first charge on lie crops. There are certain circumstances under which the Colld® is empowered to attach the crops (either to prevent the reaping or the removal of the grain when reaped, according to circn- ; stances) as a precautionary measure, to secure the current yir’s revenue, but only one year’s revenue 8 . Revenue “ in arrears ” is revenue not paid on the instalm t- due dates. Intei’est or a penalty may he charged on arrears u .er ■ the Bombay Code; a scale of such penalty or interest-rates bog i fixed by Government 9 . A statement of account certified by be Collector, his Assistant or Deputy, is conclusive evidfence of lie 1 arrears 10 . I do not propose to go further into detail as to the procesof recovery than to say that it can be effected by— (a) serving a written i?£>tice of demand ; (J) forfeiture of the occupancy right or of the alienated bolug on which the arrear is due ; 5 Code, section 136 2nd cl. 0 Id., section 146. 7 Id., sections 58, 59. | s See Code for details—sections 140-1 9 Code, section 148, 1 10 Id., section 149. THE BOMBAY SYSTEM. 605 (c) distraint and sale of movable property ; ( d) sale of immovable property ; (e) arrest and imprisonment of defaulter; (f) in case of alienated holdings consisting of whole villages or shares of villages (as in jaglrs, khoti estates, taluqdaris, &c.), by attachment of such villages or shares. Nothing is said as to the order in which these processes are to btapplied, nor is it said that the one is to he resorted to only in ja: of failure of another 1 . It is left to the Collector to adopt any a ness or more than one at his discretion. Officers who have to recover any public money under the Bom- bf law will do well to read and bear in mind the terms of sec- li i 187, which fully (and widely) apply the procedure for recovery aLrrears of land-revenue to every species (almost) of payment due tcjovernment. Jagfrdars and all other superior holders in Bombay {i.e., both jairdars from the occupants under them and occupants from the tcxnts under them) can get certain assistance from the Collector in covering the revenue or rents (as the case may be) due to them 2 . P vided that the demand refers to the current year's rent or reve- n;, the Collector can set in motion the same machinery as he could t( recover Government revenue. There is also a power given to is ie to certain superior estate-holders a “ commission," enabling tlm to exercise directly certain powers for recovery of revenue or r< t. This does atvay with the necessity for summary suits for r< t. § 10.— Procedure. The Xllth Chapter of the Code contains rules for the procedure In this respect the practice is different from what it is under the North-West 5 > e S -1 under the Panjab Act, arrest and imprisonment is one of the first thing tibe tried: but then it is for a short time only. In Bombay the imprisonment 8 iel > of may go as long as a civil imprisonment under a decree of like amount yht. Sale of immovable property, other than that on which the arrear is due, is by allowed iu the Panjab iu the very last resort and under special sanction. In 1 nbny it is put down as one of the ordinary processes for recovery. 1 for details see Code, Chapter VII, sections 86—94. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. 6 06 of revenue-officers when making an enquiry or carrying out ny business under the Act, and the XVtli Chapter provides appeals : L orders. I do not propose to enter into details, but the chapter gene lly gives power to summon witnesses as under the Civil Proce'ire Code. AH enquiries are classified into “ formal ” and “ summary.” In the former, evidence is recorded in full, and so is the decision in the latter only a memorandum of the substance of what the paies and witnesses state is made ; the decision and the reasons for it bag' also recorded. Unless the Code expressly directs that any enquiry is t be “ formal” or “ summary,” the question which is followed is d ;r- mined by rules made by Government, or, in their absence, by lie orders of the superior officer, or by the discretion of the officer 1 cl¬ ing the enquiry, according as he thinks necessary, with a vie to the importance of tlie case and the interests of justice. • BERAR. 607 CHAPTER II. BERAR. Ierar was, as explained in a previous section, assigned to the 5i ish Government by the Nizam of Hyderabad to pay for the u)ort of the military force called the Hyderabad Contingent, u also to repay some accumulated arrears of debt. There have been several treaties, which from time to time pro- i d various changes owing to the increase of the debt and other iumstances. The treaty which finally created the present system p; signed in 1853, and places the Berar districts in their present x nt under the sole and complete management of the British i< eminent. The surplus revenues, after paying the cost of d inistration and the maintenance of the contingent, are repaid oie Hyderabad treasury. The districts, therefore, are not subject to British law as such, 'Uare regulated by the will of the Governor General in Council. h\ct has any force, proprio vigore ; and when orders appear “ ex- ci ing- Acts, that merely means that the Governor General d>ts such Acts as expressing his wishes on any subject to which h' relate 1 . The administration is carried on through a Commissioner of hir 2 , who is the chief revenue and administrative authority in is a matter of fact, all the general Criminal and Civil laws, the Stamp law, ■ej tration, and so forth, are in force, with or without certain modifications, as the 'S' nay be, in Berar, but their force is derived from the executive authority above cs bed, not from their being Acts of the Indian Legislature. a certain subjects, as forests, there are special rules, and of course there are in Acts not in force. But speaking generally, iu the matter of law, Berar is ad- lit tered very much like an ordinary Non-Regulation Province. Formerly there were two, one for East, and one for W-est Berar. 608 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. subordination to the Resident at Hyderabad. Under him ue Deputy Commissioners of districts with their Assistants, as a “ Non-Regulation Province. ” For regulating matters not requiring the orders o£ the his 2 st authority, or for communicating and explaining such or rs, “ Circulars ” are issued both by the Resident and the Commissiier, and these are now regularly printed, and are of course authoritare, since they are the orders of officers delegated to issue them (as ut of their official duty) by the Governor General, The matters w cli in another province the Board of Revenue or Financial Commissiier would regulate are dealt with by the Resident, and the Comis- sioneris circulars deal pretty much with the same subjects tl t a Commissioner in any other province has power to regulate. Many matters, especially in Revenue business, which imy chief concern, still remain regulated by custom or by the pra ice of the courts; and this circumstance would render it additiorlly difficult to describe the system of this province, were it not in m- templation to introduce the concise and clearly drawn Bomay “ Land Revenue Code 3 ” (Bombay Act Y of 1879) as the geijral j rule for guidance in revenue matters. I think, therefore, that the most useful way in which I caneal ; with Berar is first to notice its settlement, which was made on lie Bombay system, with some special modifications adopted to set local requirements. I shall next proceed to discuss the land femes; >; after which I shall briefly describe the revenue business of a is- a trict generally, taking the Revenue Code as a guide, but ncng such express Rules of Berar as are likely to be maintained ev( if the Code is generally put in force. This chapter will then u- tain— Section I.—The Settlement. Section II.—The Land Tenures of Berar. Section III.—The Reveuue Officials and their Duties. 3 Throughout this chapter I shall be understood to use the term “Code’ vitb j reference to the Bombay Act V of 1879. BERAR. 6C9 Section I.— Tiie Settlement. § 1 .—Discussion as to the form to he adopted. [ have already presented an outline of the “raiyatwan” settle- ant system as developed in Bombay. [have alluded to the fact that in some parts of Bombay villages axted with something like a joint constitution which might have Sit'd them for a settlement on the North-Western Provinces model. A.i whenever the existence of such villages is a proved fact, it is no unnatural that the question should be raised,—are not the rilges now of the non-united type, merely a decayed form of the Dt’r? In some instances, a study of history will furnish a'decided mrer in the negative: but it must be admitted that this is not iluys the case, 'low it will be readily admitted, even by those who are not ’avurable to the system of the North-Western Provinces, that vl never the village communities have really (and without the aid )f vivid official imagination) retained a joint constitution, it veld be unwise not to avail ourselves of the facility which such a .o titution undoubtedly affords to revenue collection, and no less wing to ignore a custom which often guarantees self-government m continued stability in times of trial. It can never therefore >c matter for surprise that administrators, who had been familiar ivi i such advantages, should have asked somewhat anxiously, wi ther the 'non-united village groups were not really in times past' >f ie family, and whether the union could not be restored. vVheu we turn to the settlement of Berar we find the influence )f iis feeling. The villages, as we found them in 1853, were, iptking generally, of the non-united type. But there were not voting here aud there indications which led many to suspect h: the joint form had once existed. There cau be no doubt that in mil! parts, the survival of certain local customs, and even some ? e (liar terms used in connection with holdings of land, point to h< act that there, the communities were once ancestrally connected ; 9 1) «v JL 610 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. and t’nis fact led to some hesitation as to the revenue system to ie adoptei generally. In South Berar some of the earliest of the short settlement: (I believe they were annual) made on our - first assuming manngennt in 1856, were actually made “ mauzawar,” i.e., by assessing a l ip sum on the whole village; and a settlement on the North-Wesn Provinces system was even ordered for the whole province 4 . § 2.— The Raiyatwari system adopted. But ultimately the preponderance of opinion seems to Ive been that, save in exceptional cases,—themselves hardly numeus 1 enough to warrant a break in the uniformity of system—the jut responsibility could not be successfully revived; and a settler.nt on the Bombay principle was finally ordered. It may be mentioned, however, that in Berar, at a later pend, an attempt was again made to modify the Bombay system by gi’fc- ing on to it a “ record of rights ” on the North-West model. Ashe Bombay system neither requires such a record 5 , nor does it pos ss the requisite machinery for making it, some confusion of ctrse resulted. The demand for it is another instance of the cuiue influence which particular systems exercise over the minds of t>se who are brought up under them. Lord Lawrence was thorou.ily I imbued with the ideas of the Thomason and Bird school, and cild j not trust the Bombay system thoroughly ; so he thought tk a record of rights would be a useful corrective, whereas it has ily proved a source of legal difficulty. 4 Berar Gazetteer, 1870 (Bombay Education Society’s Press), pages 94 air 96. •, It would appear that the plan was to make the headmen proprietors, as in the Cm > Provinces, unless there were surviving bodies or lauds held by divisions of old mi- i lies (still called patti) who could be settled with as joint proprietors. Iu speaking of tlie tenures, I shall again refer to the surviving traces of an igi- nnl union of proprietary families in villages. 5 The North-Western systems, creating a middleman proprietor between the iyftfe ( and the State, have to guard carefully the “natural ” rights of landholders by rwl. But the Bombay system creates no such middlemen, and therefore no record c lie t necessary, except to note the shares when a field or number happens to be ownl by several parties, or in case a double tenure exists. . ' BERAR. 611 § 3 .—Survey and assessment on the Bombay system . At the time of settlement, the rules of the Bombay Joint Report, wh which the reader of the preceding pages is by this time fami- li, were adopted with certain modifications, and a Code of simple n?s was drawn up, which was sanctioned by the Government of I lia°. The survey and assessment are not described in the rules: tlse were done by Bombay officers exactly on their own principles a: n force at the time. The differences introduced by the rules a chiefly in the matter of certain rights and duties of the occu- pits, which will be mentioned in their place. This procedure was applied to the whole of Berar except to the h. tract of the Melghat in the north (Satpura Range), which is aast tract of forest inhabited only by wandering jungle tribes of Cnds and Kurluis, to whom such a S 3 'stem was in those days, at a r rate, inapplicable. For all details as to survey demarcation of the fields and nrthod of assessment, the student must recur to the preceding slpter on the Bombay system. The Berar settlement was sanctioned for thirty years 7 . The assessment is stated by the second settlement rule to have :t aided all cesses, but that means cesses levied under the old Native d/ernmeut on land, and it includes the road cess. The cesses for 2 ( cation (1 per cent.) and the “jaglia” or chaukidar’s cess are Karate, and are levied in one sum at the rate of 15 pies per rupee. In Berar the jagir and inam (revenue-free) villages were survey- k with the object of being assessed. But the order for assess- a it was afterwards cancelled. At the close of the thirty years a “ revision ” settlement may be trie. This term is always used under the Bombay system, iv:reas in other places distinction is drawn between “ revision” n a re-settlement, the former term meaning that only some of d operations of settlement are re-opened, such as re-assessment or 4 No. 407, to the Resident at Hyderabad, dated 10th December 1866. Gazetteer, page 96. and Settlement Rules, 1, 612 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the revision of the record of right, while in the latter all operates are done tie novo. By the Berar rules, the revised assessment will be fixed, " at with reference to improvements made by the owners or occupits from private capital and resources during the currency of iy settlement, but with reference to general considerations of the v ue of land, whether as to soil or situation, prices of produce or Mi- ties of communication 8 /'’ §—4. Position of the landholder under the survey setdlemen The holder on his own account of a field or f survey-num r/ whether an individual or a body of co-sharers or co-occupant is called the ‘registered occupant:’ he holds on condition of pang the assessed revenue and other dues 9 10 . Being “ in arrears ” at once renders liable to forfeiture/iot only the right of occupancy, but all rights connected with it, those.over trees and buildings. On the other hand, no occupant is bound to hold his land live than one year if be does not like it. As long as he gives ne notice according to the law, i.e., in due form and at a fixed conveunt season (so that the land may be available for cultivation a successor), he is free to “ relinquish” his holding or any pa of it comprising an entire survey-number or part of a survey-nurm, his separate occupancy of which is recognised in the revenuic- count. But he must pay up the revenue for the year. Th is only reasonable in the interests of the public treasury. A transfer of occupancy by sale or otherwise is also subjec to the same condition, for it is in effect a relinquishment by the rois¬ tered holder and an assent by a new-comer to take the holdin in j his place, and the Government is not bound by the transfer tilllie ij current year’s revenue is paid up 1 . 8 Settlement Rules, No. 11. See also Code, section 106. » Under the head of Tenures I shall revert to this subject, and explain it;iore fullv. See Code, section 73, and exactly the same in Berar Settlement Rule V 1 : 10 So the Code, section 56. 1 See this further described iu the Chapter on Revenue Procedure, BERAR. 613 Though the occupant is thus at liberty to diminish his holding n ordlng to his own pleasure, he is nevertheless free to maintain it'or ever if he chooses. At the close of tire thirty years’ settlement he must accept the nised assessment (if any alteration happens to be made 2 ) just as in a r other Indian settlement, and if he does not approve of the revised sitlement he may “ relinquish ” the laud : that is all. The occupant of a field or number which is appropriated to a. iculture ( i.e is not a plot of building land, or site in a village o ;own, &c.) may do anything he pleases in the way of improve- irat, and may erect farms and agricultural buildings 3 . But he n st not apply it to any other purpose than agriculture without tl permission of the Deputy Commissioner. § 5.— Rules regarding trees on the land. The right to trees on lands may here be conveniently noticed. 1 n not speaking of jagir and inam or “alienated ” lands. The Berar Settlement Rules regarding the occupants are in some •fleets different to those described in the previous chapter on Bnbay rights. By Rule I, an occupant is always allowed to ilit fruit trees, which then become his property; other trees are n mentioned. By Rule X, an occupant who has held a field for twenty years or x a period anterior to the age of the trees, owns them ; other- ve the trees belong to Government. When a man applies for an unoccupied number which has -;iable trees in it, if he only takes it at the ordinary assessment \ ich does not take into consideration the value of the produce of 1 trees), he gets no right over the trees. But when such a field s pplied for, it is put up to auction at a fair upset price which nudes the trees, and then if the applicant (or whoever is the >ichaser) pays the upset price or more, he acquires the trees, .1 has only to pay the ordinary assessment on the land in future. 2 See Berar Settlement Rule V. | 8 Code, section 65. 614 LAND REVENUE AND I.AND TENURES OF INDIA. Holders of “ alienated lands " in Berar are the owners c all trees 4 . In Berar when an occupant has not a right in the trees, he wants to cut them for agricultural purposes he must get permiion from the village officers. The tahsildar must be asked for ti ber for repairing buildings; but if the occupant wishes to cut nv large number of trees or to cut them for sale, he must appl to the Deputy Commissioner, who can impose “any couditious iat may appear advisable/' 5 § 6.— Shares in holdings. When a “number" is held by a body of persons, whetheno- sharers bound by a family tie (or possibly by a body of associ ed co-occupants), only one person is entered as the “ registered ” o n- pant of such field or number, and he is responsible for the reveie. But each sharer can get his share recorded as a “recogied, share;" only the holdings need not be separately demarcud. Every recognised sharer is then separately liable for the revem of his share, exactly the same as if he were the holder of a sepate number 6 . 7.— The Record of Rights. Under the Bombay system, as I have remarked, there is o* perly no room for any record of rights which occupies so conspi- ous a position in the North-West system. By the Code 7 , the survey officer makes out one simple “ sete- ment register, " which consists of a list of the survey numbs, with the area and assessment of each and the registered occupa's name : and that is all. The Government may order other reeds to be prepared, and a register of “ recognised shares," the objecof which has been explained, is kept up under such orders, A regier is also (as a matter of course) kept of “ alienated " and revenue- ae 4 In Bombay, not of teak, blackwood, or sandal, unless these have been spec ly conceded. s Settlement Rule X. See also Code, section 44. s See also Code, section 99. 1 Id., section 108. oTfts 8 ; but no record of tenants and inferior holders and their riots is made, except perhaps in estates where there is some petliarity of tenure and some superior proprietor, the result of r Overnmeiit grant or of the former revenue system 9 . In any m.iary village on the common tenure, which is found unvaried jv. great extents of country, there is no necessity whatever for ju( a record. The survey officer simply enters in his register hinerson who is in actual occupation of the number. If this enn admits that he is only there as tenant or on behalf of some mi else whom he names, well and good; the name of that other leou will be entered as the occupant. If he says he is only a liter, and that so and so is the man to be entered as “ kliatadar,” >r gistered occupant, that will be done; if there is any dispute, lie parties must go to Court and get a decree ; the Settlement )[ er will then enter them accordingly ; meanwhile he will register in' the actual de facto occupant. n Berar I already intimated that a departure from the system ra ordered. The practice has not altered as regards registered w pants of the fields, but it was considered desirable to make a uner record of the rights of those who were in occupation, but io' shown as the “ registered occupants.” Such persons might liter be tenants merely employed by the registered occupant, or ni it have rights as co-sharers with him, and it was thought enable to record the precise position of every such person. To eli - mine this position a number of rules were drawn up called sj-tenancy rules 10 .” First let me clear the way by stating that See also Code, section 53. | Sacha record, for example, is kept up iu the khoti villages iu the Koukau (see loi ay Khoti Act I of 1880). 1 The expression is unfortunate ; it implies that the registered occupant is the ;n t .of the Government, and the cultivator is his “sub-tenant.” But the ig ered occupant is by no means the tenant of Government; his rights are iff int from those of a tenant, even though they arc not those of a full proprietor, t i 10 part of the theory of the Bombay settlement, as applied to Berar or other- is that the Government is the landlord. No theory is stated, every occupant has ic ghts of an occupant, whatever the law declares those rights to be. Iu the so- 610 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA, those rules do not apply to the actual holders or possessors of 1 <] in estates held by a jagfrdar. Iu such estates, it Would seem ut the matter is intended to be settled by Rule XIX, which reeogn-d as sub-proprietors of holdings those ancient “'tenants” on the este who had been there before the grant was made by the State. The object of the record in Government lauds, seems to 1 >e been the prevention of any possible injustice by the registering of re man’s name as occupant, and leaving all the others who clait d to be occupants or co-occupants, to get their title in the Civil Cots in case it was disputed. There seems to have been some anxi p if inferior rights were left to be established in the Civil Cut when not admitted by the registered occupant, litigation mi it become excessive, or rights unfairly lost. Such anxiety was it, however, borne out by the experience of other parts where the ma;r had been left to itself. The record seems to have effected nothing except some li e confusion, and to have given rise to a voluminous aud most use is “tenant-right” correspondence. The duty of preparing it is entrusted to the tahsildars at time of settlement, but they d neither the leisure nor the establishment requisite to make e enquiries properly. Nevertheless, it was first ordered that e rights recorded were to be treated as finally settled. In 1877 is was, however, modified, and an appeal to the Deputy Commissio r was allowed in the form of a regular suit, in the course of whji more complete investigation would be made. In cases where two or more persons appeared in some sorlif connection with the land, it might sometimes be doubtful whetji' these persons were co-sharers or co-occupants, or whether one \s “ occupant'” and the other was his “ tenant.” The “sub-tenaiy rules” endeavoured to lay down principles for decision in case the was no reliable direct evidence as to the relation. Supposiy however, the person in possession to be clearly the tenant of e called “sub-tenancy” rules, however, the term sub-tenant practically means y person who is on the land, but is not the registered occupant of it in the Governu t register. BERAR. 617 ‘ leistered occupant,” then the rules proposed to define his posi- io as such tenant, to specify the rent and terms of his tenancy, to we see an attempt to raise the “ tenant-right ” question of luNorth-West system. It was proposed to rule that any tenaut di had held under the registered occupant for twelve years should le nmovable, save by decree of Court; only tbat the tenants could io alienate their rights. This proposed rule led to much discus- io, and, as Mr. Lyall puts it, “ raised thorny and difficult ilnmas.” In the end, the rule was dropped, and indeed it was e r regularly enforced, although it would seem that in some a s,in making the record of rights, the principle had been applied. The objection was felt here as elsewhere, that if a twelve e;s’ rule was made, it would not only secure the position of eints who might, “ naturally,” by the custom and the feeling of h people, be entitled to a permanent holding (if there were any lk in Berar), but it would be perpetually causing such rights to r-V up, as year after year passed away, and tenant after tenant ^ipleted a bare twelve years' possession. With reference to this fl then, it is held practically to be not in force; but where any record f ghts had been actually made in accordance with its principle i was held to mean that at the time the tenant was held to ti'{ a presumption in his favour , and that it was for the lessor'— i' registered occupant—to show that that tenancy was not a iMauent one. In all other cases the tenant may claim any <. ts he likes, but he must establish them by facts; no artificial r cription runs in his favour. This seems to be the general > fusion of the voluminous “ tenant-right ” correspondence in t ir. § 8 .—Bights in alienated villages. As regards the right which jagfrdars and other grantees have in a, I shall mention the subject under the head of Land Tenures, f e it will be enough to say that the Settlement Rules 1 prescribed that hated villages W’ere to be surveyed and assessed just as if the 1 Rule XIX. 618 LAND 11EVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. revenue was payable to Government; but this order was subsequ tly modified. The jagfrdar makes his own arrangements as to the am payable to him by the tenantry ; audit is only in case theoccuiuts have held from a period antecedent to the grant, that they are specially protected by the rule which declares that in that cast lie grantee cannot take more from them than the Government asss- merit. The grantee is allowed to dispose of waste or unoccupied uls as he pleases, and we have seen that he holds the right to tree on the estate. The rule goes on to provide that if the grantee an I show that his grant gives him the “ proprietary ” right, or tin it was waste and uncultivated when granted, and that he has se ed and cultivated it, then he is deemed the proprietor in set terms, nd such right continues, even though the grant should from any t;se lapse and the lands become liable to pay revenue to Govermrit. Thus, in principle, every grantee is owner of exactly wkatiis grant gives him ; each case on its own merits 2 —of the lan if the grant proves it, or of the reveuue only if it does not. In case he jagirdar is deemed owner, the original occupiers of the laud are o- tected by the terms of Rule XIX. § 9.— The Records of Settlement. The result of the survey and assessment is embodied in a sees j • of settlement records which, just as under the North-West systn, r are faired and deposited with the District Officers. The Bonny . Code requires the following, besides the village maps: (1) le settlement register/’ showing the area of each survey-nuinlr, with the name of the registered occupant; and (2) such other reeds as Government may from time to time order 3 . In Berar I have had the opportunity of examining a settlennt record 4 . The papers on it consist of the following :—• (1) The village map. 5 See Resident’s Circular XXIII of 1879. h Code, section 108. See Nairne’s Revenue Handbook, VIII, 126. • My acknowledgments are due to Mr. A. J. Dunlop, Assistant Commission*/ 1 Akola, wlio most kindly explained tlie record to me. BERAR, 619 (2) “ Akarband,” a statement of the fields and their numbers (giving 1 also the assessment) stated in detail under three kinds of cultivation. (3) The “wastflbaki,” a comparative statement showing (1) each occupant’s holding under its number, and its assess¬ ment as it was by the system antecedent to the survey for the year in which the new settlement was to take effect; and (2) the same holding as it appears now, with its numbers, area, and assessment under the new or existing settlement. Thus the statement forms a kind of “ balance sheet ” (whence the name) between the previous and the present order of' things. (1) The “ phesal-patrak,” showing the persons who were admitted and recorded at the time of settlement survey as the occupants of land. (5) “ Phor-patrak,” showing the areas and assessment of re¬ cognised shares in one survey-number, as where, for example, two small holdings have been clubbed under one number. (6) The “ inam patrak,” a list of rent-free or “ alienated ” holdings. (7) “Bhagani register,” a list of co-sharers and their rights. (8) A statement of “ numbers” not cultivated, but reserved as village grazing grounds. (9) A list of fields in which there were disputes about the co- occupant’s or co-sharer’s rights. It was on this that the tahsildar proceeded to a summary enquiry under the orders for a “ record of rights.” (1C) A record of forest numbers and “ babul bans ” (waste numbers covered with acacia trees valuable as fuel), &c. here is also a paper called j eradvisedly. Lands paying revenue to Government, not to jagjrdars or other grantees. I t 110 “P'^ogy tor occasionally repeating an explanation of this sort ; the student ’j J0 glad of the reminder. 622 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. I.—Ordinary Occupancy Tenure. § 2 .—Original form of the villages. In this section I have first to enquire how the occupants of the several holding's came into their present position, and then to (fer some remarks as to the nature of the “ right of occupancy ” \ ick the revenue law acknowledges, and as to the practical diffence between it and a full “proprietary right,” such as the Bg a l system and its derivatives create or recognise. I have already adverted more than once to the fact that vil *es where at present each landholder is in no apparent conneion with his neighbour, may not originally have been so constibjd. They may once have been owned by a group having a con .on descent from one ancestor. That ancestor would have beenfhe natural head of the community, would have owned the vi ge dwelling-site, and the lands all round would have been p tly cultivated by him and his sons, and partly by tenants whon lie called in to help him and located on favourable terms, or who ay have come in at a later period. The lands may then have beoie divided into certain main groups according to major division of the family, and each of these groups may have at first rema.ed joint within itself, the profits and the charges being thrown in a common stock, until some quarrel arising (or for some other ream) the groups may have again been split up into minor shanor “ pattfs, ” and then the pattis into individual holdings. Irhe course of long years, and by the effect of transfers, of abanm- ments, of forced expulsions, and other changes and chances com on to unsettled times, the memory of the family connection may ive gradually become lost; and the revenue systems of the day ay have unconsciously helped on the separation by dealing 111 each holder individually till the term “ patti ” became on| a sort of local memory as applied to a certain group of lals, d and each cultivator was the independent master of his ?n field. BERAR. 623 § 3.— Belies of a joint constitution in some places. 'here is reason to believe that such was the history of at least in of the villages in Berar. n larger villages or “ kasha towns ” divisions of the land are ilremembered, called “ kinds,” which seem to he, like the p tis ” of the North-West, the separated shares of different fami- Gs r branches and of an original stock 7 . In such cases the raem- :rof the khel furnish the hereditary “ patel ” or headman, and i mie cases the land is marked off and occupied only by mem- rof the khel. n Mr. (now Sir A.) Lyall’s Gazetteer several interesting ex- a<3 from the earliest reports in Berar are given, which directly lurate this question of the survival of original family con- 3( ons. n North Berar, it would appear, no relics of the joint commu- tii existed in 1853. In South Berar a class of hereditary occu- tn of land was recognised by the term “ mundkari,” and the is m (unless violently interfered with by the State) was that this •l able right was also transferable. In the same villages persons ■ her castes who settled in the villages and got only annual a:s to cultivate were distinguished by the term “ khushbash.” Ii clearly pointed to a feeling in the minds of the people that the aes so distinguished, though both resident, w r ere one of them an- e , hereditary occupants, and the others not so 8 . There were those i le land who could never plant a tree or dig a well without tig leave of some one in a superior position as regards ancestral | t is also said that the major divisions of clans or tribal groups were called linat,’’like the “ taraf ” of the North-West, and that the smaller groups of n ; would he the “khel” or “ patti.” For instance, suppose a clan or group of tt s of different clans settled in one place, each group might form a taraf (or to p ic Marathi term “dimmat”); each of the families might then divide the land ti separate patti or khel), the patti being afterwards held by a number of grand njmd nephews together. ;.vas, however, told in Berar, both at Amraoti and A kola, that the term Gnat” was hardly known, but that “khel” was. A mere tenant resident in another village and coming to till the land for what iij he could get is called “ pyakari ” or “ walandwar.” 621 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. connection with the land ; and the village fortified enclosure or e— the “ garhi ”—belonged to the ancestral “ proprietors/ 5 othe vil- lagers residing round, but outside it. It may reasonably be colluded that wherever these vestiges remain, there must have once bn;i proprietary family collectively owning to an ancestral count ion although in the course of time and under the influence c the Maratha system (which cared nothing for the original oust a or history of the tenure) the connection became forgotten. In erar the terms “ miras,” “ mirasdar ” (still used in Khanties! and all the Central Dakhan) have been almost totally forgotten 9 , ( ?ept in the case of the old families (generally ex-pargana offiils), who are proud of the title mirasdar ; but then this refers rat r to ■ the watan lands (of which hereafter) than to the ordinaryraiul tenure. The term just alluded to —“ mundkari ”—has something the same force; but it is curious to remark that while “ miras”lo¬ cates an ancestral connection and an inheritance, “ mundkari indi¬ cates only the fact of first clearing the laud. In parts of Bombay there was a distinction still preraed (in name at least) between people who were “ mirasdars 5 and those who were cultivators —“ upris ” or “ gatkulis ;; —alt ugh under our survey system the distinction is now of no practic: im¬ portance. It has before been noticed that Malik 5 Ambar, hose settlements in the Dakhan were what Todar MaTs were in B gal, recognised a proprietary right in land; therefore his system mid jj keep alive the ancestral right of the original families whi first i conquered or settled the land, and the distinction between hese; and the men of other castes or tribes who cultivated their inds or were reduced to being their tenants. § 4 —•Effect of the Maratha rule. The Maratha system soon obliterated all this: the lain was 1 assessed, and the village headman had to make out a yearly lag-j 0 Gazetteer, page U2. i or rent-roll showing how the assessment lay on each several hg. The revenue officers exacted this amount, and, if it was lid, turned the holder out without caring whether the popular > called him by one name or another. In this way it soon i, to be recognised that the “ sirkar 33 was the owner of the dand that each man held his land in virtue of his yearly per- ;sn to pay the fixed assessment. T here the Maratha power was firmly established, the rulers ffioo wise not to he modei’ately considerate to- the people; for ruvas the risk that overpressed cultivators would abscond and mbhe land untilled. But the time came when the Nizam and i arathas were struggling for supremacy, and then the motives i(deration were removed. Revenue farms became more com- n aud the man who then held the lands by an ancestral claim 3 ally worse off than any one else : the farmers could tax him ivy, partly because he was, as a rule, •more wealthy, partly be- isi he was more strongly attached to the land and would bear roefore giving up his ancestral holding ; but the limit of en- a:e was easily passed, and the “ mirasdar ” had either to ab- nor to sell his lands, and sink perhaps into the position of a reenant of the purchaser 10 . lis system of farming the revenue seems to have lasted from ISlown to the days of our own administration. I is no wonder, therefore, that the original proprietary right fa! ilies should have become a shadowy memory, preserved only re ul there in a few local divisions of land and in certain coun- ' t ms and popular customs. - 5.— But non-unit,ed villages were also a general feature. C the other hand, there certainly are many villages, and that er .tensive tracts of country, where no such joint original right 10 is noted in the Gazetteer that the Nizam’s Minister, Raja Chandu Lai (A.D. (M , put a stop to the transfer of landholdings, his object being, of course, to ke pry transfer dependent on his permission, which had to be gained with a 'Hiiao fine or fee. 1 626 ■ LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. c an be traced. When therefore it is found to be the case tha' not only were the villages originally non-united, over considi.ble extents of country, but also that even where joint villages m»be presumed to have existed, they have now fallen into complete c ay, we can hardly help admitting that the system which best s.ted such a state of things was the equitable assessment of all koi'»g» separately, and a declaration that each individual holder was ended to be registered as the occupant with a heritable or transfuble right of occupancy, subject to certain conditions which were lies* sary for the safety of the revenue. This system avoids all theories as to who is the owner of la 1 in a Western sense; it avoids also the difficulty of resuscitating a lint responsibility, to which the people would not have submitte at least in very many instances.* § 6 .—The occupancy or survey tenure. Sir Richard Temple has aptly called the occupant’s ri.it a “ limited property,” and Mr. (Sir A.) Lyall compares it to the liure of an English “ copyholder.” The right of occupancy is (as before remarked) declared bo “ a heritable and transferable property,” and the restricts s or conditions which apply to such occupancy are— * (1) The necessity for paying the revenue ; failure t pay this causes the rights to terminate ipso fat, al¬ though, of course, it is in the discretion of the eve- nue officer to adopt other coercive measures to rover the balance instead of absolutely ejecting £ de¬ faulter. Partition of the land between persons holding j cannot, as will be explained subsequently, be cried on, so as to subdivide the land infinitesimal!; it stops with a fixed minimum. The land may be improved, but cannot be desoyed or rendered unfit for agricultural purposes wined express permission. ( 2 ) (3) BERAR.. 627 'iis last condition is alone sufficient to diminish the full lvrietary ” right of Western law, for the full owner may ;ty if he pleases. 'iere may also be some very practical distinctions between : dcnowledged right of occupancy and a full ownership. For t;ee, if the laud is taken up for public purposes, the occupant \nave a right to compensation for loss of profits by cutting ir his term of occupancy, as well as for money spent on un¬ listed improvements; but the occupant has no claim to com- lsion, on the ground that the land itself has risen in value mny cause 1 , gain, a right of occupancy depends on occupation: it is t ireetly a holding is relinquished by permission or is aban- ]£, You cannot hold over a right for a period of years, as i ail a light of ownership in the soil, a right which you can h at any time, so long as the Law of Limitation does not p 1 to bar your remedy in the Courts of Law 2 . The ordinary u, then, of land in Berar is that of an “ occupancy,” the of which is forgotten or is obliterated, and is now recognised tl basis of individual de facto possession. 1 Si Hyderabad Resident’s Circular No. 14 of 29tli May 1868. ! R I have heard of a case in which the circumstances were something of the l. A recorded sharer in a field quarrelled with his co-occupant and left the :e. Afterwards, thinking better of it, he transferred his share to a purchaser, i lireon tried to recover the occupation of the abandoned share. This was ;tc but the highest Court held on appeal that the possession could be recovered iir limitation period of twelve years. Now, there may have been special circum- ct vliich made it appear that the occupation had been maintained constructively :h lolding on of the Other sharer. Possession may of course be constructively ut ted, as when a person leaves bis land and his “receipt book” in the hands 3ii other person, who cultivates and pays the revenue, getting the payments re 1 as made by, or on behalf of, the occupant in the occupant’s book. But, rve, on principle, occupancy depends on occupation, and the right ceases i 3 occupation; no limit can apply, nor can it survive for a given time, ul such a principle as that applied in the appeal be generally recognised, it til to some inconvenience. I may allude to the case, well known in Berar tkijjond cultivators in the Wun district, who so readily abandon land on ;rsi ious alarms (see note to page 639, post). If such should have a claim to c fck (and eject successors who have taken up the lands) within twelve years, (iri ice would lead to great confusion. 62 S LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. II.—Tenure by Office. § 7 .