and unirrigated, (Punjaub) and of which the greater part was formerly cultivated, is now abandoned." The cultivation returns of subsequent years exhibit a similar result, and it will be seen from the following table that the extent of cultivation still continues unsatisfactorily small in comparison with the available area."* Assess- Average Cultiva tion from 1244 Left waste. Irri Cawnies. Rupees. Cawnies. Rupees. Cawnies. Rupees. gated 1,76,167 16,68,034, 80,531 7,83,018 95,635 8,85,016 Dry, 10,64,880 32,42,637 2,48,887 9,11,563 8,15,993 24,31,074, Gar den, 4,371 84,946 1,145 21,425 3,226 60,521 Total 12,45,419 50,92,619 3,30,563 17,16,006 9,14,854|33,76,611 73 It is sure "It thus appears that of the Nunjah land for which irrigation has been supplied, one-half bearing an assessment of nearly nine lakhs of Rupees remains uncultivated, while of the Poonjah lands three-fourths are kept waste. In the garden lands the same result is seen, though their limited extent leads to a comparatively small loss of revenue, ly an incontestable proof of our assessment, that the agriculture of a district enjoying great natural advantages should be in such a neglected state after 50 years of undisturbed quiet, during which its population‡ has largely increased. Its climate and soil are generally favorable, its proximity to Madras and its sea ports affords outlets for its produce, and it possesses an industrious population who depend almost exclusively on agriculture for their support, and by whom all lands affording even a small remuneration for that industry are dearly prized. Yet its best lands now lie waste, while numbers of its inhabitants seek subsistence in foreign emigration. Some strong impediment must therefore exist to repress the agricultural industry and zeal of its population, and it appears to me unquestionable that this impediment is to be found in the overweight ofthe land assessment. "The internal proofs which the assessment affords of its being too high have been already briefly adverted to by me; viz. 1st. The *See Report of Collector to Mr. Cotton, dated 30th Dec. 1839, and its accompanying statements Nos. 1 and 2. Lands not available for cultivation at the time of the survey. According to the last census the population amounted in Fusly 1260 (A. D. 1850) to 1,006,005 or 219 to the square mile, of which 8-10th are engaged in agriculture. The earlier returns did not show half that number. See Collector" letter to Board, dated 20th November 1851. principle of taking one-half of the gross produce upon which its assessment is based. 2ndly. The rates of Teerwah fixed for the different descriptions of land and the high average which they give. 3rdly. The great extent of good land which is now annually left uncultivated to the loss of Government and the people. I shall therefore proceed to offer a few remarks on the external proofs of the assessment being too high, which are to be found on comparing its rates with those which prevail in other districts, and shall commence my comparison with districts in its immediate vicinity." We need not follow the report through these comparisons with the neighbouring Madras districts. It is more important to us to follow out the comparison with other Presidencies, whose condition is said to contrast favorably with the Ryotwarry districts of Madras. "For my first comparison with the above rates," the Collector writes, "I take the district of Futtehghur, the statistical account of which written by the Collector, Mr. Kinloch, has been officially furnished to my office. I find there the district described as more heavily assessed than any in those provinces, so much so indeed as to cause local discontent and lead to the appointment of a Commissioner by whom the rates were lowered. Yet the assessment so much exclaimed against amounted only to Rupees 2-12-9 per acre of the cultivated area, although the great staple of the district is rice.* "In South Arcot the average of the cultivated area in the Hooloos talooks is Rupees 3, Annas 14, pice 3 per acre, though its irrigated lands comprize 1-5th only of the assessed area. "My next example will be from an article on the settlement of the N. W. Provinces in the Calcutta Review, vol. 12, (page 457) which I trust I may quote without impropriety, as its accuracy is mentioned in Dr. Royle's official work on cotton culture, which has been supplied to my office. It is there stated that the rate at which the Government demand falls on the cultivated area in entire districts varies from Rupees 1-0-3 in Goruckpore to Rupees 2-13-8 in Cawnpore. The statistical report of the latter district, drawn up by Mr. Montgomery and published by authority, states that its assessment is fixed at fromto of the gross produce, and contains the following table of comparative rates per acre. "In the Delhi district the Government demand amounts to annas 15-1 * Kinloch's Report on Futtehghur, Paras, 169 and 171, pages 62 and 63. pie on the entire area, and to Rupees 1-15-0 on the total cultivation, the rate for the best soil irrigated from canals being 6-6-4 per acre.* Again in the Southern Provinces of the Bombay Presidency, where an elaborate survey has been some time in progress, Dr. Royle assumes (pages 373 and 374) the average assessment for land growing cotton at Rupees 1-0-0 per acre in the Dharwar district, and states that under the survey in Belgaum it would never exceed Rupees 1-12-0 for dry land. "In South Arcot the Hooloos Poonjah rates commence at Rupees 10-9-4 per acre, and average Rupees 2-11-1 on the cultivated area. "In the Bengalt provinces under the permanent settlement, the result of a comparison would be infinitely more striking, and although I do not argue that their rates ought to be a guide in modifying the South Arcot assessment, it may be permitted to me to allude thus briefly to their far more favorable position when reporting upon the condition and wants of this district. I am the more readily induced to claim this permission in order that I may offer a remark in defence of the Ryotwarry system, for as the merits of that system are frequently called in question, it appears of consequence to shew that it may not be the system itself, but a comparatively heavy assessment which has checked the prosperity of this, and the other Carnatic provinces. It is well known that these provinces came under our rule at a time when financial and political difficulties rendered it necessary to