which each estate bears is as equal as it can well be. Amongst these twenty-five villages we find ten assessed exactly at the pergunnah revenue rate; six retaining their former jumma, as they were already adequately assessed; five varying not more than Rs. 100 from the revenue rate; and only three which present a greater difference, and those certainly not without due reasons assigned. The actual increase on the former jumma is Rs. 1,431; and, had the pergunnah revenue rate been kept to in every instance, it would have been 1,197. Both results amply bearing out the opinion previously expressed that the purgunnah was capable of bearing an increase of from 12 to 1,500 rupees. Thus do the two grand revenue systems come into actual and practical operation. The procedures from the aggregate to the detail and from the detail to the aggregate prove mutual correctives. No system hitherto attempted will produce such results; moderation, instead of being fortuitous, as formerly, is systematical; and, we believe, that under the present management it has now reached that point of perfection to which human ingenuity can raise it.

But it is not in the matter of fixing the assessment that care and circumspection are enjoined on the settlement officer. The records of rights, immunities and obligations which are to be drawn out under his superintendence must engage his most earnest attention. It is in this that the labours of the officers employed have been eminently conspicuous. To prove which, we will subjoin translations of some of the documents which are prepared for this purpose, premising that no two apply to the same village. This plan will have the merit of shewing how much some of the tenures in the western provinces differ.

TRANSLATION OF A SETTLEMENT PROCEEDING.

Pursuant to the circular orders of the Sudder Board of Revenue, No. 40, of 27th September 1833, the following proceedings have been held by the settlement officer of zillah , in the case of mouzah Raeepoor, pergunnah Noornugur.

BOUNDARY AND MEASUREMENT OF THE ESTATE.

After the adjustment of the boundary dispute between this estate and the adjoining village of Khurwah, by arbitrators chosen by both parties, and the erection of land-marks, the measurement was made in F. S. 1240 with a chain, and the result, in puckah begas of 3,025 square yards is indicated below.

Cultivated.

3,229 0 0

Be. Bis. Be. Bis. Be. Bis.
112 0 0 512 15 0 626001

Barren, &c. Lakhiraj.

Chunchur.

480 0 0

In 1243 F. S. the measurement of the European survey took place, and, if the deductions on account of lakhiraj be taken into consideration, the returns will appear to be not very

dissimilar.

Bunjur.

Jageer for ser-
vice performed

371 0 0

Be. Bis.
12 15 ol

Barren.

Total.

498 0 0

Bis.

Be.
4,342 10 0

Total.

4578 0

The

ASSESSMENT AND REVENUE ENGAGEMENTS. 24.-The last jumma of this estate as entered in form No. 2, is 6,401 rupees. estimate of the tahseeldar and kanoongoe are both the same as the last jumma. The average collections for ten years, entered in the putwaree papers, amount to 7,340 rupees. The jaut proprietors cultivate superior articles of produce, such as sugar-cane, cotton and wheat. Certain culturable lands have lain fallow for two or three years; partly in consequence of altercations between the malicks, and partly with a view to reduce the jumma. On personal inspection of the condition and general appearance of the estate, the jumma was fixed on the return of the European survey at 6,431 rupees per annum, according to the rates specified in the English correspondence.

On the 11th February 1837, the settlement of this estate, in common with the rest of this purgunnah, was commenced. Sawaë, Ramdhun, and others, attended but refused to accede to the

proposed jumma; and, on the 16th of the same month, again declined engaging, although the increase on the old jumma was only 30; and had not one puttee suffered from the death of the principal proprietor, the jumma could not have been less than 7,000. On their refusal Sewuk Ram, mahajun, gave a durkhaust at 6,800 rupees. A few days afterwards Ramjuss and other proprietors came forward and said that Sawâë, &c. their former lumberdars, had not consulted with them respecting the jumma, that they were willing to take the village on any terms the collector chose to demand. that their lumberdars' intention was to force a reduction of the jumma as they did in F. S. 1238 with the connivance of the tahseeldar, and that they were authorized by Sewae, &c. to say, that as the lumberdars were now aware, they had another man to deal with, who formed his settlements on consideration of existing assets and personal inquiry, and had never yet been known to give into unreasonable remonstrances, they repented of their folly, and prayed that the collector would be graciously pleased to accept their engagements. Since it is the earnest desire of the settlement officer to consign the malgoozaree into the hands of the proprietors, and a farmer has in no instance as yet gained admission into any mouzah, the petition of the maliks is granted, and they are admitted to engage at the jumma originally fixed.

