present in force. The question of reducing the jumma of a permanently settled village could hardly be entertained, and in every case of default land must be sold. 12. In considering any revenue question with reference to the Umballa district, the way in which it will affect the Jagheerdars, who receive six out of the 10 lacs of its revenue, cannot be overlooked. They all consider that they have lost severely by the present settlement, and any proposal to give it permanency would be extremely obnoxious to them, while the zemindars would hardly be thankful for the boon. 13. I regret the delay which has occurred in replying to your reference; but the subject required consideration, and I did not at first notice that the reply was called for within 15 days. (No. 32.) From J. B. Peile, Esq., Acting Under Secretary to the Government of Bombay, to W. Grey, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India (No. 1627); dated 23 April 1862. WITH reference to your communications, Nos. 2036 and 6, dated respectively the 7th October and 24 January last, I am directed to forward printed copies of the Minutes noted in the margin, containing opinions of the Members of this Government respecting the "question of the permanent settlement of the land tax in this Presidency." (No. 33.) Minute by his Excellency the Governor, dated 3d March 1862. 7th March 1862. Minute by the Hon. Mr. Reeves, dated 31st March 1862. MINUTE by His Excellency the Governor of Bombay; dated 3 March 1862. It is a maxim of the natives of this country, that the perfection of financial administration may be measured by the extent to which an equitable land tax is made to contribute to the support of the State, and that the excellency of a Government may be estimated by the absence of direct and indirect taxation. 2. I have never doubted the truth of this opinion, seeing that the native feels that, in return for the payment which he makes to the State, he acquires the right to occupy or possess his land, and that in that right he receives an equivalent which to his mind. deprives his payment of the essential characteristics of a tax. 3. This financial system is one of the most ancient institutions of this country, and is founded on the right of the State to a share in the produce of the land; a right which is proved not only by the universality of the practice, but by the fact that exemption from the obligation to pay is regarded as a much cherished privilege, which has either been forcibly acquired in olden times, or has been directly conferred by the State upon the possessor as a reward. 4. It is frequently the case that the title of the holders or occupants of the land to enjoy the usufruct of the soil has become more or less complete, and their rights of occupancy more or less permanent, according to usage and a variety of circumstances. But exemption from payment of a share of the produce is nowhere the rule, but the exception; and I consider it would be generally impolitic, by fixing permanently at their present money value the demands of the State on the land, to transgress a principle of finance so sound and correct as the one I have adverted to, because it is the tendency of prices and wages to increase; consequently the expenses of administration must increase. If, therefore, the income of Government from the land be stationary, or nearly so, which, by fixing the assessment permanently, must be the case, recourse must be had to increased taxation, both direct and indirect. 5. It will be perceived that in these observations I advert only to the fixity of settlement in respect to the money demand, and I desire it to be understood that I do not advocate any variation in the just and moderate proportion of the gross produce on which the present assessments are based. But, as the prices of produce are yearly increasing, I see no infringement of the original conditions of the settlement, nor will it be so felt by the ryot, if, on the expiration of this experimental settlement, the Government land tax should be re-adjusted according to those increased prices, and to other circumstances; provided that no revision is made within such long period of time, or otherwise than on considerations of the most sound character, and upon well-established facts. 6. This a 30 years' settlement, such as has been introduced into a considerable portion of this Presidency, and is in progress throughout the rest of it, fulfils. The moderation with which the assessment has been fixed, has given the right of occupancy a high marketable value; and, under the settlement in some districts, the prosperity of the people has increased in a marked degree. But I do not concur with the late Colonel Baird Smith, that to intensify these results, which are similar to those described by him as having taken place under the settlement of the North West Provinces, we should here have recourse to a permanent settlement of the land tax; and it appears to me that more is due to those other elements of our settlements which he enumerates, viz., "security of titles, moderation of assessment," and, above all, "the recognition and careful record of rights," than to the mere "protracted fixity of the public demand." 7. For in this Presidency it had long been sought to perfect a ryotwary system by acknowledging no others than the Government and the poor peasant, and imposing on the latter all the burdens that he could stagger under in support of the former. That system naturally proved detrimental to the lands and all their inhabitants, excepting here and there the usurer. The result was that which must infallibly ensue under any Government which itself lives from hand to mouth, keeps no surplus money for advances, and maintains no stores for use, when in hard times seed corn is needed. Constant remissions, and still further decline of villages, became the ordinary characteristics of provinces which had already undergone the harassing and depopulating effects of more than two centuries of wars and plunder. The authorities at length resolved on retrieving a position for agriculture. It would have been better, in my opinion, to have recognised some dormant tenures, and to have resuscitated others. But habit and the example set by predecessors, whose wars, recklessness, and oppression had, generally speaking, exterminated the more respectable classes of landholders, served to keep out of view this best element of the success which depends on the possession of capital or of good credit. So they