—The watan. I must now pass on to consider some cases where the m of the land tenure is known and is to be found iu instittioui more or less peculiar to the province. However much the true origin of the village land ldei’s right may have been forgotten, there is one class of holdi ;$ the origin of which has remained definite and universally rec nwi to this day. The Maratha system, while it broke down all lasses of rights in the soil, could not work without the quasi-hei litaiyt officers, the patel 3 , or headman, and pandya, or village accoi taut; and as these officials always held certain lands in virtue theiri office, the tenure of land on this basis has everywhere si rived. Not only those greater officials, but also the staff of villa' arti. sans and menials, necessary for the well-being of the comuuity, were often remunerated by plots of laud held iu practic.yt)^ same way. These officials are spoken of as “ watandar. Titti “ watan,” as I have already said, includes the holding < laim but is not confined to it. The hereditary watan is not c.y till official land, but the total of the official rights and percsiterjj the “ zira’at,” or land which he formerly held rent-free.if at« quit-rent, the official precedence or “ manpan ” on ceraonii occasions, and the right to the building sites inside the 'illigp fort or mud-wailed “ garhi/’ with perhaps some dues andeesil marriages or other occasions. The fact that the village headman had much to say;o tl$ yearly distribution of holdings and the assessment enald bi» in former days, to get the best land into his own hands aivasaa it favourably or not at all. Under our Government the 1 idtnap who actually performs the duties of office is allowed a c:i $ 3 The Maratha term is patil (Wilson), the ordinary Hindi “patel,” a? Hi throughout. The word is often incorrectly written “ potcl ” or “ potail.” BERAR, 6:29 it;-e as remuneration, and therefore his “ watan ” lands are L :sd 4 like any others, but still his tenure of these lands as isred occupant is dependent outlie fact that he is a member tl family which got the lands originally in virtue of the C£ le succession to the hereditary lands is by the ordinary law iieritance, so that all the heirs succeed together to the a n ” though generally only one is selected to perform the IU duties of office. In this way the “ watan ” lauds have got to hd jointly by a number of relations, or may be divided out or them in recognised shares. 5 1 1 Bombay under the Native Government the lands very often were not held ant-free, but had a “ j udi ” or quit-rent (which was, however, often heavier ii t: British survey assessment), and the lands have continued to pay this (or less, ■u was excessive). Tl ‘watan’ lauds are there assessed so far as is needed to make up a fixed i (ilculated usually on a percentage of the revenue of the locality), and this i if'aid from the Government treasury to the person who actually does the work of ole. The ‘ watan ’ lands (subject to this assessment) are held by the watandarf uly t large. 1 have on a previous page given an extract showing how tenaciously the lex of watans cling to them; how families that might, under other systems, e [iveloped into great jagxrdars and become the landlords of their estates, ler let go their grants, but retained the “watan ” attached to numerous officers, eh hey managed to concentrate in their family. In other provinces we have i b i inveterate was the tendency of revenue officials and grantees of the State becne proprietors of the land. They first begin with their own holdings, then sa or mortgage, and even by violent ousting acquire other lands; then by in; the power of settling the waste, they become the owners of still more (since Mints they locate to clear waste look on them as their landlords). In this • ty come gradually into such a position that they are recognised as pro¬ to The Marathas were too keen financiers to let the middleman acquire h ^position, and intercept so much of the revenue, and hence these officials sr veloped into proprietors; at least not in Berar, for in the neighbouring tre Provinces, where circumstances were different, the revenue farmer, or :a i did, as we have seen, grow into a proprietor, just as the Oudh taluqdar i lu iengal zamindar did, only the nature of farm was such that the estate xir was more limited in extent. The effect of the systom on this growth of pt rietary claim is very curious to observe. As long as the Marathas have ugaold on the country, no such growth takes place; where they are weak and r f iremacy is contested, .it does so, and results in the malguzar proprietors of Ce ral Provinces, or the khoti proprietors of some parts of Bombay. 030 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. HI.—Tenure by Grant. § 8 .—The Jagir. These were either large grants by the governing poo on terms of military service, called (here as elsewhere) jagirs, relsg there were smaller grants spoken of as “ inam, ” the m ifi of other provinces. In the case of the small grants it seems, that they really ere of the proprietary right in the land. “ These,” remarks Mr. (r A. Lyall, “ are perhaps the oldest tenures by which specific prortics in land are held in Berar®. The Settlement Rules 7 declai tb.it when the land granted was waste and was settled and cul rated by the grantee, the full proprietary right is considered as gntot also. In other cases it depends on the terms of the rant Naturally, in the ease of a small plot of inam, the gran tee ponld (himself alone or with his family) be the existing occuptt, si- there would be no question but that he was meant to receeth proprietary title : at least this would be true in most cases. , In large jagirs, however, there would be a number of vlages! already held (as any other villages are) by the occupants f tie land with their hereditary headmen. In such cases the grant) places the jagirdar over the head of these, and the question uses—i was the jagirdar meant to be the owner, and the existing older< to be regarded as only his tenant ? The question is not vfchoot importance, as obviously if the jagirdar is practically the ot,| he ought to be entered as the registered occupant of ever fielilj in his estates, besides owning all the trees and all the was;. IfJ he is not the owner, then he would only be a grantee of Gvera-i ment revenue of the whole, i.e ., the villagers instead of tying) the share in the rental and produce to the State, would p: it tot the jagirdar. They would then be the registered occupant audt the grantee would only be the “ registered occupant ” of ist ai' many fields as he had in his own particular holding. 6 Gazetteer, page 101. | 7 See Rule XIX. BERAR. 631 § 9.— Question of the jagirdar's rights. : was originally a matter of some difficulty to determine this ueion. It was thought by some officers that the jagirdar was no 'ietor of all, and it was accordingly held that his estate should iciier be assessed nor surveyed ; that in fact it was a revenue-free stii, and that Government had no concern with anything within ts raits. This proposition was not, however, accepted, and it asultimately laid down in the Settlement Rules that all such *ti 2 s were to be surveyed and assessed. It was admitted that lieagirdar had the right to the waste numbers, and might locate nl gators on them as he pleased, and that he owned all the trees ,h'a would have belonged to Government had there been no ratee. All occupants of land, however, who had held the laud ir i period antecedent to the grant, were to be held to be occu- m 3 of their holdings, and from them the jagirdar could not ik more than the revenue assessed on the holdings. The question :il however, was not settled whether the jagirdar could be 'g.’ded as the proprietor of other lands. If he was not, the icpants could only be charged with the fixed revenue, just such > rovernment would take, no matter what was the date of their ol ngs, since the jagirdar only was in the place of Government nhad no greater rights than Government claimed. If he was, k occupants were his tenants, and he might take from them b; he could get, provided they were not under the terms of irule above alluded to. The question has received its latest reply in the Resident’s i liar No. XXIII of 27th March 1879. It is in fact left to ureal circumstances of the case and the terms of the grant. Mie jagirdar lived apart aud did nothing but receive the reve- l of the estate (and in some cases he only got this paid, not to i direct by the occupants, but through the Government \uue officials), then, naturally, his claim would be limited. ie grant, however, gave him the whole right, or if his prac- ? position was such that he directly managed every holding. 632 I.AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. perhaps advaucing money for improvements and stock, and exe ;s- ing a close supervision over the land, he might naturally be reg ti¬ ed as the immediate superior holder or “ landlord ” of every iid. Facts were to decide. § 10 .—Duration of the grant. Originally the jagirs were granted for life, but soon acqi:>d a hereditary character, it being deemed in Musalmau times, ben h the dignity of the State to resume a grant once made 8 . U;er the Marathas, however, a number of the large jagirs disappesd, as the service conditions attached to them fell into abeyance, or the Marathas had no scruple in resuming an assignment when.ie service was not required or was not performed. And it wild .i appear that the conditions often were not performed, or dyfl performed nominally. “ A few followers, to enable the jagi ir to collect the revenue, were sometimes the only armed force rely di maintained. No musters were held, and when the troops vre seriously called out, the jagirdar made hasty levies, or occasion y absconded altogether 9 .” § 11.— Gliatwali jagirs. In some of the bill districts, ghatwali jagirs, just like those e found in the south-western districts of Bengal, were granted to 11 chiefs ou condition of keeping the passes safe and open, c 'n Berar," writes Mr. (Sir A.) Lyall, “as all over the world, we Id relics of the age when law and regular police were confined at lot to the open country, and when Imperial Governments paid a sonf black- mail to the pettiest highland chief. The little Rajas (Gol, :j Kurku, and Bhil), who still claim large tracts of the Ghwilgarh h 3, have from time immemorial held lands and levied transit dues n 8 Gazetteer, page 101, &c. 9 Id., page 102. It will be remembered that most of the jdgh'S did from the days of the Muglials, some few being created by the Peshwa and bye Nizam. The Marathas did not much respect the old Mughal grants, and often cbm d them with certain revenue payments. BERAft. 633 or itions of moderate plundering, of keeping open the passes, and f aintaining hill posts constantly on the look-out towards the la s. And along the Ajunta hills, on the other side of the Berar ay,is a tribe of Kolis who, under their naiks, had charge of the h;s or gates of the ridge, and acted as a kind of local militia, ti by assignments of land in the villages. There are also fami- ei-of Banjaras and Marathas, to whom the former Governors of ii country granted licenses to exact tolls from travellers and tri- u; from villagers, by way of regulating an evil which they were toyeak or too careless to put down 10 .” In the Akola district, at ■coot of the hill ranges, some lauds are held on a “ metkari ” r;t, •which means on condition of keeping posts to guard the la is against the descent of robbers from the heights above. § 12.— Charitable grants. )f the smaller inam grants, maiyr were made either for petty iriees or for support of religious persons or institutions; others jsed dharmmal) were for repairs and maintenance of tanks and isvoirs. § 13.— Waste land grants. There is another kind of grant which probably ought to be a red here,—the grants of lauds at fixed terms under the 1 aste Land Rules.” These grants take effect in the large •a.e blocks,—it may be occupying whole “villages,” which were odivided into the usual small survey numbers or fields. The v grants of this kind were certain long leases at a fixed and curable rate made in 1865, and spoken of as "ijara 1 ,” which bus a grant or lease for a long time at a favourable rate. They a;leases for thirty years of uncultivated “ villages,” beginning at lv rent, which was gradually to rise with spread of cultivation. A he end of the term the grantee will have the option of taking b whole village at full assessment, and becoming the registered lu Gazetteer, page 103. | 1 Id., page 109. i 634 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. occupant of it; if not, lie will reraaiu as the headman, while be actual cultivators will take the various numbers as registered o u. pants 2 . IV. — Tenants. § 14.— Arrangements for cultivating land. The actual cultivation of land is often effected in Berar, as e>. where, by the aid of tenants ; but in many cases the “ occupan ” cultivate their own individual fields, or form a sort of joiut-slh company to cultivate a number of fields 3 . Certain persons ana to contribute a share of the cultivating expenses, and to divide ie profits in proportion to those shares. This proportion will usu y be determined by the number of plough-cattle employed by eh partner. It would seem that in such cases the landholdings >. come regarded as equally the right of the whole partnership, i> withstanding that in the revenue registers each is entered in ie name of some one person. And if no term for the agreemenis fixed, it can only be dissolved by a partition of shares, just aif they were a body of related co-sliarers. § 15.— Tenant right. I have already alluded to certain questions which arise ab t tenants. No artificial tenant right is now recognised, so that ro cases of permanent tenancy are not arising, as they do or may a provinces where a twelve-years* rule is in force ; but some cases! ancient tenancies have been recognised on the merits, as permauei. § 16.— Batai or Metairie . Cultivating tenants often engage to till the lands of occupais on the “ batai ** system, which has been likened to the metairie f the Continent. 2 Some clearing leases or grants of more ancient times are also found in so: places and are called “ pal am pat.” 3 Gazetteer, page 98. BERAlt. 635 f Th e batai sub-tenure (metairie),” says Mr. (Sir A.) Lyall, “us formerly, and is still, very common in Berar. These are the ovciiary terms of the batai contract : the registered occupant of tli, laud pays the assessment on it, hut makes it over entirely to fhmetayer, and receives as rent half the crop after it has been ckred and made ready for market. The proportion of half is m,liable, but the metayer sometimes deducts his seed before rind ing the grain. He (the sub-tenant) finds seed, labour, oxen, an all cultivating expenses. The period of lease is usually fixed, ini it depends on the state of the land. If it is bad, the period nir be long •, but no term of metafile holding gives any right of octpaney. “ Metafiles are going out of fashion. As. the country gets richer thi prosperous cultivator will not agree to pay a rent of half the prluce, and demands admission to partnership. Money-rents are ilf coming into usage slowly, I think, because the land now occa- fii ally falls into the hands of classes who do not cultivate, and iv! are thus obliged to let to others. The money-lenders can now -c up a cultivator living on his field, and give a lease for it ; for- n ly they could hardly have found a tenant 4 .” Section III. —Revenue Officials and their, Duties. § 1 .—The grades of officers. In Beuar there is a Commissioner over the whole six districts, ivli only revenue and administrative, but no judicial, duties ; each 1 ,rict is presided over by a Deputy Commissioner, who is aided b one or more Assistant Commissioners as in a “ Non-Regulation P vince. ” The “ tahsildar ” is the head of the revenue sub- ;1 ision or “ taluka. ” Gazetteer, page 98. The practice of batai'is, however, still very common, and 1( its have been expressed to me whether it is really going out of fashion as t :d. 036 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Ill the villages there are the patels or headmen, the villa« accountant (kulkarni or pandya), and the village servants as alrea • noted. Each village has a sort of “ town-hall ” or cutclierry, cal] the “ chauri.” The whole of what has been said in the chapter preceding abc, the necessity for constant inspection under a raiyatwari settlemei, and the duty of preparing annual jamabandis, is equally applicab, as regards principles, to Berar. § 2.— Village accounts and records. The system depends to a great extent for its working ou t efficiency of the' village accountants. The accounts and recor maintained by the officials have as much importance here as thl have under the system of North-West India. I shall therefore describe the records which the Berar patws is required to keep, as this will give some insight into his woi The “ patwarhs papers ” are now reduced in number. (1) The “ jamabandi patrak,” or revenue-roll of the yea this is most important ; for the reader will remember that it is feature of the Bombay system, that no one need hold any field 1 more than one year unless he likes, so that the list of fields actual occupied in any year may vary from what the previous year skowe This variation may occur either by the abandonment of some nur beys, or the taking up of numbers hitherto unoccupied. It is tk most important to have a correct account of the “ numbers actually occupied and the revenue to be actually collected in tl year. The patwari has to keep the different applications for land, ai the “ razinamas ” giving up land, and the papers showing transfer these he has to produce as vouchers for the changes shown in t holdings in the yearly jamabandi. This document has to give ; details,—the area of the field ; the assessment (or the fact of i being revenue-free) ; any former balance due on it ; the dues a account of the “ jaglia ” (watchmau) and school cess ; the nan BERAR. 637 of,lie registered occupant ; a list of trees over six hands high (“nangoes,” “ other fruit trees,” “ mohwa trees,” “ Sindhi ” or “ tte-palm,” are shown in the columns) ;—the wells, whether “ icha ” or masonry, whether used for garden irrigation or for (hiking, whether good or brackish. (2) To this is appended a supplementary register of fields lying “ ant,” or uncultivated. It shows the area culturable and unar- ab; the assessment, if any; the wells and trees (as before) ; it d anguishes which fields are reserved for grazing and for special gss reserves (“ramna”), and what lands are occupied by village- shs, and so not available to be “ occupied.” Against these are tlee columns for the year’s receipts under the head of — (a) income fm grazing ; (b) fruit, mangoes, &c. ; (c) from mohwa tes. (3) The “ laoni kamjyasti tippan ” shows changes in occupancy r;ht, viz., the raziuamas and kabulaits accepting occupation and rinquishing it. (4) The “ phera patrak,” or inspection report, gives the particu- 1.s of the crop raised on each “ number ” or field. It shows the a;a of each field, deducting the parts that are waste or not under ops, and showing the balance cultivated ; the kind of cultivation Pet or dry, garden or rice). This information is entered in separate . lumns for each harvest, rabi and kharif. The patwari has also the duty of seeing that every payment of venue is duly written up in the receipt book (pautia bahi), which cry registered land occupant holds. This is of great importance to protect the occupant from the ex- ition of double payments ; and further on account of the danger tat the occupant runs of losing his field if the revenue has not ceu duly paid. § 3.— Tat warn and deshnnkls. The hereditary or watandar patwari may not be holding the ffice owing to personal unfitness or other cause ; in that case a omasta pandya (talati of Bombay) is employed. In any case a 638 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. fixed percentage on the revenue is allowed the patwari as remub - ation for his duties. Under the Native Governments a number of patwans used to > supervised, by a superior officer called deshpandya (just as a numlp of patels were by a deshmukh). The deshpandya had also 5 “ watan.” These have now no place in our system, and tk- families have received cash commutation pensions charged asi percentage on the revenue. § 4 .—The village headman. The patel or village headman in Berar is usually hereditar that is to say, the se watan ” descends by inheritance in the fam, to as many sharers as are entitled to succeed; and as only 0 : descendant can, of course, be selected to do the actual duties of t office, it is one son or relative, the fittest that can be found, that appointed. It may be occasionally that no one in the family is f and therefore that some one else has to be appointed. I ha already mentioned that “ watan ” lands are not now left revenu free as a remuneration for official work. The pateTs remunerate for this is a fixed cash percentage on the revenue which he allowed to levy on the village. In small villages the patel has both revenue and police dutic He is agent for the collection of the State revenue, and is superi: tendent of the jaglias, who form in fact a sort of village polic though not organised under the police department, and perforrnii many duties, as messengers, guardians of boundary marks, &< which the regular police do not. The patel must give information of all crimes, and, in cases \ necessity, may arrest persons and enter houses for the purpose. In some of the large villages a “ police patel ” is appoint! separately from the “ revenue patel/'’ In that case the former hi charge of the village pound and gets certain allowances from tl cattle-pound fees". 6 Those duties arc in liei ar defined iu Circular Orders. BERAR. 639 Revenue business. § 5 .—Taking up, relinquishing, and transferring lands. [n the earlier days of our Government, and even at the present tin in less advanced districts, there were not only many numbers umcupied, though capable of cultivation, but many changes took |) 1?3 owing to people relinquishing laud 7 . In long-settled aud prosperous districts this is of course very mill less the case : laud has become valuable, and every “ number” Lin can possibly be cultivated has been long since occupied, and no ue now thinks of relinquishment. Transfers by contract or on cession are practically the only changes that occur. I will, he ever, describe the rules which were laid down on the subject of uiccupied numbers, and on relinquishment and transfer. I have il ady remarked that the whole of the cultivated and culturable alls, not including intervening tracts of waste, were all divided n on the principle described, into fields'or numbers of a certain and were surveyed and assessed. But large tracts of waste (; in the Basim district) were only marked off into blocks, not bided into “ numbers ” in the first instance. A number of ljse blocks have since been gradually cultivated, and now are 1 ided into regular numbers permanently occupied. A rule in 1 settlement series (Rule XIII) provided for the procedure to be derved while such a course of gradual taking up of blocks hit by > was in progress •, but this procedure has now become obsolete, ice the portions so taken have long since been formed into regular i ds and brought on to the register. When any person wishes to take up a survey number which has ):n relinquished by some one else, or has been hitherto occupied, ) must take the whole number ; but several persons may :nbine to take a number between them 8 . 7 In the Wun district this is still, I believe, the case. The Gond cultivators are i superstitious, aud the occurrence of anything which the village astrologer lares unlucky, or the appearance of some sickness, causes the people to throw up r land and decamp. s Settlement Rule XH. 640 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES 01*' INDIA. Any person is at liberty to apply for any unoccupied “ numb " he pleases, but the (Deputy Commissioner is at liberty. to resc e certain numbers for village-fee, grazing, or other special purpose ; and also those which produce such excellent grass that the prod e is pretty sure to sell for a sum. in excess of the ordinary assessm t of revenue 9 10 . All unoccupied numbers are put up to auction every year for « grazing only, preference being given to the occupants of the c. tiguous village lands. Should a bid exceed the amount sliou against the number as its ordinary revenue assessment, the pure . ser will be considered not merely as the purchaser of the grazi» right, but will be entered as “ occupant,” and may, of course, c-^ tivate the land. This does not apply to lands specially reserd under Rule XVII; they cannot without special sanction be diver 1 from the purpose for which they are reserved. Any application for a number is made by filing what is call a “ raziuama,” i.e., a document agreeing to take the number al pay the assessment. This is presented to the village officer, wi sends it to the tahsildar 1 , who satisfies himself that the applicatii can be granted, and returns an order to that effect, so that the pal wan may make the needful entry in his village accounts. Reli- quishment is effected in the same'way. It must be done before t; 31st March in each year 2 . This is one of the subjects on which the Berar Rules differ fro those of Bombay. If one sharer wishes to relinquish, the Bomb’ Code makes it a condition that if no one will take the vacant sha , the whole field must be given up. In Berar this was thought hav, and Rule VII merely provides that the share is first to be offeri to the others ; if it is not taken up (but it always is) by them, ; remains unoccupied as a share, but the other sharers retaiu the shares. So, when a registered occupant dies, the name of the eldu 9 Settlement Rule XVII. See also the Bombay Code, sections 38, 39. 10 Id., XIV. Such grazing reserves are called “ ramna.” 5 See Revenue Code, section 60, fora similar provision in Bombay. 2 Settlement Rule XXI. BERAR. 641 r rincipal heir is entered, but 3 the names of others succeeding' it him ^according to the law of inheritance) must be entered Is. and, if they wish it, be recorded as “ recognised ” sharers, so laeach may pay his own revenue and no more. )n the death of a registered occupant, the Code 4 directs that (eldest son or principal heir is to be entered as registered occu¬ lt : if there is a dispute, it must be settled by a law court. transfers can be made by registered occupants or recognised marers, by raziuama, in a similar way to that just described, h'transfer may be effected at any time, but Government will not :c;uise it, i.e., will still hold the originally registered occupant ih till the current year’s revenue is paid up 6 . The Code 0 in obay treats relinquishment and transfer as the same thihg, the r er being “ absolute,” and the latter a relinquishment in favour 'nne other person 7 . § 6 .—Otter branches of duty. do not say anything about partition, maintenance of boun¬ ds, alluvion and diluvion, or the recovery of arrears of revenue. In' 9 matters are regulated in Berar mostly by local rules of prac- c but in all essentials the rules are the same as under the o bay Code, which will in all probability before long be formally t duced. The only remark I have specially to make is that in eir, under the system of recording rights noticed above,all co-shar- s r occupants had their separate rights recorded, whether they >1 ed for it or not. n Berar the revenue becomes due in two instalments, on 15th nary and 15th March 8 . Section 71. Settlement Rule VI. • T d„ IX. 1 Sections 74 and 79. Some special cases of relinquishment are mentioned in sections 75, 76. These i: ot necessary here to describe. ' Settlement Rule XXIII. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. 642 CHAPTER III. THE REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. Section I.— History oe the Land Tenures and the Settleme . § 1 .—Value of a study of the Madras Revenue History. The Madras revenue system has an importance in the Reveie history «of India which is all its own. In the first place it wasin Madras that the raiyatwari method of settlement, as a sysm under our Government, originated; in the next place, the hisityj of the Madras Presidency throws great light on the constitum of villages and the early customs o£ landholding which are rely at the bottom of all Revenue systems. The Revenue historof Madras affords therefore an important aid in understanding it only the raiyatwari settlement as a system, hut the whole subct of land tenures iu India, and why it is that our Revenue systis have developed differently in different provinces. A thoug’htful study of the way in which revenue adminisa- . tion grew up in Madras, will more than anything else teudto I show that there is no such thing as a system which is rightin the abstract, which can be held up as a model,—which can lve its admirers, who hold a brief for its defence against all other s- tems. To compare one system with another, and regard a provce j which is managed under one as enlightened and blessed, wlii a n province managed under another is regarded as in a backvud ; condition, to compare the merits, in short, of raiyatwari and zanu-.i dari settlements, is the idlest exercise of ingenuity in the world. It has often been said of Bombay, for example, that the rai l- wari system was not invented, but existed: this is perfectly tie. i There is rarely room for a selection of systems. The plan to be ado ed REVENUE SYSTEM OP MADliAS. 643 mt suit the facts. If the Muhammadan conquest obliterated 1). old village institutions and brought zamiudars of estates nl a position of prominence (which is a question of fact and of local xrience), the zamindari system (with which permanence of ssisment has no necessary connection) is inevitable. If there rcio zatnindars, but the villages show a strong tribal organisation ,n a joint title to the entire area of a village, whether waste or cul- ivied, a system dealing with the body through its headmen, is q.lly sure to develop itself. If the village consists of individual oings, its bond of union being such as has no reference to p:naon landholding or united responsibility of any kind, a rai- a/ari system or method of dealing with each landholder iudi- ically, is the only one which is practicable without injustice, and i'i out a purely artificial creation of an upper proprietary title v the whole village. In the latter case, indeed, there is room for some historical ques¬ ting, whether the individual holdings are not a decayed form of (mmunal form which has survived elsewhere. There can be o uestion that both forms do exist, and when an officer accus¬ ed to deal with joint villages, aud impressed with a belief that eaiig with one proprietor or one body of proprietors through a ipsentative headman, gives the simplest and most workable form f avenue management, it is not surprising that, as Mr. Elphin- ;ce did in Bombay, he should raise the question of origin, and is about him to find traces of au original grouping of lands, and eans for restoring the responsibility of the body as a unit of nuue management. } 2 .—Madras affords an illustration of the different origin of villages, )n questions of this sort the Madras Presidency affords udiarly interesting information. ffie have historical evidence to show that the original inhabit- n , it is said Mongolian in x'ace and Dravidian in speech, were 644 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. chiefly pastoral, and that they certainly had no communal org \. sation as regards the plots of laud that were cultivated, h the process of time a wave of Hindu emigration passed er them. The races mingled to a great extent, hut some of the aborigal tribes remained as predial slaves to the landholders, and otrs fled to the mountain ranges. The circumstances of agricul re in these forest-clad hills are always unfavourable to the developi nt of land communities, because all over India the aboriginal lies cultivate only by the method of forest-clearing, which is cijed kumri, jilm, bewar, dalli, and by many other names in diffr nt parts of India. As land so cleared yields only one or two cns, after which the site has to be abandoned, the nomad habits o he tribes are necessarily maintained, and settled property on land ies notarise. Nor did the first Aryan immigrants establish a i ut system of holding land. Whether it was the intermixture of the aboriginal races or that the circumstances of the new home and the conditioi of i agriculture affected them, we cannot now conjecture ; hut the}lid i not by tribes, clans, or groups of families, occupy defined tract of land, regarding the whole as the property of the section, auddid- * ing it out or managing it for the common benefit, accordin: to their own rules. It is indeed probable that the admixture of res, fj the aborigines and the immigrants—themselves possibly nothio- geneous—tended to prevent any common bond, or possibility o ny common rule of sharing: that is all I can venture to say. hey associated in villages, because without such association life vuld not be possible; they recognised a headman who managed teir affairs; they had village servauts and village artisans who en- dered services to the group and were employed within its liits,£ but each man had his own individual cultivation as he pleasei or as his means enabled him to undertake it, and neither claimeany common interest with his fellows in the waste beyond the limi of his fields, nor recognised any common interest in his neighlar's responsibility to the ruling power for land revenue payments. REVENUE SYSTEM OP MADRAS. 645 This first Hindu immigration in time was followed by a ;eind 1 ; but this time the people who came were evidently not of hsame class as their predecessors; they were distinguished by v£ ike habits and organisation, and seem to have belonged to the a< now represented in Upper India by the Rajputs. In Northern India the later Aryan tribes appear under two e different forms as regards their land organisation. The Pajab shows most clearly the tribes settling down as entire people n efined areas and resulting in village communities each com- ile in itself. Rajputana, on the other hand, and many other >hes show a totally different system in which village communal 'ipnisation had no part. The tribes only appeared, in small bands, u became the conquering rulers of the country without furnishing l:ge proportion of the local population. Exactly the same differ- n s followed the immigration of these races when they proceeded oihward to Madras. They introduced in fact two different sys- ci3 of landholding, just as they did in Upper India 2 . § 3 .—The divisions of the Madras territory. The Madras Presidency, both as regards the effect of these imrni- rions and otherwise, may be roughly divided into three tracts— lbhe North or Telugu couutry, extending as far south as the bore district ; (2) the Tamil country, below Nellore and to the a; and south of Mysofe, including the districts of Chingleput, hfch and South Arcot, Salem, Tanjore, Madura, and Tiunevelly ; n (3) the West Coast, Kanara aud Malabar (the rest—Cochin n Travancore—being Native States). Now, the Telugu country seems to have retained most of the a er Aryan or nou-united villages, but this part of the country 't, as we shall presently see, so completely dominated by the See “ Standing Information ” regarding the Administration of the Madras Pre- <1 :y (Government Press, Madras. 2nd edition, 1879), page 76 et seq. This important fact does not seem to have struck the able author of the histori- il etch in the “Standing Information, ” who includes the Nair chieftains of Main¬ land the village-founding people who have left traces in Chingleput and elsewhere lie. / 646 LAND REVENUE AND' LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Muhammadan institutions, that, in fact, it is almost like Be >al in the decay of village forms. The Tamil country was occupied by that part of the second A an immigration which founded village communities, while the Wes rn Coast was conquered by the military or Rajput portion, and i • Brahmans on festivals, lighting village temples, feeding visit- killing a tiger, and so forth. In some villages it became a custom for the original owners o claim a portion of arable land which was called “ grama-manyai” or village free grant. The persons who resided in the village, but were not sharers r participators in communal privileges, were, as always under t s system, numerous. They had to contribute to the village-taxes,;! probably saved the mirasis from contributing at all. Some of these were admitted as payakaris, paying rent besi s the contributions. Others, however, had a more privileged positi , paying fixed rents, and gradually acquired powers of alienatg their holding. They were called ul-kudi, or “ inside cultivator” Mere tenants-at-will were “ outsiders/” or para-kudi. Under the exactions of the Muhammadan conquerors, it was vu natural that these outsiders, together with the privileged tenan and the original mirasis, should sink very much to the same lev ; and the introduction of a raiyatwari system would then furtlr confirm their position as equal in right over their own holdings. The cases where the dominant or mirasi families claim 1 over-lordship and take rents are few : they survive in the cas called swayatantram in Chingleput. The panchayat government also seems to have given wayi more automatic government by headmen. Manyams, or grants f revenue, were early introduced, especially to remunerate villfj servants; and here was an additional cause for the commun; disappearing and the village headmen remaining with heredity REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 649 ars and perquisites, analogous to the headmen of originally io united villages,—the watandar families of the Maratha oi tries. .— Districts, in which the tribes effected a conquest, and appeared only as rulers. The West Coast. While, however, the tribes of the second immigration founded tl village communities which thus arose and decayed, they only ipeared in other districts as furnishing the ruling class, without -cling as a people. It is in the West Coast districts that the 'cures of this organisation can best be traced. In Kanara and \Iabar no communities ever existed ; the Aryan tribes did not settle ire as a people, but at a later date certain Rajput chiefs took ^session of the country and divided it out into estates. A very interesting report on Malabar still exists, dating from b end of the last century, when a mixed Commission of Bengal u Bombay officers was sent to report on it®. This report tells is in detail how the Malabar Hairs arose, at least according to irilition which would appear to be founded on fact. | It would seem originally that the country was held divided by ■earn Brahman families, who had a republican constitution and uhead. They of course invented a fanciful history for the loatry. The Malabar country was called “ Malai-Yalam ” be- iase the deity caused the sea to recede and left the land so reclaimed idilie Brahmans. I have, in another place, suggested that the Ksatriya King was a necessary part of the Hindu polity; true to ;1: priuciple, it is related that, in the course of time, the Brahman a bidders, being dissatisfied with the existing constitution, a.ed the king of the neighbouring country to send them a ruler, r s he did by sending a Viceroy who was changed every twelve riirs. But at length a Viceroy, named Sheo Ratn, established him- Report of a Joint Commission from Bengal and Bombay appointed to inspect the st) and condition of the province of Malabar (presented to Lord Cornwallis) F1-93. (Reprinted at the Gazette Press, Fort St. George, 1862.) G50 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. self permanently. In the process of time, Sbeo Ram, it is si embraced tbe faith of Islam; at any rate be wished to retire fili¬ the Government, and be consequently divided tbe whole coury among bis Nair chiefs, who thus became tbe owners of a series! estates : there was no over-lord, and that is tbe reason why o land revenue was paid, until later times, when Haidar Ali conquud tbe country and then exacted contributions from the Nair prop;. > tors, which soon crystallized into a regular land-revenue. ' e Nairs occupied tbe land, leaving tbe Namburis or original Brahrn settlers, also in possession of their holdings. Tbe Nairs' estus did not quite escape being disturbed, for, as Sheo Ram was goij a cowherd, called Uri, asked for a share, and Sheo. Rain liavg nothing left but bis own town of Calicut, gave him this and his mm of which Uri made great use by forcibly extending his share; e it was who founded the chiefship known as the Zamoriu (Sami) of Calicut. It is curious that the report continually speaks of the Naf estates as “ Nairships.” In the ordinary course of things, these estates, as the families)! the original chief expanded, would have broken up into groui, which would in fact have been ancestrally connected joint-villa^. But the jungly nature of the country, and still more the curls i customs of marriage and succession, prevented this 7 . The nature of the country is such that large villages do f ; grow up. The holdings are gardens aud clearings in the forest, wh a few houses on each. The consequence has been that the descendas of the conquering families have become possessed of separate holdirs called “ janmi.'” The “janmi ” holding is now only registered,s j any other raiyati tenure. The janmidar owners generally do >t 1 cultivate themselves, but employ tenants called “'patomkar. ” Bra large number of the estates are mortgaged under the pecu.ir 7 Tlie son of tbe chief did not succeed, but tbe sisters’ sons, and the sisters ve only temporarily married to Namburis. Each son was established in a quillorjir kolgum,—a separate “ bouse,” and when tbe chief died, they succeeded in ,ie order of seniority. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS, 65 1 s’ tern of the country 8 , so that it may be said that “ janmi ” lauds a generally either in the hands of mortgagees or of tenants. The estates are now owned jointly by the families. The joint ineritors, as already observed, are the sisters’ sons, and they have n power of permanent alienation. Such a family group is called aarwad (tarawada), and is managed by a karwau or manager. In later times Arab traders (Mapilas) got hold of many of the l;.ds, and, strange to say,—perhaps by the influence of contiguity ai example—held the estates in the same way as the Nairs. It was in this way that the whole of Malabar came to be regarded a private property ; no waste laud remained at the disposal of the Site. The chiefs or janmidars took the share of the produce from •tnr tenants, aud also seignorage on teak trees, ivory, and other jagle produce. Our Government assessed the laud after cession by Haidar Ali, no as conqueror had introduced a land-revenue. § 6.— The Telugu country . In the Telugu country, in which mostly survived the village istitutions of the first immigration, there are also traces of these oiefs’'estates which in many cases developed into zamindans i der the rule of the Muhammadans. Indeed the long and jrsistent dominance of the Muhammadan power in the Telugu (untry has served. more completely to obliterate the organisa- nn of both the first and second Hindu immigrations than else- lere. It is hence almost a matter of conjecture what the early sj^stem as; but it seems that in the Telugu country the village com- jl 8 Permanent alienation was held to deprive the land of its privileged position an estate not paying revenue ; but mortgages became very common, so much so at a regular race of mortgagees arose in Malabar, and the names descriptive of ferent kinds of mortgage are various. The chief feature in all of them seems ; be that the mortgage is for a number of years, and that the mortgagee is bound bring the produce strictly to credit; after paying the interest on the sum advanced fe rest goes to reduce the capital debt. If a mortgage is renewed, it is usually so 1 the payment of a fine or fee which goes to reduce the debt. b 652 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, munities were never developed as in the Tamil country, but that e villages were founded on the non-united type, held togetb by the system of hereditary village servants and officers. It is sa, indeed, that a tenure akin to the mirasi of the Tamil country; traceable in the recognition by the Muhammadans of a class of c - tivators whom they called “ kadim ” or ancient. But if I may haz 1 a conjecture, I .should say that the probability is that they tv; the original village holders, who we're dominated over by so; later chiefs, conquerors, or grantees: they were recognised 5 entitled to some consideration and allowed certain privileges, e! when the chiefs became zamindars under the Muhammad 1 rulers, these privileged occupants were spoken of as “ kadim 1 the existence of such is therefore no necessary indication of r> true joint-village system. The interest of these facts in illustrating the question > frequently arising in our study of the Central Provinces, Ber, and Bombay is, that here we are able to account for the two for:; of village organisation, each having a separate origin ; andalthoui the tendency of the one form to decay and pass into the otk is shown, still there is no reason to believe that the early or no} united type of village was ever a communal form. § 7 .