Land system of Central not comprised in tálukdárí estates was settled in the ordinary way with its proprietors or zamindárs for a term of thirty years. The whole of Oudh has since been accurately surveyed. The Central Provinces contain many varieties of land tenure, from the feudatory chiefs, who pay a light tribute, to Provinces. the village communities, who are assessed after survey. Population is sparse and agriculture backward, so that the incidence of land revenue is everywhere low. The survey was conducted generally on the Punjab system, adopting the 'estate' as the unit of assessment. But in the Central Provinces the British Government gave proprietary rights to the former revenue-farmers, or fiscal managers of villages, under native rule. It thus created a body of landholders between itself and the cultivators. Of the rental paid by the husbandmen, the Government ordinarily takes one-half as land-tax, and allows one-half to the proprietary body. The current settlement, for a term of thirty years, will expire in 1897. Land revenue of British India. Salt administration. Sources of salt. The gross land revenue realized from territory under British administration in India, amounted to £21,876,067 in 1882-83. During the ten years ending 1882-83, it averaged £21,283,764, which is raised to about 223 millions by the inclusion of certain local rates and cesses levied on land. This latter figure shows an average of a fraction less than 10d. per cultivated acre. The average annual cost of collecting the land revenue during the ten years ending 1882-83 was £2,945,151, or close on three millions sterling. The highest average rate of assessment estimated per head, is in Bombay, namely, 35. 10ld. per head of population; the lowest, Is. 24d. per head, in Bengal and Assam. The net land revenue realized from British India, deducting charges of collection, during the ten years ending March 1883, averaged 18 millions sterling. In 1882-83, the land revenue of British India was 21 millions gross, and 183 millions net.1 THE SALT DUTY.-Salt ranks next to land revenue among the items of actual taxation in India; opium being excluded, as paid by the Chinese consumer. Broadly speaking, the salt consumed in India is derived from four sources—(1) importation by sea, chiefly from the mines of Cheshire; (2) solar evaporation in shallow tanks along the seaboard; (3) gatherings from the Salt Lakes in Rájputána; (4) quarrying in the Salt Hills of the Northern Punjab. Until recently, the tax 1 Parliamentary Return. levied upon salt varied very much in different parts of the country; and a numerous preventive staff was stationed along a continuous barrier hedge, which almost cut the peninsula into two fiscal sections. tion of The reforms of Sir J. Strachey in 1878, by which the Equaliza higher rates were reduced while the lower rates were raised, salt duty. and their subsequent equalization over the whole country, have effectually abolished this engine of oppression. Communication is now free; and it has been found that prices are lowered by thus bringing the consumer nearer to his market, even though the rate of taxation be increased. In the Punjab and Rájputána, salt administration has become, as in Lower Bengal, a simple matter of weighing quantities and levying a uniform tax. In Bombay, also, the manufacture is Systems now conducted with a minimum of expense at large central depôts in Gujarát (Guzerát), under a thorough system of excise supervision. Along the eastern coast, however, from Orissa to Cape Comorin, the process of evaporating sea-water is carried on as a private industry, although under official supervision and on Government account. of manu facture. of manu The process of manufacture in Madras is exceedingly simple, Process and at the same time free from temptations to smuggling. The facture. season lasts from about January to July, in which latter month the downpour of rain usually puts a stop to operations. A site is selected in the neighbourhood of one of the backwaters or inlets which abound along the coast. Before commencing, the proprietor of the salt-pan must each year obtain the consent of the Collector of the District, and must engage to supply a certain quantity of salt. The first step is to form a series of pans or reservoirs of varying degrees of shallowness by banking up the earth, with interconnecting channels. Into the outer and deepest of these pans, the seawater is baled by means of a lever and bucket-lift, and there allowed to stand for some days until it has by evaporation acquired the consistency of brine. The brine is then passed through the channels into the remainder of the series of gradually shallowing pans. At last it becomes crystallized salt, and is scraped off for conveyance to the wholesale depôt. It is estimated that, in a favourable season, this process may be repeated de novo from twelve to fifteen times, according as the weather permits. But a single shower of rain will spoil the whole operation at any stage. Like the poppy cultivation in Bengal, the manufacture of salt in Madras is a monopoly, which can be defended by the of the Working circumstances of the case. No one is compelled to manufacture, and rights of property in a salt-pan are strictly respected; monopoly in Madras. while the State endeavours, by means of a careful staff of supervisors, to obtain the maximum of profit with a minimum of interference. The system as at present carried on has been gradually developed from the experience of nearly a century. The manufacturers belong to the same class as the ordinary cultivators; and, as a rule, their condition is somewhat more prosperous, for they possess a hereditary privilege carrying with it commercial profits. They do not work upon a system of advances, as is the case with so many other Indian industries; but they are paid at a certain rate when they bring their salt to the Government depôt. This rate of payment, known as kudiraram, is at present fixed at an average of 1 ánná 5·8 pies (or about 2 d.) per maund of 824 lbs.; the other expenses of the Salt Department for supervision, etc., raise the total cost to 3 ánnás 56 pies (or about 54d.) per maund. The price charged to the consumer by the Madras Government, up to March 1882, was Rs. 2. 