RIGHTS OF THE PROPRIEtors.

3d.-From the settlement of 1213 F. S. the names of Hurkuru, Suddasookh, Neelaput, and Jussoo, stand recorded in the zemindary and malgoozaree columns of registry. In 1216 F.S, the name of Mohur Sing, and at the settlement of 1228 F. S. the name of Poorun, were also added at the request of the others. Till 1232 F. S. the jumma of the estate was paid in common but in 1233 F. S. the mouzah was divided into four puttees. The names of Sudda Ram, Layeq Ram, Maëdeya, Praim Sook, Ramkurn, Untram Rambukhsh, Sirree Ram, Ramsookh and Hurr Ram, were registered in the Government books as sharers, and the jumma of the puttees became distinct. Until 1232 F. S. the jumma remained at 5,500 rupees and at the settlement of 1,233 F. S. was fixed at 1,300 rupees. In 1238 F. S. the zemindars gave in their resignation, and an abatement of 1,599 rupees was allowed on the former jumma, and the revenue therefore was fixed at 6,704 rupees. In F. S. 1240 one puttee was settled at a russudee or progressive jumma, at a decrease in F. S. 1240 of 350 rupees, and in F. S. 1241 of 300 rupees, under the provisions. of Regulation VII. 1822. By which measure the jumma of F. S. 1241 became 6,401 rupees. There is no question that great irregularity was evinced in settling this puttee apart from all the rest, nevertheless, for the reasons stated above, some reduction was considered necessary, and it is worthy of remark that this very puttee still continues a striking contrast to the general prosperity of the rest of the mouzah, and is the only impediment to the demand of a larger increase in the Government demand.

MODE OF CONTRIBUTION AND ADMINISTRATION.

4th. With the view of arranging for the future improvement of the deteriorated puttee, the schedule of contributions, the appointment of managers, and the division of the jumma were carried into effect in the presence of the collector, and with the entire concurrence of the whole fra ternity. According to the bbya-charee system each individual's share of jumma has been separately noted in the record which has been signed by all the proprietors. In the puttee of MohuSingh, and Sålick in which cultivation had been almost entirely abandoned, the maliks unanimously agreed to reduce the jumma to the extent of 150 rupees from its former amount; and to distribute this sum rateably on the other puttees, the entire puttee was temporarily transferred to the care of Sudda Ram, Hursàháé, and Doolla, and engagements were signed by the maliks to contribute the jumma in the proportions entered in No. 3, and to adopt the following modes of administration in each puttee.

Mode of payment of Division of profit and For recovery of Gomulbeh. loss. vernment balances.

By Bâch...

Ditto......

...

SThe lands of the defaulter.

Ditto.

In the event of the decease of the sudur lumberdars, the proprietors will themselves select successors. And if a cultivator dies before harvest, his heirs, and not the proprietor, shall be entitled to the emblements.

In case of a change in the rates, notice thereof must be given six months previously in the tahseel office. The putwaree's dues are leviable from all the maliks at the rate of anna per rupee on the amount of the Government jumma. The pay of the chokeydars is three rupees per mensem to each, payable from the house tax of one anna per mensem from each malik or other resident. Any excess arising from these chowkeedaree collections, is to be thrown into the general fund, to be kept by the putwaree for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the choapal, the entertainment of strangers and travellers, and charity to faquees.

On these conditions the estate has been settled for thirty years, from 1244 to F. S. 1273, and should it hereafter appear that any proprietor or cultivator is not included in the record, Momin Ali, the kanoongoe, and Eesree Bukhsh, mohurir, who were deputed to the village to ob tain the signatures of all parties to the contract, wil. be held responsible.