—The Muhammadan conquest. The effect of the Muhammadan conquest has now to be co sidered. The tendency of it was, not to change radically the lai systems of the conquered country, but to modify them indirectly In Bengal, for example, the Mughal subahdar never set himsf to work to eradicate village institutions,or to introduce a newsystei Akbar’s settlement was in every respect calculated to keep thin* as they were, and simply to secure the State in its punctual real sation of its share in the produce—a share which was payab to the Hindu ruler as much as to them ; but when the State beg£ to appoint revenue agents to collect the revenue, then it was till the original village system, being in natural decay, gave way, an REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 653 Milled the revenue agents, by the mere force of circumstances, to tv into the position of ‘ proprietor ’ of the whole. [n Madras the effect of the Muhammadan conquest varied. The N.thern drears, the ceded districts, the Nellore district, and th Telugu country, fo.rm the portion that was longest under the Mhammadan rule. The southern part of the peninsula knew it only to a shorter time, the district of Tanjore never having been under th rule at all; the districts of Trichinopoly, Madura, and Tin- nedly were under it for about a century. The Coast districts, vv re Kanarese and Malayalam are spoken, were only under the Mhammadan rulers of Mysore for a comparatively short time. It so happened that the Northern Circars were the first territo- ri to come under our rule, and here the Muhammadan rule had es blished the system of zamhidarts most completely. The zamtn- J; had, as in Bengal, become proprietor in the usual way. He b: to make good a heavy assessment to the State, and he conse- pntly had to employ village farmers under him, whose first care w. to get in the revenue; consequently he located cultivators for tl waste as he pleased, and if he found that the original occupant obultivated land did not manage properly, or did not pay, he uu- ctunoniously thrust him out. No wonder then that the original lad-tenures were obliterated, and the zamtndar became the land- § 8 .—Early measures of the British Government. The Permanent Settlement. The early measures of the British Government were simply b ed on the existing state of things. It was found that besides t zammdari lands there were others called “ haveli ,} lauds, not lid by middlemen, but directly under Government. The lauds vie leased out annually or on short settlements, and in some ceslump sums were assessed on the entire village. About the sue time as the Madras Government undertook the charge of the Iirthern Circars, the Bengal Government entered on the manage- lent of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. 654 . LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. When the permanent settlement with zamhulars was i m . dueed in 1793, the Court of Directors in 1795 desired the M ras Government to adopt the same system. This was objected to out was ultimately ordered. The Northern Circars were accord »ly permanently settled. The haveli lands were parcelled outhto states of convenient size, and were sold as mootahs (muttha) tthe highest bidder. But at the same time other territory was in possessu of Madras. The country about the capital, known as the “ Jagl e” (jagir), had been granted by the Nawab of Arcot. This was soled in 1794 under Mr. Lionel Place, who, having here found villages vn- ing to tlie joint constitution, established a joint-village settlernt. But this country also came under the orders for permanent sole- ment, and here again the lands were parcelled out into moo hs and sold. Regulation XXV of 1802 (Madras Code) was en passed, declaring the zamiudars and mutthadars proprietors, nd making their assessment permanent. While these measures were in progress, the districts know as the “Ceded districts ” were given over by the Nizam of Hj:i- abad, and in 1801 the Nawab of Arcot’s domains were cciil, • so that the Presidency assumed its present form. These districts also exhibited to some extent the effedof Muhammadan rule.. Some of the lands formed estates held bychfs called Poligars (Palegara), and their Paleiams (Pollams) becne zarmndari estates permanently settled. § 9 .—The introduction of the raiyatwari system. There were, however, large tracts of country that had not len parcelled out into “ estates; ” in these there were simply he original villages: and this circumstance gave rise to the introic- tion of the raiyatwari system. A large tract, spoken of as the Baramakal (the Salem distr;)>fl was among the territories so held. A Commission was appointed settle it (in 1792), among whom was named Captain Munro. he Commission did not here find united village communities : at iy ■REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 655 itefc dealt rather with individuals than with village communi- cs : The Commission actually carried out a survey and a field-to- do issessment. But while this was going on, the agitation about p-manent settlement was at its height, and the result was lalin spite of what had been done, a permanent settlement was •died for Baramahal, and between 1803 and 1805 the land was vied into mootahs which were sold to the highest bidders. This :u however, failed so conspicuously that it had to be given up. [u:o was evidently the active spirit in these parts, and the result ,is hat, a few years later, the progress of the permanent settle- ei under Regulation XXV of 1802 was further stopped, and e ;ttlement became raiyatwari. It may be added that in other ir also where the mootah system failed, the system became ijtwari; and such was the influence of Munro's views, that even hie there had been joint-village settlements, they were abandoned. he joint system did not die out immediately. The previous e h of the land-tenure history will have shown how these joint llges survived in many places. Mr. Place's settlement in 1794, oph overruled, had distinctly recognised them. And in 1808 elourt of Directors had distinctly sanctioned the trial of the ii system iu several districts. Munro was, however, accus¬ al to the purely raiyatwari system, and being a very able man, (having persistently advocated his system, his efforts were not but influence. t must entirely depend on the natural vitality of the village sm whether it can be relied on. There can be no doubt that n of the village settlements did not work in Madras, and in some s speculators got hold of villages—a sure sign of failure. olonel Munro visited Europe, and it is highly probable that 3 iews largely affected the decision of the Court of Directors, cever this may be, in 1817 the abandonment of the village system ordered, and though the Board of Revenue remonstrated, it 1 1 to carry the point, and raiyatwari settlement became general. 9 Standing Information, page 92. 656 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 10 .—Progress oj the ratyatvo&H system . The system of 1S17 was well adapted to the districts when ho villages were non-united, and took its place without difficulty en where the villages were really joint, because, as a matter of ct, time aud circumstances had destroyed or impaired their distin ve constitution. But the same results were not everywhere attaiil. Malabar and Ivanara never had village communities, no lid the chiefs 5 estates resemble zamindaris; but on the other hand ey were unaccustomed to the idea of a Government assessment. There were serious riots, b ut these at last beiug quelled, a raiifc. wari settlement was adopted recognising each holding separate!) In Malabar the country is divided into taluqas, these into a. shams (amisham), and the amshams into deshams; each lias ts revenue officials. The adhigari with an accountant or moa (menavan) is over the amsham, and a mukyastam over he desham. In Kanara, also, there were no villages, only individual holdiis: the Government assessment or “ shist ” was based on the amounof seed it took to sow the land. It had been in former days assumed ut it took 2| kattis to the acre ; aud the produce was held to be twne times the seed, or 25 kattis. This was apportioned, 7 1 kattis to C?- ernment, to the landholder, and 10 to the person whom he, 3- cording to universal custom, employed to till the land. An accoit had therefore to be made out for every landholder, according to is cultivation, whether permanent or kumri, and this was cad “ warg/ 5 In course of time the “ warg” got to mean the hold g or lands to which the account was applied. Here, there being no field survey, the raiyatwarf system was so ir modified that the assessment was not on the field, but on the lioldi', The Muhammadan Governments, on their usual plan, tried;o raise the old assessment by kattis, and as they could not corn- niently alter that, they added to the “ shist ” various extra eesis called “ shamil/ 5 and the total was called berij or benz. The Brilh revision of this is spoken of as the “ tarao benj.” REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 657 [n Kanara each holding or warg has its house upon it; the men of groups of land are called patel; and every group of > ings, called magaue or taraf, has an accountant called shauabhog lnbogue). itt should be remembered that the holdings are not usually culti- i d by the jaumdar or holder, but more frequently by tenants, i the tendency of the raiyatwan system is to obliterate this dis- d don, aud Government may deal with a patomkar or cultivator, bugli he has to pay a rent to a janmdar over him. § 11 .—State of the settlements in 1S20. in the spring of 1820 Muuro became Governor of Madras, liof course then the ascendancy of the raiyatwan system was ic:ed. U the time, however, of the orders of 1817 10 the permanent dement prevailed in Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Rajamaudri, Masuli- ltn, Guntoor, Salem, Chingleput, Cuddalore, and some of the Mams” of Chittoor. The village system was in force in the e d districts—Nellore, Arcot, Palnad, Trichinopoly, Tiuuevelly, u Tanjore. The raiyatwan system was only fully established l alabar, Kanara, Coimbatore, Madura, aud Dindigal. Jnder the new orders, whenever village leases expired, or mootahs • mmdaris lapsed or were bought in, the raiyatwan system was induced. § 12 .—Present state of the settlements . .bout one-fifth of the Presidency now remains permanently it’d, chiefly in the north, with some Pategara estates elsewhere, t curious that the Permanent Settlement Regulation of 1802 mins on the statute-book, but no general Regulation or Act exists 'g.sing the raiyatwan system or laying down any principles as to ;si;meut, revision, and so forth. here are only separate enactments for the protection of landed firsts and for the realisation of the Government dues. 2 s 10 Standing Information, page 96. 658 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Section II. —Madras Tenures of the present day. I.—Indm holdings. § 1 .—Method of settlement. It will be convenient, before proceeding to the description o/ke settlement proceedings, to finish the subject of land-tenures b)s- plaining bow the different forms of landholding' now appear. In the first place I must allude to the question of iuarakls. In the early days of our rule, it was found that all kinds of alien; on of revenue had taken place, and it was necessary to enquire intall these and see what were really valid and proper, and what were ot, and what terms should be arranged for all such as were duly nat¬ tained. The Inam Commission was established in 1858. The ul; is now completed. The grants spoken of as inams are propriuy grants, carrying with them either a total exemption from a rev ue. payment, or a modified payment. In Madras, inam holdings refer always to the land-right as ell ■ as to the favourable rate of revenue, and are quite distinct im jagirs, srotriyams (shrotriems), &c., which are mere assignnuts | of the Government revenue in favour of some person, who w in no sense owner of the land, and had nothing to do with the matpe- ; ment of the land, having only the right to receive his revuie payment. This clear distinction we have found not maintaiuab in Upper India, where a jagirdar might or might not be the own of the land as well as the assignee of the Government revnie. Inams were created very much as other grants of the kin in i India. The “ Standing Information ” classes them into nine kds.i The student will better recognise them with reference to wh lie s has read of other provinces, if I exhibit them as follows :—• I.—Connected with shrines, temples, and religious person *1 II.—( a ) In support of schools, bridges, wells, rest-housefk -J (6) In support of irrigation works, called dasabhcnm, found only in certain districts. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 659 III. —Held by Governmeut officials, court favourites, &c. IV. —Held by relations, cadets, personal servants and house¬ hold priests, &c., of zamindars’ and chieftains’ families (occur in the North Circars and Paleyams of Madura). V.—-Held for police services (of. the ghatwali and other such tenures in other provinces). VI.—(a) Village, revenue, and police officers for services. (b) Artisans of the village (“ watau ” lands, &c.) 'he work of the Commission consisted in confirming such of the rets as were valid, and placing the title on a sound basis. In most is: these holdings were on condition of service of some kind (for cs'ple, in classes IV and V above); the grant may have been only •rife, or it may have been liable to escheat on failure of male :i in the direct line. In most cases all the peculiarities were xshed; the Commissioner proposed terms, and if these were ac- ;pd the grant was “ enfranchised,” i.e., confirmed to the holder 1 simple perpetual tenure, a f quit-rent/ or fixed assessment below lordinary rate of field assessments, being paid by the holder 1 , jrmission was given under certain rules to iuam holders to redeem lquit-rent assessment, but it has been very slightly made use of. II.—The Zannndari tenure. § 2.— Its varieties. 'he feature of these is, that the whole laud, waste or tilled, it in a given estate or area, belongs to the proprietor, whose x ute title is declared by Regulation XXV of 1802. 'he assessment is in one lump sum for the whole, and is per- a;nt; but the zamindar may be liable to cesses, water-rates, and ill' taxes : it is the land assessment only that is permanent. The Commission closed in 1869, and the formal duties transferred to a Member t Board of Revenue for any occasional matters that might still remain to be sped of. The total number of inams enquired into and settled was 407,001, affect- .? area of about six and a quarter millions of acres. The “ quit-rent ” now Amounted to close upon twelve and a half lakhs of rupees. 660 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. There are some varieties of zamindari tenure. First there e certain ancient zamiudaris which were in existence before 1802 : fc] y exhibit all the above characteristics, but succession to them is g. erned by primogeniture, younger sons being entitled to maint - ance only ; and the zamiudar cannot alienate beyond his own 1 . time. Examples of this ancient form of estate are the Viziaungm zamindari and that of Venkatagiri in the Nellore district. Next there are ordinary zamindaris, the result of the perm amt settlement of Regulation XXY, sometimes they are held by zam. dars properly so called; sometimes they are “ proprietary estati” such as those of mootahdars,—the holders of parcels of laud m e into mutthas as already described. These exhibit the cliarac istics above given, only that there is no primogeniture and o restriction on alienation. The Palegara (Polygons) estates are very similar. Most if them were treated under Regulation XXY, and got “sanads'r title-deeds like all the other zamindars. A few, however, called e “unsettled Paleiyams,” got no sanad, and for a time it wassi- posed that the holders had only a life interest; this is now no Ion jv held, and the so-called ‘ unsettled Paleiyams ’ are in no way differ it from other zamindaris. All the inamdars, who have been settled with at quit-rents, no come under the category of “ proprietary estates,” since they 'e absolute proprietors of all the lands in their grant, and the quit-nt is permanently assessed. There are also certain proprietary rights in coffee lands, gard(3, and plantations in the Nilgiris, Palney and Shervaroy Hills, and ie Wyuaad, which are proprietary estates, the revenue being redeend. : III.—The Raiyati tenure. § 3.— Compared with that of Bombay. In Bombay we found that the Revenue Code defined is simple and prevalent form of tenure : it was practically, but )t fj theoretically, a proprietary tenure, and the Act had avoided 11 REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 661 !i culties by describing tlie incidents, attributes, and limitations )fhe occupant’s right without declaring that the right was in its mure of this or that kind. In Madras there is no legislative declaration on the subject to je'ound. The Regulation XXV of 1802, precise as is its declara- ;i(. of proprietary right, cau only he held to apply to those estates y ch came under its operation. Although the terms of the Regu- a|)n are general, and show an intention to apply it to all Mdras, as a matter of fact, it was not so applied. It seems, however, to have been traditionally accepted in Madras :h; the raiyat is owner of his holding 2 , and there has been Riaps some reluctance to interfere with him by survey of his ajl or enhancement of his revenue, which may account for the a date at which Revenue Survey operations were introduced. Be b as it may, it is said that no practical difficulty has ever arisen, k; has any question ever required decision as to the theory of the ■.rat’s position. His tenure is practically the same as it is in Babay; he can relinquish part or the whole of his holding ; he ;a ask for unoccupied assessed land 3 ; his tenure is not liable to be n au end to, so long as he pays the revenue assessed under the ■xting settlement or after revision ; his right is also freely alien- ib and heritable, subject only to the condition of registering the ;nsfer, without which the original holder remains liable for the ■eimue. The trees on all lands held by the raiyat under his !;:a—for pattas are issued, as we shall see, for all holdings— In reporting to Government in 1871, with reference to mineral rights, the Bi'd of Revenue make the following remarks with regard to the right of the irjary raiyat in Madras :—“The principle has always been affirmed, that the grant 'find either under a zauundar’s sanad, or on an ordinary raiyativuri palta, conveys ill io right, title, and interest which the Government was itself possessed of in such at, subject only to the payment of the assessment.” (The italics are mine) I have not found any mention of the restriction noticed in Bombay, that land it 1 , be used for agriculture, unless special permission is given otherwise; nor is In a penalty for occupying without permission unoccupied assessed land —only the 'Si snient at ordinary rates is levied. Even in the case of unassessed land, which is io ntended probably to be taken up, the only restraint is that (here may be a special in prohibitory rate assessed on it. 662 . I.AND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. belong absolutely to him, and I do not find mention of any res- vation of valuable trees of any kind ; only in Tinuevelly, there 3 a tax on palmyra trees (Borassus), which, however, can always 3 redeemed at twenty years' purchase. The patta granted to I 3 raiyat is not exactly a title-deed 4 like the “sanad” of u I zammdars ; it is an official statement of the facts of his holding' a I assessment, and may change at every annual jamabandi, if the fa i of his holding' have changed. Uuder this general form of la 1 tenure all varieties of tenure, not being that of a zammd , mootahdar, or polygar, now appear. The descendants of t i Malabar chiefs whose “’jaunti'” right (as it is called) I ha already described,—the land-owners who call themselves mirasdi are equally at the present day “ raiyats/' on the ordinary terms. § 4 .—Some special features. The Madras system, speaking very generally, is averse to joi holdings ; there is, unlike the Bombay law, no limit to the smallue of a holding for which a separate patta will be issued, and for whit I an entirely separate revenue responsibility exists. If once a joi patta is issued, it must, however, remain joint until all the parti j agree to a division. The vestiges of special mirasi rights which survive under th method of raiyat occupancy right may now be noticed. In the first place, where traces of a claim to the waste on th part of the mirasidars or original landowners appear, though th absolute right is not recognised, the unoccupied fields are assesset and when application is made for them, the mirdsidars of the villag are allowed a preferential claim. In the Chingleput district, where the old mirasidars ha managed to keep their villages more intact than in other part / the matter was arranged thus :—the common land was at settle . ment divided out among the mirasidars according to their re cognised shares: so much of the waste as was not assesse 4 Standing Information, page 104. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 663 ml sed as grazing ground, &c., was left permanently unassess- d nd marked off as grazing ground and firewood jungle for he illage. Both the Madras system and the Bombay Reve- ceCode acknowledge this method of assigning defined plots f nassessed land to village use. Such land is not made into sseed numbers, and consequently cannot be applied for and cci'ied without express sanction. i the case of all waste taken up by non-mirasi applicants 5 -ell as on holdings by uon-mirasidars, abandoned and again iki up, they were liable to pay a fee of two annas in the rupee ou lessessment, to the mirasidars. This is called the swatantram, nds a kind of composition for the “ manorial right,” or general reordsliip of the mirasidars 5 , which was formerly taken in the >n of a share in the grain produce of all non-mirasi lands. n some places there are kinds of special tenures which are, in cltemporary leases granted by Government to encourage occupa- oi of waste tracts, and it is on the expiry of such a lease that leccupaut can become an ordinary raiyatwari holder. Such a;3 are called “ kaul ” (cowle); they allow the grantee to hold leland free of revenue for a certain time, after which a gra- ny progressive rate is stipulated for. • IV .— Other tenures. § 5.— Waste land leases. ill land that is not held either on a zammdarf or on raiyat- n ’e in the way described is at the disposal of Government. 319 of this land is assessed and divided into numbers, only v ting occupants; other is unassessed'waste. Jut all land not occupied, whether assessed or not, may be tlr inside the boundaries of a village as laid down by the survey it: if it is inside the village, some of it is set aside for graz- giurposes, some of it for house sites, threshiug-tloors, cattle- 6 Cliingleput Report, and Standing Information, page 109. 664 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, stauds, aud other village purposes ; that which is intended t< >e cultivated, id ay be applied for by any one, but subject to e preferential claims already alluded to. The status of the unass^sd waste, is however a difficult subject, and one which cannot hereie discussed. It is only in the hilly country that extensive stretos of unassessed waste are found. § 6 .—Tenancies and under-tenures, Even under the raiyatwari system there is room for the spri ing up of tenancies : the landholder does not always cultivate is own land. And the peculiar history of some of the lands—-for example, e holdings on the West Coast—gives rise to subordinate holdings. In all ordinary raiyati tenures the tenancies are simy tenancies-at-will, either on terms of money-rent, or what wod in Upper India be called batab—a share of the produce, uswy half—metairies in fact. On the West Coast, where the Naivs al other conquerors established an over-lordship over the origiil inhabitants, the latter became virtually tenants under the “jann. dars.” The raiyatwari system, however, does not very nicy regard the distinction between the over-lord and actual occupa ; and sometimes the man who holds the patta may be a landld janmdar or, in South.Kanara, a mulavargdar, sometimes lie ny be a cultivator paying rent to a landlord. The revenue offi r makes his record according to actual occupancy, and if there ia dispute it is settled by the Civil Court. § 7 .—Tenants on the West Coast. In South Kanara, however, tenants of two kinds are reec'- nised, the mulgaini or hereditary cultivator, and the cbaligai or tenant-at-will. The former pays a rent which is fixed al invariable: the tenancy is permanent, eviction is allowed r non-payment only, and even then after compensation for permaivt improvements. These tenants are the descendants of the origiil holders, who came to terms with and obtained grants from ie REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 065 •v.-lord. The tenure is alienable without any permission of the ov.’-lord. Mulgaiuis now created may stipulate for express terms. T1 cbaligafni is the ordinary tenant for a term, often annual, and nv be either under a mulgami or directly under the landlord. In Malabar the janmi tenure gives rise to various under-tenures. T! kanam is a sort of zar-i-peskgi lease; it holds for twelve years. T1 tenant advances a sum of money which is in fact security folds rent; and when he pays the rent, he deducts the interest m the advance, and the Government revenue (if he pays it). If th lease is not renewed on its expiry, the advance is repaid, to’tber with compensation for permanent improvements. If the del is renewed, a fee or deduction on the principal of about 20 in cent, is understood between the parties. A “ panayam ” is a lease sciewhat similar, but is more like a mortgage : it is not fora fixed ten, unless some term is expressly fixed in the deed, and im- p vements are not, as a rule, allowed. A kuyikanam is a lease for “ parambas,” or making gardens ii’orest or waste land. The above tenures are transferable, and death of either lessor n lessee does not terminate them as long as there are heirs in either f.oily. An ordinary tenancy-at-will is called “ verum pattam/'’ Section III.— The Settlement. § 1. — The Survey. Before the year 1853 no regular Revenue Survey had been nempted in the Presidency 8 , and the only maps were those pre¬ yed by the Military Institution between 1805 and 1820. As yards field measurements, the land revenue demand was either bed on the village accountant's (karnam's) unchecked statements, c on measurements made in haste and with imperfect machinery. J the year 1853 an experimental survey of villages in the South ;Coi District was instituted. In 1858 a Superintendent of 6 Standing Information, page 146. 666 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. Revenue Survey was appointed, and work commenced. The sett, meut and demarcation of boundaries as well as the survey was do- by the same establishment. The survey is of professional ac<. racy. Its object is both revenue and topographical. The clots 3 of villages, fields, and holdings are only entered into in raiy. war! districts; villages of zammdars and other non-raiyatwarl tates, ranges of hills, forests, and so forth, are excluded, and :> surveyed only for topographical purposes on such scale as may > required. The village boundaries are first settled, small villages ji> amalgamated and large ones subdivided ; next the outline villa 5 maps so prepared are sent to have details entered. The boundaries of every field are permanently marked wh stone and every holding is registered. From the village maps a: compiled taluqa and district maps. Village maps are on a scale ? 1 mile =16 inches ; taluqa maps 1 mile = 1 inch ; and district mai 2 miles = 1 inch. The Presidency contains 141,429 square jnile. § 2.— The field or survey number. The size of fields differs from that described under the head ; Bombay. There is now no minimum size. But the maximum 1 the two main classes of irrigated (wet) and rainfall (dry) cultiv tion is 2 acres and 4 acres respectively,—12 acres for very po 1 dry cultivation. The field or survey number is adopted for cc venience of survey only, so that inside the “ number ” may 7 Up to the close of 1878-79 the following survey work had been done:— Sq. miles. Sq. miles. Villages surveyed on 16-inch scale . . . 48,478 Zamindari estates, hill tracts, &c., on 4, 2, and 1-inch scale ....... 41,195 Topograpliical survey.. 3,000 -44,195 Remaining to be done— Revenue village survey . . . 10,112 Topographical ..... 41,644 The rate of work is about 1,200 miles of revenue survey in the year, and was expected that the whole would be complete by 1892-93. REVENUE SYSTEM OE MADKAS. 667 ^val fields; each field is distinguished by a letter, so that one timer, say 21, may contain fields 21 A, 2IB, 21C, and so on. § 3.— No joint numbers. have already indicated that joint holdings are not encouraged, te irvey demarcates all shares and separate holdings, and registers te ; and a separate patta is issued for each : there is no such lip as one large field with one occupant, who is the registered ■ ]incipal occupant, with whom the Government deals, unless his Mcupauts or co-sharers apply to have their c recognised shares ’ ceded. In Madras all separate shares are demarcated and g;ered separately, and all separate holdings are surveyed also; innly when several fields are all in one holding that they may ■ abbed within certain maximum limits and surveyed as one. here is under such a system still less room than ever for ■aitions of rights over the same land,—in raiyatwari holdings iran—every separate share is a separate thing. § 4 .—The assessment. he principles may be briefly sketched as follows :— —There is a soil classification which appears at first sight tlr complicated, he main classes are generally as follows :— 1) Alluvial and exceptional soils : rich island soils of excep¬ tional fertility, garden and other soils ‘ permanently im¬ proved’ and of better quality than ordinary cultivated land. 1) " Regacla ” soil: the varieties of ‘ black cotton soil/ 3) Ferruginous: several varieties originating from laterite and saudstone. 1) Calcareous: soils of chalk and lime (these have not occurred as yet in any district settled). ■5) Arenaceous: sandy soil originally deposited by the sea on coast districts. lach of these classes may be subdivided into “ clay,” “ loam,” a ' sand,” according as either element predominates. I 668 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. It is not necessary, however, to fix a different rate for each if these numerous varieties, for the produce of a considerable nuimr of different soils may be generally uniform ; consequently all e soils are “ blocked” under “ orders ” (called tarams ), each couta. ing from three to five grades or ranks. Then a “ grain value” has to be determined for each eld: that is, taking the kind of grain usually grown on the partienr class in question, experiments are made (often very numerous) :J an average quantity of production per acre is deduced. This aver -e is carefully reduced, so as to be true generally—allowing for d seasons and fallows. The Government share of this gross produce is stated to ie at a maximum of 30 per cent., the average being about 5 per cent. This grain share is now valued by commuting it into moy on the basis of the average prices ruling on the raiyats’ sell g months during the twenty years preceding the order. Thus it may happen that black clay of the 2nd grade, blk loam of the 3rd grade, red saud of the 1st grade, and black s; d of the 1st may all be sufficiently alike in produce to warrant tlir all being rated at one rate and placed in one taram,—which r.y be the third taram in the locality. And then further : the villaas have to be taken in groups or circles. Thus I find that wet lid in Coimbatore was formed into three groups, and all the sis were ordered under one or other of nine tarams. The first tain is only in the first group, Nos. 3 to 7 were common to all groupj- the 8th was iu the 2nd and 3rd, and 9th in the third group only “ The object of village-grouping as regards dry lands is maiubto correct inequalities in respect of proximity to roads and marks; while iu the case of wet lands, the principal criterion is the nat.’C and quality of the water-supply. It is not always necessaryto form any groups for dry lands. The result of grouping is to deile the application of the tarams. Thus in Coimbatore the wet lap of villages in the first group were assessed according to their claes and grades at the revenue-rates of the first seven tarams; iu ie REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 669 ,'md group, the tarams numbered 2 to 8 inclusive were applied ; to he third group, tarams 3 to 9. ‘Similarly the two groups of dry lands were assessed at the dry rajs of tarams 1 to 7 and of tarams 2 to 8 respectively 8 .” The system will be easily understood by reference to the tolrwing table (there is a similar one for dry lauds in the groups w ch I do not reproduce):— Wet land in Coimbatore. 8 Quoted from Mr. Stack’s Memorandum on Revenue Settlements (Home 9 nrtment, Government of India), pages 339, 310. 670 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, As an example of tlie whole process I may take the facts from the God: ri district (Western delta). The grain values for the different crops were taken at ie result of some 1,300 experiments. They are given in “ Madras measures ” of 1J for each acre :— Soil. Dry. Alluvial .... Kumboo. 666—466 Permanently improved 666—233 ( Clay . . 600—133 Black . < Loam . 466—133 (. Sand . 433—166 f Loam . 400—266 Arenaceous 4 Sand . 333—200 266—100/ (. Heavy sand . and so on for “ cholum,” “ raggi,” and black paddy respectively. White paddy. 1,200—6G6 1,060—4:13 1,2U0—533 933—333 733-563 533-400 466-333 One-sixth was deducted for vicissitudes of season. To obtain the prices, price lists of the selling months were examined, d the rates taken were— (Per gnree fgarisa) (of 4,267 seers). White paddy .... 72 Rs. Kumboo ..... 60 (and so on.) Next, cultivation expenses were estimated at per acre :— Soil. Permanently' improved (Clay . Black . < Loam . (. Sand (and so on.) The revenue rate was then approximated to a moiety of the net produce. The same rate was taken for wet and dry lands, the increase for wet lands beg made by adding a water rate. Thus— Maximum. Minimum,; Rs. A. Rs. A. 1 Permanently improved . 5 0 . . 2 0 ( Clay . 4 0 . . 0 8 Black Loam . 3 0 . . 0 5 / Sand . 2 4 . . . 0 6 (and so on.) In order to apply these figures, by way of example take the kumboo cropn black clay soil. Kumboo. Rs. A. Rs. A. 3 8—3 4' 4 0—3 8 3 4—2 12 2 4-2 0 and so on for other crops. White paddy. Rs. A. Rs, A 5 8—5 4 5 4—4 12 5 0—4 8 5 0—4 12 REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 671 The full yield by the table is 600 measures, or 900 seers. The average price of the .//tin of kumboo is Rs. 60; 900 seers is a little over £th of a yarce. The value the fore commuted per acre is about Rs. 12-10. The cost of cultivation, as shown jj table, is Rs. 4-0. Then the net produce is Rs. 8-10, and the revenue demand if t:en at half would be Rs. 4-5, or taking 30 per cent, of the gross produce Rs. 3-12. I'k.naximum rate for the 1st taram of the 1st group of dry laud at Rs. 4-0 is mo rate. § 5.— Water-rate. (t will be observed that there is some difference in the method id)ted for assessing irrigated lands. In the Godavari and Ivistna le ts, the land is assessed at dry rates, and then a water-rate is id id for irrigation : but this plan is not followed in other districts a tough it was recommended) ; where there are Government canals i iter-rate is levied. But lands watered from wells are treated as “ permanently moved ” dry lands 9 ; where water has to be applied by the labour if. lift or by baling, a redaction of one rupee is made in the wet a, except in Trichinopoly, where lands so watered are only assessed it ry rates. § 6 .—General description of Madras settlement. The following general account of the object of the survey ,r settlement in Madras 10 will be read with interest:— “I, The survey (including demarcation of boundaries ).—The survey obines the operations of a revenue or cadastral survey with those of a pel¬ s' topographical survey on a trigonometrical basis. The revenue survey r or, with few exceptions, is confined to land paying land-tax to the Govern- 1 1 on the raiyatwari system. Lands held on tenure other than raiyatwari, a es of hills, and tracts of waste land or forest of inferior value, are excluded •u the minute detailed field survey, and are topographically surveyed on a c; of two inches to a mile. The operations in raiyatwari lands are as follows ; b , ullage boundaries are first settled, every turn of the line being permanently l ied with stone; then disputes are disposed of, irregular boundaries are 9 Unless, indeed, the Government has established a tank, an l wells are situated i in the “ nyacut ; ” then the water in the wells is assumed o be derived by per- ) ion from the Government source and a water-rafe is charged. (Ayv.cut—aya- 8 a— is the limit or measurement around the tank within which the water-supply i von.) lu Administration Report, 1875-76. 672 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. adjusted, very small villages are amalgamated, and very large villages are s. divided. After these preliminaries, the field boundaries are permanently mar 1 with stone, and every holding is registered. Main circuits of from 50 to 100 sqc 9 miles are carried out by the theodolite, the angular work being checked by obi. vations for azimuth at about every 50 stations. Village boundaries areij surveyed by theodolite, and check lines within the village forming minor ciroik of from 100 to 200 acres are run. While the boundary work is being set up f traverse and plotted, the fields are measured by chain in triangles, so 11 when the measurement books are received in office, the map is ready to reefs the fields. After correction of any errors that may he found to exist, the ai of each field is taken by computing scale, and the sum of the area so obtain is compared with the traverse area. The village map is then sent out r insertion of topographical details. Village maps are reproduced by lithogfa]! for the use of the Settlement Department. “ II. The settlement .—111 making the settlement, it is necessary to obt ; a general view of the characteristics of each district about to be settled ■ j ascertain particulars of the climate, rainfall, and physical features of s 1 tracts or divisions as differ from each other distinctly; to search the Collects records for information relative to the past history of the district, its years? plenty or famine, its land tenures, mode of taxation, and the cause of tlir gradual progress; to study the relative values of such sources of irrigations the various tracts possess; to determine how different tracts are affected^ roads, canals, markets, towns, hill ranges or seaboard ; and to acquire a gent 1 idea of the prevailing soils in each tract, and the relative value of such blit or red loam, sand, or clay as may be found to exist. Each taluq is next visit., and the revenue officers and leading ryots assembled, and their opinion asl 1 regarding the relative values of villages under such and such irrigation, or insu and such a position ; information is also recorded as to the payment of labour, i method of cultivation pursued, the crops grown, the mode of disposal of surps grain, and the markets mostly frequented. The villages are next formed in groups, with reference to their several advantages of irrigation, climate, si, situation, &c., and a series of experiments is made to ascertain the yield of 1i staple grains. When this has been determined, a table is framed showing I> yield of each class of soil, and this yield is converted into money by an averts struck on 20 years’ market prices, with some abatement for traders’ profits al for the distance that the grain usually has to be carried. From the value! the gross produce thus determined, the cost of cultivation is deducted, and a remainder or net value of the produce is then divided, and one-half taken as s Government demand on the laud. This much is the work of the officer at s head of each party, but in the meantime his Native establishment has bn employed in going over the villages and classifying the lands according to ri and circumstance. This operation is carefully watched and checked by U head of the party, who eventually prepares a scheme for the settlement of 11 whole or part of a district, and submits it (through the Director of Settlemt and the Board of Revenue) for the sanction of Government.” REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 673 Section IY.— The Records of Settlement. The system does not require all those important statements if rights, village customs, and so forth, that North Indian settle- Q;ts do; and I find no mention of any record of rights other hi the great general list of all fields 1 . This contains their luibefs, and particulars regarding their boundaries, area, and sissment, and the name of each holder; this statement is the e ssary complement of the detailed village maps. The register shows every field ( i.e ., each separately held sub- i sion of a survey number), however small. From this a ledger (chitta) is made out, which shows each mat’s personal accouut with Government. All the fields held iythe same raiyat and the assessment on them are here brought ojther. A copy of this is given to each man, and constitutes if“patta.” These are altered, or entirely renewed, as the case i; require, at the time of the annual jamabandi 2 . 1 have found no mention of any record of subordinate rights r my attempt (for example, in Malabar and Kanara, where h e is commonly an over-lordship in land, or in cases of still a iving joint villages) to record the rents and rights of the nrior holders. These matters are all left to the people to settle, n to go to the Civil Court if they are in dispute. Section V.—Revision of Settlement. It is claimed for the Madras system that it affords extreme ic ty for a revision of settlement. The village accouutaut keeps perms in precisely the same form as the settlement register, unis this, to begin with, shows each holding, however small, as a q ’ate item, the changes which take place in the holdings, ji In fact, an abstract which groups the fields and their assessment by the mi of the holder. In 1&77-78 the total number of pattas that had been given out was 2,569,101, 2 T 674 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. the transfers, successions, and so forth, changes of wet to dry culti¬ vation^ waste to cultivated, and so forth, are annually recorded. Consequently nothing is needed at a revision of settlement but to consider the changes necessary in the revenue-rates ; and this is chiefly a matter of calculation. For example, the ascertained grain produce is valued by taking a certain average price as the basis of commutation: this may at revision be altered. It-is ther easy to see that the existing rates may be raised or diminished ac cordingly at so much per cent.,-and the calculation of the new rate] is a mere matter of arithmetic. Or suppose that the commutation rate is not affected, but particular fields hitherto placed in onJ group should be placed in another, owing to their being benefitec by a canal, a railway, &c.those already in the first group would g< into a new first group, in which the taram rates would be higher those in the second would go into the old first group, and so onj Each renewal would affect the assessments by a single rate, which \ usually 1 rupee an acre in wet land, and 4 anas an acre in dry land As in Bombay, any increase on revision does not take accouni of improvements resulting from the landowner’s own expenditure o labour and capital, but from those made by the State,—the effect o roads, railways, canals, for example, or other circumstances which have enhanced the value of land aud its produce independently o his own exertions. Section VI. —Revenue Officials. § 1 .