8. (or about 5s.) per maund, the balance being net profit. Cost of salt in Madras. Duty of salt. Equalization of duty. Excise admini stration. Central distillery system. The equal rate of salt duty which now prevails throughout all continental India is Rs. 2 per maund, or 5s. 5d. a cwt. In British Burma, only 3 ánnás per maund, or 6d. a cwt., are charged for local consumption, and a transit duty of 1 per cent. ad valorem for salt sent across the frontier. In the salt tracts on the west of the Indus, excluding the Kalabagh mines, a special rate of 8 ánnás per local maund of 103 lbs. is charged. The total salt revenue of British India in 1882-83 was returned at £6,177,781, the average for ten years being £6,627,194. EXCISE DUTIES in India are not a mere tax levied through the private manufacturer and retailer, but (like salt) a species of Government monopoly. The only excisable articles are intoxicants and drugs; and the object of the State is to check consumption, not less than to raise revenue. The details vary in the different Provinces, but the general plan of administration is the same. The right to manufacture, and the right to retail, are both monopolies of Government, let out to private individuals upon strict conditions. Distillation of country spirits is permitted under two systems-either to the highest bidder under official supervision; or only upon certain spots set apart for the purpose. The latter is known as the sadr or central distillery system. The right of sale is also farmed out to the EXCISE ON LIQUORS AND DRUGS. 455 highest bidder, subject to regulations fixing the quantity of Rice-beer. liquor that may be sold at one time. The brewing of beer from rice and other grains, a process universal among the hill tribes and other aboriginal races, is practically untaxed and unrestrained. The numerous European breweries at the hill stations pay a tax at the rate of 6d. a gallon. A large business in brewing is now done at Simla, Marri (Murree), Kasauli, Massuri, Nainí Tál, Solán, and in the Nilgiris. An attempt is being made to establish breweries on the plains. Excise duties are also levied upon the sale of a number of intoxicating or stimulant drugs, of which the most important are opium and gánjá or bhang. Opium is issued for local Opium. consumption in India from the Government manufactories at Patná and Benares, and sold through private retailers at a monopoly price. This drug is chiefly consumed in Assam, Burma, and the Punjab. Gánjá is an intoxicating preparation Gánjá. made from the flowers and leaves of Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa, var. indica). The cultivation of hemp for this purpose is chiefly confined to a limited area in Rajsháhí District, Bengal, and to the inner valleys of the Himálayas, whence the drug is imported under the name of charas. Its use is a fre- Charas. quent cause, not only of crime, but also of insanity. Governinent attempts to check consumption-first, by fixing the retail duty at the highest rate that will not encourage smuggling; and second, by continually raising that rate as experience allows. Strictly speaking, gánjá consists of the flowering and fruiting heads of the female plant; bháng or siddhi, of the dried leaves and small stalks, with a few fruits; while charas is the resin itself, collected in various ways as it naturally exudes. No duty is at present levied upon tobacco in any part Tobacco. of British India. The plant is universally grown by the cultivators for their own smoking, and, like everything else, was subject to taxation under native rule; but the impossibility of accurate excise supervision has caused the British Government to abandon this impost. The total excise revenue of British India in 1882-83 was returned at £3,609,561, the average for ten years being £2,774,073. admini stration. THE MUNICIPALITIES at present existing in India are a Municipal creation of the Legislature; indeed, a recent branch of our system of administration. Their origin is to be traced, not to the native panchayat, but to the necessity for relieving the District officer from some of the details of his work. The of Five;' The old panchayat or elective Council of Five is one of the institutions most deeply rooted in the Hindu mind. By it the village community was ruled, the head-man being only its executive official, not the legislator or judge. By it caste disputes were settled; by it traders and merchants were organized into powerful guilds, to the rules of which even European outsiders have had to submit. By a development of the panchayat, the Sikh army of the khálsá was despotically governed, when the centralized system of Ranjit Singh fell to pieces at his death. Municipalities succeed it. Municipal statistics. 1877-83. The village organization was impaired or broken up under Mughal rule. Municipal institutions have gradually developed in place of the old Hindu mechanism of rural government, which had thus worn out or disappeared. Police, roads, and sanitation are the three main objects for which a modern Indian municipality is constituted. In rural tracts, these departments are managed (in different Provinces) by the Collector, or by one of his subordinate staff, or by a Local Fund Board. Within municipal limits, they are delegated to a Committee, who, until lately, derived their practical authority from the Collector's sanction, implied or expressed. Except in the larger towns, the municipalities can scarcely be said as yet to exhibit the attributes of popular representation or of vigorous corporate life. But the Local Government Acts, passed during Lord Ripon's Viceroyalty (ante, p. 428), have given a new impulse to the rural and municipal boards. As education advances, they will doubtless be further developed. In 1876-77, excluding the three Presidency capitals, there were altogether 894 muncipalities in British India, with 12,381,059 inhabitants, or just 7 per cent. of the total population. Out of an aggregate number of 7519 members of municipal committees, concerning whom information is available, 1794 were Europeans and 5725 natives; 1863 were exofficio, 4512 were nominated by Government, and 1144 elected, the last class being almost confined to the North-Western and Central Provinces. The financial statistics of these municipalities are given in a later section of this chapter. In 1882-83, the municipalities in British India, exclusive of the three Presidency cities, numbered 783, with 12,923,494 inhabitants. The passing of the Local SelfGovernment Acts (1882-84) has extended the elective principle, in a larger or smaller measure, all over India. The three great municipalities in the Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay administered a population in 1877 of 1 million. Their governing bodies aggregated 176 members, of |