did the next best thing with a people who are not generally Mahomedan spendthrifts, but industrious Hindoos. After a survey, they imposed a very moderate assessment. This is now in operation, and is to endure for a period of 30 years. It is obvious that this being the first attempt on this side of India, within the limits of British dominions, to apply to cultivation a method of extending and improving it, and to population an encouragement to immigrate and increase, it would be an utter disregard of the rights of the Government in land tax if the present settlement were to be viewed as the limit of our demand. All that is here wanted, short of the reconstruction of such classes as zemindars and meerasdars, with their worth and influence, is to allow such a duration of settlement (and 30 years is not amiss for the purpose) as will combine the objects of increasing at future periods the moderate and just demands of the Government, while reconciling the ryot, for his own sake, to devote his industry and the utmost of his small means to the improvement of his long holding. 8. It is, in my opinion, another good reason for not settling our land tax permanently, that there can be no doubt in any unprejudiced mind that the lands are not yet held, generally speaking, as they might without difficulty be declared to be held, on a title still more highly esteemed and cherished. However well satisfied the ryot may be with the security of his right of his occupancy under the Revenue Survey Settlement, the term meeras conveys to his mind a sense of ownership, which no assurance that so long as he pays the Government revenue he will not be disturbed in the possession of his fields can give him. This was recently illustrated to me in a forcible manner by an intelligent Patell, who, in answer to a question put to him, with the view of eliciting the estimation in which he relatively held his "meeras" and "ghatkoolee land," replied: "The meeras is mine; the ghatkoolee is yours." And, again, as was emphatically said in my hearing, on another occasion, by a Native District Deputy Collector, and at the same time by an experienced mamlutdar," they hold affectionately to 'meeras' (meeras ko bohut dil lugta)." 9. With reference also to the possibility of having hereafter permanently to impose new taxes, I object to the proposal for abandoning the right of Government to the improved value which increased prices should give to the right of the State to a share of the produce of the fertile soil worked at small cost in money and labour-a right which has been reserved to it from ancient times, and which has, until recently, enabled it practically to exempt the people of this country from the burdens of taxation which press so heavily on the communities of Europe. 10. I shall lament to see a departure from this wise system, nor do I see the necessity of the proposed measure, for the agricultural classes are, on all hands, admitted to be improving, and to be becoming gradually possessed of some capital; and those works of irrigation, which must mainly be the mainstay to protect them in seasons of drought, can only be undertaken on an organized system, which no present permanent settlement would insure being ever executed, but which it is the duty of the Government to undertake whenever it has available resources. 11. No legislative enactments have been found necessary in this Presidency to give effect to the 30 years' settlements now in operation, and none appears to be necessary. (signed) George Clerk. MINUTE by the Honourable Mr. Reeves, dated 7 March 1862. I CONCUR in opinion with His Excellency the President, that Colonel Baird Smith's proposal for a permanent settlement would, in the present state of this Presidency, be a glaring financial error. 2. There has always been a tendency to conclude that any measure considered good and applicable in Bengal and the North West Provinces, must be the same in Bombay. But here our rates have been pitched at the minimum for a period of 30 years, with the expressed intention of a revision, after consideration of prices, at the end of that term, when we are sure of a permanent increased revenue equal, or nearly equal, to what it was at first supposed the income and license taxes combined would yield in this Presidency. To sacrifice this, particularly when it is considered that we have no scheme of taxation to replace it, and that we do not even yet know how to tax the mercantile aud other non-agricultural classes equally and effectually, when we are anxiously looking about for money for roads and public works, is not to be thought of. 3. Without committing myself to the opinion that a permanent settlement will never be appropriate, I am perfectly satisfied that the time for such a settlement in this Presidency is so remote, that it is a were waste of time to consider of it. We are emerging steadily and most. satisfactorily from the evil effects of wars, famines, oppressive assessment, and corrupt management, which were everywhere manifest when we took possession of the country. In Guzerat, it is true, a revenue survey was not set on foot until the lapse of a considerable period. Captain Cruikshank and Captain Keys, however, were conducting it, to my personal knowledge, as early as 1826. In the Deccan no time was lost in attempting the work of improvement, and Mr. Pringle commenced a revenue survey under Mr. Elphinstone's own directions; but after much money had been expended, it was found that operations in the Deccan had been left too much to native execution, and that the work of assessment (the measurements were generally good) was founded on the grossest bribery and corruption; a stop was, therefore, put to this survey, and the Guzerat proceedings ceased much about the same time. The present scheme of survey and assessment was matured by officers thoroughly acquainted with all former errors and mismanagement, and has been entirely successful in the imposition of an assessment extremely moderate and equal, and in giving to occupants a tenure as secure as they possibly can have. Government has declared that they have no claim to the soil so long as the assessment is paid. But it appears that one or two collectors in the Deccan have lost sight of this provision, and failed to impress it on the minds of occupants. The meerasdar, equally with the ordinary occupant, is bound to pay the assessment, and his land is responsible in default equally with that of the ordinary occupants. The only difference between the two is, that the meerasdar has hitherto had the privilege of re-entry on land deserted by him for a period of 30 years, and even longer, a privilege generally and properly condemned as opposed to reason, and productive of the grossest injustice and oppression. 