—The District. There are twenty-one districts in Madras 3 . The “ district ” ha the same meaning as elsewhere in India. But districts are ver large: that of Bellary contains, for example, over 11,000 squar miles, and excluding the Madras and Nilgiri districts, which ar exceptional, the average is 7,285 square miles, with over 1,600,001 inhabitants and a revenue of about 3,75,00,000 rupees (revenuj 3 Two, Madras and the Nilgiris, being exceptional in character (like Simla i: Upper India) and containing one taluq each. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 673 from all sources, not only land revenue—the same establishment controlling all). The enormous size of some of these charges has been the subject of remark, and it is probable that a change will be effected. The districts are presided over by Collectors. As elsewhere, there are Assistant Collectors (classified according to local custom is Sub-Collectors, Head Assistant or Principal Assistant, &c.) ind Uncovenanted Deputy Collectors. The district is subdivided nto taluqs under a “ tahsildar.” The number of these in a district rapes from three to ten or more (excluding Madras and the Vilgiris). An averagetaluq is 700 square miles iu extent, contains 100 villages, a population of about 150,000, and. yields laud- evenue of about Rs. 2,50,000. Every "tahsildar has subordinate Magisterial powers: he may be assisted by a deputy tahsildar. u every taluq there are officers called ‘ Revenue Inspectors, * whose motions resemble those of the qanungo of other parts. Sub-Col- ;ctors hold sections or divisions. Head Assistants hold two or bree taluqs : the former are more independent, but both are under be control to a greater or less extent of the Collector. Collectors, as in Bengal, have also Magisterial—but no Civil ourt—functions. § 2.— The Board of Revenue. There are no Commissioners 4 of Divisions over Collectors. The oard of Revenue is the immediate and final controlling authority, ibject to the Local Government. It consists of three Members, itli a Secretary, Sub-Secretary, and establishment. It supervises all Revenue Departments, including Customs, Ab- iri (Excise), Stamps, and the Forest Department. § 3.— Village Officers. Though qjpny of the Madras villages were always of the non- ! lited class, and those originally otherwise have fallen to decay, 4 There is an officer callod the Commissioner of the Nilgiris, hut ho is n District Veer. 676 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. still there is a recognised system of village officers, which is of eat importance in the practical administration of the r even no systn. Foremost among them is the headman and the village acc Inf¬ ant, the others form the usual artisan staff of a Hindu village, bey include the banker, shroff, or notagar; the nirganti (mragitc), who superintends the distribution of irrigation water; the tot’ or taliari (talari), vettf or ugrani (the crop watchman, villagepe ,or menial servant, the mahar, dher, &c., of other parts), the p ter, the smith, the jeweller, the carpenter, the barber, the washei an, and the astrologer. The headman and the accountant will here alone coucer us, The titles of tlje headman, as might be expected, are as numeroi ns the languages and dialects in the Presidency 6 . He is us illy the largest landholder in the village. In Madras he has nail Magisterial and Civil Court functions, besides being the nre- sentative of Government in the village, and the collecto in the first instance, of the revenue. Petty cases of assault jc., are locally disposed of by him, and he hears suits for raiey and personal property up to Rs. 10 in value; and with cogent of parties he can adjudicate civil claims up to Rs. 100. He can also summon, with consent of parties, a village panclnat and then suits of any value can be decided without appeal 0 . The village accountant, whose functions are of great inor- tance, is the “karnam.” These offices are often hereditary, aud cases regarding ncir succession are enquired into under Regulation VI of 1831 wiiout strict formality, and no Civil Courts can interfere in the matt 7 . ! 6 Thus we have the maniya karan (Tamil—with variations in Tcluf' and Karnata, the “monegar” of reports), patel (Hindi), naidu or nayudu (Telngu)reddi or pedda-reddi (Telugu—in a superior caste of cultivators), peddakapu (Tigu);l nafcam karan (Tamil—corruptly nautum kar, natamgar, &c.) 6 Madras Regulation XI of 1816 refers to headmen and their duties in ofer- ence to police duty, repression of crime, &c. According to the words of the filia¬ tion the ‘ monegar ’ can set a man “ in the stocks ” for an affray, &c. This filia¬ tion is still in force. 7 But this does not apply to karnams in zamfndarf estates who are under emu¬ lation XXIX of 1802. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 677 § 4.— Their remuneration. 'hese officers may have lands held revenue-free or assessed with «!>di” or favourable rate of revenue ; or it may be that they have i] an assignment of the revenue of lands in the occupancy of h persons; consequently disputes may occur 8 as to whether the a of the office consists in the laud itself, or in the right to re- •h a certain sum assessed on the land from the occupant. fhere there are no inarn lands (the “ watan'’"’ of which we have io'in of in the Central Provinces), there may be dues in grain or o:y from the village householders. ,ules have, however, been made, the tendency of which is to lae Government to take the payment of the officials of whom quires public services into its own hands. The Act IV of 1864 iaes the villagers to be charged with a cess instead of the old ilge contributions : this ail’d other measures will enable Govern- ei in time, if it pleases, to substitute cash stipends for other forms muneration. A village service fund is formed, to which are iitke cesses if levied, and the quit-rent from inam holdings con¬ ed with village officers, &c. Section VII.— Revenue Business. § 1.— The Jamahancli. lie yearly assessment of the revenue, called here, as in Bombay, nbandi, is of great importance 9 and of considerable difficulty. ;fc is, of course, the essence of a raiyatwarl system that an an¬ il 1 jamabandi should be made: since the assessment is enforced f !eard by tlie Collector under Madras Regulation VI of 1831. The emoluments t village officers in land and fees now represent 57 laklis of rupees (Standing fruition, page 137). 9 nd the reader will perhaps think of extraordinary and unnecessary coin- ci : such a system also ukust involve a great deal of work for informers ; le I have sSen it stated that informers receiving rewards are regularly recog- e The immense power which this system must throw into the hands of Native >c iuates and the opportunities for abuse of power by informers must be very (78 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OB' INDIA. on every survey number and recognised share of it; but as l> raiyat may hold more or less land in anj’ year, it is necessary i make out a list of what he actually holds, and what the to I assessment he has to pay on that comes to. In Bombay the jarr bandi is very simple ; there is only the effect of new occupatii (which is, of course, rare in districts where the maximum of cub vation may long ago have been attained) or of relinquishment,or ’ some form of partition ; once it is kuown what survey numbers ■ shares of such numbers have stood during the year in the name ' the holder, the revenue due is the simplest matter of calculatic, 1 It is far otherwise in Madras. In zamindari estates there is no variation on account of remi .1 sions and so forth. There may be, however, small alterations, supposing a piece of the land to have been taken by Governme for public purposes and the revenue consequently remitted. So is with the fixed quit-rent in enfranchised indms. It is in raiyati lands that the yearly jamabandi is of impo tance. First there may be (as in Bombay) the effect of relinquis ment, and of the raiyat having occupied new fields : and this m: include unauthorised cultivation’of assessed numbers or of “paran boka ” (poramboke), unassessed waste. But there have also to 1 considered (1) the water-tax, if any, (2) the charge on second crop And there may be also several deductions, (1) the assessment waste remitted, (2) occasional remissions, (3) fixed remissions, ( l deductions on account of village establishments, and sundry otlr deductions. The revenue being thus adjusted, there may be items of “mil cellaneous revenue ” i o be added. The jamabandi usually is made out after December when tl most important crops have been harvested 10 . 10 And consequently many of the ‘ remissions,’ &c., Sepend on facts which are lie : past, and the traces of which disappeared : hence the necesssity for informers and f ascertainmept of fact, and all the disputes and abuses which such an inquest, tliou/i 1 inevitable, gives rise to. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 679 The tahsildar has first to see that all the karnams have their acmuts ready, and the settlement is then made out by the Reve- m-officer in charge. The karnams make their recommendations in a statement called vripatti, for additions and deductions, whenever these are ordinary, ai according to established rule, and then the tahsildar checks. They also file a list for the taluq of unauthorised cultivation of assssed or unassessed waste. The Settlement Officer passes final oiers in each case. Then the karnam prepares the “ chitta, ” a sort of ledger of it ns of demand and remission for each patta. At this time also w?n new pattas are required, owing to the former ones being worn oi or filled up, or such alterations occurring that they are useless, tly are given out. New pattas may also be required for land n dy taken up. In many cases the old patta serves, but some modi- n tion has to be entered on it. § 2.—Causes of change. A few words of explanation are required for some of the items nnticned above, as causing increase or diminution in the annual jiiabandi. The effect of relinquishment and new occupation will be tinder¬ s'od without further remark. Unauthorised occupation of land, which iu Bombay is prohibited a 1 made punishable, is here allowed ; if it is assessed waste, the o inary revenue assessment merely is charged; if it is “ puram- b:a, ” a prohibitory assessment may be levied according to cir- enstauces. § 3.— Occasional remissions. The remissions call for more detail. In the first place they r-resent a feature quite distinctive. In Bombay, for instance, t: revenue is so calculated as to be fair as an all-round rate, ai no remissions are allowed, except of course in cases of Inine or extraordinary calamity, and then they happen under all 080 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. systems. But in Madras, wherever no crop has been put do' i, owing to failure of the usual supplies of Government water, a •• mission is allowed. But the remission is not granted if there s been neglect of the cultivator, or if the land is unirrigated; for tin there was no expectation of any supply of water from artifhil sources. Besides this there are “ occasional remissions” on the follow? accounts, which explain themselves :— 1. Shavi (Savi—Tamd), or crops being withered, 2. Panibudthi Payamali 1 , land injured by flood, 3. Palanastham, “loss of produce” (partial loss of crop), 4. Tfrva-kami (“reduction of rate"”), difference between it and dry assessment, 5. Remission for second crop not raised, and some others. The first three are confined to irrigated land, and there mu have been no neglect on the part of the raiyat. No. 4 refers to can where the laud is classed as wet, but where circumstances have r; enabled the raiyat to have a wet crop, but he has got a dry crc, rather than leave the laud absolutely untilled. No. 5 relates > cases where the land is assessed for two crops, but a second has Ui been cultivated for want of water. This No. 5 is not usually granted in settled districts, only the old districts not brought under the modern settlement, whe the rates are high. There are other miscellaneous remissions, such as for loss 1 diluvion, land taken up for public purposes, &c. § 4.— 'Fixed remissions. Besides these “ occasional ” remissions there are also “ fix< remissions,” granted for reasons other than those relating to t| season. ] I do not know what this word means : there is a Hindi term pfumali, nieaiii crops trodden down or trampled. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 681 Such are remissions for labour involved in reclaiming lands; for 10 heavy assessment in unsettled districts; for having to raise u'Ur by lift; for planting groves or topes, to encourage which, .mar the “ tope rules/'’ land is for twenty years freed of assess¬ ing under certain conditions. There are many other remissions mer this head, but this will suffice. Lastly there are " sundry” or " berij ” deductions. These oc- nn where a deduction is made from the land demand on the raiyat, w i then has to pay certain fees to village officers, &c., which other- iv 3 Government would pay; or when he pays to a separate owner atimount hitherto consolidated with the land revenue 2 . la the West Coast districts there is a very peculiar, and to the ouider apparently most unsatisfactory and complicated, way of seling’ the annual revenue payable 3 . § 5.— Additions. Lastly, the additional payments under "miscellaneous” are vw various: they include revenue on assessed lands taken up wrout permission, also on puramboka: fees for service of revenue p::ess; grazing tax or grass rent; rent for islands in rivers let oi to cultivators; tax on trees; revenue from shifting or kumri ciivation; revenue from coir in the Ameudivi Islands of South Knara, and a great variety of other items. § 6.— Karnam’s accounts. In order to maintain a system of this kind, naturally the lcuam’s village accounts must be very complete. A revision of the 1 The reason for this practice is stated to be “ the subtraction from the land dt and is a convenient way of adjusting accounts, and is an old practice in this p ideucy ” (Standing Information, page 123). 1 In Kanara, for example, estates are broadly classed into bharti and kambharti: tl former pay the full “ tharao ■” or assessment; the latter less. Those that pay lc are in this wise — (a) what is called “ Board sifarish,” or lands allowed by the Bird of Revenue to be such that they cannot be expected to pay the full demand j P tauki or estates which are not assessed for a term, but pay a rate fixed au- Uilly: this includes kayam kami, or estates allowed a present reduction with n ospect of future full payment; (c) wayada, or lands ‘promising’ to pay full 11 'and in future 682 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. system was made in 1855. Village accounts are permanent, dail monthly, annual, and quinquennial. The most important is the “ adangal, ” or field register, whi( shows every field, its size, description, assessment, and other pari culars; it is in fact the map reduced to the form of a statemen It answers to tliekhasra of Upper India. The other permanent accounts consist of abstracts of tli register prepared to show particular series of facts. The daily and monthly accounts show the progress of cultivatic and the collection of the State revenue. They include day-book and ledgers, much as in other provinces, showing payments. The annual accounts are those which form the basis of tl jamabandi and have already been alluded to. The quinquennial accounts are statistical returns showing tl; revenue-roll, ploughs, live-stock, &c. § 7 .—Revenue collection. The revenue or “ peshkash ” of the larger zamindaris is pai direct into the Collector’s treasury, that of smaller estates to tli taluq treasury. In ordinary villages, items of revenue are brought by tli raiyats, &c., to the headman, who gives a receipt in a prescribe form. The headman pays to the karnam, who enters it in bis da) book, and then credits the different pattadars or landholders, in tli ledger and also in the abstract of “ demand, collection and balauc statement,” kept in the name of the individual landholders. The revenue is payable by instalments falling due on the 15t! of certain months according to the orders in force 1 . The mono, collected is despatched (together with the necessary invoices air forms) to the taluq treasury monthly, or of tener if payments ar 4 Standing Information, page 130, Where a list is given. Many districts pay i four instalments, on the 15th December, January, February, and March respectively some pay in five instalments monthly from November to March ; some in six instal ments (November to April); a few in seven (November to May) ; and in parts u Tanjore in eight instalments extending to June 15th. REVENUE SYSTEM. OF MADRAS. 683 n de so as to require it. Cash is kept meanwhile by the headman a his own risk 5 . § 8.— Coercive measures. Coercive measures can be adopted under Act II of 1864. Arrears b.r interest at 6 per cent., and costs of process are also recoverable. Tere can be sale of movable property including uncut crops, or so of immovable property including buildings, or imprisonment o he defaulter himself ; either kind of sale may be adopted at discre- t a, except in the case of zamfndars with sanads, in which case livable property must be sold first. Imprisonment is resorted to only when sale fails to liquidate tl demand, and there is reason to suppose that payment is with- hd, or there has been some fraudulent conduct. Such imprison- nnt does not extinguish the debt 6 . § 9 .—Effect of sale for arrears. When land is sold under a revenue sale, a perfectly clear title goes w h it, all incumbrances disappearing 7 . The purchaser gets a cer- tiiate of sale. In the case of zamindaris, sale requires to be sanc- t led by Government. The revenue demand on the land is, as elsewhere, always a fi t charge, before any other creditor can he satisfied 8 ; even the c ps of an under-tenant are not protected, though he has sub- & uent redress 9 . § 10 .—Recovery of rents by landholders. Zamindars, shrotriyamdiirs, jagirdars, inamdars, and all persons f ming lands or land revenue under Government have a power to s I have taken no notice of the amatii collection, whereby in a few localities 6 -eminent still takes its revenue in kind or a share (ltajabhogan) of the produce, or tl Ulugu method, which is now extinct, except in one hamlet in Tanjore. 0 See Madras Act II of 1864, section 48. 7 Id., section 42. 8 Id., sections 11 and 17. 9 The tenant deducts the value for any rent he has to pay to the landlord (sec- 1 1 11), or he may pay up the revenue and so stop the distraint and recover after, vds from his landlord. 6 34 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. • recover rents by a summary process under Madras Act VIII of 18(; the conditions are that the process must be put in force witl i a year from the date of the rent being due, and tlie tenant must be; been given a “ patta ” expressing the rent be has to pay (uni,; both parties have agreed to dispense with this). No Civil Court 1; jurisdiction in those cases. All other landholders who may hr, > tenant’s under them, may make use of the same process, but oi ■ if they have a written agreement from their tenants; not otk • wise. After serving a notice, the landlord may distrain crops of his ov accord, only he must not do so beyond what is necessary, and \ is bound to send notice to the Collector of his proceedings. Fort: tenant’s remedy and all other details, the Act itself must be ec suited. All rent cases are heard under this Act by Collectors, aud n by the Civil Courts. § 11 .—Local Funds, Under Act IV of 1871, a fund is constituted for the co struction, repair and maintenance of roads and communications, ai for the diffusion of education and other objects of public utili calculated to promote the health and the comfort or convenience the inhabitants of places not included within the limits of any mun cipality. The funds are raised by a local rate or cess, besides fine contributions* sale proceeds, and so forth. Certain uuexpendi balances of funds under former Acts were also made over, but the: had to be devoted to the branch of work for which they were orig nally designed. The fund is now maintained by a cess, not exceeding one ar in the rupee, on the c rent value ’ of all occupied land, by a certain ta on houses, and a toll payable on roads maintained. The < rent value ’ is calculated specially for the purpose of tl levy of the cess in a manner described in section 38- of the Act. The fund is managed by a Local Board, of which the Collects is ex-officio Member and President. REVENUE SYSTEM OF MADRAS. 685 • § 12.— Partition. It is not nec'essary to allude in detail to the ease where a znindan is brolcen up; this can be done at the will o£ the owners.) t; only interference of the law is regarding the assessment to Gov- eiment revenue of the portion separated, and this is regulated by ^I of 1876. Partition as a bead of revenue business is not alluded to as it is i other provinces, because the system here tends to treat every llding as separate from the beginning, to demarcate separately every sire as a several holding, and issue a second patta. When a joint jtta is issued the land cannot be partitioned without the consent of and then it is complete both as to right and as to responsibility f- the Government revenue. § 13 .—Alluvion and JDiluvion. I have found no law relating to this subject, but I gather that Kmssion is allowed for revenue where 10 per cent, of the area is lluced 10 , and so vice versa when it is increased. Islands belong 1 i Government and are specially leased out 1 . § 14.— Maintenance of boundaries. The importance of the permanent maintenance of the boundary arks of villages and fields is exceptionally great under a raiyat- ari system. In Madras care is taken in the registers to enter such a de- Iription of the direction of the boundary lines that the limits of a rvey number and of its sub-divisions can be traced even if the arks are from any cause obliterated. But Act XXVIII of 1860 provides for the maintenance of mndary marks. The Act indeed deals with the whole subject i initio, giving power to determine the boundaries both of villages id fields and t(^ settle disputes. 10 Standing Information, page 128. 1 Id., page 126. This is one of the items of miscellaneous land revenue. 686 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. Government, it is provided, bears the cost of marks *for exten¬ sive hills and jungles in Government lands; the owners bear it in other cases. A penalty of Rs, 50 for each ‘mark may be in¬ dicted on conviction before a Magistrate for erasure of or wilful damage, &c., to boundary marks; half goes to the informer and half to the cost of restoration. If a mark disappears, and no delinquent can be found to whom the damage is attributable, the cost of res¬ toration is divided between the occupants of the adjacent lands according to the order of the Magistrate investigating the case. § 15.— Lctio of Revenue Procedure. There is no general Act relating to revenue business, but it is an understood thing in Madras, that in all business (not being regular civil or criminal cases, or cases regulated by some law) every one can proceed by petition for what he wants : if he fails in the first instance he can go up in appeal from the lowest grade to the Governor in Council 5 . The Acts (of the Madras Code) to which the student will have to refer in connection with Revenue business and procedure, are Acts II of 1864, VIII of 1865 (Rent recovery), XXVIII of 1860 (settlement of boundary disputes, and mainten¬ ance of marks). * Standing Information, page 75. BOOK V THE PROVINCES UNDER SEPARATE SYSTEMS OF REVENUE. INTRODUCTORY. 689 INTRODUCTORY. The Provinces of British Burma, Assam, and Coorg, widely ,s hey differ, must be included together in the brief closing book £ his Manual. They cannot be altogether omitted, for they 11 ontain forest estates; and forest officers would find a Manual ,'hh ignored them strangely wanting. These provinces are satially forest countries. Forest property is in Burma one of lb most valued heritages of the State ; those great tracts which id teak—perhaps the most generally valuable timber in the red—are only now in the first stage of organisation, and there is onovince under the Government of India where forest estates ri form a larger or more important feature in the distribution of ued interests, or where the forest officers will more need to be re acquainted with the Revenue system of the province. 3ut hardly one of these provinces has yet a fully developed tc;nue system. They could not therefore be brought under either £ lose chapters in which I have endeavoured to delineate the main eaires of the Revenue system of Bengal, or that system which > nir several modifications, has prevailed over the North-Western ’rinces, the Panjab, Oudb, and the Central Provinces. In one ei 3, indeed, the absence of any theory of zamfndari or village- omunity rights of property, makes it possible (especially in the as of Assam) to class the existing revenue settlements as “ raiyat- ra; “ but, on the other hand, the system bears no resemblance o hat which Sir Thomas Munro designed for Madras, or which Inmergy and skill of the Survey Department has developed in in Bombay Revenue Code of 1879. must therefore cast such brief description as I have to offer at the shape of detached chapters devoted one to each province. 690 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, CHAPTER I. BRITISH BURMA. Section I. —Physical Divisions of the Country. § 1.— Avracan. In an introductory chapter I have already briefly indicated e history of the formation of this province. Its physical features will for many years, perhaps for ever, «e a certain character to the land-tenures and the Revenue system, The country is divided almost naturally into provinces, se - rated in most cases by deep rivers or well-marked raouuti ranges. Arracan, the most northern province, lies along the cor;, extending as far as Chittagong, while inland it is separated fn Native Burma and the rest of British Burma by a long d broad range of hills. The hill portion of Arracan is exclud from any Revenue law, since the tribes are wild and pracie nothing but “toungya” cultivation,—that destructive systi which seems natural to races born in hill jungles, of tempoiv cultivation effected by clearing and burning in succession, su tracts of forest as offer a suitable soil for the purpose. In the flat districts near the coast are alone to be found D rice plains, which give any possibility of a permanent propev and a Revenue system. § 2.— Pegu. For the rest of British Burma, the frontier is an arbitrary lii t drawn across from west to east, which, speaking roughly, strife off from the Arracan hills about half-way down the length l , that range or “ YomaV J Tlie ranges arc known in Burma by the appellation Yomn, which me ! “ backbone.” BRITISH BURMA. 601 The province so defined exhibits a succession of the same fea- Descending from the slopes of the Arracan Yoma, we come ;che broad valley of the Irrawaddy with its villages and penna¬ nt cultivation, which is almost entirely rice. This valley is i<;in closed in by a lower central mountain range called the Pegu L r na, where again we find temporary toungya cultivation, and in )ij of it, at least, Karen tribes. This Yoma is the site of a large mber of our most valuable teak forests. Then agaiu, still going a, we have another valley, but far narrower than the Irrawaddy 'aey—that of the Sittaug; followed again by a wider and vastly liier range of hills, also full of forests and toungya cultivation, ilonce more we descend into the valley of the Salween. The hr here, for a part of its course, forms the boundary 2 . The hills wind, rich in teak, are in foreign territory; efforts have from in to time been made to get the chiefs to deal fairly in the n;ter of timber. This is of importance, since the timber, though irllght from forests over which British officers have no control, is leatheless floated down the Salween under the British Forest jir, and frequent disputes as to ownership (arising from the r trary dealings of the chiefs in the forest) have to be settled at h British timber depot near Moulmein. § 3.— Tenasserim. The Tenasserim province is a long narrow strip of coast country oning an appendage to the south-east of Burma, as Arracan forms , snilar projection to the north-west. It is hilly, and covered pi more or less tropical jungle. Nearly all but the level alluvial u on the coast, if inhabited at all, is cultivated by , i is in the highest degree technical, and introduces the phrase- lov of Western law,—'easements ’ and 'rights to the soil products’ s stinct from soil ownership—which must be not only wholly nitelligible to the simple Burmese, but equally so to every one ot rained to understand technical documents. It will be absolutely ec sary for me to interpret rather than quote the Act. In doing ). ihall endeavour to state all the main features, but details of ro dure (and some minute distinctions, the object of which it is not is_ to divine) must be obtained by a study of the Act itself, h its general purport has been apprehended. The other five are—inheritance, gift, purchase, clearing the virgin forest, and u jars’ unchallenged (as we should say ‘adverse’) possession while the former wi knew the possessor was working the land (Minute, page 7). 698 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 7.— General status of the land. It is not stated, but is clearly implied, and is a fact, quite beyi d dispute, that at the present day, all land in Burma is the propel- of, or at any rate at the unfettered disposal of, the State, un ■} some private person has acquired a “ right ” to it. § 8. — Right in occupied land. The second part of the Act— “ Of rights over land”—deserts how such a right can be acquired. It applies to all lauds generiy except those mentioned in section 4, for these obviously do not reqi e to be dealt with. Land which has already by law been declare® forest estate ; land dealt with under the Fisheries Act 2 ; the M occupied by public roads, canals, drains or embankments ; the lid included in the limits of any town ; the land actually occupied y dwelling places in towns or villages ; lauds within the limits f civil and military stations; and lands belonging (according to c custom of the country) to religious institutions and to schools- these are naturally excluded from being dealt with, and the prop - tary right in them vests in the State, the owners, or in the insti ■ tion, as the case may be, according to existing laws. But all other land can only be subject— (1) to rights created by grant or lease of the British Gove - ment; (2) to rights or easements acquired by prescription ; (3) to rights created or originating in the modes prescri (1 in the Act. The last named are rights over land which are practically prop]- tary, though they are called in the Act “ rights of a landholder: Of course any right lawfully derived from one of the tbe rights holds good also. If it is lawful to sell or otherwise transfer e 2 No one who has been in Burma even for a few days needs to be reminded 1/ j important is the fishery question in a country which is intersected by rivers, streak and creeks, where the population universally consume fish, especially in the form f salted and fermented fish—the well-known gnapi of Burma. The allotment of arl for fishery sites is provided in Act X of 1875. BRITISH BURMA. 699 lb or if by inheritance a man succeeds to it, the right holds good h 1 as it did to the person from whom it was lawfully acquired. f> sum up this shortly, it means that, generally speaking, as f,ils private rights, the land to which part II applies is primdfacie tlut any rights of private persons; but the law is prepared i:ognise all rights which the Government has given by lease gint; rights, not being rights of ownership, but often necessary tii enjoyment of property, such as rights of way, use of water, ;i of lateral support, and so forth ; lastly, all rights of “ land- lets,” a term to which the law attaches a special meaning, of lii hereafter; and all rights derived legally from these, e.g., by u::er or succession. — Examination of the rights recognised : right by grant , 8fc. et us proceed to notice more in detail those rights which are u recognised. he first needs hut little remark. If a lease or a grant of land is een issued, it of course gives rise to a right exactly such as e urns of the document declare. § 10.— Rights to surface products and to easements. he second has given rise to some discussion ; the right was de¬ ni to he such a right as is described in sections 27 and 28 of the intation Act (IX of 1871) then in force. hese sections only contemplate such rights as are called in ii! ish law easements 3 , and these include rights of way, rights 1 ;e of water in streams flowing through the land, rights to >e vater in springs, pools, or tanks, rights to receive or not to :cue drainage water off your neighbour’s land, to have a passage a rigation water across his land, right to have the natural support ’ :e soil next to your field, and so forth. But there is nothing stlacluded. These rights, whether called by the term r easements 1 ' 1 1, and whether subject to technical rules or not, are natural g;s, and often absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of a man’s pee my Manual of Forest Jurisprudence, where this subject is fully explained. 700 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. property. You must have a way to get to your land, and b«ial>lo to prevent a neighbour blocking up a stream which runs tb us>h both lands ; you also require the soil to be maintained as is, and that your neighbour should not excavate his laud so as to ake yours fall down or in, at the margin. But the Burma Act si iou is limited to these rights, and no such thing as a right to gra, to gather fruits, or get firewood or timber was recognised by the Vet. But when the sections quoted from the Limitation Act of S71 were superseded by the present Limitation Act (XV of 1877) the term ‘ easement 5 was extended to include rights to the produ of the soil—or, to use the words of the Act, to include the rig do appropriate “ any part of the soil belonging to another, or ay. thing growing on it, attached to it, or subsisting on it. 55 Consequently it is only since 1877 that a right to these proi cts can have arisen. And it takes twenty years 5 adverse enjoymenfor any such right to ripen into a prescriptive right, consequent! 1 no such rights can yet have grown up. As regards land destim to be brought under the plough, this is of no great importance; mt it had a serious bearing on forest rights, as the question well might be raised in connection with such rights has since en set at rest by a section in the Burma Forest Act. It is unnos- sary to pursue the subject here. § 11 .—The landholder 3 $ right. But what is the third or “landholder’s 55 right? Praeticly a proprietary right. If a person (not holding under a gut or order of Government which itself determines the extentpf right) has continuously held possession of any culturable lal 4 4 Possession is elaborately defined by section 3. Possession may be by acid occupation by the person himself, or his agent, servant, tenant, or mortgagoe; or tre has been no such actual occupation, but still there may be constructive possession, that the person or his agent, &c., paid the last preceding year’s revenue it 6 if the land is now lying fallow in the ordinary course of agriculture, that it is last cultivated by the person and his agent, &e. These last grounds will not are possession if the land is actually occupied by some one else, nor if the laud s J been relinquished hy notice ; a man might be out of possession, and yet try and ot i an existing occupier, on the ground that he paid the last revenue. BRITISH BURMA. 701 telve years, and has continuously paid the revenue due thereon, h il it exempt on express grant, he is allowed to have acquired penanent heritable and transferable title. It will not, however, , f a man to be able to assert former or ancient possession if atossession came to an end twelve years before the Act came into rci (1st February 1879). Possession on the other hand is not oli by a succession or transfer. If A has held for seven years, and ersells to B, who has held for five, B can put in a twelve years 3 iss!siou. So if B has inherited from A. In the same way as regards e indition of paying the revenue. The payment will hold good itias been made by a tenant or other person holding under the irsi in possession. The ‘ landholder’s right 3 is not called pro¬ le ry, because it is restricted not only by the duty of paying veue, taxes, and cesses, which is a restriction on all property in nc n India, but also by the fact that all mines and mineral pro- ic and buried treasure are reserved to Government, as also the gl to work or search for those products on paying compensa- ou or the surface damage. person who is legally a “ landholder, 33 if he happens to be it >f possession when the Act came into force, may, within a mi fixed by section 9, recover possession ; and so if he has been in isission when the Act came into force, and then voluntarily ia loned the land, he can get it back within three years. After ic limit has passed in either case, the right is extinguished, fli an application is made to recover possession under these irii, the Revenue-officer can either grant the application himself i erthe claimant to bring a regular suit in the Civil Court with- i to months. After 1st February 188 2 5 , no one will be able to balon his land voluntarily for a time (though he may do so nuj\{ he likes),—unless he applies (under section 12) to the ie’uue-officer to take over his land on special conditions. This 2 C in 12 is quite peculiar to Burma. On application being made } he Revenue-officer, if he is satisfied that the person has the status 1 ,ndholdcr, publishes a notice of the temporary relinquishment, 6 i.e., after three years from the Act coming into force (seetion 11). 702 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, ' and then can let or otherwise dispose of the holding. The 1 <]. holder can get back his rights at any time within twelve year b. application and publication of notice as before. But he cannot r< da possession except at such a season as to let the intermediate occi ier gather in the crop that is on the ground, and he must also pay ‘or any improvement which the holder may have made, such as eml ik- ments, planting, &c. Any “ landholder ” can obtain an authoritative declar; on that he is such, by applying to have his right recorded on a r is. ter provided for the purpose, and getting a certificate of the re id. There are of course provisions in the Act regarding the canceli ut and calling in question of such record. § 12.— Disposal of land Inj Government. Such being the recognised rights in land, the Chief Com is- sioner has power to make rules for the disposal of all lands to well this second part of the Act applies, and which are not either abely the subject of a grant or lease, and which do not belong to 1 d- holders 6 . The existence of “ easements ” does not of course :e- vent the land being granted, or leased, or disposed of, subjec to such existing right of easement. The rules for the disposal of lands are found in the Revive Rules published in the Gazette of 1st February 1879. I do ot propose to describe them in detail. No land that is wanted for ay State purpose (which of course includes land which the Fust Department would desire to preserve as valuable forest) is tobeis- posed of, and land within a radius of four miles from any tjvii requires a special sanction for its disposal. The rules thencoutn- plate (1) the grant of ownership (which differs from tbe, a lid- holdership ;j of the Act) 7 , (2) the grant of thirty years’leases. Grits 6 Section 18. These rules deal with permanent disposal or temporary uselufc have no reference to toungya cutters : these are dealt with by special rules. 7 Since it is a perpetual grant, not a mere prescription arising from a cpntirbna i 12 years’ squatting, it also carries with it the right to minerals, and is usually accoba. nied by the exemption from revenue for the first years of occupation, of which melon is made afterwards in the text. BRITISH BURMA. 703 icaases require the orders of the higher grades of Revenue-officers c ding to their extent. Thus the Native Revenue-officer (Thoo- j t ) cau, with the approval of his Deputy Commissioner, make a •at of five acres; but a grant exceeding 100 acres can only be a; by a Deputy Commissioner, with the approval of the Chief o missiouer. The mode of making grants, the disposal of objec- oi, the form of deed, and other such particulars must be learnt, icessary, from the rules themselves 8 . § 13.— 1Exemptions from revenue. 'here are exemptions from revenue for various periods in the is of grants or leases for garden land and for fruit trees and al groves, according to the value of the plantation ; and in the is of land which will have to be cleared, according to the labour lvved in clearing, and the size or density of the growth. .'his exemption is necessary to encourage settlers, as it is obvi- imhat during the first year, and sometimes longer, there is nothing inutlay and expense, and the grantee has not the means of meet- lglie land revenue till he reaps the first fruits of his labour. § 14.— Temporary leases. 'Vhere it is not desirable or possible to make either grants or )r leases, temporary or yearly leases (renewable at the end of the e: )can be given out under section 19 aud the rules made under it 9 . 'enalties are provided for all unauthorised squatting or occupa- io of land 10 , so that there cannot now be any unauthorised taking • ° & '0 ission of land as in former days, which will ripen by prescrip- io into a “ landholder's ” title. § 15 .—Grazing allotments. >ection 20 of the Act contains a provision which somewhat esnbles the rules in Berar and Bombay. Instead of disposing 8 Revenue Rules 1—19 and forms at the end. • Id., 20—27. 10 See Act, section 59. 704 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. of all available land under section 18 or 19, if it is consith -J that existing villages would be hard-pressed by disposing of all ie laud under these sections, the Deputy Commissioner can reserve iv allot suitable tracts for grazing, subject to the Commission’s sanction. Notice of this is given, the land is demarcated, d thenceforth cannot be devoted to any other purpose, till, upon s;c- tion being obtained, a notice cancelling the allotment is publish 1 * . § 16 .—Toungya cultivation. I have already remarked thatltoungya cultivation is not toucid by the rules just described. No doubt the land over which “yi,” are cut in the hills are mostly subject to the Act, but the ns under section 18 do not touch it. It is to be dealt with by r ;s which the Chief Commissioner is bound to make under section 2. In many cases it is absolutely impossible to ignore the pracie of such cultivation ; but it is wisely left to Government by rul to determine what right, if any, shall be recognised, and how ie cultivation is to be carried on. It will be desirable therefore ;o make some remarks on this system of toungyd cultivation. § 17 .