Volume 1

Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman].

  • William Henry Sleeman
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles and recollections of an Indian official / [Sir William Henry Sleeman]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the one and the swords of the otherd Such communities of cultivating proprietors are of two kinds, those among whom the lands are parcelled out, each member holding his share as a distinct estate, and being individually responsible for the payment of the share of the govern- ment demand assessed upon it ■ and those among whom the lands are not parcelled out, but the profits divided as among copartners of an estate held jointly. They, in either case, nominate one of their members to collect and pay the government demand; or government appoints a man for this duty, either as a salaried servant, or a lessee, with authority to levy from the cultivating proprietors a certain sum over and above what is demandable from him. 1 he communities in which the cultivators are considered merely as lease-holders are far more numerous ; indeed, the greater part of the village communities in this part of India are of this description ; and, where the communities are 'of a mixed character, the cultivating proprietors are considered to have merely a right of occupancy, and are liable to have their lands assessed at the same rate as those held on a mere lease tenure. In all parts of India the cultivating proprietors in such mixed communities are similarly situated, they are liable to be assessed at the same rate as others holding the same sort of lands, and often pay a higher rate, with which others are not encum- bered. But this is not general; it is as much the interest of the proprietor to have good cultivating tenants, as it is that of the tenants to have good proprietors ; and it is felt ^ Very often the government of the country know nothing of these tenures ; the local authorities allowed them to continue as a perquisite of their own. The holders were willing to pay them a good share of the rent, assured that they would be resumed if lepoited by the local authorities to the government. These authorities consented to take a moderate share of the rent, assured that they should get little or nothing if the lands v^ere resumed. [W. H. S.] “Rent” here means “ land-revenue. ” Of course, under modern British administration the particulars of all tenures are known and recorded in great detail.
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