4. The Honourable Court of Directors combined with the Government of India and successive governments of this Presidency in considering that this privilege was entirely wrong, and ought to be put an end to by legislation. But Lord Elphinstone's government, after very anxious and careful consideration, came to the conclusion that, although the civil courts occasionally reinstated a meerasdar, the measures which had been adopted in connection with the revenue survey, would gradually neutralise the injurious effects of the re-entry privilege, which would die out without any violent interference, and it was, therefore, decided that legislation was unnecessary. 5. Act XIV. of 1859, which limits all claims to 12 years, has most probably laid a salutary restriction on the claims of a meerasdar, and thus effected a most thorough coincidence between the tenures of meerasdar and ordinary occupant. See Mr. Secretary Ellis's letter, No. 4420, dated 5th November 1859, to the Legislative Councillor of the Council of India for Bombay. 6. The solitary remnant left to the holder of meer as will be the name, but it ought to excite no surprise that, in the two collectorates of Poona aud Ahmednuggur, meerasdars try to cry up and enhance the value of their own lands by crying down the lands of others held on exactly the same tenure. I am perfectly willing, however, to give ordinary occupants in the Deccan, Sattara, and part of Sholapore, the only localities where meeras exists, the name or title, if it can be shown satisfactorily, after full explanation to them of the rights they now enjoy, that they really desire it. Collectors and their assistants should be directed to set forth to the occupants that the only distinction remaining is the name; and if they then require the name, it should be given them "gratis." In the Southern Maratha country the cultivators are none of them meerasdars, though they are possessors as ancient as any holder of that denomination, and are in very much better circumstances. 7. I beg to refer to the three Minutes I have written on the subject of meeras and the effects of the revenue survey, for a more detailed explanation of my views. 8. My opinion, then, is that the occupants under Survey Rules have a tenure in no degree wanting in fixity and security; its sole liability is that of paying a moderate assessment, and it differs in no respect from that of a holder of an extensive leasehold property in England, or, in fact, from that of any person of any rank paying taxes in the United Kingdom. 9. The permanent settlement cannot possibly add anything to this security; and legislation, by meddling with what has hitherto been considered as a matter of course, would do harm. No one doubts that when Government give a lease (not of land, but of rates) for 30 years or 50 years, the rates will not be changed. Occupants sell and mortgage their lands; they would not do this if they doubted the word of Government, or the fixity of their tenure; and an officious interference with well-understood customs and maxims entirely uncalled for would excite the wonderment of the people, and perhaps their distrust, but it would certainly not tend to raise their opinion of the wisdom of the Legislature. (signed) H. W. Reeves. MINUTE by the Honourable Mr. Frere, dated 31 March 1862. AFTER carefully considering Colonel Baird Smith's report, and these Minutes, I have nothing to add but my general concurrence with His Excellency the President and my honourable colleague, Mr. Reeves. 2. I have already given my opinion upon the Meerassee tenure, so need not reiterate my objections to its revival, except with the modifications proposed by Mr. Reeves; my firm belief being that the ryots already possess all that is wholesome of the Meerassee right, if the collectors and other revenue officers only took the trouble to show it to them. 3. I annex translation of a memorandum by Ram Rao Bheemajee, Desaee of Dharwar, which the Honourable Mr. Reeves left with me to record on this subject, the papers having passed him when he received the memorandum; and I would point to the public works undertaken by the villagers in Dharwar (of which the Secretary will be good enough to annex a list) as showing that, with the 30 years' guarantee of the revenue survey and the present low rates, the ryots have means of their own to lay out on improvement, and feel that they have sufficient hold of the land to lead them to embark in those improvements for the general good; and as it is well known, even to the ryots themselves, that the lands which have been already surveyed will, on the expiration of the 30 years, bear an increased assessment of from 25 to 50 per cent., I am satisfied that a more permanent settlement than we now have is not required by the ryots, and would be a serious sacrifice by Government, even if it was introduced into those villages alone where the whole land had been taken up, and consequently where the profit or loss, which would be sustained, might be apparent; but even then we must recollect that the bargain is all on one side; for if by any accident it should happen that prices were to fall, and the assessment was found to be too high, Government would be obliged to reduce the rates, while, on the other hand, the ryot would reap the benefit of all unforeseen advantages. (signed) W. E. Frere. (No. 34.) From 4. D. Robertson, Esq., Acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, to E. C. Bayley, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India, (No. 1,938); dated 16 May 1862. I AM directed to forward the accompanying copy of a statement showing the works of public utility constructed and executed in the Dharwar Collectorate * Printed copy forwarded to the during the year 1860-61, either wholly or partially at the cost Government of India, with Mr. Acting of private individuals, referred to in paragraph 3 of the Honourable Under Secretary Peile's letter, No. Mr. Frere's Minute* on the subject of the redemption of land tax 1627, dated 23d April 1862. in this Presidency, dated the 31st March last. 2. A copy of the translation of Ram Row Bhimajee's memorandum, mentioned in the same paragraph of the Honourable Mr. Frere's Minute, is also annexed. |