—No right is acquired. The important feature to be remembered is that this stt of cultivation is not held to give any right whatever; unis, indeed, some right is expressly conceded by the rules made unbr the Act on the subject. Neither can there be such a thing as ie right to cultivate in this way, nor does any right of occupancyn the soil itself 3 arise from any number of years > practice of is method of cultivation. While, however, Government is perfeay free to put a stop to this cultivation altogether, it is at the sue time bound to exercise a wise discretion in the matter, and therelre 1 Revenue Rules 28—30. * At the date of writing this such rules have not been issued. In fact, no sul could present more difficulty, since the question of toungya has to be dealt witl connection with forest reservation. 3 As expressly apparent from sections 7 and 22 of Act II of 1876. Forest Act (XIX of 1881), section 11. i'Ct in he Sec also BRITISH BURMA. 705 tl practice has not been stopped nor have rules been as yet made. Lpoint of fact, the toungya question is gradually being settled ui er the procedure for preserving State forests, and it is much nre satisfactory to do it in this manner than to make a hard ai fast code of rules under section 21. § 18 .—Nature of toungya cultivation. As I remarked before, it is the original clearing of the laud tt;, in the Burmese idea, gives rise to a proprietary right, but that eking should be followed by continued occupation. Now, in the hiy tracts of all the mountain rauges, it is rarely that laud on cleared is permanently occupied; it is sometimes the case, asvill presently be noted. But, speaking generally, the clearance rale, the.material is burnt and the ashes dug into the ground; ar when the crop has been gathered, the site is abandoned for arbher, which in its turn is treated in the same fashion. It 3 i rely depends on the restriction which circumstances place on bh migratory movement of the families or tribes, whether the a l, ouce cleared, is again returned to after a long or short xod. It is so returned to as a rule, but that period may vary ru forty years and more, to six or seven years, aud even less. This in fact depends very much on the area available. If it is a:e, the same land may not be returned to for twenty, thirty, or by ) r ears; but when the area is limited, as in the Prome hills, the otiou is much shorter: and then the jungle that is restored is '0 er in character. in these cases the mischief done is very great, because no fi t is made to prevent the fire, which is kindled in order to ia the toungyd refuse, spreading far and wide over the adjoining 3) it. § 19 .—Demarcation of toungyd grounds. in a great many places the reserved forest selection has gone v the grounds where toungya cultivation is practised. In these i s it is now the practice to demarcate certaiu areas for toungva 2 w 706 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. cultivation within the forest. As long as it is possible to avoid >e spread of fire from these grounds to the forest, the existenc of such areas is no great disadvantage, while the presence of ie Karens themselves, who follow this method of agriculture, ia positive advantage to the forests. § 20 .—Suppression of the system. Nevertheless, under the best circumstances, toungya cultiva >n is a most wasteful and barbarous method. It gives a min in m return with a maximum waste of space or land area, to say notlig of the destruction of useful material. A terraced and irriged field, properly managed, will give crops far heavier than the ;st toungya; and the ultimate exchange of toungya to perma lit fields inside the forest line, or to village settlements in the pi:us, is an object to be steadily pursued 4 . There are, no doubt, places where the toungya cultivation if lie only possible method. Moreover, the dense jungle far removed Dm centres of habitation or lines of export has no practical vine. But in places where forest is valuable, and where it is pos ole to introduce improvements, there it requires steady and susta.ed effort to restrict the practice. This can be done, not by smien orders for the practice to cease, but by the plan of demarcang toungya areas, and making steady efforts to prevent the ire spreading beyond the areas. It will also be possible to encon.ge permanent cultivation, as already indicated. § 21 .—Custom of toungya, hi the hills betioeen the Sittang an,Ik Salween. This account of toungya cultivation would be incomplete wit.rut a notice of a very curious instance of a tribal settlement in wich this method of cultivation has been reduced to a system,uid which was first noticed and described by Mr. Brandis, Insp tor 4 See a valuable Report on Forest Administration in Burma (20th January 181) paras. 344 and 362 BRITISH BURMA. 707 Gieval of Forests to the Government of India. The interesting jut in this tenure is, that here we have a custom of toungya •uvation which is confined to certain limits, which is based i n a permanent occupation of a definite area, although the people •eignise that the State is still the ultimate proprietor of the soil. [ hall give a description of this tenure ifi Mr. Brandis’ own wds:— ‘ In certain districts on the hills between the Sittang and Salween rivers h population which subsists on toungya cultivation is so dense that they are jt;ed to cut their toungyas on a short rotation, returning to the same piece of j n nd after a period of from three to seven years. As an instance, I may m tion the hills on both sides of the Myit-ngan stream, a southern tributary oihe Thouk-ye-gat river. These hills are inhabited by Karens, who live in la 3 villages. The boundaries of each village are most distinctly defined, and je >usly guarded against encroachment. Twenty-two years ago I had known tbe hills well; and when I visited them again in February 1880, I found tbsame system of cultivation and the same old customs regarding village bndaries and the occupancy of land. ‘These Karens have two classes of cultivation. Along the valleys and raaes are extensive gardens of betel-palms, with oranges and other fruit tri, carefully irrigated and admirably kept. These gardens are strictly prate property ; they are sold and bought, and on the death of the proprietor tb are divided in equal shaves among his children. Ascending the dry and suiy hill-sides from these cool and shady valleys,—with their streams of clc water, the golden oranges half hid by the dark-green foliage, overtopped b} ense forests of tall and graceful palms, from the tops of which hang down rk yellow bunches of betel-nuts—a picture altogether different presents it if. ‘The slopes are clothed with a vast extent of dry jungle, of grass, brush- wd, young trees and bamboos, all young, but of different ages. Old forest w i large trees is only found on the crests of the ridges and lower down on st p rocky ground, where no toungyas are cut, and no crops can be grown. 0 fide these groups and belts of old growth, the forest over extensive areas co ists of nothing but dense masses of bamboos, and where these prevail, tcigyas may be cut and a good crop reaped once in seven years. In other pies there is no bamboo, but only shrubs and tall grasses. This kind of g:.vth is most commonly found where land is scarce, and the rotation is con- sciently short—from three to five years only. In such places a number of ol stunted and gnarled trees are left standing on the ground, which are pi irded whenever a toungya is cut. The branches and leaves are spread over tl ground and burnt. In such places the people are most thankful if an a'adant crop of tall reed (Arundo sp.) grows up, as the stalks of this grass 708 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. yield a good supply of ashes. ***** TJ le w jj ( 0 f this forest is most carefully protected from fire. In these hills, if any one its fire to the forest through carelessness or mischief, the villages claim nd enforce the payment of heavy damages. If this were not done, the list would not grow up thick enough to furnish sufficient ashes for the crop. “ Another feature is, that the whole of the toungya grounds of one villas ire - divided into a large number of plots, each plot being owned by one of the ro- prietors of the village. Well-to-do people own from twenty to thirty plots sit ;ed in different parts of the village area. The boundaries of these plot: -re marked by trees, by stones, and sometimes by shallow furrows drawn ; ng the slope. These plots are sold and bought, just as the plots of the el- palm gardens; and when a proprietor dies, his toungya grounds, likhis gardens, are divided in equal shares among his children. I have here sj :en of the people as the proprietors of their toungya grounds. They claim, iw- ever, only a kind of imperfect proprietary right. They hold these picas against each other, but they recognise that the State has a superior rig iu i the land. “ In the dry season, when the time for cutting the toungyas approf.es, the headman of the village, after consulting the chief proprietors, detemes the areas on which the forest is sufficiently advanced and on whiclthe toungyas of the year are to be cut. The area selected for the toungyas (the year is not all in one block, hut a village generally cuts four or five bloi; a year, each block belonging to a number of proprietors. It may thus hnen that a proprietor owns no plot of toungya land in the blocks selected d ing any one year for cutting and burning. If so, he makes an arrangement ith other proprietors, and rents some of their plots for the year, the rent ing generally paid in kind. There are also persons who, in consequence c th 0 increase in the population, have become poor and own only a small num : oi'i plots. Many of them, if they cannot earn the means of subsistence in leir own village, emigrate and settle in the plains, where they take to the cu va- tion of permanent fields. “ All persons who have shares in the block selected for the year jc in cutting and burning, and the greatest care is taken to prevent the fire sjjacl. ing into the adjoining forest. The only crop which is grown is rice. Ctou, which is an important crop on the hills of the Pegu Yoma, yields a poor rurn here, and is not much cultivated. The sites of villages in these hills aiuot absolutely permanent; they are shifted now and then, hut never to any "eat distance. The larger villages, which have extensive areas, often consi, of i several separate hamlets. “ A similar state of things to that here described is found in other ills of the hills which separate the valleys of the Sittang and Salween pers, where the population is dense and the area available for toungya cultivion j is limited. But throughout these hills all possible gradations may be obsved i between the system now described and the migratory system which prevaj, on the Pegu Yoma and in other parts of Burma.” BRITISH BURMA. 709 Section III. —The Land Revenue Settlement. § 1.—Revenue History. The revenue history of Burma is brief and simple. Under the N ive rule, as under ours, there are two kinds of cultivation to be Ji t with ; the permanent cultivation which is practically all lit, diversified here and there with orchards, palm groves, and lens; and the shifting cultivation or toungya. The latter is laissarily excluded from anything like a settlement. The area of it i always altering, and cannot therefore be the subject of any field siuey or record. A ta^: is usually imposed on the family cut- ti'f the ya, or on the number of “ dabs 33 or knives used in clearing (vich meaus that a fee is payable by every member of the family ab to wield the dab). At the pi’esent day toungya cultivation is milarly dealt with. Every male person of 18 years of age and up- w ds in each family which practises this cultivation, has to pay an ai ual tax, and no attempt is made to assess the land actually mer crop in each year 5 . Permanent cultivation in the plains (and elsewhere, where it has bo established) need alone engage our attention. I have already stated that the State was entitled according to ir.ent Burman law to a share in the produce of land. The B man Government levied what is called a “ rice-land tax, 33 but it - as not assessed on the laud, but generally upon the number of :i le employed in working it. The revenue obtained was compara- i ly insignificant. The assessment was made by irresponsible ii ordinate officers, who, after paying a certain sum into the State trisury, were accustomed to levy such additional contributions fchey pleased for their own benefit 5 . The British Government of course set aside this method, aud Iced a revenue according to rates on land. As cultivation extended a rough survey was made. 5 Rules under section 24 of the Act, R. 31. 8 Directions to Settlement Officers, 1880, — Introduction. 710 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OE INDIA. § 2 .—Early system. The circumstances o£ Burmese land tenure which have alre y been alluded to, did not give rise to a natural grouping of 1 like the North Indian mauza, in which the whole of a known a a, waste and cultivated, belonged either joiutly or in shares to a p. prietary body. Nevertheless it was easy to partition out the 1 id into groups called Jcwin (written also Jew eng or qweng). The ku may, in fact, form a compact group of holdings, and have le village site or the residences of the cultivators within it, so tit it is not a great misuse of terms to speak of it as a village. In all cases a recognised kwin is a compact block, and is dm bounded by natural marks, such as creeks, streams, &c. In every kwin a uniform rate per acre 7 was at first fixed >r all paddy land, no regard being paid to internal differences)! fertility. Gardens and palm groves were dealt with somemt differently, and a rate per tree might be levied in the case of orchils or groves of palms. The right of the State was fixed at one-fifth of the gross p- duce valued in money. § 3 .—Liability of land to pay revenue. The Act of 1876 declares all land to be liable to pay re veil, which was culturable when the Act came into force 8 , or which, be g culturable, was rendered uneulturable by the subsequent ereetn of buildings or otherwise by the act of man, or which was actmy assessed. This, however, does not apply to lands granted revenue-he by the British Government, nor to lands which pay by toungya tc, nor land appropriated to the dwelling places of any towmr village, and exempted by order of the Chief Commissioner, nor o land belongingto the site of a monastery, pagoda, or sacred build g or school (so long as it is used for these purposes). 7 Act II of 1876, section 24. The British statute acre was adopted, sub division being into “anas” (27'5 square feet) and “pies” (226’875 square feet). 8 i • e., 1st February 1879. BRITISH BURMA. 711 Section 24 of the Land and Revenue Act gives power to the Chief Ctnmissioner to make rules regarding the rates per acre or the res per tree growingon land, which are the forms in which assess- nnt is recognised by the Act. § 4 .—The right to a settlement. The Act does not contemplate that in all cases a settlement of t ■ assessments imposed according to sanctioned rates should be nde for a number of years. It supposes that the rates may be aered every year or otherwise according to circumstances; and igives persons in possession of culturable laud the option of asking f a settlement. The person having a permanent right of occupancy Lj a right to such a settlement; any one else can only get it at t; option of the Settlement Officer. A settlement being granted, t; rates cannot be changed during the currency of the term 9 . A settlement-holder can by giviug proper notice give up his stlement 10 . These provisions were more required in the first days of our rule, uen plots of cultivated land were often scattered, uncertain, and £ wide distances apart, and when it was only in certain places that unected groups of cultivated land with large or permanent villages vre to be found; and annual assessment may still be the rule in nes where cultivation is scattered, and where the country is not fificiently advanced to warraut the introduction of the regular sdlement. § 5 .—Modern practice of settlement. But there is now a regular Settlement Department, and all districts or parts of districts sufficiently advauced to be aced under settlement, an accurate field-to-field survey is being ade, with a record of rights. I shall eudeavour to give a brief scription of the procedure of a regular settlement. 9 See sections 25, 20 of the Act. 10 Id., section 29. 712 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The objects of the settlement are declared in the “ Directioc to be— 1. The complete survey of all lands. 2. Registration of all cultivation of land, with proportions' their various interest under the land. 3. An equitable assessment of the land revenue on sound pri ciples and on a uniform system. 4. Punctual registration of all transfers and of all ehang in the occupation and use of land. § 6.— Demarcation. The first step (as in other forms of settlement) is to demarca the areas that are to be dealt with. A special Act (Y of 1880) in Burma provides for demarcation The chief features of the Act are that a demarcation officer pu up the marks, and a boundary officer decides any question that ma arise, with the aid of arbitration, if the parties consent; if not, t his own order, subject to appeal. The rules made under the Act 1 give a list of the separate pr< perties requiring demarcation ; such are—groups of land (of whic hereafter) called kwins; waste land grants under the old rules towns, cantonments, internal lots in stations, orchards, gardens, an so forth. For some of these the boundary officer is himself the demarcatio officer; for others (cantonment, town, suburban, and civil statioi lots and internal divisions) the cadastral survey officer is tk demarcation officer. § 7 .—Estates to be demarcated permanently. Some of the demarcation is, under the rules, only temporary M aid of wooden posts bearing distinguishing rings of white paint The object is to indicate boundaries for survey purposes only ; bu - all kwins, waste land grants, and land made over to reserve! forest, as well as all boundary lines about which there has been c 1 See Appendix A to ‘ Directions for Settlement Officers.” BRITISH BURMA. 713 d.mte, require to be permanently demarcated. In ordinary cases this is one by sinking burnt clay drain pipes, or otherwise, as may be ducted. Waste land grants (those under the old rules) aredemar- c:ed by masonry pillars. § 8.— The kwin. All the properties requiring to be demarcated and specified in Pie I of the Rules under the Boundary Act explain themselves, ex- cit the kwin. This refers primarily to the local division or group o cultivated lands, already alluded to, but is also applied to all siarate kinds of estate, and the rules speak of each reserved forest bng made into a separate “ kwin ”—of fishery land kwins, waste kd grant kwins, and so forth. A kwin of cultivated land will often be a village, that is, it wil cnprise a group of land in one place with a village site on it; rognised local divisions are maintained, but subject to this, the aim i;to have the kwin form a group of land of from 1,200 to 1,300 aes in extent, and to make use of conspicuous natural features for din boundaries wherever it is possible. Very often strips of un¬ cared jungle separate kwms, and sometimes a considerable extent osueh jungle. Rules are made for the inspection and preservation of all marks \ ich require to be kept up permanently. § 9.— The Survey. When the boundaries are arranged, the survey which is a pro- fsional one is carried out. It results not only in maps which s)w the fields as they exist at the time 2 (the thoogyees of circles 5 “The country is divided into great blocks or main circuits, the limits of v .cli are generally connected with Great Trigonometrical Survey stations. These i .n circuits are subdivided into minor circuits formed on the same principle. The ( niry having thus been divided into a series of larger and smaller polygons, the a a of each larger polygon, and the areas of its included smaller polygons are i ependently calculated, and the results proved by the total area of the latter a eeing with that of the former. 'From the smaller polygons the surveyor next I ceeds to plot skeleton plans of the kwins. These plans are handed over to the fd surveyors, who, with plane-table and chain-fill in all the anterior details and 1 n out apian of the kwin showing every existing boundary, natural and artificial.” (irections, § 11.) 714. LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA, are, as we shall see, bound afterwards to mate additions and co >c- tions which show newly-formed fields and new internal divi: ns caused by transfers, successions, and partition), but also in fl 0 . graphical maps on a scale of two inches to the mile. § 10.— Assessment of revenue. The older theory of taking one-fifth of the gross produce is iw abandoned. The plan is to select sample areas in the kv is, taking care to take land held on different tenures or culturabljy different methods, and to calculate the actual yield at liar st time 3 . For the purpose of establishing these blocks, the ei re kwin is not treated as homogeneous, as it was under the ea er system, but is first classified into a few well-marked bkts (avoiding minute classifications). A sample field is taken in t;h block. This will not of course always be necessary; the w le kwin may be practically uniform, or it may be “ that a cluste of kwins are so closely allied in natui’al character and agricult al conditions as to render a kwin-to-kwin selection unnecessary.” The object is to obtain results representative not only of the lid of laud, but also of the land under varying conditions of agricult e, and so to get an average which will be fair for the whole area. This will give the necessary information as to the amouno f produce. But the value of produce has also to be considered. A previous inspection and classification are therefore to >e undertaken. The Settlement Officer will first have to group ie kwins according to tracts similarly circumstanced . The chief fobs which will guide the selection of assessment tracts are— (a) marked differences in density of population and sizepf holdings ; (b) important differences in kinds of produce raised, due o climate, physical character of the country, and ofcjr causes; (c) important differences in facilities for transport to mar! t and disposal of produce. 3 See section 57 (A), Act II of 1876. “Directions,” Chapters III and V. BRITISH BURMA. 715 It is obvious that given the average amount of produce in t: kwins, the value, and therefore the assessment rate, will vary a:ording to these circumstances. Then he will proceed to make out his soil blocks, each to have i representative trial area in each kwin if necessary : these soil bcks are marked in the maps with a coloured pencil. The statistics of outturn are then considered, and the total due of the produce is calculated ; the cost of export to the r.rket and the local price, the cost of cultivation and the cost of ling are all tabulated by a special staff, and the Government l/enue is to be a share of the net profit, i.e., the value realised, j.er deducting cost of cultivation and cost of living. § 11.— The Government share. The share of Government is in theory to be one-half of this it profit 4 , but the Settlement Officer has to take into consideration le present revenue, the probability of a rise or fall in prices, the i:t that there is or is not much waste in the kwin which may 1 brought under cultivation, and that population will or will not iirease, before he determines the rates he proposes actually to Ity. So that the full half will not always be taken. It is of no ie to propose rates which would compel the people to lower their nndard of living. Large families cultivating small holdings again innot usually pay as much as small families cultivating large . ldiugs; and holdings containing no waste, and therefore incapa- 1 3 of expansion, cannot so easily bear a heavy burden as those | which there is room to extend cultivation. § 12.— Period for which the rates hold good. A proportion (usually from 2 to 5 per cent.) of fallow laud is ways allowed for 5 . Paddy land is assessed at a rate per acre, 4 “ Directions ” § 149. 5 i e., fallow laud is assessed along 1 with other land, which prevents the abuses ulting from the earlier system of reporting actual (supposed) fallow, and allowing to be revenue-free for the ) ear. A general deduction at the rate of 2 to 5 per cent, the area is then allowed in the assessment. (Directions, para. 142.) 716 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. which rate will ordinarily remain unchanged for not less than m or more than fifteen years. In all other lands, a lump sum is fixec or the entire holding, for the same period as for the rice land. Orchards, gardens, and miscellaneous crops are usually asses h 1 at the highest rate fixed for rice land, or may be assessed at so much per tree. The rates and lump sum assessments deduced from these li -e to be, as in all systems of settlement, reported in detail, explui 4 and justified by aid of tabulated statistics and sanctioned by e Local Government. § 13.— Cesses. Besides the rates assessed on the land, an extra cess of 10 t cent, on the assessment has to be paid (this is like the cesses id local rates of Indian settlements.) The object of this is to fen a fund to provide for district roads, the district postal serv;, village police, sanitation, and education. This was formerly levd (to the extent of 5 per cent.) under the Land Revenue Act, 11 sections 31 and 32 have now been repealed, and the terms “ 5 cent, cess ” and “ cess ” have been struck out of the Act where - r they occur; and a special Act (II of 1880) now provides for ie levy of the cess and for its application. Again, besides the lal revenue and 10 per cent, cess, a “ capitation tax ” is paid by all mas between the ages of 18 and 60 years. The rates are fixed by fj Chief Commissioner within certain limits laid down by la. There are also certain towns specified in the Act, and certain othe: allowed by the Chief Commissioner, which, within defined limit pay no capitation tax, but a rate on land within their lim; instead 8 . § 14 .—Record of rights in land. The Settlement Officer has also with the aid of his special stir to make out a record of all rights. The maps gave him the area cultivated as divided into field each field being separately numbered, and the area unoccupied 6 Act II of 1880, sections 3 and 4 BRITISH BURMA. 717 i 1) map also shows the grouping of land according to occupation, ,v ther it is a waste land grant, an occupied village, a road, a vi ige site, a monastery site, and so forth. The Settlement Officer ha to record the area of land held by each cultivator and the tenure byvhich it is held. The two main classes of land tenures are the “ ndholder’s,” already described, and the “ grantee’s” tenures. Tire may also be an occupation under a terminable lease, or under a mporary permission to cultivate; but these are non-proprietary, Ti leases here spoken of are leases by the State. Five registers are kept up. No. I shows rights in and occupa- tii of lands; No. II gives the abstract of unoccupied and ejuded lands; No. Ill details grants, No. IV leases, and No. V sbtvs cases where landholders, &c., have given out their holdings, onart of them, to tenants. “ Holdings ” are groups of land in a kwin, asssesed to one sum olaoney, and may consist of several fields. “Grants ” are always each a separate kwin. The “ grant ” register does not show old grants which are scarate kwius, but grants made under the Act II of 1876. The register of tenants is not a legal record of rights, but it is kt up for official and statistical purposes. § 15.— Tenants. There has been no occasion yet for any law about tenant- right, b i the progress of agriculture and the material wealth of the e ntry naturally lead to the wealthier men abandoning cultiva- ti themselves and giving over their land to tenants who culti- v,e for them, paying a rent which usually consists partly of a cash lament, w'z., the amount of the Government revenue, and the rest i kind,—a share of the produce. The system in Burma not having created any artificial land- H over a whole group, but dealing with the individual holdings a 1 their occupiers, there has been no room for sub-tenures possess- i; natural rights in the soil in subordination to the general right o a landlord. Any tenancies that arise are therefore necessarily 7 IS LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. matters of agreement between a landholder and State lessei or grantee, who agrees with a tenant to cultivate for him on cer in terms. § 16 .—No joint responsibility. In Burma there is no such thing as a joint responsibility ( a twin for the entire revenue assessed on it. This was, as I be re stated, attempted in some places, but was found a failure and is abandoned; every man is responsible for his own holding-. A holding is often held jointly by the sharers of an original deceiid owner. As long as it remains joint, one person is put dowr y arrangement in the thoogyee’s books as responsible for the reveie of the holding. When partition takes place, the shares -e separate, and the assessment is apportioned also, so that each ske becomes a separate and independent holding. If, however, several persons have been jointly in occupation! land liable to land revenue cess, or tax in lieu ofcapitation, during e year, they are jointly and severally liable, and so are all ten an, mortgagees, or conditional vendees. There is also a joint id several liability on all males of the family who at any time in e year (being then 18 years of age) took part in the cultivation,! cases where a tax is levied (as it may be in some cases of toung;) on the family 7 . § 17 .—Record of customs. Buriug the preparation of the record of rights, opportunity! taken to draw up a note of village customs, in regard to successii and transfer, in regard to managing joint holdings, partition f holdings, boundaries, who owns the strip between holdings, w> has the right to break up waste in the holding, in regard to rigb of way, cattle-paths, rights to juDgle produce, fruit trees, who; to be headman (Ywa-loo-gyee) in the village, and how successii to the office is regulated, how pagodas, zayats or rest-houses, ail other public buildings are repaired and maintained, &c., &c. 7 Revenue Act, sections 37, 38. BRITISH BURMA. 719 A note should also be added giving the history of the kwiu, i>$;cially noticing various revisions of revenue rates, chief varieties oforoduce, customary mode of selling produce, and current local pre of chief products. Section IV.— Revenue Officials and Revenue Business. § 1.— Revenue-officers. The Revenue-officers are by notification 8 constituted in six g\des: in the first are Commissioners and the Secretary to the Cief Commissioner and the Settlement Secretary ; in the second are Iputy Commissioners and Town Magistrates; in the third Settle- nut Assistants ; in the fourth the Superintendent of Cadastral Si'vey and Assistant Commissioners (not in settlement); in the fifth f Extra Assistant Commissioners; aud in the lowest the thoogyees o“ circles,” who are in fact very like the taksildars of North Ilia. ,' § 2.— Commissioners. The district organisation is in some respects like any Indian Im-llegulation Province. First there are the Commissioners of 1 visions, which here are very large; e.g., one Commissioner presides C3r the whole country to the east of the Pegu Yoma, and from the flintier beyond the Tounghoo down to the furthest point of Tenas- sim. § 3.— Deputy Commissioners. Under the Commissioners are the districts, each in charge ( Deputy Commissioners, under whom there may be divisions of otricts in charge of an Assistant. Every district is divided into ‘ nwnships,” and each township is presided over by an Extra Assist- it Commissioner, called Myo-oke, Sit Keh, or Woondouk, according i his rank. The Extra Assistant Commissioner has civil, criminal, : d revenue powers. B Revenue Act, section 35, and Schedule A. Notification No. 11 of 1st February 79, § IV, &c. 720 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. § 4.— The Thoogyee. Every township again is made up of “ circles,” each presi d over by a thoogyee as its local revenue official. The duties if thoogyees in preparing assessment rolls for their circle, look g after the collections, and so forth, will be found in Rules 62_, The thoogyee may have an Assistant called—Myay-da thoogyee. § 5.— Village headmen . There are headmen of villages called kyaydangyees 9 , but tly were chiefly the spokesmen of the villages as regards their dealii s with the authorities. The kyaydangyee has no revenue function nor has he any responsibility like the lambardars of a No i Indian village, nor consequently does he get any percentage r remuneration. But, as a matter of practice, he does give e thoogyee of his circle considerable help in collecting the reveie of the kwin. These are not even mentioned in the Revenue Rul. The kyaydangyee is, however, an important fuuctionary fra a police point of view. He forms part of the rural police 10 , al his duties are to report crime and the arrival of persons £ suspicious character to the “gouug” or headman over a ‘ cireui’ He has also to help public officers when in camp and to keep > certain registers of births, deaths, and marriages, and to help whi required in collecting and registering vital statistics. The hea man is liable to certain penalties for neglect or misfeasance, but prosecution cannot be instituted against him without the orde of the Deputy Commissioner. There are also certain rules regar ing the limit of time and giving notice in case a civil suit is fit against a headman regarding his official acts, for which the A (II of 1830) must be consulted. § 6 .-—Revenue duties. One of the first objects is of course to keep up the settlemeil survey maps up to date. Forest land is broken up, boundaries j 9 These are the official headmen ; the ‘local ’ headman is the “ Ywa-loo-gyee. ” j 10 Act II of 1880, sections 12—14. u<5 BRITISH BURMA. m h lings alter by transfers, partitions, and so forth, and if the maps 3i not show these changes, they would in a few years become so iorreet that the whole survey might have to be done over again. As regards changes affecting the maps, a ‘supplementary survey'’ isaade every year to record them. Besides this, seven registers are kept up. The first and most mortant shows the state of the holding at the beginning, what npened duriug the year, aud how it stood at the end of the year, ris return also contains tables of local value of produce at various pi ods throughout the year. The second register shows grants made during the year ; the third ilivs the leases : as these leases only consist of lands temporarily re lquished by landholders, aud may revert to them within twelve yirs, it is necessary to keep them separate from grants. The fourth register (tenants) is important, because otherwise i uant right would become confused with a landholder’s. The tlbgyee generally collects the revenue from the tenant direct, and ibefore puts him on this list as if he were the landholder; in ;1; way confusion might arise. It is to be remembered that :1 landholder is still in ‘possession’ under the Act, although hi land is actually worked by a tenant. The fifth and sixth registers, showdng transfers aud partitions, m l no remark. The seventh is a revenue-roll; it shows the areas fid by field, added to or taken from each holding duriug the year, tl classes of soil (according to the settlement classification) to w ch the increments oi' deficits belong, the rates to be applied, ai the resulting increase or decrease of the total assessment. Thethoogyee or his assistant (whose appointment is so re¬ galed that he may be a competent surveyor) carries out the si plementary survey and enters the necessary changes on copies of tl settlement maps, and also keeps up the first four of the regis- te. A “Superintendent,” appointed under the orders of the Dmty Commissioner, checks the work 1 with the aid of some anberof his staff called an Inspector. ' See Chapter V, Directions to Revenue Officers. 2 x 722 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The Superintendent himself prepares the seventh register r rent-roll, which must be signed by him and also by the Dep y Commissioner, and the thoogyee is .furnished with what e “ Directions ” call “ tax tickets," or counterparts of the roll for e; h holding, on the strength of which he makes the revenue coll;- lion. § 7.— The Agricultural year. The agricultural year iu Burma begins on the 1st July, but e date may be changed 2 . Any increase in rates, &c., only ta s effect from the 1st July following the date on which it may e ordered. § 8,'— Recovery of arrears of revenue. As forest officers are often interested iu the recovery of arre:s of forest revenue which may be recovered just in the same way s arrears of land revenue, it will be desirable to explain how sili sums are recovered. A person is in arrears and becomes a defaulter under the A, when a written notice of demand having been served ou him tr published under the rules if he cannot be found), the demand :s remained uncomplied with for ten days. The ordinary process for recovery of arrears of revenue is t it of the Civil Procedure Code for the execution of decrees, in whjh the Revenue-officer is the “ decree-holder ” and the defaulter is e judgment-debtor 3 . If the amount does not exceed Rs. 1,01, there may be an order for immediate execution 4 , which will greay facilitate collection of all petty sums of revenue ; and section 45)f the Revenue Act itself allows a special procedure in the case of a faulter who has absconded or is about to abscond. The Cm Commissioner may empower any Revenue-officer to proceed agai;t the land itself, either instead of, or in addition to, the proceedings executing the money recovery. If there is a permanent heritae 2 Revenue Rule 47 (under section 41 of tlie Act). 3 Revenue Act, section 45. * Cavil Procedure Code, section 256. BRITISH BURMA. 723 a3 transferable right in the land it may be sold, and the pur- ciser takes the land free of encumbi-ances. If there is no sale- a e right in the land, the Revenue-officer may take possession of ti land, which then vests in Government free of all rights. § 9.— Procedure in revenue cases. As regards revenue procedure, in cases other than those for the r overy of arrears, the Act 5 * gives powers similar to those found i other revenue laws, to cause the erection, maintenance, and nair-of boundary marks. Provision is made for advances to agriculturists, like the ‘aqavl” in India, and for remissions of revenue 8 on account of camity or famine which was beyond human control. Detailed in- suctioiis on the subject are found in Sections YII and VIII of ti Revenue Rules. All orders passed by revenue authorities below the Commis- sner are appealable ; the Act leaves it to the “ Rules ” to decide dails, but mentions a number of important revenue subjects on rich final orders are not to be passed by an officer of lower grade tin a Commissioner 7 . The rules, regarding appeals and procedure gierally, will be found in the Revenue Rules 60 —85. The service onotiees under the Act is effected in the way described in Rules 5—59. 5 Section 54. See also Act V of 1880, sections 22 — 27, regarding the cost of bndary marks, their repair and maintenance. As regards inspection of permanent ji -ks twice a year, see rule 9 appended to the Directions to Settlement Officers. a Section 58. 7 Section 55. 724 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER II. THE REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. Constitution and History of the Province. § 1 .—The Chief Commissioner ship. The Province of Assam was constituted a Chief Commissioner- ship in 1874 1 . The Sylhet district was by a separate notification in the same year added to it 2 . The whole forms a scheduled district under Act XIV of 1874, and the Statute 33 Vic., Cap. 3 applies. As the effect of constituting the province a local administration would be to hand over to the Chief Commissioner all the powers of the Local Government (consequent on the definition in the Gene¬ ral Clauses Act (I of 1868), an Act (VIII of 1874) was passed to prevent this result and to vest in the Governor General as Local Government all the various powers that had been given by law to- the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, or to the Board of Revenue, as regards Assam. The Act provides that all such powers shall he taken to he transferred to and vested in the Governor General in Council; and then the Governor General is empowered to delegate to the Chief Commissioner all or any of the powers so : vested, and he may withdraw the same. A similar Act (XII of 1874) was passed for Sylhet, which was i on a different footing from the rest of Assam, having been a portion of Bengal Proper 3 . 1 See Book I, Chapter I, page 2 Sylhet or Silhat is properly “ Srihatta.” See Notifications Nos, 1149, 2343, &c. (Gazette of India), dated 12th September 1874. This district is brought under the 83 Vic., Cap. 3, taken under the direct management of the Government of India, placed under the Chief Commissioner, to whom also certain powers lately exercised by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and the Board of Revenue are delegated. 3 And the Governor General has delegated certain powers by Notification i No 522, dated 16th April 1874 (Gazette of India , 18th April 1874, page 182). REVENUE SYSTEM OP ASSAM. 725 Assam consists of (1) Goalpara, including the Eastern Dwars annexed after the Bhutan war in 1866; (2) the districts of Assam Proper, lying in the Brahmaputra valley, namely, Lower Assam (Kamrtfp, Darrang, and Naugong) and Upper Assam (Sibsagar and Lakhimpur) ; (3) the hill districts,—the Garo hills, the Khasi and Jaintiya hills, theNaga hills district, and the north part of Cachar (which, however, does not form territorially a district separate from the rest of Cachar); (4) the districts of Sylhet and Cachar. § 2.— The Regulation regarding c Inner line.’ All these districts (except Sylhet) come under Regulation Y of 1873, which enables a line to be drawn, called the ‘ inner line, * in order to separate off the wilder and less civilised portion of any district (where such a proceeding is needed). British subjects, or any class of them, may be prohibited from going beyond the line without a pass 4 . British subjects, or any person not being a native of the districts, may not, without special sanction, hold land beyoud the line. I shall notice in the sequel the cases in which the provision about the inner line has been applied. It was not needed in the Garo hills, for example, but it is enforced in other places. § 3.— The Frontier Regulation. Besides this, Regulation II of 1880 enables the Chief Com¬ missioner to declare certain frontier tracts of Assam inhabited by barbarous tribes exempt from the operations of any enactment otherwise in force 5 . § 4.— Distribution of territory. Geographically, the territories of Assam form three belts. The most northern is Assam Proper, with Goalpara; the middle is the 4 The temptation to do so is to get India-rubber, ivory, and jungle produce. The Regulation legalises the confiscation of such produce found in possession of any oue convicted of transgressing the rule. 5 I have not yet seen any notification under this Regulation. See page 749. 726 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES 0? INDIA. network of hills occupied by the Garo, Khasi and Jaintiya, ai Naga hills; the southern consists of Sylhet and Cachar, the northe corner of which latter district goes up into the hills formiug tl middle belt. As these territories were acquired under different circumstanc and have some legal and other peculiarities in their administrati constitution, I shall divide this chapter into five sections Section I.—Goalpara. Section II.—The Assam Valley. Section III.—The Hill Districts. Section IV.