We subjoin a few more documents to prove what precise information is now obtained respecting the rights and interests of the whole rural population, on which the Court of Directors have frequently confessed themselves ignorant, and about which they have charged their servants with knowing little more than they did themselves. In their revenue letter to Bengal, dated 17th March, 1815, they remarked, that with every disposition to do justice to the merits of Mr. Colebrooke's minute, to which they had been referred, they could obtain from it no distinct and satisfactory explanation respecting the tenures of the landholders. They object to it, that it has not stated the method in use for overcoming the difficulties which must necessarily occur, both in the management and transfer of a property held in common, whether each share is held responsible only for its own assessment, or whether the whole land of a village is answerable for the whole Government jumma of that village; on the latter supposition, whether in the event of one sharer falling in arrears to Government, and the other sharers failing to making good that arrear, the whole land of the village is exposed to sale; who, in such cases, are generally the purchasers, and what becomes of the former putteedars, and if the arrears of a defaulting share are paid up by the other sharers, whether the latter possess any means of indemnifying themselves. They also inquire what are the rights of the cultivating ryots, when the zemindars are not themselves the cultivators, what proportion of the gross produce of the soil they pay to the zemindars whether this is paid by custom, by agreement, or by the discretion of the ze mindars, and paid in kind or commuted into money, whether the proportion is the same in all situations or varies in different pergunnahs, and in different species of soil in the same pergunnah, whether a zemindar can legally disposses a resident ryot who has regularly paid the customary rent for his land to make way for one who may engage to pay more, what rules have been d igested to enforce the grant of pottalis, and thereby to avert the manifold evils which have resulted from the total inefficiency of the regulations for that purpose in the lower provinces. With exception to the latter clause, as pottahs are worse than useless in this presidency, we believe, there is not one of these points left unadjusted in the present settlement proceedings. Let us see whether the court's queries cannot be answered by a mere iqrarnama.

FORM OF ENGAGEMENT.

We, the undersigned, Ramsookh, Bhosoo, Jehangeer, Chaitram, Ramdyal, Sheo Ram, Ram, Ramsookh, Gopaul, Goolzara, Hurjeet, Bikroo, Dhownkul, Kowreea, Maha, son of Subba; Kànhã, Gour Sâhâë, Ramkulla, Salowta, Sepahee, Atteea, Sabir, and Asa, being proprietors of mouzah Khaee Kherah, pergunnah Khyrabad, do agree as follows:

Whereas the settlement of this village was made with us by the settlement collector at an even annual jumma of Rs. 1,571 for 30 years from 1244 to 1273 F. S.

1st. We the proprietors have unanimously appointed Ramsook, Bhickroo, Gour Sahâë, and Salowta, as managers of the affairs of the estate, through whom the Government jumma will be punctually paid as fixed by instalment.

2d.-The mode of contribution among the proprietors is according to ancient custom, viz. by assuming the khalsa land to consist of 120 beegas (imaginary not real) which being divided

among the several sharers, the allotment of the jumma falls upon each at 13 rupees 1 anna and 6 pie per beega. The general superintendance of the ryutee cultivation rests with the Suddur malgoozars, but the profit and loss upon the collections therefrom, is to be distributed amongst the sharers according to the extent of each party's possession. In case of balance, so much of the right of the defaulting proprietor will be sold by public auction as will satisfy the arrear; or if the law will not admit of this arrangement the puttee shall be transferred to the oldest proprietor whoever he may be, who is not bound to restore it till his expenses and interest at 12 per cent. have been fully reimbursed.

3d. The rates of the hereditary cultivators are fixed and registered. Should a tenant at will' cultivate the lands of any sharer, all rates whether for grain or money will be fixed at the com mencement of the year with reference to the quality of the soil, and settled by written agreement. No unauthorized exactions whatever shall be made. In case of any contemplated change in the rates, previous notice thereof will be given to the tahseel office.

4th. The mulbah of the village is defrayed at the putwaree's office. At the close of the year the collections are made on that account by a per centage on the portions of the jumma payable by each sharer. Should any ryot become insolvent or desert, his liabilities to Government fall on the whole body of proprietors who have unanimously consented to this arrangement.

5th. This village is divided into 4 thokes or portions, and their lands are entirely separate. All the trees are the property of the sharers on whose land they grow, and it is not usual to sell them.

6th. The putwaree's dues are of a seer in every maund. The chokeedar receives annually 10 kutcha seers of grain from each cultivator. We will not interfere with the lakbiraj lands. We will obey all orders of the police, and we hold ourselves responsible for the repair of the roads as well as for the payment of fines, independent of the Government jumma.

7th. We will adhere to the ancient usage of allowing the lumberdar's son to succeed to his father's office. The amount of our several contributions is stated at the foot of the engagement, to which we all of us in the presence of witnesses voluntarily subscribe our names.

It is to be noted that we have recorded below our old village private measurement; but the putwaree has registered the corresponding fields according to the khusrah, and his papers can be appealed to at any time should any necessity for identification ever arise.