maintain with little abatement the former oppressive assessment. Hopes have since been expressed from time to time that a season of peace and tranquillity would enable Government to reduce the land tax to a more moderate standard, and now that the time appears to have happily arrived for this province, I cannot doubt that the advantages of the Ryotwarry system will be displayed in it. When this system is freed from unnecessary rules and details, and placed on the footing intended by its advocates, it realizes the great desire of the people, by enabling them to hold their lands direct from Government on a fixed moderate assessment. It also appears to me eminently adapted to draw forth the valuable qualities of individual independence and industry, and by encouraging the investment of capital in the land, to lead to the gradual formation of valuable estates, and the useful relationship of landlord, and tenant. Tanjore, the Poonjah villages of Coimbatore, Canara, and the Palnand districts in Guntoor, may surely be pointed to as illustrating the success of the system when it has been tried under circumstances at all encouraging." More briefly, the average assessment in North Arcot was 7s. 9d. per acre, in the North West, with more irrigation, it averages 2s. 6d., in Bombay it hardly ever exceeds 2s. In the North * See official Table at page 303 of Dr. Royle's Work on Cotton Cultivation. * In Bengal, Behar, Orissa and Benares under the permanent settlement, the assessment amounts only 10-4 Annas or 6 pence per Beegah, according to Dr. Royle, though all the great staples, such as Indigo, opium, rice, &c. are there produced. Dr. Royle's Work page 560. In Colonel Read's Report on the Settlement of Salem, a contrast will be found between the Revenue drawn from the Carnatic and Bengal. West Provinces the Government demand is ascertained to be one-tenth of the gross produce, in South Arcot it was more than one-half. A supplemental letter was added by the Collector to this Report to prove that the cultivation of the district in its contracted state did not suffice to give food to the population, but we need not enter on this subject. We have afforded ample proof of the point which we urge that, while taxation was maintained at this height, it was unnecessary to seek a cause for the depression of the district in the system of revenue collections or of land tenures. Upon this report the Government in 1854 proceeded to action. They sanctioned a reduction of from 25 to 33 per cent. on the unirrigated land, and of 20 to 25 per cent. on the irrigated; and the assessment for second crops on all unirrigated land was abolished; and it was only levied on irrigated land, when the crop was actually raised by means of water supplied by Go vernment. We now come to a more cheerful view. The results of the measure rapidly disclosed themselves, and on the 17th December 1855 were thus stated in an official memorandum entitled " Notes on the results of the reduction of assessment up to the present times." "In closing this collection of papers it may be well to mention a few facts to shew the result of the reduction made in the assessment so far as there has yet been time to develop them. The modification of the rates of assessment was made known in Fusly 1264 some mouths after the commencement of the Fusly, and when the principal season for cultivating the dry land was past. Nevertheless the cultivation of that year exhibits an increase of 38,395 Cawnies over the preceding Fusly. "Of this increase 17,673 Cawnies consisted of irrigated land, and an additional revenue of Rupees 3,19,183 was thus gained to balance in part the Rupees 6,22,324 given up to the people in the modification of the rates. "In Fusly 1265 the reduction of the assessment was generally known but cultivation was greatly checked by the scantiness of the early rains, and the district officers had not had leisure to settle all the contending applications for permission to take up waste lands. Notwithstanding these impediments however, the cultivation accounts closed at the end of Urpasy or to the 11th November 1855 shew a further increase of 84,007 Cawnies in the unirrigated lands, and of 9304 Cawnies in the irrigated. "The cultivation of the last six years is shown in the following statement, and it will be observed that although the current Fusly 1265 is still incomplete, its cultivation up to the 11th November exceeds the highest year on record by 75,002 Cawnies or above 15 per cent. "The assessment on the lands cultivated in the current year is not yet known, but it is calculated that if the cultivation reaches 6,00,000 Cawnies, the revenue given up by the reduction of the rates, amounting to about seven lakhs, will be at once made good. This result is by no means improbable even in the current year, as two cultivating months remain, in which the extensive Indigo lands are sown, besides cotton and tobacco being cultivated. "Of the gross increase of cultivation in the present Fusly, amounting on the 11th November to 93,311 Cawnies 89,111 Cawnies occurred in ten Hooloos talooks where the assessment has been formerly reduced. In the remaining three talooks temporary remissions are allowed at fixed rates, until the assessment is revised. "Whether or not the full amount of the revenue given up in the reductions is recovered this year, there seems no rational room for doubt that in another year or two there will be an actual and permanent increase of revenue as a consequence of the reductions, and this, it must be remembered, in addition to the Road Fund of 30 or 40 thousand Rupees a year, for the improvement of district roads." The Board's last report brings the result down to July 1857, at which time “the reduction of assessment on the land in occu'pation exceeded 10 lakhs of Rupees (£100,000) and yet from the spread of cultivation the settlement of the year amounted 'to 25,56,902 Rs. (£225,000) or Rs. 33,975 (say £3400) in ex'cess of the highest standard ever before attained." Such has been the result of this obvious, but long delayed, measure in the district of South Arcot, the only district in which it has been fully tried: whether even there the assessment is yet as low as sound financial policy requires we see much reason to doubt, and certainly it is higher than in the North West Provinces. The revised assessment of South Arcot is still Rs. 1-13-3 (0 3s. 4 d.) on dry land and Rs. 5-8-7 (0 11s. Oåd.) per |