—Sylhet. Section V.—Cachar. Section I.—Goalpara. § 1 .—The old district. Under the first constitution of Bengal, as it was when acquire fey the British Government in 1765, a large collectorate called Rant pur contained in its north-eastern corner a net work of hills occupie fey Garo mountaineers, who lived by “ juming” the hill sides, an who could not conveniently be brought under the ordinary laws < Bengal. To the north of these hills, also, a certain portion of tl plains on either side of the Brahmaputra river, comprising^! thanasof Dhubri, Goalpara, and Karaibfiri, were also wild and jungli covered country, so that at first they were but little known to tl British officers, and were practically not administered at all. The tracts at the north foot of the hills came under the decenni; settlement. There were twelve estates of chieftains who had he! the wild country under the Mughal Government on payment of tribute : these became the zamindars, and their estates were assesse without any enquiry about the amount of the tribute; six oth( estates were found to be invalid, but were afterwards admitted to settlement at fixed rates 6 . * Statistical Account of Assam, Vol. II, page 64. • REVENUE SYSTEM OP ASSAM. m These estates (beyond the Garo hills, and lying on both sides of e river), together .with the Eastern Dwars (which are again to e north of the permanently settled estates), make up the whole , the Goalpara district. The settlement arrangements in these 70 parts are different. As regards the old estates, it is stated lisitively in the “ Statistical Account ” that the estates I have en speaking of are permanently settled. They came under the ..cennial settlement no doubt, and the proclamation in 1793 made l the settlements permanent. But in 1822 Regulation X was ,ssed, which removed all this corner of old Rangpur—namely, the ree thanas (settled as just stated) and also the Garo hills—from e effect of the Regulations; so that it is not altogether clear hether the Regulations which made the settlement permanent d not cease to apply to these estates. It is understood, however, iat the Government of India has conceded the point, and that the tates may be regarded as permanently settled. § 2 .—Garo hills separated from Goalpara. • In 1869 an Act (XXII) was passed which repealed Regulation of 1822, and made the Garo bills into a separate district, which as to be exempted from the ordinary law. The boundary between oalpara and the Garo hills was laid down and declared on the Ith August 1875 ; but afterwards doubts arose as to whether the mndary so laid down was in accordance with Act XXII of 1869, id accordingly a Regulation (I of 1878) has been passed declaring e boundary notified on 14th August 1875 to be correct, and to be ie legal boundary. jl The repeal of Regulation X of 1822 in 1869 would appear to ive restored the force of the ordinary law as regards the three thanas Goalpara, until 1874, when the Local Laws Exteut Act and ie Scheduled Districts Act were applied. But this is very doubt- il, and practically the Regulations were not enforced before 1874 7 . s the matter stands at present, none of the permanent settlement ! I 7 Mr. Ward’s Note on Laws in force, § 23. 728 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. Regulations are in force. The Sale Law (Act XI of 1859) is force with its subsequent amending Acts. But sales rarely or net • occur, as the assessment of the estates is absurdly low. It is questionable whether Act X of 1869 (the Rent Act) is force, though it has practically been acted on, at least to soi extent 8 . § 3 .—The Dwars. The Eastern Dwars, which form a part of the Goalpara distric were annexed from Bhutan in 1866. In 1869, by Act XYI, whf is still in force, these Dwars were removed from the jurisdictit of the ordinary Civil Courts as regards immovable property, re: and revenue questions. They are governed by the rules which for the schedule to Act XYI. The rules direct Regulation VII 1822 to be followed, and a record of rights is to be prepared und the orders of the Lieutenant-Governor. The rights and interes of each person connected with the soil are those which he had befo the*Bhutan war broke out. In 1870-71 the lands were settled f seven years. Four Dwars were settled raiyatwari as in Assam, bi certain Rajas, landholders or chiefs were allowed to engage for tl revenue. The fifth (Chirang) is held khas, that is to say, the cultivate are raiyats holding direct from Government. The position of tl raiyat is very much the same as in Assam ; it is secured by “ patta. and when the lease is given to a middleman, clauses are insertc requiring the rents for the raiyats to be maintained at the fixe rates; the farmers may, however, arrange for the extension of cult vation during the currency of the settlement, and get the who! benefit of this 9 . 8 The Advocate General in 1867 thought Act X of 1859 did not extend to tl districts of Assam (and he would probably include Goalpara, which in 1859 was unde the “ Non-Regulation” system). The notification of laws in force doe3 not allude I Act X, so that the question appears still to be doubtful. * See Administration Report, 1874-75. REVENUE SYSTEM OP ASSAM. 729 § 4 .—Land Tenures. There is little that calls for notice in the land tenures of the dtrict. The settler who clears the jungle is called “ jotdar 10 ”. In t : old Rangpur thanas there are zamiudars, and the jotdars have borne their tenants. The jotdars often do not cultivate them- sves, but employ sub-tenants, who give them half the produce o the adhyari system. The zamiudars of Goalpara often give i ra leases for parts of their holdings. Ijara leases are simply funs of the reut collection. They also grant rent-free tenures for rigious and other purposes, and some land is held by tenants who 17 no rent, only give certain service or labour for their land; t:y are called “ sukh-bas ” or “ khud-bas.” Leases given out to cultivators to reclaim waste, with a remis- sn of rent for the first year, are called “ pail-patta.” Section II.— The Districts op Assam Proper. § 1.— Constitution of the districts. The districts of the Assam Valley were acquired in 1826. In 135 Lower Assam (Karnrup, Darrang, and Naugong) was placed (,r Act II of 1835) under the superintendence of the Sadr Court (Bengal as regards judicial matters, and under the Board as i>ards revenue matters. Upper Assam was attached to Ben- <1 m 1839 (previously it was under the management of a Kja), and two frontier tracts—Matak and Sadiya—were added in '.42. These districts (except Lakhimpur) were managed like the hwer Assam districts, and the same was ordered for Lakhimpur i 1860. The Assam Code of 1837 was issued for guidance of .(icers, but it makes no provision for revenue matters. These 10 But the name is not used in the Dwars, except in the Guma Dwar, and there it is ( ng out. Under the Goalpara zamiudars, the estate is divided into paigau.is, then i o tahsils or collecting circles, and then again into jots, a group of raiyati holdings ’ ler the “ jotdar.” 730 LAND HE VENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. districts are in revenue matters guided by the Settlement R os of 1870, which have not the force of law, only of long custt 3, The rest of the revenue procedure and law practice has hith to been very much on the same footing. The ordinary Settlen at Regulation (VII of 1822) has been so far followed that the o- visions of it are acted on in practice when convenient and requ ;d to supplement the Rules of 1870. The recovery of revenue in the same way is managed under ie practice long in force which will be described afterwards, and ie provisions of Act XI of 1859 and Bengal Act YII of 1868 appealo be so far in force at least that their general spirit is followed. Ty have not been declared by the notification under Act XIY toe specifically in force. The Rent Law (Act Xof 1859) is administod to some extent, but the Advocate General in 1867 held that it As not legally in force 2 . • § 2 .—The land tenures of Assam. The above brief outline is intended to show the present pc- tion of Assam as regards the law under which land-reveie H 1 For this reason a Land and Revenue Regulation is under consideration. Is very doubtful whether Bengal Regulation VII of 1822 extends to Assam, ami a the notification under the Scheduled Districts Act it is not mentioned, hence I gaf'r that it is not legally in force, and that it is not desired to extend it specifically,is the new Regulation will do all that is wanted (see Ward’s Memo., § 66, &c.). 2 On the whole it would appear that Assam having been from the first plaul under special officers guided by special rules in 1835, it was never formally anned to the Bengal Presidency within the meaning of the statute of 1800 (see Boc 1 Chapter I, page 13), consequently the Regulations did not apply. But though this not said in so many words in the £ct of 1835, still instructions were given un r that Act in the form of the Code of 1837, approved by Government, and this inti- duced “the general spirit of the Regulations.” It would,seem, however, t.t afterwards, when general Acts were’passed, they would proprio mgore apply to Assn in the absence of express words to the contrary ; nevertheless this has been doutd in regard to Act X of 1859, The Limitation Law at that time (XIV of 1859), thou quite general in its terms, was specially extended to Assam, and there is therefe very great doubt how far some of the existing laws are in force. It is probable tit <4 the omission of all mention of Revenue and Rent Regulations and Acts in 2 ' notification under the Scheduled Districts Act was intentional, pending the intt duction of a special Land and Revenue Regulation under 33 Vic., Cap. 3. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 731 ^clement can be made, rights recorded, and rent and revenue be Wavered. Before describing briefly the revenue system of Assam and hv a settlement is made, it will be well to take a brief survey othe customs of landholding in the Assam Valley. When the old Aham Raj was established, we find the State con- stuted by a Raja, and under him a whole hierarchy of officials,—a cnmander of the forces, a commander of the boats, a purveyor to t< royal household, and a number of a baras ” or chiefs, each with a establishment of “ paiks ” and “ karis ," the former for military tty, the latter for all kinds of service. Every male was liable to sve as a paik. The chiefs were allowed to hold certain lands for t 3 support of their retainers ; the estates consisted of so many ‘jots/'’ each got being sufficient for the support of four men. ]venue was taken from the inhabitants generally in the form of noil-tax, and there was the liability to service before mentioned ; Is poll-tax was afterwards exchanged for a payment on land niehwas collected by various agents—“chaudhri,” “ mauzadar,” ;d “kagoti.” All the landholdings were separate and individually sponsible, and the tenure was based on the clearing of the jungle; i was virtually held at the pleasure of the Raja*, and no Assam ik had in those days a heritable or transferable right in the land 3 , though, no doubt, in practice land did descend from father to son. 1 iere were a number of royal grants of land held revenue-free for e support of Brahmans, temples, and the worship of special vinities. This historical condition of things has resulted in the existence the present day of the following classes :— (1) Lakhiraj or revenue-free holdings. (2) What are now called “nisf-khiraj ” holdings, which are in fact invalid revenue-free holdings, to which cert: in rights were conceded as a matter of favour or equity. 3 Mr. Ward's Note on the Revenue System, § 40. 732 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. (8) Proprietary grants or leases under waste land rules 1 tea, coffee, or timber cultivation. (4) The ordinary raiyati holdings of Assam. (5) Certain special tenures. (1) Revenue-free holdings. These tenures were enquired into by a Commission under Beng Regulation III of 1828 and have been confirmed; they now numb 137, covering 82,295 acres. The holders are proprietors of t' laud. (2) “ Nisf-IcJiirdj.” These used also to be called “lakhiraj,” but in 1871 t; Commissioner invented the term “ nisf-khiraj/ J —lands paying lit revenue, to distinguish them from the first class. There are 2,3iUj such estates covering 219,811 acres, and assessed with Rs. 1,00,9‘ j revenue. They are held by persons whose ancestors had failed prove their lakhiraj title ; the lands were consequently resumed 1 Government, but were settled at light rates under orders issued 1834, and possession of the land was secured to the nisf-khirajda g on the condition of their accepting the assessment. They have coni' <1 nued to hold ever since at half the prevailing ordinary raiyati rate but the assessment will rise if these ordinary rates are raised, ai the nisf-khirajdar must accept this or give up the land. In 181 the Grovernment of India, ordered that a settlement should be mao for ten years. The settlement was to include all land, waste or cull vated, included in the original decree, and if the boundaries we! i not clearly stated (and they rarely were), the question of possessicja was to be gone into. If the land in possession was only in excess ' the decree to the extent of 10 per cent, no notice was to be take but a larger excess would be assessed at full rates. It being settli what land was included in the holding, the cultivated land was be assessed at half rates, not the waste, which was to be kel ;' REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 733 rtenue-free during the currency of the settlement. No remission decrease of revenue during the term would be allowed 4 . Till the measurements and settlements for ten years are ready, anual settlements as usual are made. There are some special grants of this kind to the Rajas of Etrang, for which special terms have been ordered 5 . (3) IFaste land grants. These grants are not for ordinary cultivation, hut for tea or cfee. . The first rules were issued in 1838, but only sixteen estates, c ering an area of 5,494 acres and lying in the Sibsagar district, e:st under these rules. The next rules were issued in 1854; one- firth the grant is revenue-free in perpetuity, the rest is revenue- fi; for fifteen years, and then at rates progressing from 3 anas to 6tias per acre. In 1861 estates were offered at an upset price (tually Rs. 2-8 an acre, but sometimes higher), and these grants vre in fee-simple. Under these rules also the revenue due on g.uts of 1854 might be redeemed, so as to become fee- simple g,uts. This power of redemption as regards 1854 grauts still ests. From 1876 the fee-simple sales ceased; and now thirty years' lises are granted. The lease is put up to sale at an upset price of I. 1, and is subject to payment of progressive rates of revenue, (her the expiry of the thirty years the land is to remain in the pur- e iser's bands, subject to the ordinary assessment, which is not to bhigher than the highest rate paid on ordinary agricultural pro- die. The land is then held under a permanent heritable and trans- fable right of use and occupancy, subject to certain conditions. 1 On the expiry of tlie settlement for ten years, a longer settlement lias been t> .'red, based under tbe cultivated area then found, and all land then waste .will be i ssed at one-eighth the ordinary rates for rupit (or rice) land. 5 Chief Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner of Darrang, No. 107T., dated ii December 1878. 734 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDTA. The following table of grants up to the end of 1878-79 is ta u from Mr. Ward’s Note on the Revenue System of Assam:— Under :ee-simple rules — Disteicts. Under rules of 1854 unredeemed. of 1861, including re¬ deemed grants under Under rules ot 18! 1854 rules. No. Area in acres. No. Area in acres. No. Area ia aci Kamrtip .... 4 1,011 40 16,794 20 4,1 Naugortg .... 6 1,895 63 20,536 103 47,a Darrang , 1 293 109 62,234 69 20,(1 Sibsagar .... 16 10,613 157 120,743 72 25,2 Lakliimpur .... 4 2,035 95 78,760 60 27, C Total 30 15,847 454 289,067 330 125,2 (4) The raiyali holdings. In its origin this tenure of land is very simple : there is notlii r but a right depending on occupation and clearing of the soil. The settlement rules of 1870 profess to recognise a heritable al transferable right of occupancy in land (subject to registration f all transfers and successions) if a ten-year settlement for the lanch accepted, but otherwise there is only an annual settlement with <3 c< occupant raiyat, ” who would therefore presumably be a Govei- ment teuant from year to year. Nevertheless the great majority f landholdings are on yearly settlements only, and practically thf right is permanent, and its being transferable is at least taeilr admitted 6 . It is now held 7 that the Assam “ annual” raiyat has no right i the laud apart from the settlement rules ; that he cannot clan any right as an annual tenant unless he has got a patta from ts Deputy Commissioner, which shows that he has been admitted an tenant. The annual f patta ’ which the raiyat ordinarily reeehi explains that if the land is required for public purposes Govermne; 6 Statistical Account of Assam, Vol. I, page 49, quoting the Administration Repo for 1875-76. 7 Mr. Ward gives this as the result of the decisions in the Judicial Commissiouw Court, and these have uot been dissented from by the High Court, and in some cm have been confirmed. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 735 iir the right of resumption, on payment of compensation for houses, tr s, crops, &c., on the land. A raiyat may relinquish his holding on giving proper notice mer the rules, and this right is conceded even to lease-holders. Waste land taken up for cultivation does not come under the e rules as the grant of lands for tea cultivation. Any one may apply for 10 bighas or less to a local official rjaed the mauzadar (whose functions will be described presently) ; fo a larger allotment application is made to a Deputy Com mis- Aer or sub-divisional officer. No one is allowed to take up waste whout first applying for it (but this rule is relaxed in some in- stices). Every applicant for land, who is successful, gets a “ itta ” for the area. A lease or settlement may be offered for ten years under the ri!S, and then the right of occupancy, heritable and transferable, is formally recognised. Tea-planters occasionally avail themselves i)l his rule instead of taking a grant under the waste land rules. It would appear that 3,702 such leases have been issued, of well 2,645 are in Darrang and 1,024 in Naugong. The area occu- pil is 21,262 acres, aud the revenue is Rs. 41,471. Out of this ?c.e 4,700 acres are taken for tea cultivation. A few four-year !e es have been issued in Kamrup. The leases for terms are thus seen to be exceptional; the annual leies are in vast majority, numbering (as stated by Mr. Ward) 41,035, covering an area of 1,250,418 acres and paying more than t’inty-two and a half-lakhs of revenue. (5) Certain special tenures: Chamuas. In Kamrup a few of the raiyats holding large allotments have a irtain privileged, or rather dignified, position as “ chamdadars.” Sih a tenant is allowed to pay direct to the treasury; and his own msurement papers are relied on for the extent of cultivation in his c mita. The block must be compact, and pay revenue not less t n Rs. 100 if the chamua da before 1859, and Rs. 200 if of bjr creation. 736 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. The chamua does not get a patta, but an ‘ amalnama 5 or 01 >v for him to pay direct into the treasury. On the lauds of the ci. miia, tenants are regarded as the chamuadar’s tenants. A very few special holdings are to be found in different t tricts, which do not exhibit any very great difference from e ordinary holdings, except that the holder of the ‘ khat* or esf ,e is a sort of middleman between the cultivating raiyats and e estate. Thus in Naugong there are khatdars who are assessed; full rates, but allowed 50 per cent, back again as “ commissio ’* So the “ khiraj khats ” in Lakhimpur ; these people seem only to e privileged to collect the revenue (in lieu of the ordiuary mauzad) of a certain f khat/ keeping 10 per cent, for himself ; but he is t owner of the soil in any way. § 3. — Sub-tenants. As in the majority of cases the Gaiyat* is himself the tenant f Government, if he employs or allows some one else to cultivate i lands, that person must be called dub-tenant.'* But these raiys mostly cultivate their own holdings ; it is only the larger raiyats - the khatdars and chamuadars and the more substantial lakhirajd s —who have tenants to cultivate their land, and these they payr produce or in services, not in money. There is no tenant-rig;, since Act X of 1859 was never formally extended. The Board f Revenue gave the Commissioner authority to introduce such sectiss into practice as might bo required, and the section recognising i occupancy right after twelve years* holding was not introduced. The Land Revenue Settlement. § 1.— Classification of lands. For the purposes of settlement, the land in the Assam distriu is classified into (1) “ basti ” (or “ bari ”), homestead laud, whii is usually under garden or other high cultivation and is mauura i This pays the highest rate of assessment, which is (at preset) REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 737 < u formly one rupee per bfgha 8 ; ( 2 ) rupit land is the ordinary fiat ai. flooded rice land 9 ; rupit pays at present 10 anas a bfgha; (.‘ pharingati 10 ; this is a residuary class : all land that is not basti oirupit comes under it, such as tea land, “char” (or “ chapur ”) 31 alluvial islands and banks, the cultivation of which is pre- ifous; cultivated lands on high ground, and so forth. Land of tl; class pays 8 anas a bfgha. None of the previously stated rates ijly to land within a radius of five miles from a district or sub- iisional head-quarter station. There the market being better, and oiluce much more valuable, special rates, under proper sanction, my be imposed. § 2.— The mauza and mauzadars. For purposes of settlement and revenue management, the lands u illages are grouped into small sections called “mauzas”—the tea in Assam having a different meaning to what it bears else- iv ire; each mauza is managed by a mauzadar. The revenue of an entire mauza varies from Rs, 5,000 to 1,000. The mauzadar is personally responsible in the first instance ; it is consequently allowed 10 per cent, on the revenue up to i irtain limit, and a smaller percentage on larger sums, for his tnble and responsibility 1 . 8 The standard Bengal bigha of 14,400 square feet has been adopted. 9 The name is derived from “ ropit”—the root being rompna, to root up, implant; alluding to the method of sowing rice in nurseries and transplanting the >ci ings into the fields. 11 1 cannot trace the origin and meaning of this term. Wilson’s Glossary gives no ic int of it. 1 Mr. Ward gives the following statement of mauzadars in Assam :— Disthict. Area of district in square miles. Population. Number of Average remunera¬ tion of mau¬ zadars per mensem. Revenue 'collected in 1878-79. Mauzadars. Mandals. rfip . . 3,631 661,681 74 227 Es. 80 Rs. 801,020 ong . 3,115 256,390 73 213 40 396,749 .3,418 236,009 62 170 58 3S8.310 fiar . 2.855 296,589 67 208 58 571,635 iuipur 3,723 121,267 73 82 20 179,797 2 Y 1 738 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. In the villages or groups of cultivating raiyats, there is a hu¬ man called “gaonbura ” (village elder), and a person cad “ mandal,” who in some respects resembles the patwari ofolir parts. His duty is to help the mauzadar in revenue collec' a and in the laud measurements and records. He is, according to ,o rules, to be elected by the mauzadar and by the residents of e pargana group (of about 200 persons), subject to the approval of te Deputy Commissioner. Virtually he is a Government servant c a fixed pay of Rs. 6 a month. § 3 .—Annual measurement. The lands held by raiyats under annual settlements aremeasud every year by the mauzadars with the aid of the mandals from ie 1st January of the preceding year to 30th April of the yeanf assessment 2 . During May the mauzadar prepares his paps. These consist of (1) a chilta, showing the measurements, positii, description of land, and revenue assessed thereon in each raiy’s holding; (2) a khatlan, or abstract showing the total amounof each of the three classes of land in the raiyat's possession ; (3 a jamabandi, or rent-roll showing the area of holding, the rate of rfc | a The year runs from 1st April to 31st March. REVENUE SYSTEM OP ASSAM. 739 easure up all laud every year : the “ basti ” and “ rupit ” lands >ing permanently cultivated, the measuring chain is only run und the exterior lots to ascertain that the total area is uu- mnged. The measurements may be checked by the district staff hen in camp. Ten-year and five-year leases or settlements may also be given 1 application, but they are only occasional, and naturally would > resorted to chiefly on permanently cultivated laud. It is obvious that a system of this kind, entirely dependent on lie accuracy of the mauzadar’s measurements, is opeu to many dis- Ivantages, and there is much difficulty in the size of the area signed to each mauzadar. In some districts where jum cultivation is practised, revenue is vied on such lands in the shape of a tax on houses, or a poll-tax ■ a hoe-tax. In Kamrup and Naugong a tax per house of the [titivating families is levied, in Lakhimpur a poll-tax, and in auffonff for some lands a hoe-tax, that is, a rate on each adult that ■es a hoe in jum cultivation; the house-tax varies from Rs. 2 to ||S. 2-4; the hoe-tax is Re. 1-8; the poll-tax Rs. 3. Revenue Business. § 4 .—Collection of revenue. The collection of the revenue naturally demands the first notice, le Sale Laws (Act XI of 1859, &c.) are not in force in Assam ■oper, and arrears of revenue are collected from ordinary raiyats by hat is known as the “ baki-jai ” system, which is said to be based i the old Assam Code and on certain Regulations. The process is the mauzadar’s remedy against the raiyats, for the auzadar is himself responsible in the first instance. Within three onths of the close of each year, the mauzadar sends in a list of faulters to the district or sub-divisional officer. On this a notice pay up is issued. If this fails, movable property is distrained id brought to head-quarters under notice of sale within fifteen days, the sale proceeds fail to realise the sum due, no further steps are 740 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. taken: the estate of the defaulter is never sold 3 . If the mat zadar has had to pay up any revenue he can sue the defaultin raiyat in the Civil Court. This system is not uniformly followet In Sibsagar, for instance, European planters were sued for arreai of rent; in Kamrup the system was not followed at all. It seems to be a question whether the baki-jai system can l applied against nisf-khirajdars, chamuadars, or holders of wasi land grants, or whether these estates are liable to sale. Hitherto however, these estates have never failed to pay. The baki-jai pro cess is not put in force after the expiry of three months from tli last day of the year of assessment. § 5.— Survey. There is no survey law in force in Assam Proper at present. § 6 .'—-Land registration and land cases. Certain land registers are kept up, but the practice is not uni form ; and as the whole matter has been tbe subject of discussion and is likely soon to be reconsidered and placed on a legal basis . any further remarks in this place would be unprofitable. There are no partition laws, nor is partition by Governmeu agency known. The Revenue authorities have much to do in disposing of what ar called ‘ patta cases,’ 4 which result from the system of annua settlements already described. They refer to complaints of wron; • measurement or classification of land, of possession (which is wba the Revenue-officer is (properly speaking) alone concerned with ii issuing his patta) being wrongly recorded, and disputes about boun daries. Such cases are decided by the district officers on the ‘reveuu side, 5 or the parties may be referred to the Civil Court. It usedtj •' be the practice to entertain civil suits to contest the right of tk* ■ 3 Mr. Ward’s Note on the Revenue System, § 284. • 4 Id., § 89. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 741 irty who bad gained the case in the revenue investigation, but this not now allowed. § 7 .—Relinquishment ancl occupation. As already stated, any raiyat under Government may relin- lish his land, or part of it, even if he has a five or ten-year ,ase. All that is needed is to submit an application on or before ie 31st December of the year preceding that in which the relin- lishment is to take effect. The waste land rules of 1876 now in force refer to sales or leases r tea cultivation, &c., and there arc no rules for the occupation ’ culturable waste ; but when such land is available any raiyat Its only to apply for it, and gets it at a rent of 8 anas a bfgha, r any term not exceeding ten years. When the land is occupied is treated as ordinary raiyati land, and as soon as the lease pires the land is classified in the usual way and is assessed accord- g*y- Section III.—The Hill Districts. § 1 .—Garo Hills. These formerly were part of the Rangpur collectorate, but ere “ deregulationised ” in 1822, and were afterwards formed to a separate district under the Act of 1S69 5 . It has not been und necessary to make use of the Regulation of 1873 and draw i “inner line.” A special Regulation (I of 1876) was passed for its ivernment, but this only lasted till 1881. It has been renewed r a short time, but it is probable that, with the exception, perhaps, some restrictions regarding their holding of land by Bengalis and hers who might interfere with the Garo mountaineers and giv'i rise oppression and to consequent disputes, the district will be allowed 5 For some years villages in the interior of the hills remained “independent,” t after the occurrences described in the Statistical Account, Vol. II, page 157, &c., je whole of the tribes were reduced in 1873. 742 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. to come under the ordinary law applicable to Assam general!' The district is perfectly peaceable and well ordered, and traversed 1) excellent roads. Cultivation is mostly by f juming ’ tlie bill side and the destruction of valuable forest covered by this process very great. ' § 2 .—The IUidsi and Jaintiya Hills. In this district also there is no “ inner line.” It consists of thr< portions— (1) British possessions, (2) petty dependent chief ships, and (3) the Jaintiya hills, forming part of the territories < the Jaintiya Raja, which became British territor in 1835. The Khasi chiefs had attacked and murdered pn 1829) son European British subjects who had taken up their residence s Nangldao, and this led to expeditions, which were brought to a clos in 1833, the chiefs having all tendered their submission. The British possessions in this district are said to cover an are of 2,160 square miles, while 4,490 miles are occupied by the KM States. Act VI of 1835 declares that the officers administering tbes ; hills are to be subject to the Sadr Court in civil and crimirn matters, but nothing is said about revenue jurisdiction. In 1871 the Act XXII of 1869 was extended to this territory and by notification in July 1872, rules for administering civil an criminal justice and for police were issued 8 . The chiefs pay a portion of their revenue to the British Govern ment ; this is chiefly derived from minerals. Thus in the Bkawc State nearly all the income, Rs. 16,000 a year, is derived fror “ malikana ” on lime. The states are managed by chiefs with headmen of section- under them who are elected by the people. These are controlle politically, the British Government only interfering in case o * Calcutta Gazette, 1872, p. 84. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 743 ■sputes between the states, or in cases of misconduct of chiefs ud headmen. There is little in these hills to require notice in a Revenue ' anual : the cultivation is chiefly rice 7 . Joint cultivation is also immon. A house-tax is levied, which is collected by the headmen . the villages. But the income from leases of minerals (coal and 'nestone) is more considerable. The “ Jaintiya hills ” form a sub-division, in charge of an ssistant Commissioner at Jowai. § 3.— The Nag a Hills. Between this district and that last mentioned is a strip of hill Tritory —the North Cachar hills; hut this belongs to the Cachar .strict, and will be more conveniently mentioned along with the st of the district. The Naga hills district adjoins the territory of the independent aga tribes, which occupy the hills between Assam and Native urma. There are various tribes of Nagas, hut interesting as a study of Bus district is, ethnologically and otherwise, there is nothing to be id of it in a Manual of this kind. The Government has com- enced to preserve certain forests, but the administration generally of a very simple character, suited to the capacity of rude tribes, he district itself was only constituted in 1867. Act XXII of 169 was extended to it 8 , and rules for civil and criminal justice and dice were promulgated. Section IV.— Sylhet. This is one of the old Bengal districts of 1765. To it was lded the plains portion of the Raja of Jaintiya's territory annexed 7 See Statistical Account, Vol. II, page 223, for the process of cultivation, which curious. 8 Calcutta Gazette, 1871, page 1911. 744 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. in 1835. This was not permanently settled. We have thereto in Sylhet the following classes of estates :—• (1) Permanently settled. (2) Revenue-free. (3) Temporarily settled in Sylhet itself. (4) Ditto in Jaintiya. (5) Waste land grants. (6) Redeemed estates. § 1 .—Permanently settled estates. The old district of Sylhet was under the Bengal Regulatioi and part of it has been permanently settled. It was added Assam in 1874, as already noticed, and the Act XII of IS enables the necessary arrangements to be made for the exerci of certain powers by the Chief Commissioner. A notification und the Scheduled Districts Act 9 has declared various Acts and Regul tions to be in force, and this may set at rest many questions. Bi the notification does not affect the applicability of other Acts ai Regulations that may be in force in Sylhet owing to its position a Bengal district; it only puts an end to all doubt as regards t) 1 enactments which it specifies 10 . The permanently settled estates are governed by the appiv priate Regulations; the temporary settlements are governed 1 Regulation VII of 1822; the sale laws are in force (Act XI of 18£ and Bengal Act VII of 1876), In Sylhet, as in Chittagong, the decennial settlement (afte; wards made permanent) only extended to lands actually measured i 9 No. 1152, dated 3rd October 1879 (Government of India). 10 Until 1874 Sylhet was like any other district in Bengal, but it then becanj a “ scheduled district.” If any enactments before applicable have been repeak! J since 1874, the repeal does not affect Sylliet, unless the repeal was by an Act of tlj 1 4 Indian Legislature, or a Regulation under 33 Vic., Cap. 3. Certain enactments wet ■ however, under the Local Laws Extent Acts declared not to apply to scheduled di i tricts, so that in case any of these (and the case was so) were actually administered 1 ■ Sylhet, it was necessary to declare their special applicability by notification : tkj < REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 745 1 >9 under Mr. Willes. Those lands, were, however, only a portion o lie lands in the district. But the permanently settled estates we afterwards increased in number, as will presently appear. § 2 . — Ildm lands. In 1802, under the orders of the Board of Revenue, patwaris we instructed to report what lands there were which ought to bsettled as not coming within Mr. Willes* measurements. The p waris reported, whereon the Collector issued proclamations calling f claims to these lands : all the land not included in the old per¬ tinent settlement has thus come to be called “ilam” (proclaimed lid). The patwaris’ reports showed some 350,000 acres of land, |t this was exclusive of areas of absolute waste which no one pfcended to claim. § 3 .—Ildldladi lands. The authorities offered leases of this area of 350,000 acres ; only amt one-eightli was taken up and settled in 1804, the rest no 03 would take because the old settlement-holders insisted that it vs theirs. The portions of the lands so settled were called llabadi lauds and were settled permanently, the rest were long lit under discussion. At length it was determined that they were » part of the original estates, but were allowed special terms: t;y were to be settled for twenty years, on the close of which pod they would, on the assessment being revised if necessary, be s tied permanently. § 4 .—Nature of the permanently settled estates. There are therefore several kinds of permanently settled estates, (stinguisfied by different names which it is hardly necessary I perpetuate. Thus we have “ dahsaua,” the old estates; Maimi,” estates permanently settled under Regulation III of 28; “ halabadi,’* the estates just alluded to; and so forth. The permanently settled estates are all small. In 1789 the ugkal system was found in force as elsewhere, but the collections 746 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. were managed by “ chaudharis.” In the neighbouring district Maimansingh the chaudharis became zamindars; but here, me | by a lucky chance than by anything else, they were not settl with, and consequently did not develop into zamindar proprietors The original settlers on the estates are called “ mirasdars There are few or no intermediate tenures. There are some £0,437 permanently settled estates (and very few in the Jaintiya territory which were permanently settled i 28,991 of these estates pay revenue exceeding one rupee, but k than 100 rupees, and more than 20,000 pay less than one rupee ! § 5.— Revenue-free holdings. There are many revenue-free estates called “ debottar,” “ bra] mottar ” as usual, and for Muhammadan purposes “ madad-maa'sh “ chiraghi,” &c., &c. There are more than 6,000 small estates this kind. § 6 .—Temporarily settled estates in Sylhet. These consist of the ilam lauds that were not permanent!™' settled as above related. These are still under settlement. The are shown in the registers under various names, but the distiiv tions are practically of no importance. The ilam lands (no ■ admitted to special terms as above mentioned) are settled accordin to rules published in the Assam Gazette in 1876. The princip: rule is that waste land is not allowed to be included in the estat to an unlimited extent. Only such an extent as is equal tj j one-fifth of the cultivated area is iucluded •, the rest is held at dis posal of Government under the “ waste land rules ; ” the settlemeni are to be for twenty years ; and estates the maximum revenue c.'j which after revision is not more than one rupee may redeem it b! paying twenty times the amount payable in the first year. The “ nankar patwargiri ” lands, which are temporarily settled are merely resumed lands which were supposed to be held as remu ncration by village patwaris : the appointments were abolished i: , 1835 and the grauts were resumed. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 747 § 7 .—Temporarily settled estates in Jainiiya. Under the Raja no rights in land were recognised. The whole ws parcelled out into small holdings, for which the raiyats paid pffcly in kind and partly in labour. There have been various si i't settlements since annexation in 1835, and then, a twenty yd's* settlement which expired in 1876. The holders of land are caed mirasdars, and they have had conceded to them by patta, a rilit which is practically proprietary and virtually the same as tit given under temporary settlements in Sylhet 1 . The difficulty of managing all these little holdings was at first cisiderable, and various proposals were made from time to time warding the tenure. At one time farmers were employed. Indeed, it s only at recent settlements that persistent efforts have been irle to settle with the actual cultivators on a system wdiich is vylike a raiyatwarl system, and can be worked well, if only lad is effectively registered and there are local establishments. The individual holdings, I said, were practically proprietary, b the Deputy Commissioner’s sanction is necessary to a transfer ai. this is specified in the pattas. Relinquishment of holdings is not recognised. Ordinary w ? aste lad, suitable to cultivation and not for the grants, i#not yet leased u ler any settled rules; but it is unnecessary to allude further t< this, as it is probable that uniform rules for Cachar and Sylhet, regards reclamation of waste, will be issued under the w'asle lad rules of 1876. There is a curious case of an estate, or rather group of potty holdings, in Ji.tiya which may be alluded to. Sylhet lime is famous, and the trade in it is la;e j it is obtained in the outer hills along the borders of the district. It seems that imrmer years a person named Inglis got a valuable grant of the right to work fcl limestone. Another person (Sweetlands) desiring to thwart him, immediately al ined a grant of all the waste plots in the Jaintiya parganas, his object being to bi; the command of the growth of reeds which were required to burn the lime. Iiiis managed, however, to do without the reeds, or to get over the difficulty in see way, but there are still plots of ground over the parganas known as the ‘‘.'eetlauds mahal.” 7 IS LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OP INDIA. § 8 .— Waste laud grants. Besides the ordinarily culturable waste just alluded to, tl ;e have been rules for grants to planters. The most numerous 'e the modern thirty years 5 leases, of which there are forty-tlie, covering an area of 35,607 acres. § 9 .—Redeemed estates. “ Sylhet , 55 says Mr. Ward, “ is the only district where the L J revenue assessed on estates is allowed to be redeemed / 5 But e redemption only is allowed under the ilam land settlement ru 3 , or generally in Sylhet (but not in Jaintiya) in estates paying it more than one rupee revenue. The proprietors do not, however, he to avail themselves of this power. § 10 .-—Collection of revenue. In Sylhet, Act XI of 1859 and Bengal Act YII of 1S68 e in force, but for a long time a curious custom existed side by s!e with the sale laws (and the Regulations which preceded thei. Arrears of revenue were collected by a staff of patwaris andmessi- gers under the orders of the Collector’s nazir, distraint of crops al sale of movable property being resorted to if necessary. This systu was not abandoned till 1865. There has been much corresponded about the operation of the sale laws in Sylhet . 2 This I shall it enter upon; the enormous number of small estates, and the fact tit the real proprietors of these may not be known, have no doit created some difficulties, but there was nothing that called for a r real change in the law. Section Y.—The Cachar District. § 1 .—Its history. The Cachar district was recovered in the Burmese war in 182 but it was merely given back to its own Raja. He was assassii 2 See Mr. Ward’s Note, § 301. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 719 ntI in 1830 and the district lapsed to the British Government. Itias always been a Non-Regulation district; for the terms of A VI of 1835, though they say nothing about removing ib district from the operation of ordinary laws and regulations st;e that the officers administering the district shall be controlled bj certain authorities acting under instructions from the Local ij ernment, which appears to have been understood to mean that lb officers were bound, not by the regular laws, but by instructions tb, they received. § 2.