Rambles and Recollections of an Indian OfficialSleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
History
Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official
Sleeman, W. H. (William Henry), Sir
India -- Description and travel
which resumed unceremoniously the estates of others, were deterred
from resuming these by a dread of the curses of the one and the
swords of the other.[5] 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 Government 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.
The communities in which the cultivators are considered merely as
leaseholders 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
encumbered. 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 to be the interest
of both to adjust their terms amicably among themselves, without a
reference to a third and superior party, which is always costly and
commonly ruinous.[6]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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