INDEBTEDNESS OP THE LAND-HOLDING CLASSES. 39 



occupants, pay the low rates to Government and grind down their 

 sub-tenants under a hideous system of rack-renting." 



344. Coming next to the executive measures, we need not again 

 refer to the question of elasticity in the collection of the land revenue ; 

 but a few words are necessary as to improvements in the Land 

 Records system which are essential to the proper introduction of it. 

 These improvements consist chiefly in the better organization of the 

 Land Records staff ; in the mapping and registration of every plot con- 

 tained in the ' field ' ; in the maintenance of a correct map by the 

 village accountant ; and in the due registration in the village records 

 of all particulars regarding ownership, encumbrances and cultivating 

 rights. 



345. We were unfavourably impressed by the insufficient control, 

 which, under the Bombay system, is exercised over the village 

 accountant, and with the waste of strength involved in employing one 

 set of officials indealing with the land revenue, and a different set in 

 dealing with agricultural statistics. The experience of other provinces 

 shows that both functions are best and most economically discharged 

 by one properly graded staff of village accountants, circle superinten- 

 dents (or kanungos) and district superintendents (supervisor kanungos), 

 working under the Collector. It is only by consolidating the two 

 staffs in this way that the necessary control can be established over the 

 village accountant. 



346. Above all, there should be a real record of all proprietary 

 rights in land, and to this end registration of title in the village 

 register should be enforced. At present there is no precise informa- 

 tion as to the actual ownership of the land, and the entries in the 

 village papers are often at variance with the facts. The result is that, 

 when the revenue falls due, and the actual cultivator, who is not the 

 owner, protests that he is not responsible, the local officials are reduced 

 to a shrewd guess as to who the responsible party may be. This 

 throws an enormous power into the hands of the village accountant, a 

 subordinate official, who, in every province, requires to be kept under 

 strict control. 



347. We advise that no time be lost in giving effect to the reforms 



which we have suggested above. 