— The Caclidr hill division. The history of this district is very instructive. It consists of t? portions—the hills of North Cachar, and the plain district. T! hill portion is much less civilised than the plain country and is lhabited by wild tribes. It continued, indeed, a sub-division of Aligong till 1867, when the sub-division was abolished, and the - teitory became an integral part of the Cachar district. In some respects it still forms a separate district, at least nsegards its revenue, a house-tax being alone levied. In 1877, it is mentioned by Mr. Ward, a special Regulation was con- tc plated. This has been expanded into the Regulation II of 1880 allady alluded to, which may be applied to all frontier tracts iu- li; ited by backward uncivilised people : but it is not yet settled fl81) to what tracts it is to be applied, or what enactments arc toe prevented from operating under it. The Regulation V of 1873 a] lies, and an “ inner line'” between the southern district and the w ler hills has been established. § 3 .—The district generally. The district of Cachar formed one of the last resting places of tl Cachari tribe with their Raja. These people had once been a Dwerful governing race, coming from north of the Brahmaputra rhr; but their dynasty had been overthrown both by the Kochs, and la:r by the Ahams 3 , and therefore the people migrated south > J Statistical Account of Assam, Vol, II, page 391. 750 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. they crossed the range of hills that form the southern barri< of the Brahmaputra valley. Their , capital was at Demapur, ad afterwards at Maibong. While there, the Cachari Baja euted into relations with the neighbouring chiefs of Manipur, Jaimia, and Tippera, and obtained in marriage the daughter of the Tip ra Raja, with whom he acquired as dower the South Cachar terriiry between the Barak river and Chatarcliura on the confines of Tip] a. The capital of the Raja was then moved to Goabari, and tis successors also constantly moved their capitals, till the last Eja, Gobin Chandar, settled at Hari Tikar, where he was assassin; id in 1830. § I. —The inhabitants . The Raja appears to have encouraged settlers, and from tao to time sent down his chiefs and great men for this purp e. Thus it happens that the hill portion of the territory, is inhab ;d by Cacharis and the original tribes, Nagas, Kukis, Lushais, Dis, or Parbattias; and the south by the settlers, the overflowing Hilu and Muhammadan population of Sylhet, Tippera, &c. §5 .—TheKhel. The hill territories in the north were cultivated by “ jum ” id exhibit no features of special interest, but the Cachari Rajas org|- ised a rather curious system of dealing with the settlers on ie rich plains about the Barak river, which has left its mark on ie British revenue system. In a jungle-covered country of this kd it was but natural that the settlers should have come in corn pans' for mutual society, help, and protection. Such companies we called “ khel 4 .” In the kliel each man got as much land as e could cultivate, and the individual landholder is called (as in Syllio) “ mirasdar.” In every khel the leading men got various titles id were rewarded with certain revenue-free holdings : thus the chi- 4 Which is simply the Perso-Arabic term ‘ khel ’—a company or tribe, a tin introduced as it has been elsewhere. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 751 diiri of the khel got two “ bals ” 5 of land free, the mazumdar 1£, tl lasear H, the barabuyia 6 , and a majarbuyia 6 khears. The free holdings were afterwards abolished and the titles became a )urce of revenue, as they were sold, a chaudhari’s title fetching K 100, and so on. Each khel had an agent or representative (nkhtar). The kliels were grouped together in Raj’s, and the Raj h. also its representative at court, called “ R6j-mukhtar.” The khels were held jointly responsible for the revenue of every b ling in their local limits ; if a mirasdar failed to pay, the other irnbers paid np and took his holding; if the khel failed to pay ? tl whole Raj became responsible and took the land of the daulting khel. No outsiders were admitted. Originally the settlers had to supply service to the Raja ; the habitants of a certain place had to supply betelnuts, others fire- w)d, and so on ; and the group that supplied the particular article also designated “ khel.'” In the same way the revenues of the district were apportioned aong the different members of the royal family, and the group of h dings the revenue of which was assigned was also called “ khel ti.s there* were the ‘ kbel-ma ’ or bara-khel, the entire revenue of \\ich went to the Raja; the Maharani’s khel, one-fourth of which wilt to the Raja’s chief wife and three-fourths to the Raja ; the “hang jarai,” or younger brother’s khel; and soon. If the ijenues of a tract were devoted to religious purposes, that was aiin “khel;” thus there were the “ Bhisingsa khel,” devoted t the support of the worship of Kali; the Bishnughar khel, to that o Lakshmi Narain. These lands are still known, and now form ‘ aauzas 7 .” § 6.— Early British administration. Passing over the earlier revenue arrangements, the first impor- 5 The local Cachari land measure or. bal is equal to -l'S2 British acres; the bar is 2-5ths of an acre. 6 I spell this word as it is in McWilliam’s Report on Revenue Administration, 1 1-72. I believe the word is bhaiya, barabhaiya, &c., “ brother.” 7 McWilliam’s Report, §§ 33,34. 7o-2 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. taut step was the survey of the district made uuder Lieutenau Thuillier in 1841. The country had then been cultivated chief! 1 along the banks of the principal rivers, and the survey only extend ed to the cultivation and so much of the adjacent waste as it wa supposed could be reclaimed; the cultivated land was divided ink “ mauzas,” and the mauzas into “ dags.” The dags were aetuallj measured in the villages, but in the jungle the country was arbitra¬ rily divided by lines (dag) which crossed at right angles, so that tlu lot included in the space between the intersections .is called a dag, There were some tea grants which lay beyond the limits of the survey, and they were made into separate mauzas 8 . This plan led to much confusion when the jungle dags began to be taken up and cultivated 9 . There have been subsequent surveys, cultivated waste plots having been added on to the survey of 1841 by native surveyors. There was a costly survey in 1864-65, but it was of little practical value. Some special surveys for the tea estates were carried out in 1870-73. As the settlements expired in 1879 and new settlements would become necessary, a cadastral survey was commenced in 1878, but there were difficulties in the way, and the matter is not yet settled. It should be remembered that in the district the ‘ mauza ’ is a mere survey division of lands. It has no meaning such as attaches to the term in Upper India. The revenue mabal, not •> B “ MESVilliam’s Report, § 58. 9 * * Maps were prepared in which the cultivated lands were shown accurately and the jungle as a sheet of green. Lines were drawn horizontally and vertically, and in this sheet of green the divisions formed by four of these lines cutting one another were called dags. When an application was made for the'settlement of any of the land so marked out, an amfn was sent out to find the dag on the map which represented the land applied for. As these dags had never been laid down in the field and as there w-ere generally no marks to help the amfn in his search for them, it frequently happened that he made a mistake and reported as a certain dag a piece of land which actually was represented on the map by a dag having a different number.’* (Deputy Commissioner’s Report, quoted by McWilliam, § 59.) Tt then resulted that the holder of land was described in the papers as holding one lot, while in reality lie w'as holding another. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 753 the mauza, is the unit which represents the original grouping of land settlers, as I shall explain directly. § 7 . —Revenue system and procedure. The remarkable feature about the Cachar revenue is the survival of the joint responsibility. The old khel groups have in the course of years naturally been much altered bv resignations of holdings, by additions, and so forth, but in some long-settled tracts the old khel group is still recognised. The land being held under the Assam principle of raiyati holdings under a “ patta ” issued by Government } in Cachar each mahal is held under one patta. The mahal is 'a tract held by a body of persons who are joint in interest, and this joint interest arises out of the old khel grouping. But the old khel organisation has been otherwise lost, since there is no system of mukhtars and representatives of the community with the authorities as in old days. The number of co-sharers and signatories is often as large as 80 or 100. All the sharers or mirasdars are jointly liable for the revenue of the mahal specified in the patta; and this on the sole ground that either he or his fathers joined the group and took up a piece of land within its limits. Hindus and Muhammadans, low caste and high, are all found associated together in the mahal. The sharers in the mahal are at present left entirely to themselves as to the apportionment of the revenue responsibility over individual holdings, but in the present settlement it is probable that some sort of record of rights will be made : no such record has hitherto existed. These joint holdings are quite peculiar to the districts of *■ Cachar and Sylhet. The settlement conveys a right of occupancy and a right to a resettlement at the close of the term. A good deal of discussion has taken place about the custom of “ghashwat.” The practice under the old Cacbari Raj I have already described; if a man failed to pay the revenue due on his holding, the other sharers in the khel took up the land absolutely. This was early modified (in 1833), and it was held that, on default, the estate might be given to any one, but that two years' grace 2 z 754 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. should be allowed during which the mirasdar might obtain i entry on paying up the revenue. But this was found not to wo and the ghasawatdar was again declared irremovable. In 1857 t question was again raised, and a long correspondence ensued, was then decided that on an estate falling into arrear, and an off being made under the ghasawat rule, the land should be put up ; nj auction, and the title become absolute. As there is joint responsibility, the right of pre-emption b been held to exist both among Hindus and Musalmans. In fact pr emption in this case is not a peculiar right derived from Muhan madan law, but is a very natural right, which exists in all joint con munities in Upper India, for example ; and is important to tl joint body, as enabling them to keep together and resist the breakin up of their body by the intrusion of strangers. § 8 .—Revenue collection and law . In Cachar the Bengal sale laws are not in force. Arrears c revenue are collected in a manner similar to the baki-jai process i Assam Proper. The district is divided into three collecting circle or tahsils. Instalments of revenue fall due in the months of Jul) 1 October, and January. On the first of the month succeeding tha in which an instalment falls due, a notice or “ dastak 33 is issued t the defaulter 10 . If this fails, a second is issued carrying with i attachment of movable property. This is generally sufficient; i not, the property is sold; and if that fails, a third process is issuei ' against the estate itself, and the estate is sold by the Depub i Commissioner himself. The sale of estates in the last resort lrai been sanctioned by Government 1 . 30 As the mahals are joint, a very large number of these dastaks has sometime to issue, so that all sharers may have notice; anil this may give rise to the impressioi that the revenue is got in with difficulty, and only by a copious use of coercive processes : this is not the case. 1 Despatch of Secretary of State, No. 30, dated 22nd January 1860. Bengal Government, to Board of Revenue, No. 2158, dated 22nd August 1860. REVENUE SYSTEM OF ASSAM. 755 § 9.— Partition. Batwaras or partition cases are, as may be expected, common A ^ in Cachar, but are Conducted on rules introduced in 1870, which do not appear to have the force of law. § 10 .—Rent cases. Kent cases were decided in the spirit of Act X of 1859, though that Act is not formally in force in Cachar ; and when, in 1869, Bengal Act VIII repealed Act X, aud made over rent cases to the Civil Courts, it became the custom in Cachar to hear rent :ases in the Civil Court also. It is contended that this is done under instructions which can be issued for the guidance of the Courts under Act VI of 1835. 756 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. CHAPTER III. REVENUE SYSTEM OF COORG. Section I. —General History. ' ' § 1 .—Early history. This little province has a considerable interest from the poir of view of the historian of land tenures in India, because it is a instance of a conquest (not an immigration of an entire population of a powerful tribe who divided the land into chiefs’ estates, ver much as the Nairs of Malabar did. This system has had its curiou effect on the modern and surviving- land tenures. Colonel Wilks, in his history, says that the Coorgs 1 are descend ed from the conquering army of the Kadamba kings. The Kadamba kingdom, in the north-west of Mysore, appears t( have embraced all the countries in the vicinity. It was the Kadambt race that afterwards founded the Yijayanagar sovereignty; and at the end of the 16th century Coorg was still ruled by its owe princes, as mentioned by Eerishta; hut by that time it seems that' the whole country was divided into chiefsliips owning the suzerainty of Yijayanagar. The chiefs were called “ Nayaka. ” As usual in Indian history, things went on in this way till one of the Nayakas becoming more powerful than the rest, established himself as the Raja over the; whole. The Haleri family thus became dominant, but the other Coorgs were still the leading caste, and held their lands by a peculiar and superior tenure to that by which other landholders held. After various fortunes 2 , among which wars and slaughter were J Coorg is an Anglicised form of Kodagu ; the Coorg people are Kodagas. A long story about this—which for my present purposes is quite without interest—is to be found iu Mr, Rice’s Gazetteer of Mysore and Coorg (Bangalore Government Dross, 1878), Vol. Ill, pages 100—194. REVENUE SYSTEM OF COORG. 757 the most common, after being overrun by Haidar Ali and Tfpu Sultan's armies, Coorg became the ally of the East India Company. Things seemed to promise well up to about 1811, when a Raja, lamed SingaRaja, obtained the government, having originally been ippointed the guardian of the minor heir of the former Raja, ifter a reign of untold wickedness and cruelty he died in 1820, and vas succeeded by his son Viva Itaja, who was, if possible, worse than lis father. In 1833 these iniquities compelled the interference of lie British Government ; but all peaceful means having failed, it vas at last necessary to send a force. The country was formally : unexed by proclamation in May 1831. I § 2.— Present administration. At present Coorg is managed under a Chief Commissioner who also is Resident for Mysore) and by a Superintendent. The itter has two Assistants. Coorg is a scheduled district under Act [IV of 1874, and is subject to the 33 Vic., Cap. 3. The civil and criminal courts are constituted under Act XXV f 186S. But there is, I believe, an amending Regulation about o be passed. The division of the country is into six taluqs, comprising twenty - mr nads. The nad 3 consists of a group of gramas, or villages, lut the village is not like an Indian village,—a local group of elds with an inhabited site in the midst—it consists of a number f detached farms or “ vargas 33 with houses on them. • Each taluq is in charge of a “ Subahdar , 33 and each nad has a eadman called “ parpattagar.” Section II.— Land Tenures. § 3 .—Early tenures. Just as in Malabar, where we have noticed a traditional divi- ou of land between the priestly class and the rulers, it is a tradi- 3 In Yolusavira and part of Nanjarajpatna the “ nad ” is called “ liobli.” Thera so lands arc held by hereditary patcls. 758 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. tion that Coorg was divided between the Kodagas and their hevei. tary priesthood, the Amma Kodagas. After the accession of t: Haleri Rajas, the leading classes still continued to hold land on . more favourable tenure than others. From the census of 1871 it would appear that aboutl5 per cei only of the population were Coorgs and 76 per cent. Hindus, t. small remainder being Muhammadans and others. To the privileg tenure of the Coorgs a few other classes have been from time time admitted 4 ; all the lower orders, and the original populatic were probably treated as serfs by the Coorgs. In Coorg itself, that is, inside the ghat barriers, all or neat all the cultivation is wet or rice land, with the exception tli coffee cultivation is practised on the slopes and waste lands abov Dry cultivation is found at the foot of the ghats, in Yelusavir snime, &c. § 4 .—The Jamma tenure . This tenure, in which the reader will recognise the Sanski . \ e: janma'”—birthright (as in the janmi tenure of Malabar,) is proprietary tenure distinguished by paying only half the ordinal assessment or Rs. 5 per 100 bhattis of waste land 5 . Land held on this tenure cannot be sold, mortgaged, or alienate in any way without the sanction of Government. The reason this is that the land cannot be held on this tenure except by tl- privileged classes. A sanad is granted for every holding, and succession fee, “ nazar kanike,” is paid on receiving the sanad, i three yearly instalments, also a fee called “ ghatti jamma ” c taking possession. This is no doubt a relic of the feudal tenure > the old Nayakas, just as we see a succession fee paid in the chief estates under the Ajmer Rajput system. The land is also held c condition of rendering service if required. 4 A detailed account will be found in Rice’s Gazetteer, Vol. Ill, page 233 et seq\ 5 Tbe bbatti is a very small land measure, of which 100 are equal to 3 acres (<| according to another notice 25 bhattis —% acre. See Administration Report, 1872-7 page 19 et seq. REVENUE SYSTEM OF COORG. 759 No remission of revenue can be claimed by holders of land on his tenure. The land was all divided into farms or “ vargas, ” and each amma landholder held one or more “ vargas ” according to the ize of the family group. I Previous to Tipu’s invasion, divisions of property and separation f families were rare; large ‘ house communions 3 existed, and it was iot uncommon to find thirty-five or forty grown-up male relations, nd many families consisting of upwards of 100 or even 120 members iving under the same roof 6 . Of late years a certain amount of nternal division of holdings as a matter of arrangement among the amilies takes place, but 1 am informed that actual partition is not fficially recognised and is regarded as illegal and improper 7 . But till this can only be done if all consent; any one separating himself therwise, is looked on as an outcast by the remainder, and can laim no share of the common stock, but must depend on his own esources. The eldest member (Yejman) of the chief family is the head of he house, and holds the sanad and the property is registered in his lame. The vargas always include “bane,” that is, a portion of forest n the hills which gives firewood, bamboos, branches for burning o manure the rice fields, and so forth, and some low barren land n which the cattle grazed, called “ barike . 33 In former days the jamma lands were cultivated by aid of slaves, ['liis was not recognised by the British Government, and the slaves oon found that no one could interfere with them if they left, and vent to cultivate coffee or other lands, where profitable wages were iffered. This was the source of much difficulty, since the jamma owners ladno means of cultivating their lauds and could not let or alienate 6 Gazetteer, Vol. Ill, p. 329. It would seem that if a part of a ‘ varga ’ was broken ip, it could only be held on the common or sagu tenure. I 7 It is said that the Rajas encouraged division, because it caused more land to be aken up, and also discouraged the practice of polyandry. 760 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. them. It was ultimately determined that a portion of the holdir might be sublet on the “ vara ” plan (metayer, or paying half pr duce); this tenancy has to be offered to certain classes in order as not to alter the tenure more than is unavoidable. § 5 .—Sagu tenure. The ordinary tenure of the country is the “sagu;” it is s 1 •! occupant’s raiyati tenure, with no condition of service, and it pa; Es. 10 per hundred bhattas. Kemission of revenue is allowed f< land that could not be cultivated 8 . Partition of jointly held sag land is not objected to. The holder of sagu land receives a sagava chitu, or lease from Government signed by the Subahdar. Certain raiyati lands were in the Baja’s time allowed a ligl • assessment for certain services performed, and these are calle “umbali” lands. A somewhat different system of tenure Ion; prevailed in the Yelusavirashime country at the foot of th ghats. Here the village patels managed the revenue, each village being farmed to them. But this proved oppressive and inconve nient, and in 1801 the Baja ordered the lands in the taluq t< be measured just the same as the land within the Coorg barriers consequently the holdings became raiyatwar, and a “ beriz ” (berij) or account of tbe rates assessed on each field, was made out, and is maintained to this day. In the taluq the original inhabitants hold chiefly on this tenure, but immigrants from the neighbouring districts are looked upon as tenants of the former, on a “waram” tenure, which is in fact the familiar metayer. § 6 .—Bane lands. To every holding of sagu land, just as in the jamma tenure the holder acquires a strip of “ bane ” land,—that is, woodland on the slopes above the valley where his rice cultivation is, to yield 8 There were formerly two classes of sagu tenure, which paid at different rates- This is still kept up, hut transfers from one class to another do not now take place It is not necessary to go into details on the subject. REVENUE SYSTEM OF COOIiG. 761 him grazing, firewood, and above all bamboos, branches and herbage which he burns in the rice fields to give ash-manure to the soil 9 . In the jamma tenure, as the bane is included in the sanad, it is a part of the property. In the case of sagu. holdings the use of it at any rate, and of all its products, except sandalwood, belongs to the holder of the lease. The bane of jamma holdings may be used for growing coffee (i.e., on the old or local method, without clearing the forest) free of assessment. In sagu banes only 10 acres may be cultivated with coffee. The cultivated fields lie along the level of the valleys, the bane lands attached to the holdings being on the slopes on either 4 side. There is no dry cultivation assessed in Coorg itself, but in the taluq at the foot of the ghats such land (dependent on rainfall) is assessed. § 7 .—Forest cultivation. “ Kumri ” cultivation was practised in the high forests of the ghats, and though prohibited now, will probably be again allowed to a limited extent under proper conditions. Cardamom cultivation, by protection of the seedlings which 9 The Superintendent has kindly sent me a memorandum on bane lauds. The term properly means land for pasturage attached to every holding or varga of culti¬ vation (which was always in Coorg wet or rice cultivation) whether on the jamma or the sagu tenure. It answers to the “kurow” of the taluqs outside the barrier, and in some respects to the “kans ” of Kanara and the “ nagar ” of the Mysore country. As long as the land attached to the holding was used for pasture and for supplying manure, no question would naturally arise as to whether the soil was the property of the landholder; but of late years persons have begun to cultivate coffee on the bane, which is obviously a new departure altogether, and even {to sell the bane laud. It seems to me that in reality the bane ought to be looked on as an appendage to the holding, the woods and surface products (except sandalwood) being at the entire dis¬ posal of the landholder, and that he may cultivate coffee by the ordinary plan, which does not cause the clearing of the jungle, but that he has no right to put the bane to any other use, still less to alienate it, unless along with the cultivation, in virtue i jof which it was originally held. This, however, is only an opinion. I aui not aware that the status of the bane has been authoritatively settled. ' 6 A 762 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. spring up spontaneously when small clearings are made in t: ever-green forest, is also practised. § 8 .—Royal farms or Panniyas. As a curious relic of the old quasi-feudal institutions of Raj and Chiefs in Coorg, I should mention that the Raja retaim various farms or royal estates in various parts, the produce which went entirely to him. In some cases they were cultivatt by metayer tenants, but ordinarily by a large body of slaves. T1 farms were exceedingly well-cared for and highly cultivated 10 . The slave question gave rise to some difficulty on the annex; tion of the province, but it was ultimately settled. The farnc | themselves were divided into the usual “ vargas ” and were dispose of like any other land held in sagu tenure. § 9 .—Coffee land tenure. There was beside the ghdt forest, and the bane lands wantei for cultivated holdings, a very large area of waste. Much of this was suited to the cultivation of coffee. Indeed a good deal of th( bane land has been cultivated with coffee without destroying th( trees. Where this waste is forest land (for coffee cultivation) it is applied for under “ waste land rules/"’ Where it is ordinary mea¬ sured land that happens to be available, it is (whether taken up for dry or for wet cultivation) held on the ordinary sagu # tenure, but with a certain graduated scale of assessment, to encourage ■ the cultivator and help him over the initial expense of clearing < and establishing fields. When waste was taken up for coffee culti- ' vation it was formerly held revenue-free, but the produce was liable to an export duty (halat) of 4 anas per maund of 28 lbs., or one rupee per cwt. of clean coffee. In October 1863 this was abolished and a uniform assessment of from one to two Rupees per acre 1 for the whole area was introduced from 1st May 1864. 10 Gazetteer, Vol. Ill, p. 319. 1 For tlie first four years assessment is not levied, then from 5 to 12 years Re. 1, 1 and after that Rs. 2 (Administration Report, 1872-73, § 32). REVENUE SYSTEM OF COORG. 763 § 10 .—!Jodi lands. Certain lands are held by grant of the sale on a fixed revenue called jodi. In other words, the land is not absolutely revenue- free, but on favourable terms or half assessment. Such lands are held by patels in Yelusavirashime (resembling the “ watan ” of Western India) and by religious institutions all over Coorg. The 1 tenure closely resembles the jamma tenure, since it pays the same rate (Rs. 5 per 100 bhattis). It cannot be sublet, and if left uncultivated may be given by the District Officers to any raiyat on a sagu tenure, in which case, however, one-half of the assessment is paid over to the institution. § 11 .—Sacred groves. Throughout the country certain groves called Devarakadu and held sacred by the people have been exempted from assessment or being liable to grant as waste lands, on condition that they, are kept up as sacred groves. Of late, however, there has been a tendency among the more advanced and less superstitious headmen to cultivate coffee-in these groves ; this is argued to be an infringement of the purpose of the groves and of the conditions under which they are held revenue-free. There is a correspondence going on about this subject at the time I am writing. Section III. —Revenue Administration. § 1 .—Survey and Settlement. The settlement system is virtually permanent. A survey has only been introduced in order to deal with waste laud and coffee ( grants. No survey of the raiyats’holdings has been made, as it i is not required, but a topographical survey was made. The wholo of the land had been permanently assessed in 1866 by one of tho Rajas, and the “ shist ” or account of this assessment has been maintained. The jamma tenure is obviously a grant under sanad, and the i assessment, at half the sagu rate on wet cultivation, is therefore absolute. 764 LAND REVENUE AND LAND TENURES OF INDIA. There has been no absolute declaration that the sagu assessmei will never be raised, but at present the rates of the old shist accoun are maintained. § 2 .—Taxes on land. Besides the revenue, all rice lands pay dhuli-batta, and there i a house tax ; and there formerly was a tax levied to cover tb State expenses of a festival (called huttari) at the beginninj of the monsoon. This is abolished. The dhuli-batta is curious : it indicates the “ dust of the thresh ing-floor ”—the refuse paddy which was accepted as a voluntar offering by the first Haleri chief, when warily assuming the domi nion over Coorg. Of course in due time it became a regular tax and no refuse paddy. In 1868-69 this was commuted into a monei 1 payment. A plough tax is also levied to pay for the cost of education. I is levied both on jamma and sagu lands, being 4 anas per plougl on jamma and 3 anas on sagu holdings. § 3 .—Revenue procedure. The revenue procedure is guided by Regulation III of 1880 This is chiefly concerned with detailed provisions regarding the recovery of arrears 2 by distraint and sale of movable property, or by attachment and management of land and by sale of land. It provides that all the Government revenue may be recovered in the same way. That Civil Courts have no jurisdiction in any question as to the rate of land revenue, or amount of assessment, but redress may be had in the Civil Court by persons deeming themselves aggrieved by any proceedings under the Regulation, such suit beiug brought within six months from the time at which the cause of action arose. 2 Revenue is in arrear when any ‘kist’ or instalment is not paid on the date! REVENUE SYSTEM OF COORG. 765 I understand that the old revenue practice laid down in 1834 i still followed; that the Subahdars and Parpattagars have to ispect the lands and look after the cultivation, and in December > come to head-quarters and assist in the preparation of a jamabandi,” or roll showing the revenue to be paid by all the liyats, and they make the collections according to the kists or istalments fixed. ENGLISH INDEX Page A Acquisition of lund for public purposes why not included . 458 Act for the better government of India . 25 Acts (Legislative), the term explained.29 Alienated lands, Bombay . 568-591 — - lands (Bombay), sum¬ mary settlement of . . . 592 -- villages (Berar), right in . 617 Alienation Department (Bombay). See Lnam Commission . . 592 Alluvial lands. Settlement sur¬ vey of (Bengal) . . . 257 ■ -Settlement sum- ■ mary of (Upper India) . . 298 Alluvion (Bombay) . . . 603 ■ - (Madras) . . . 685 Ancestral shares, system of, in Upper Indian villages . . 357 Arbitration regarding boundaries (Upper India) .... 280 Aryan races, double immigration of (note) . . . .47-465 Assam Chief Commissiotiership . 724 - province constituted . . 12 -, tenures and system of . 730 Assessment. Akbar’s method . 172-3 --. Method of, in early days, Bengal (note) . . . 172 -—--, Permanent, in Bengal 175 --, in temporarily settled estates (Bengal) . . . 201 -to be paid uniformly 322 ■ - (Upper India), who engages to pay . . . .329 *-, proportion of rent or produce taken by Government I (Upper India) .... 324 -, proportion of rent or j! produce taken (Burma) . . 715 -, difficulty in Regu- | lation VII of 1882 regarding . 302 -- , remarks in the fi “Directions” regarding . 307 Page Assessment in North-Western Provinces. .... 303 --, “aggregate to detail ” .303 -, (Upper India), earlier methods.301 - Native methods (note).304 -, modern system in North-Western Provinces des¬ cribed .... 300-310 - zones (North- Western Provinces) . .312-13 -system in Oudh . , 315 - - in the Panjab . 317 -in Central Pro¬ vinces ..... 323 - of tanks in Ajmer . 542 -in Bombay . . . 557 -in joint villages (Bombay) .... 585 ■-• (Madras) . . . 667 - (Assam) . . . 736 - (Burma) . . . 714 - (Coorg) . . . 763 Assistant Collector (Bengal) . 247 - Collector’s powers, (North-Western Provinces and Oudh).461-2 - Collector (Bombay) . 597 -Collector (Madras) . C75 Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners, powers of (Pan- jab) ..... 463 -- (Central Provinces) . 464 B Bengal, acquisition of . . - 161 - Settlement, character of the.. H9 -, Lieutenant-Governorship, origin of .... 7 -. Nee Tenures, Settlement, Revenue Officers, &c., &c. Berar. See Berar in Vernacular Index. 768 ENGLISH INDEX. Page liernr, origin of as a province . 12 Board of Revenue (Bengal) . . 244 -(North-Western Provinces) .... 460 -(Madras) . . 675 Bombay and Madras Legislative powers .... 27-33 -and Madras Settlement system sketched . . . 126 - system described in detail 547 -. See Tenures, Settlement Officer, &c., &c. Boundaries; of districts, tahsils. &c. .... 10-278 --— laid down at settle¬ ment (Upper India) . . 278 -— peculiarity in demar¬ cation of, in Oudh . . . 282 -, maintenance of (Upper India) .... 495 --, method of laying down, in Bombay . . . 555 - (Burma) . . 712 -(Berar) . . .611 --•, maintenance of (Madras).685 Boundary disputes (Madras Act XXVIII of I860) . . .685 - marks, maintenance of (Bombay) .... 601 Brandis, Mr., description of a curious system of toungya in part of Burma. . . . 707 Burma (British), origin of, as a province .... 11 --, description of . . . 690 --, land tenures of . . 693 -, Revenue system . . 709 C Cardamom cultivation (Coorg) . 761 “ Ceded and Conquered” districts, the.138 Central Provinces, constitution of 11 --. See Settlement, Ten¬ ures, Village, &c., &c. Cesses under Native Governments, Bengal . . . 174 —<■»-abolished .... 175 --- separate from the iand revenue, now taken (Upper India).325 - (Burma) . . .716 - (Act IV of 1864, Madras) 677 Pa< Chief Commissioner, origin of the office. Chiefs’ Estates in Ajmer . . 5: “ Circular G ” (Central Provinces) 41 Civil Court, powers of, to Set¬ tlement Officers . . . 3l j Coffee cultivation (Coorg) . . 7< Collector (Bengal) . . 2* 3 - (Bombay) . . 5 ij - (Madras) . . 61 -(N.-W. ITovinces) . 4( ! Collectorate (Bombay). See Dis¬ trict .51 I Commission, the Inam (Madras) . 65 I -(Bombay) 5£ I Commissioner (Bengal) . . 24 - (Bombay) . . 59 -(Berar) . . 60 j -(Upper India) 461, 463-6 -(Burma) . 719, 69 Commissioners, none in Madras . 67 Community. See Village. Conquest, modern, results of changes by .... 8 ! •-, Muhammadan, gene¬ ral effects of the . . . 7 ! - (Maratha), effect of . 8 ! -(Sikh), effect of . Conquests, effect of the different, on land tenures . . . T Cornwallis, Lord, his views (note) 125 - j h; s arr ival in India and action . . . 165 Council of India ... 25 Council, Legislative and Exe¬ cutive, described ... 32 --. See Legislature. D Decennial. See Settlement. Demarcation (Burma) . . 712 -. See Boundaries. “ Deposit villages ” (Oudh) . 385 Deputy Collector (Bengal) . 245 1 -(N.-W. Prov¬ inces) .... 461 -- (Bombay) . . 597 -(Madras) . 675 - Commissioner (Oudh) . 642 -(Pan jab) . 463 -(Central Provinces) . . . 464 Districts, List of, in India, with dates .... 15 ENGLISH INDEX. 769 Districts, Scheduled . -The (Bombay) I-The (Madras) E .. East India Company, origin of the title (note) .... Engagement for Revenue (Upper * India). Exproprietary tenant -- (Ajmer) P Field, the, in the Bombay Survey system. -- or Survey number, tlie (Madras) . Forest lands in Khoti Estates (Bombay) .... Frontier Regulation, Assam G Government of India described -——--. See Home • Government. i-- , rights of, in soil generally. See Grants made by Mughal Gov¬ ernments in Bengal, Ac., effect of .... 2, -recognised as valid (Bengal) ■-of land (Burma) - — ■ . See “Waste Land.” Grazing allotments (Burma) Groves, sacred (Coorg) -in Oudli . . . H [Headman (Upper India) called Lambardar, duties of -(or patel) Central Prov¬ inces . I- of village (Burma) I-(Berar) Si-(Madras) '■! Holdings (under raiyatwari sys- $ ! tern), number and size of (note) Tome Government how constituted louse communiou in Coorg Immigration of tribes, different effects of . 46, 645 Indian Councils Act, the . . 31 Inferior proprietors (Panjab) . 423 -proprietory rights (Cen¬ tral Provinces) . . . 445 -(Bombay) . . . 581 -. See “ Sub-proprietor,” “ Under-tenures.” Inner Line, Assam districts . 725 Inspection of villages (Bombay) . 599 Inspector of Revenue (Madras). See ..... 675 Interpretatoin of Acts applying to “ British India ”... 26 Irrigation, assessment with re¬ gard to (Panjabi . . . 321 ■-method of considering, in assignment .... 561 -, Ajmer, mode of assess¬ ment ..... 541 - , mode of assessing (Madras) .... 671 J Joint responsibility for re¬ venue, a feature of the village System .... 141, 413 -responsibility created in some cases in Panjab (note) . . 413 -report, the (Bombay) . . 551 -. See “ Village.” Judicial functions of settlement officers (Upper India) . . 336 K Kingdom, Ancient Hindu, des¬ cribed .49 L Land, acquisition of, for public purposes .... 458 Land and Revenue Act, the Burma.G97 Land revenue, rational of . 106 -, theory of (Burma) 694 -, right of State to share produce of soil . . 106-7 --, general view of system of .... 106 Pags 37 597 675 4 329 377 532 552 666 591 749 26 107-8 113 180 702 703 763 391 480 431 720 638 676 134 25 759 770 ENGLISH INDEX. Land revenue, first attempts at management under British rule. --, early method of collecting . • -, Bengal system sketched ..... -, mistakes about Bengal system -, Bengal system mo¬ dified for other provinces • -system, origin of the provincial (Orissa, N. W. Provinces, &c.) ■ -, system of Upper India (Reg. VII of 1822) sketched. • -, first steps in man¬ agement under E. I. Company . • -The raiyatwari sys¬ tem sketched • - system in N. W. Provinces sketched . ■ - system in Oudh sketched . -system in the Pan¬ jab sketched .... — - system in the Cen¬ tral Provinces sketched . — - system, adoption of the raiyatwari, in Berar . — - system in Rajpu- tana (Ajmer) . . . 525, — - systems of minor provinces sketched ■ ---- systems. Table showing “ conspectus ” of --(Bengal) detailed . ----(Upper India) de¬ tailed ..... --- (Berar) . -system, raiyatwari (Bombay) . . . 135, --- (Madras) . 126, -- system of separate provinces .... --- (Assam). .-(Burma). -(Coorg) . - system, effect of the raiyatwari, on that of the N. W. Provinces .-systems, merits of, comparison of one with another deprecated .... Land Revenue officials (Bengal) . - (Upper India). Pagi Land Revenue officials in N. W. Provinces, grades of . . 46( --— (Oudh) . 46; -(Panjab) . 46c --(C entral Provinces) .... 464 -——— (Bombay). 591 j - (Berar) . 635 I -(Madras) . 675 -(Burma) . 7lt< J' Landholder under raiyatwari system 12E : -in Berar . . .612 —- (Burma), status of . 70C ■ Landlord, zamindar considered as a {note) .... 177 Land-tenures. See “ Tenures.” -, general review of . 42 " -, some common fea¬ tures observed throughout . 420 ' Law, Indian, power of making . 24 1 Legislative power in England . 26l ----Councils, table show¬ ing history of . . . . 35 Legislature, first form of .27 ■- -, the second Indian . 29 ! ( -in its third form . 30 " -in its present form . 31 " -, Local, powers of . 33j - Legislatures, Indian, described . 24 -, Indian table showing history of .... 40 Lieutenant-Governorship, power to make new .... 10 Local Administration explained . 9 -Government, powers of . 9 - Funds (Act IV of 1871) (Madras). 684 - M Madras, revenue system of, des¬ cribed .642 -, tenures of 658 Madras and Bombay Legislature, powers of . . . . 27, 33 Middleman between State and cultivator. See . . 120, 125 Mortgages (Malabar) . . 651, 665 Muhammadan conquests, effect of (generally) .... 79 Muhammadan conquest in Madras, effect of .... 652 N Non-regulation Province, term explained ... 13 Pag® 162 108-9 117 117 117 125 138 114 126 141 145 143 149 610 529 153 155 161 273 607 547 642 689 724 690 756 548 548 244 457 / ENGLISH INDEX. 771 Non-regulation Province, how differs from Regulation . N. W. Provinces, origin of the Occupancy, question about, in Berar {note) .... —■-— rights. See “ Tenant.” Officers. See “ Collector, ” &c„ “ Revenue; and patwari” &c. (in vernacular index). Officials. See Land Revenue. Oudh, revenue system of -tenures .... •-. See “ Boundaries, ” “ De¬ marcation,” “ Groves,” “ Land Revenue Officers, ” “ village, ” &c., &c. Pagb 15 7 627 278 384 Panjab, constitution of province 1 {note) ..... 10 — - , revenue system of . . 274 ——, tenures of 395 -frontier tribes. See “ Vil- i lage, ” “ Land llevenne, ” &c. . 404 Pa rgana note-books prepared during settlement (fiscal and his¬ torical information) . . .314 Parliament, power of, in I n d i an Legislation .... 26 Partition ( Bengal) of joint estates. 259 -(Bombay) . . . 602 - (Upper India) . . 491 - ■ - perfect,whereby the joint revenue liability is dissolved objected to in Panjab . . 493 .-(Madras) . . . 685 Permanent settlement. See also “ Settlement. ” ... 121 “ Plough ” or area one plough and its cattle can manage, division of land into . . . 60, 647 “ Plough tax ” (Coorg). . . 764 Pre-emption, right of, to keep the communities together {note) . 401 Presidencies, the origin of 4 Presidency town, origin of the term ...... 4 Property in land, native owners of {note) ..... 87-8 Proprietary right in India discuss¬ ed ...... 86 -right how defined . 90 Proprietary tenures, broad classifi cation of . Proprietor of his holding ” (malik inaqbuza is usually so trauslat ed in Central Provinces). See Provinces, present constitution of not attached to Presi dency. Government of , different types of “ vil lage ” prevalent in each “ Pure ” taluqdars (Oudh) R Record of rights (Bengal) in North-Western Provinces and Upper India, do cuments forming maintenance (Upper India) ‘ ( Burma) (Berar) Records. See “ Settlement. ” -, list of (Upper India) Register of tenures, “ common’ and “ special” (Bengal) . Registers of land (Bengal] forms for .... Registration of landed estate (Bengal), original plan . -of under-tenure (Bengal) .... -of landed estate (Bengal) at the present day Subordinat th tenures (Bengal), modern Regulations, Code of (Bengal) .... --—, under 33 Victoria cap. 3 “ Regulation ” district or pro viuce .... -- VII of 1822, histor of. See . . . 13 Relinquishing land, process o under raiyatwari scttlemen See . _land for a tim peculiar process in Burma Remissions of revenue, fixed am occasional (Madras system) Rent, enhancement of, occupanc tenants (Bengal), difficulty rc garding. - . Under our settlements, old Government revenue becomes the proprietors . Pask 91 447 10 75 385 206 344 488 717 615 340 256 253 181 183 252 255 28 30 15 269 369 701 678-9 264 305 772 ENGLISH INDEX. Paqb Rent. See Tenant. Rent and Tenant Law, North- Western Provinces . . . 381 Rent Courts and Laws (North- Western Provinces and Oudh).503 Rent law (Bengal) . . . 262 Rent-rate, ascertainment of, for purposes of assessment (N. W. Provinces) . . . 310-11 Resettlement (Panjab) . . . 276 Resumption of invalid grants of land (Bengal) .... 180 Revenue. See “ Land Revenue. ” ■ ■■ procedure and business (Bengal) . . . 214, 265 -(Bombay) . . . 605 - (Upper India) . . 457 -(Madras) . . .677 - (Assam) . . . 739 -(Cachar) . . . 753 -- (Berar) . . .636 - (Burma) . . . 720-1 ■ -(Coorg). . . . 764 -, recovery of arrears in (Bengal) .... 261 —-, recovery of (Bombay) . 603 --, recovery of (Upper India) ..... 498 -, (Upper India), time for paying.497 •-, recovery of arrears (Burma).722 ■ -, collection of arrears (Madras) .... 682-3 --, recovery of arrears in Sylhet.748 ■ - Courts (Upper India) . 459 -cases in Upper India . 458 .-, proportion of produce taken by Government as. See “ Assessment. ” -collection under Sikhs {note )|.225 ■ -rates (Bombay) . . 563 -rates for assessment pur¬ poses (Panjab). See • . 318 ■ - rate reports (Panjab), examples of (note) . . . 320 -- rate of Native Govern¬ ment becomes rent under British rule. See . , . 205 Revision of settlement (Bombay) 659 -(Madras) . 673 Rights. See “ Proprietary Rights in Land” (Burma) . . . 697 Road cess (Bengal) . . . 266 Pags S Sacred groves, Coorg . . i 763 Sale laws for recovery of revenue (Bengal).261 Scheduled districts . . . 437 -- in N. W. P. and Panjab as regards Revenue Law. See . . . 272 and note ----(N. W. P.), note on tenures and revenue systems of ... 506 Settlement, meaning of the term 116, 274 --, general results of, tables showing . . . 156-7 ■ -, Ak bar’s, in Bengal . 171-2 -under Regulation VII of 1822 (the basis of all non- raiyatwari settlements in Panjab and Upper India), character of . 141 --, Bengal, character of the.119 -decennial, Rules for . 165 ——, Permanent, in Bengal, list of districts under . . 186 --, Permanent, in Bengal, criticism on ... 124 ————, the Permanent, des¬ cribed . . . • • 161 -, Permanent, results of (Bengal).184 --— temporary (Bengal), districts under . . - 187 — —-, temporary (Bengal), with whom made . . . 204 --, temporary (Bengal), procedure of ... 198 -, temporary (Bengal), term of . . - • • 205 ■ -, temporary (Chitta¬ gong) . . . • • 191 --— Report (Bengal), what it contains .... 207 --, Permanent, extended to Benares (N. W. P.). . 138, 273 -proposal to make per¬ manent, in N. W. Provinces . 143 -Regulation VII of 1822 (for Upper India). See . 269 __ 5 n. W. Provinces, Oudh, Panjab and Central Pro¬ vinces why on the same basis. See .... 145, 270 - with whom made (Upper India) - • 380, 436 - how set in operation (N. W. P.) . . . • 275 ENGLISH Page Settlement (Oudli) . . . 275 -(Panjab). . . .276 -(Central Provinces) . 276 -- “ Regular, ” “ Sum¬ mary,” “re-settlement,” (Pan- jab) . . . . _ . 276 .-of Hazara, note on " . 518 •-, procedure of (Upper India).275 ■-, close of tbe proceed¬ ings (Upper India) . . 335 --, “minor,” in Upper India.494 ——- in the Central Pro¬ vinces, history of . . 149, 428 --, raiyatwari, its origin . 126 --(Bombay), early his¬ tory of . ... 131, 549 — -, attempt to introduce joint-village settlement into Bombay ..... 549 -, dates of, in Bombay . 571 ■ -, revision of, in Bombay 569 - ■ ■ — , Permanent, in Madras 127, 653 ■ - (joint-village), attempt to introduce, Madras . . 655 -, raiyatwari, in Madras 126, 654 --•, description of, Madras 671 ■ -, present state of, in Madras ..... 657 ■ -, revision of (Madras) 673 --under special system 153 ——- of Ajmer 532, 537 -of Assam. . . 730 -of Sylliet . . . 745 -of Cacliar . . 748 - of Coorg . . .763 -of Sindh . . . 572 --of Burma . . 709 -of Berar . . . 609 Settlement Officers (Upper India) 277 .-, their powers . 337 ■ -invested with powers as Civil Courts in land cases in certain provinces . 339 Settlement Records. See “ Record of Rights I-(Upper India), list of, described . . .340 --(Upper India), provisions of the law regarding . 344 ■ -, alteration of (Upper India) . . . 347 •-, legal effect of entries (Upper India) . . 347 I INDEX. 773 I’agb Settlement Records, (Bombay.) . 457 - (Berar) . 618 - (Madras) 673 Settlement Reports (Upper India). See . 4 Settlement systems, tabular con¬ spectus of ... 154 Shifting cultivation by temporary clearings .... 102 - by redistribu¬ tion (note) see “ Waish ” (in Vern. Index) . , . 358, 366 Slaves in Coorg .... 759 Soil, classification of, for assess¬ ment purposes (Bombay) . . 557 ■-, classification of, for settle¬ ment purposes (Madras) . . 667 -, classification of, for settle¬ ment purposes (Upper India). -(North-Western Provinces) . 312 -(Panjab) .... 318 -(Central Provinces) note . 323 Soils, accidents affecting, in Bom¬ bay ..... 559 -, classification of (Assam) . 736 South Mirzapur, note on tenures, &c., ..... 506 Sub-Deputy Collector, Bengal, (note) . 472 Sub-division (Bengal) . . . 452 Sub-lumberdar (Central Pro¬ vinces) ..... 484 Subordinate tenures See “ Regis* tration. ” -(Panjab) . 423 - (Bombay) . 581 Sub-proprietor .... 94-95 Sub-proprietors in Outlh . . 389 - in Central Pro¬ vinces ..... 445 Sub-settlement. See . . . 330 -- in Oudh 332, 389 - in the Cen. Prov. 334 Sub-tenant in (Assam) . . 736 - in Berar (note) . . 615 Summary settlement (Panjab)276, 318 - (N. W. P.), meaning of ... 494 — — - of alienated lands (Bombay) . . . 592 Survey, The (Bengal) . . . 257 - (Upper India) . . . 293 - (N. W. P.) Cadastral 296 - (Madras) . . . 665 - - or measurement of land, annual, in Assam . . 738 -of Cacliar. See . . 752 774 ENGLISH INDEX. Page Survey, (Coorg) .... 763 -- (Berar) .... 611 - (Burma) .... 713 - Act (Bengal) . 258 •-Department (Bombay) 570 - number. See “ Field. ” Survey Officer (Bombay) 557 - system, (Bombay) 551, 571 Survey tenure, nature of (Berar) . 626 - nature of (Bombay) 136 T Tanks, lands watered by, in Ajmer, method of assessing 542 Tenancy, New Bill, Central Pro- vinces ..... 453 Tenant right in Oudh 393 ■ - , Central Provinces 448-9 • - , controversy in Cen- tral Provinces .... 451 ■ - general remarks on 97 (N. W. P.), remarks regarding Tenants, law regarding, in N. Provinces Tenants (Bengal) -- (Panjab) -(Bombay) ■- (Berar) (Madras) W 376,379 (West Coast, Madras) (Burma) Tenants’ right, general remarks on Tenure by grant (Central Prov.) of Gaontiya, in Sambalpu (Central Provinces) -, the “ Survey ” (Bombay -, the Khoti (Bombay) of raiyats in Madras com pared with that of Bombay of raiyats considered pro prietary (Madras) Tenures, Bengal . . . 216 -, subordinate (Bengal) --, zamindari, in Bengal •-of Upper India, genera remarks -of the N. W. Provinces -, taluqdari, in N. W. P. - in Oudb -of groves in Oudh . - (Central Provinces) -, Panjab . how far resem 381 230 425 634 634 664 665 717 97 440 437 578 689 651 661 et seq. 225 217 349 349 373 384 391 428 325 bling the N. W. Provinces 325-6 Tenures, Taluqdari, in the Panjab -, some special, of Multan (Pan jab). . -, under Rajput rulers in Panjab Hill Districts - of the Simla Hill Statek of Jagirdars, Cis-Sutle; (Panjab) - of Hazara (Panjab) - (Bombay) -in Sindh -, modern state of, in Madras -— (Berar) - in Government alienated land (Berar) -by grant (Berar) by hereditary s (Berar) -of Burma -of Ajmer - in Assam - in Chittagong - in Chutiya Nagpur - in Coorg - of Jaonsar Bawar - in Jhansi - of Kumaon - in Lalitpur - Orissa - in Sontal Parganas - of South Mirzapur of the Tarai districts North-Western Provinces - in the Western Dwar of India, general sketcl of (proprietary), genera classification of (subordinate), general re marks on. -- of a temporary char acter See “Village. Territories how provided for when annexed to British dominions . -, power to apportion and re-arrange into provinces. &c. . Tope rules (Madras) . . , Trees, rights in (Bombay) . . -— rights (Berar) -■, State right to certain, origin of. Tribal settlements in Panjab how far the land is joint - settlement of Aryan races Pag: 422:1 417 4R 4 IE 419' 51£ 574 594 658 620 622 630 628 693 525 730 242 233 758 517 362 508 363 231 238 507 515 243 93 102 3 . 2 10 681 593 613 49 397 402 51 ENGLISH INDEX. 775 Page Tribal conquest (without settle¬ ment as a people) ... 52 Tribes, periodical re-distribution of lands among the members (note) ..... 405 *-, account of the, which settled in Panjab . . . 403 Twelve-year rule regarding ten¬ ants . 98-99 IT Under-proprietors. See “ Under¬ tenures. ” --- in temporarily settled estates (Bengal) . . 203 Under-tenures (Bengal) describ¬ ed .... 125, 225 --, registration of, first procedure . . . 182 --. See “ Izara,” “ Taluq,” &c., in vernacular index. V Village (non-united), leading fea¬ tures of the . ... 70 •-, early form of, under Hin¬ du Kingdoms .... 47 -, joint or united . . 44 - (joint), leading features of 60 memberment of Raja’s or Chief’s dominion . . • . 54 - (joint), origin from tribal settlements .... 51 -- (joint), origin of, from far¬ mers and grantees ... 53 -- (joint), origin of, by “ birt ” or grant ... 54 -system of Upper India in relation to Bengal theory of a middleman .... 351 Village, the, of the N. W. Pro¬ vinces . 349 *—-— (N. W. Provinces), how far really joint in origin . . 355 Village (joint) settlement, attempt to introduce, in Madras . . 655 -traces of, in Sindh . . 595 •--, the term applied to Burma 694 --, grouping of lands, absence of in some parts of India . 44 •- officials ... 62 -(Bengal) . . 248 ■- (Upper India) . 466 -- (Bombay) . . 598 Page Village officials (Madras) . . 675 - headman (Burma) . . 720 -watchman . . 4S7, 636, &c. -accountant. See *■ Pat- wari” (Vern. Index) -records and statistics. See “ Patwaris’ papers. ” -statements . . . 314 Village artisans .... 63 Village communities (joint), effect on revenue sj stem . . 67 --, admission of outsiders into ... 61 Village community (N. W. Pro¬ vinces), origin of . . . 358 - community (N. W. Pro¬ vinces), variations from the pre¬ vailing type .... 362 -, measures for preserving .... 401 - community artificially created in Pan jab . . .402 Villages, division of land into . 43 -, size of ... 44 -, origin of different types of .46 ■ - ", origin of types of, resume 59 -, non-united ... 45 -(joint), fall into decay . 66 -, final constitution of, de¬ termined by the .Revenue system .... 59 -(joint), responsibility for revenue .... 62 -, classes included in (as residents) .... 65 -; types can easily become confused. Sketch of distri¬ bution ..... 75 -(Bengal), institutions fallen into decay . . .81, 228 - (Beliar), some survival of institutions . . 81, 229 -, classification of, in Thomason’s Directions . . 355 -, classification of, in “Direc¬ tions ” criticised (note) . . 356 - (Upper India), actual classification of ... 357 -, different forms of, in N. W. Provinces, detailed . . 365 -(joint) in the Panjab, how far resembling the N. W. Provinces . . .' . 395 —--described . . 399 -- in Panjab arising from tribal settlements . . 397 776 ENGLISH INDEX. Villages of the different kinds, numbers of eacb in Panjab --- (Oudb) under taluqdars 385, —-- (Central Provinces), under malguzars and patels -- (joint), Narwadari and Bhagdari (Bombay) . -(joint) (Bombay) Act V of 1862 . -in Berar, bistory of . -(joint) relics of, in Berar . -, origin of evidence afforded by the Madras districts . - distribution of types in the divisions of Madras territory -(joint) in Madras W Waste lands (Bengal) not includ¬ ed in permanently settled estates, question regarding . Waste-land leases (Bengal) . -, how far iueluded in “ village ” areas according to original constitution --, right of the State to land not included in village. . 68, ■ - right in the case of non-united villages . ■ -■ how dealt with in the N. W. Provinces. . . 69, -(Oudb) . -(Panjab) Pass Waste-land (Panjab), some variety in method of dealing with (note) 286 -- reserved to Govern¬ ment (Panjab), difficulty regard¬ ing (note) .288 Waste land given up to villages in Kangra (note) .... 286 .- how dealt with in Central Provinces . . . 289 - in Chiefs’ estates, zamindaris and grants (Central Provinces) .... 292-3 - right in (Burma) . 696 -rules (Berar) . . 633 -■, Ajmer . . . 530 -, Jaonsar Bawar . 517 - ■ — in Kumaon , . 509 -grants (Assam) . . 733 - in villages retaining traces of joint constitution (Madras).617 Waste-land in or near villages (Madras), rights in . . . 664 Water-rate (Madras). See “ Irriga¬ tion.” Water advantage rate (Paujab). See “ Assessment ” West Coast (Madras), tenures of the . 649 Y Year, agricultural (Upper India). 496 - (Bombay) 604 -(Burma) . 722 Page 401 3S7 430 532 586 624 623 643 645 646 188 243 67 72 72 284 288 285 VERNACULAR INDEX Abwab, cesses. See Siwaf. Adangal (Madras), a field register . 682 Adhlapi (Panjab). See. . . 418 Adna-Malik, inferior proprietor Agra, Governor of ... 7 Abom Raj, features of the old (Assam) . 731 Ahmadabkd taluqdars . . . 588 Aima, a grant of land, revenue- free (Bengal) .... 225 Ain, Land revenue in a fixed or lump sum ..... 525 Ajmer Province constituted . . 12 -, revenue system aud tenures of . 522 Akarband, a table or statement of fields (Berar) .... 619 Ala Lambardar (Panjab), a bead lambardar where there are a large number — a representative of the representatives . . 483 Ala-Malik, superior landlord—over- lord in lands where there are two grades of proprietory interest . . . . .411 Alauti (C. P.) hereditary village artisans ..... Altamgha, a grant of land . . 225 Amil, the Mughal Revenue Col¬ lector . Amin, a native surveyor . . 426 Arracan hills note . . . 692 As ami, a tenant or subject. See note 111 Asl tumar ‘ Jama,’ term explained . 173 Ayacut (Ayakattu) (Madras), the area around a tank watered from the tanks .671 B Bachh, distribution of burden of revenue and other tax . . 6 Badslialn, royal grauts. “ Hukami” See 80 Bagliayat (Begayet), garden vation (Bombay) culti- 558 Page Bahi-khata, account books; a ledger. See .... 472 Baki-jai, system of revenue collec¬ tion (Assam) .... 739 Bane lands (Coorg) . . 73, 760 Bankar, profits from jungle-pro¬ duce. See .... 174 “Bar” (Panjab) .... 283 Barad, light soil (Bombay) . . 558 Baroch (Bombay), survival of joint villages in .... 582 Bastu, homestead land (Assam) . 736 Batai, division of crop between landlord and tenant or landowner and the king. See . . . 304 -(Berar), tenancy or division of produce (Metairie) . . 634 Batwara, perfect partition but often used to signify either perfect or imperfect. See and note to 491 259 Benares Districts (Northwestern Provinces), permanently settled 273 Berar, constitution of, as a province 12 -, laws in force in . . 607 -, revenue history of . . 607 -land-tenures . . . 620 Berij or Beriz, total revenue, lands and cesses (West Coast, Madras) 656 Bewar (Central Provinces), cultiva¬ tion by forest clearing . . 102 Bhaiacbara village described . 370 -, a form of village com¬ munity. See .... 353 Bliag, a share in a village Bhagdari, joint village (Bombay) . 582 Bhagani-register, one of the settle¬ ment records (Berar) . . . 619 Bhaoli, a tenancy on terms of divid¬ ing the produce Bhet-kheta, a kind of tenancy in Chutiya Nagpur {note) . . 236 Bhogral and, holding of gaontiya in Sambalpur (Central Provinces) . 438 Bhuinhan (Chutiya Nagpur) . 236 Bhurn—Bhumiya, a tenure in Ajmer 527 Bhutketa, fields set apart that the produce may go to the worship of certain idols .... 234 778 VERNACULAR INDEX. Page Bi'glia, a land measure of 14,400 square feet .... Bighadam=Dharbachh . q. v. Bihar, small proprietorships in . 229 Bihar. See Malikana. Bfr, waste land in East Punjab. See “ Kakh ” .... Birt, a grant of rights by Hindu Raja.54 ——, a grant—term derived from usage of the old Hindu kingdom 391 Biswa, the twentieth part of a bigha (land measure) . Biswadari, a right in the soil of an individual holding. See note 422 529 •-in Ajmer . . 526 530 Biswansi, a small sub-division of land ; one-twentieth of a biswa . Bujharat, annual audit of village accounts. See .... 365 Buta sliigafi, the first clearing of jungle, bringing waste under cultivation .... Butamar, a tenant who has first cleared the land Board Sifarish (Madras). See note. 681 Brahmattar, lands held rent-free for religious purposes (Bengal) Burma. See English Index . C Cachar, early history of . . . 749 - hill divisions . . . 749 ■-, joint responsibility for revenue in .... 753 Chak (Upper India), a group of land separately surveyed, or considered for assessment or other purpose. (Neefor example) 299 Chakaran, lands allowed to Govern¬ ment servants revenue-free for their services .... 179 Cbakdar (Panjab). See . . 418 Cliakdari, tenure resembling, in Sindh.596 Chakla, a Muhamadan revenue division.161 Chaligaini, a kind of tenant (Kanara). See .... 665 Cbamua (Assam). See . . . 735 Char or Chapur, island formed in a river running through an alluvial valley.737 Chaudhari, the head of a trade, formerly a revenue officer. . 217 Pagx > Chaudhari (C. P. and Bombay), a sort of assistant patel or head¬ man of a village, (occasionally found). 437-435 §- Chaukidar, the watchman of a village, &e. .... 486 ! Chauri (ehaunrf), a village “ cut- ehery ” or place of assembly for business, (Berar, &c.) . . . 636 3 Chhatisgarh, shifting cultivation— (re-allotment among villages) (note) 405 Chitta (Madras). See . . . 673 -Assam. See . . . 738 Chittagong Hill Tracts settlement. 214 -settlement . . .193 Chukanidar. See . . . 243 Chutiya Nagpur Tenures Act . 237-8 Coimbatore, example of land assess¬ ment .669 Coorg, history of . . . . 756 -, land tenures of . . . 758 Cowle (Madras). See Kaul. D Daftar, a volume, an office or collec¬ tion of records; also(in Peshawar) an allotment of land to a section of a tribe. 404 • Dag bel or dag, a running line, trench or strip. Survey term in Cachar. See .... 752 Dab, a strong heavy knife used in clearing jungle (Burma); the unit of taxation in toungya lands *. 709 Dakhil-kharij, “ putting in and putting out ” (mutation of names in land-revenue register) Bengal 254 Dalikatari. See note . . . 236 Daman-i-koh— “ skirt of the hills,” a tract in the Sontal Parganas . Darjiling Settlement . . . 213 Darkhwast Malguzari. The tender of proprietor to pay the assessed revenue (Upper India) . . 3414 Dar-patni, Dar-ijara, &e., a sub¬ lease of the kind indicated. See 227 Dastak, a warrant or notice of demand for revenue in arrear . 501 Debottar, land held rent-free for worship of divinity (Bengal) Delira Dun, a regulation district. See note ..... 284 Deshmukh. See .... 433 Deshpandya, in former days a Supervisor of pandyas or village accountants. (Central India) . 638 Desmanjhi. See .... 240 VERNACULAR INDEX. 779 Devarakadu, sacred grave in Coorg S Dewastkan (Bombay), religious grant of Hindu origin. Note . Dhara, a tenancy under a kkot (Bombay). See .... Dharekar, a tenant (Do.) i Dhar bachh, distribution of revenue burden by a rate per plough or * per bigha. See Dharm-mal (Berar), grant for maintenance of a tank I Dliarwaf, the village grain- weigher ..... Dher, a village menial of low caste= mahar, q. v. Dhuli bntta (Coorg), a tax . Dfara, survey of alluvial lands (Bengal). Note • Diwani, the Civil and Revenue ad¬ ministration .... Doab (Panjab), tract between two rivers. See .... Dwars (Western) tenures. See Bengal tenures .... —■ Eastern (Assam). See E 1 Ekabhogam (Madras), sole proprie¬ tary right over a village. See . F Fard, a list, a tabular statement 1 Farotan-milkiyat, limited owner¬ ship. See ..... Firozpur (Panjab), villages of pe¬ culiar origin in ... G Gabhan, the village site in a joint village (Bombay) Gambhag, a major division of joint villages (Bombay) i Ganthi (Bengal), a kind of per¬ petual lease at a fixed rent Gaontiya (Central Provinces), a village headman in Sambalpur . Garhi, the village site enclosed with mud walls (Central Pro¬ vinces) . . . . • Garo Hills . . i / Gatkuli, a tenant in Bombay (note) . Page Ghasawat, transfer of land from in¬ solvent to another who pays the arrear of revenue. See . .753 Ghasdana, a tribute on certain estates.. See .... 587 G has in, a portion of a hill side divided out for grazing purposes. See .73 Ghatwalf, a tenure of land revenue- free as a reward for protecting hill passes. Ghatwali tenure in the Sontal parganas. See .... 239 Ghatwali grants (Berar) . . 632 Ghosawat. “ See ” Ghasawat Ghumao, a land measure (Panjab), nearly an acre ; originally meant as much land as a yoke of oxen could plough in a day Goalpara, history of 726 Gouda Kingdom, notice of .50 Gorait (Bengal, &c.), a village watchman ..... Got, a class or sub-division of a tribe or caste .... 396 Grama (Coorg and often in South India) a village (gaon of North India) .... Grama rnanyam (Madras), a grant of land revenue-free for the head¬ man of a village for official ser¬ vices ...... Guuth. (Kumaon, &c.), land as¬ signed to temples . . . 513 H Halabadi, a class of lands in Sylhet. See .... 745 Haq-Lambardari, the fees or per¬ centage allowed to the headman 483 Haq-mihat, the lands and per¬ quisites of a Milita, q. v. . 362 Har (North-Western Provinces), a block or circle of lands separated for assessment purposes . . 312 Hari (Panjab), the spring harvest, rabi, q. v . Haveli lands (Madras), lands not in¬ cluded in zamindari estates (of the North Circars) . . . 653 Hawala (East Bengal), a kiud of cultivating lease . . . 226 Hazara (Panjab), note on 518 Hazaribagh Settlement, . 209 Page 763 591 590 590 372 633 63 764 257 161 283 728 648 365 411 586 583 226 437 ( 727 (.741 576 780 VERNACULAR INDEX. Page Hindu Kingdom, bow affected by later conquests .... 77 Hukami, grant made by the Hukam (plural of Hakim) or authorities, not by King himself . . . 180 Ijara (Berar). See Ijara. See Izara. Ilam, ‘ proclaimed lands 5 in Sylhet See ...... llaqa, the tribal allotment of land on the Panjab Frontier Inam, a grant of land revenue- free . -(Bombay), grant by State of land revenue-free - (Madras) .... - (Madras) of village officers — patrak, settlement record of revenue-free lands (Berar) . Inam Commission .... Istimrari, a perpetual lease (Bengal). Chief’s estate in Ajmer. See in Panjab 633 745 402 591 658 679 619 592 225 533 422 Izara, (Bengal), a long lease to improve waste .... 226 vJagir, an assignment of revenue or a grant of land revenue-free by the State for services, to support troops, &c. See . 113 - in the Panjab . 419 ■- in Bengal 222 -in Ajmer . 526 -in the Central Provinces 442 --in the Berars r 617 1.630 Jagirdar, holder of a jagfr - (Cis Sutlej), tenures the. of 419 Jaglia, village watchman (Bombay —Berar) ..... Jaintya, temporarily settled estates in. 747 Jalkar, profits from fisheries. See 174 Jalpaiguri settlement 212 Pasi Jamabandi, a roll showing rents paid by tenants (North-Western Provinces). See . . .3-1 -(Bombay), a roll showing revenue due from raiyats. See 60 -(Madras) . . .67 Jamma, the superior tenure in Coorg ... . 75 Jama kharch, village account of profit and loss . . . .47 Jangal burf, lease for clearing and cultivating jungle land . . 19 Janmi tenure of Malabar. See . 65' Jaonsar-Bawar tenures — waste¬ land rights . . . .51 Jats or Jats, their settlement in Panjab . . . . 40i Jhansf, tenures in . . . . 36 Jethansf, birthright, a larger share given to eldest son. See . . 414 Jirga, council of elders of a tribe or clan (Panjab Frontier) . . Jirayat (jerayet), unirrigated or dry cultivation dependent on rain¬ fall (Bombay) .... 557 Jodi or judf, a quit-rent on grants (Maratha).592 -lands (Coorg) . . 762-5 Jot, a holding of land—term com¬ monly used in East Bengal, Bihar, and elsewhere. Jotdar, a tenant or cultivator (Bihar), a cultivator paying to Government direct in the eastern districts of Bengal . . . 230 -(Western Dwars). See . 245 Judi. See Jodi .... Jum, cultivation by clearing forest (Bengal).102 Junadar (Central Provinces, Nitnar), a cultivator. See . . . 437 K of Jama, the assessed land revenue proper {passim) Kabulait, Maratlff corruption the last (used in Berar, &c.) Kabuliyat (Oudh) (Central > Pro¬ vinces), revenue payer’s engage¬ ment ...... Kabuliyat (a counterpart of a patta or lease) given to the landlord. See . Kaira (Bombay) joint villages Kam41 (perfect), complete assess¬ ment of a village field by field in Maratha times as opposed to “ tanklia ” q. v. 328 265 582 549 VERNACULAR INDEX. 781 Kan. See Kankut. Kanal (Panjab, &c.), a land measure, one-eighth of a ghuinao Kanam, a kind of mortgage (West Coast, Madras) .... : Kanara tenures .... Kangra (Panjab) tenures, &c. Kaukut, appraisement of crops for ascertaining the State share. See Kans (Kanara). See note Katiya, appraiser of crops. See “ Kaukut. ” Kardar, the revenue official of a district in Sikh times. See Karkun (Bombay), the mamlatdar’s assistant ..... Karnam’s accounts (Madras) . Karnam (Madras, &c.), the village accountant—potwari of other , parts ..... 679, Karori, a Mughal revenue officer who had charge of a chakla paying 2J lakhs of rupees . Kashtkar, a tenant or cultivator . Kashtkar kadi'in, an ancient or hereditary tenant Kasur-khwar (Panjab). See Katkina, a sub lease or sub-farm of revenue collection . Kaul (Madras), as a lease or grant of land. See .... Kayam kami. See note Klutikar, a tenant in Kumaon (North-Western Provinces) Khairat, charitable grant of land (Sindh, &c.) .... Klialsa, royal land — land paying revenue to the State, not to Chiefs, grantees, &c. ; Khalwara, stack of corn, or grain heap ...... 1 Khamar (Bengal), waste land im- proved by the zamindar . ‘Kham tahsil,” management of I lands by Government officer |j when a default in revenue pay- I ment has taken place . Khana khali, an estate without an I owner ..... Kharch, expenses. See note iKharff (called after Sawani in t the Panjab) the crops, harvest, season, &c., from Jurfe to November, sown in the first rains and reaped in autumn . Kharita. See Ghasni. Page Klias (Khass), a revenue term, meaning a direct holding or management of land by Govern¬ ment officers .... Khasi and Jaintya hills . . . 742 Khasra, a register of fields. See . 294 Khata (Upper India), a proprietary holding of laud (as shown in the records) ..... Khatauni, a list of lands showing holders and cultivators (not now in use in Upper India). See . 341 Khatian (Bengal), Khatauni, g. v. ..... Kliel, in Cachar. See . . . 750 Khel, a tribe or division of a vil¬ lage (used in Berar) . . . 623 Khetbat. See .... 282 Kliewat, a record of the sharers in proprietary lands (Upper India) . 341 Khot (Assam) (perhaps should be Khat). See ... 736 Khot, a landholder, derived from the old revenue farming times. See . 589 Klioti tenure. See . . . 589 Khunt kati (Chutiya Nagpur) . 234 “ Kist,” an instalment of revenue, debt, &c. (plural aksat) Kodagas, original Chiefs of Coorg . 758 Konkan, klioti tenures. See . . 589 Kulkarni (Bombay), village ac¬ countant ..... 598 Kulruzuwat (Bombay), raiyat’s receipt book .... Kumaon, note on tenures and revenue system .... 508 Kumri (South India), temporary A cultivation by clearing the f 102 forest; called also Ponakad, and ( 7b'l by other Dames . . J Kurk tahsil, sequestration of profits for default in revenue payment . Kurow. See note .... 761 Kutwar, village watch (Central Provinces).487 Kweng. See Kwin. Ivwin, a certain grouping of land for revenue purposes (Burma). See 713 Kyaydangyee (Burma). See . . 720 L Lagan, money rent paid by tenant; also a fiuc or premium for a lease Page 665 656 414 304 761 411 597 681 681 217 418 230 663 681 513 529 179 499 354 304 VERNACULAR INDEX. 7S2 Page Lngwan, a list showing the appor¬ tionment of the revenue, on vil¬ lage landholders (Mardtha). See . Lakhiraj, revenue-free lauds . Lalitpur, tenures iu Lambardar (Upper India), the village headman and representative Lapo (Sindh) rent paid by culti¬ vator ...... 431 178 363 480 595 209 M Madadm’aash (Bengal), a form of land-grant revenue-free Mahal, an “ estate ”—group of land subjected to separate revenue assessment ..... -, division of a taluk a (Bombay) ..... ■- (especially in Bengal), any separate source of revenue, eg., nimak-mahal, revenue from salt, &c. Mahalkari, Native officer over a mahal or division of a taluka (Bombay) ..... Mahar, Mhar, a village menial (Bombay, &c.) .... Majrnun (Bombay), common land of a shared-village “Mai,” the revenue and cesses together. See .... Malabar, tenures .... -, Local Revenue, division of 225 297 597 597 598 583 174 649 656 423 Malba, building materials, &c.; also the expenses in the village chargeable to common purse Malguzar, one who pays the “ inal ” or land-revenue. In Central Pro¬ vinces the revenue-farmer, who became proprietor at settlement Malguzari tenure in Central Pro¬ vinces ..... Malik, Ambar, his settlement. Malik, owner or proprietor Malikana, a cash or grain allowance iu acknowledgment of proprie¬ tary right, sometimes “ rent. ” See . . 171-205 Malikana in Bihar. See note . 229 --- an ex-proprietary allow¬ ance—allowance to proprietors 428 549 who will not engage for revenue (Upper India, &c.) 329 Maliki tenure (Bombay) Malik-qabza, an inferior proprietor —an owner of his holding without share in the common (Panjab) . -Maqbuza (Central Provinces) Mamlatdar, native revenue officer over a taluka (Bombay) Manbhum Settlement . . . Maudal (Assam aud Bengal), village headman . Manjhi, a headman (Sontal). Manjhiman, the land held by him in' virtue of office Manjhl-has lands (Chutiya Nagpur). See .... . Mankl. See . Manpan, dignity or precedence at¬ tached to certain offices Manyam (Madras), inam q. v. Marla, a twentieth part of a kanal (land measure) . . , Marwat (Oudh). See . Maurusl, “ hereditary ” . Maurusl Kashtkar, a cultivator with rights of occupancy (Northern India) . . . . . Maurusl haripan (Sindh). See Mauza, the group of land called a “ village. ” See . Mauza, a section of a district (Assam). Mauzadar, a revenue collector, &c., in Assam. See . . “ Mauzawar ” (of a Survey) con¬ ducted on the basis of division into mauzas or villages Mazquri, dependent or subordinate holdings or taluqs in Bengal Mazqurat (Bengal), certain allow¬ ances to the zamindar Mend, a ridge of earth round a field for boundary, &c., &c. . Merwara, notice of Metkarl (Akola—Berar), a kind of land tenure by grant. See . Mewasf, a tenure in Bombay (Guzarat) . . . . . Mihta (Jhansi), a headman of a village. Mllan-l-khasra. See Miras—Mirasdar (Bombay, &c.) the hereditary right in land, the land¬ holder . Miras! tenure. See Pa on 587 424 447 597 208 241 241 235 234 433 391 596 297 737 737 297 225 177 283 543 633 587 362 474 576 576 rights (Madras). See . Mirzapur, South, note on 47-8,662 . 606 VERNACULAR INDEX. 783 Page Misl, a group or company for fight¬ ing purposes among the Sikhs, not a true clan. See . . . 419 Misl, the whole of the papers, filed or bound together, relating to a settlement, or a case in Court, &c. 488 Mojamdar (C. P.) See . . 433 Mdtasthal (Bombay) . . . 558 Monegar (Madras), village head¬ man. Note .... 676 Mootah. See Muttha. Mu’afi, “pardoned,” a grant of land revenue-free, or a grant of the remission of the revenue on a man’s own land. See . . 418 Mu’afidar, the holder of such a grant . Mughal revenue system . . 81 Mukasadar — Mu’afidar (Central Provinces) . 445 Mukta = ubari, q. v. Mulgaini, a hereditary tenant (Kanara). See .... 665 Multan, certain special tenures of . 417 Munsarim, a native officer of survey, &c. Sadr-munsarim, a chief of such officers . , . . 282 Muqaddam, a headman or head pro¬ prietor, head cultivator -(Central Provinces). See .485 Muqarrari, a lease at a fixed rent . 225 Mushakhsidar. See . . . 376 Muttha, a parcel of land—an artifi¬ cially created estate or revenue paying unit erected in Madras.. See .654 Myo-oke, Tsitkeh or Woondouk, Extra Assistant Commissioner (Burma) . 719 N Nad (Coorg), a group of villages . 757 Naga Hills.743 Naib, a “Deputy,” as Naib Tuli- sildar, ‘Naib Qanaungo. (In Soptal see ) . . . 241 Nairs, originally the dominant race in Malabar, who furnished the landlord class. See . . . 649 Nakra, revenue-free land (Bombay) 591 Nankar, {lit. “to get one’s bread”) lands allowed revenue-free . 179 Narwa, a share of revenue burden, 582 Narwadari village. See . . 582 Page Natamkar, headman of a village (Madras, Tamil) Note . . 676 Nauabad—(Chittagong) and Noabad. See .... 193 Nayabad (the same). Nazarana, a present—tribute—fee on succession . . . 525, 534 Nij-jot (Bengal), sir land of the zemindar. See “ Sir ” . . 179 Nim-hawala, a kind of lease (Bengal). See “ Hawala” Nisf Khiraj tenures (Assam) . . 732 Nizamat, the military and cri¬ minal administration . . . 161 O Orissa, settlement of Oudh, constitution of, as a province -taluqdari settlement of (general sketch) -, waste lands in -, tenures of . Oudh Settlement .... 196 10 145 288 384 282 P Pachotra (Panjab), haq-lambardan, q. v. Pahan, village priest. See . . 236 Pahani-Khurd, or Pahani-Sur, an¬ nual revenue statement (Berar) . 619 Pai or pae, a non-resident tenant . Palegara (Polygar), a chieftain who became a settlement holder or proprietor under the perma¬ nent settlement in parts of Madras.660 Paleiyam (Madras), the estate of a palegara or polygar . . . 654 Panayam (Malabar, &c.), a sort of lease.665 Panch, properly a group of village elders, sometimes applied to a single headman .... 65 Pandhya, the patwari or village accountant (Central Provinces, Bombay, &c.) .... Pani-bhara (Chutiya Nagpur). See note .236 Paujab, the province of five (Panj) rivers or waters (ab). See English Index. Panniya, a royal farm under native administration (Coorg) . . 762 Paramboka, waste land broken up for cultivation (Madras) . . 678 784 VERNACULAR INDEX. Page Pargana, a division of a district for revenue purposes under the Mughal empire still locally known and referred to in North¬ ern India and elsewhere . 461 --, formed often out of old Hindu kingdom ... 78 Pargana Officers (Bengal) . . 248 Parganait (Sontal). See . . 241 Parka. See ..... 234 Farit, waste or fallow or uncul¬ tivated (Berar and Central India). Parpattagar, the native official or headman of a Nad (Coorg) . 757 Parsatki. See .... 231 Pasaeta, charitable grant of land (Bombay). See .591 Patastkal (Bombay) . . . 558 Patel, a village headman (Bombay, Central India.) See . . . 431 Path-Patel, q. v. Patelgi, the office—the “ patelskip.” See Patel. Patel (Central Provinces) . . 432 --(Berar) .... 638 - - . - (Bombay) .... 598 Patels in Coorg. See . . . 760 Patta (puttah or pottah), a lease in writing. -, raiyat’s lease in Assam. See . 738 Patta, raiyat’s ‘ title deed ’ in Madras . . . “ . 662 “Patta cases ” in Assam . . . 740 Pattani. See Patni. Patti, a local sub-division of a village or mauza, dependent on some scheme of ancestral sharing . 368 Pati, Patidar, &c., same as Patti,&c, q. v. (Bombay). Patti (Kumaon—North-Western Provinces), a sub-division of a pargana.513 Patti-bat. See .... 282 Pattidari, a form of village in which the lands are separate . 353 Pattidari village described . . 368-9 Patni or pattani (putnee). See . 227 Patomkar (Kanara), a cultivator . 657 Patwari, village accountant ( Bengal) 249 -(North-Western Provinces) 471 -(Punjab) . . , 477 -(Oudh) . . . .475 -(Central Provinces) . . 479 -(Kumaon) . . . 514 Patwari’s “ papers” . . . 472 Page Patwari (Kulkarni) (Berar), his ac¬ count papers .... 636 Pautia-bahi (Berar), raiyat’s receipt hook.637 Peskkash, tribute or offering; the revenue paid by a zamindar (Madras). Peta (Bombay), a local sub-division of a taluka .... 597 Peta-bkag (Bombay), a “patti” or minor share in a joint village . 583 Pkaljbwani, a register of shares in land holdings (Bombay) . . 553 Phalkar, profits from wild fruits, &c., an item of the sirvai . 174 Pharingati, a class of land in Assam. See . . , . . .737 Phera-patrak, the patwari’s state¬ ment of cultivation crops after his tour (Berar) . . . 637 Pkesal-patrak, one of the settlement records (Berar) .... 619 Phor-patrak, one of the settlement records (Berar) .... 619 Polygar. See Palegara. Pollam. See Paleiyam. Poramboka. See Paramboka. Pradhan, a headman (Kumaon) . 513 Praja (Western Dwars), a tenant paying produce rent . . . 243 Pramanik (Sontal). See . . 240 Q Qauungo (Bengal) . . . 249 -. “ Sadr. Q.” “ Registrar Q.,” &c.) North-Western Provinces 467 -.(Oudh) . . .470 (Panjab) . . . 469 R Rab, a method of cultivation in Bombay. See .... Rabi’ (called Hari in Panjab), the spring harvest, crops, &c. (In North India wheat, barley and grain chiefly.) Sown in autumn and reaped in the beginning of the following hot season . . “ Qanun panjam”—“ Q. haftam. ” See .262 Qaum, a caste or tribe. See “ Gol. ” Note . 396 Qila’ (Orissa). See .... 231 73 VERNACULAR INDEX. 785 Page Raiyat, properly ra’iyat, a cultivator (See note ) .... Raiyatwafi, system of revenue management in which each raiyat or field-owner is dealt with as an individual (general settlement) -settlement (detailed). Ill Bombay system (Madras) -, adoption of, in Berars Raiyati tenure in Madras -in Assam Raj, a grouping of land in Cachar. See . ltaj-lias, lands in Chutya Nagpur. See . Rajput organization system in Ajmer 129 551 642 610 660 734 751 235 78 525 Rajputs, effect of their settlement as an entire people ... 51 Rajputs, effect of their coming, when they only occupied the sovereignty, but did not settle as a people . . . 51-2, 524 Rakb, a tract of waste land reserved for fuel, grass, &c. (Panjab) , 287 Rarnna (Berar), land set apart to produce grass .... 637 Rawaj-i-’am, a record of local and tribal customs: now separately compiled in the Panjab ; used formerly to be included iu the wajib-ul-’arz Razinamali, a “ letter of being satis' fied—” compromise in a civil case —a notice of agreeing to relim quish or take up land (raiyatwar systems) .... (Berar), procedure. See Roznamcha, a diary Ruba,’ “ fourth.” See Akbar’s set tlement .... Rubakar-i-akhfr, one of the settle ment records (Upper India). See tupit, rice land (Assam) ladr, (Sudder) the chief or prin¬ cipal ; head-quarters. See . agu, ordinary tenure of raiyats in Coorg. ailaba, land flooded by river. 639 473 173 343 737 498 760 Page Safr, certain dues or taxes other than land revenue. See . . 174-5 -, modern taxes of zamindar (note) .176 Salamia (Bombay). See . . 592 Sambalpur (Central Provinces), curious tenure of Gaontiya . . 437 Sanad, a document or grant . Sanja (Senja), the ordinary raiyat- wari village as opposed to the bhagdarf or shared village (Bom¬ bay) .587 Sankalp, a religious gift or endow¬ ment (Hindu) .... Sardar, a chief tin Sontalia). See . 241 Sarinjam, a service grant (Bombay) 591 Sarna (Chutiya Nagpur), a sacred grove.236 Sayer. See Safr. Sazawal, a Government Manager of an estate .... 164-508 “Shajra, ” a map which accom¬ panies the khasra. See . . 295 Shajra-insab, a pedigree table, or genealogical tree (Panjab) . , 342 Shamilat, common land . . Shamilat deh, common land of the village. See “ Village, ” “ Joint- village, ” &c. Shanbogue (Shanabhog), a village accountant (Kanara) . . 657 Shikmi (Bengal), a tenure inside a tenure . Shist (Kanara), the Government revenue assessment . . . 656 Shrotriyam (Madras). See . . 658 Siaba, daily cash book formerly kept by patwaris . . . 472 Sih-liaddi, a conspicuous boundary pillar to indicate junction of three or more boundary lines. See 281 Sikh conquests, notice of . . 84 -Revenue Collectors (Panjab), note 304, note .... 225 Sikka, a die or stamp. Sikka Rupees (Sicca). See note . . . 185 Simla, Hill States, note on . . 415 Sindh, settlement of 572 -, land tenures in . . . 594 Singhhhum settlement . . . 208 Sipurd-dar (North-Western Pro¬ vinces), village headman or mana¬ ger (South Mirzapur) . . 506 “ Sir,” a man’s own particular hold¬ ing of village land. See explana¬ tion, &c. . .... 65 78G VERNACULAR INDEX. Page Sir land, proprietor ousted retains tenant rig-lit to. See . . . 382 Sirtban (Kurmaon) a tenant. See . 513 Sitkeb (Burma). See Myo-oke Siwai, extra items of tax charged over and above the land-revenue . 173 Sivahotra, land the produce of ■which is devoted to the worship of Siva.241 Siyana, a headman in Kumaon. See 512 Sontal Parganas Settlement • . 209 Subahdar, the governor of a pro¬ vince ; also a native officer in a regiment, also head of a taluq (Coorg) . Suudarbans, settlement of . .194 Suti tenure. See .... 589 Swayatanram, tenure of dominant family (Chingleput). See . . 646-7 Sylhet, history of . . . . 743 T Tahsil, a revenue suh-division un¬ der British Government of a district . Tahsildar, Native Revenue Collector of a tahsil, or division of a dis¬ trict (in Upper India especially). - (Bengal), a collector on a particular estate, &c., not a revenue official as elsewhere . -(Madras) . . .675 -(North-Western Provinces, Pan jab, Oudh). See . . . 467 Tahutdari, a kind of taluqdari (Central Provinces) . . . 443 Takam, a kind of grant in Central Provinces.445 Talati, paid village accountant when the hereditary “ Kulkarni ” does not act (Bombay) . . . 598 Talnka, a suh-division of a district (Bombay), (Berar), (Madras), &c. 597 Taluq grants in Bengal . . 222 Taluqdar (holder of a taluq) depend¬ ent and independent (Bengal) . 171 Taluqdari tenure in North-Western Provinces.373 --—— in Oudh . . 384 -in Panjab . . 422 - — in Ajmer . . 533 -— in Central Pro¬ vinces .442 Taluqdars (Bombay) of Ahmedabad. 588 Page Tamil Country, the village system ,.646 Tangarahi, a tax on wood cutting . 50 Tankha, a fixed lump sum of re¬ venue (Maratha). See . . 525 Tanki. See note ... 681 Tappa. See note .... 261 Taraf, a major division of village lands. (Upper India) . . 368 Tarai, the jungly district at the fort of the outer hills—a district in the North-Western Provinces. 516 Taram (Madras). See . . 668 Tarf-tarfdar (in Chittagong). See 242 Tarwad, a joint family group of land owners (Malabar) . .651 Taslikhls, farm of revenue to the person who bids highest (uative systems). See note . . . 304 Tauffr (Bengal), excess lands not properly included in settlement . 189 “ Taujih ” Department (Bengal), office where revenue payments and balances are recorded. See . 256 Telugu Country, the village system of ^.651 1 “ Thakbast,” a map of boundaries and proceedings showing how they are determined. See . . 281 Thana, a police station. The tbana is superior to the “chauki” or petty police post. Thani, a resident cultivator or tenant. Tharfio, assessment of Government revenue (Kanara) . . . 681 Tlibat, thhatwan, right in land in Kumaon.512 Thika, a lease or contract ; thikadar, (commonly thekedar), a contrac¬ tor. Thok, a division of a village (North- Western Provinces) . . 368 Thokdar = Siyana, q. v. Thoogyee (Burma), his duties . 720 Thula (Panjab), a smaller sub¬ division of the patti (q. v.) . 397 Tip = Kankut, q. v. Toungya (Burma), cultivation by forest clearing . . . 102) Toungya cultivation by clearing forest ; (Burma), nature of right.. 704' Toungya, fixed system of, in part of Burma.70 Tre=haddi. See Sih-haddi. VERNACULAR INDEX. 787 Page u Ubari, a kind of grant in Central Provinces.444 Umbali (Coorg), lands at a favor¬ able revenue rate . . .760 Upri, a tenant (Bombay) . . 576 Utraula, kingdom of, described . 50 V Vachania. See note . . . 591 Vara, metayer tenancy (Coorg) . 760 Varga, a farm or bolding (Coorg); (vvarg) . 757 Varlii or Verba (Panjab), a plot of land for cultivating or grazing held “ in turn ” by the village land-holders. See . . . 397 Vatan=Watan, q. v. Verum pattam or tenancy at will (Madras, West Coast) . . 665 Vesh = Waish, q. v. w Wahiwatdar, manager of taluqdari estates (Bombay) . . . 588 Waish (Hazara and Frontier), the periodical re-distribution of tri¬ bal landholdings (Compare Varhi). See .397 Wajib-ul-’arz, the village adminis¬ tration paper, one of the settle¬ ment records (in Upper India). See . 343 Waram (Coorg) or Vara, q. v. Warg, properly an account showing revenue due on a holding, then the holding itself (West Coast, Madras) ..... 656 Wasil bakf, the patwdri’s rent ac¬ count Wasul-baki, one of the settlement records (Berar) .... 619 “ Watan, ” lands and perquisites held in virtue of office (Central Provinces) .... 433 Watan (Berar) .... 628 Watan (Bombay). See . . 561-577 Watan lands, feeling of attach¬ ment to. See note . . . 629 Page Watandar, a village or other office or even a menial’s or artizan’s post to which is attached a watan or perquisite in Court, &c. (Bom¬ bay, Central Provinces, Berar.) Wayada. See note . . .681 Wirasat, a proprietor's inherited land. See .... 371 All the terms, Wirasat (Wa- risi used in parts of the Panjab), “ Miras,” Wirsa, implying inheri¬ tance, right by inheritance, &c., are derivatives from the Arabic “ Waris,” an heir Wun, district shifting cultivation. See note ..... 639 Vesh-Waish, q. v. Y Ya (Burma). See Toung-ya. Z Zaildar (Panjab). See . . . 484 Zamiudar, term defined (note) . Ill -(Bengal), growth of . 112 -, British dealings with the 169 -, originally not a landlord (Note) .177 -. Form of appointment . 219 -,his position as ascertained in 1787 . 219 -could not alienate his land.221 Zamindari (Bengal), the tract of country under a zamindar . .168 -system sketched . . 110 -settlement. See (Bengal system) “ Land Itevenue. ” Zamindaris (Central Provinces) . 441 Zamindari tenure (Madras) . . 659 —— -in Sindh, term explained 595 ■-village (North-Western Provinces). See . . . 353 -“mushtarka” and “ khalis. ” See . . . 353 -village described . . 367 Zar-i-peshgi, a kind of lease. See . 228 Zila, a district (zillah). Zira’at, cultivation. The patel’s lnnd (Central Provinces). Government of India Central Printing Office.—No. 11 U K. A A —-J5 S SZ.—750.