' 68 



cities of mighty rivers, too, often devastate miles of 

 cultivated lands. For generations land may thus 

 remain waste, and during the interval the right in 

 the soil will, so to speak, lie dormant ; but let Go- 

 vernment attempt to dispose of the land, or let any 

 one attempt to reclaim or cultivate it, and it will 

 soon he found that this right is fondly cherished, 

 and will be stoutly maintained by some village 

 community, or some representative of the ancient 

 possessor. In the Wynaad district of Madras, in 

 which coffee cultivation has been so successfully 

 introduced, Government has had experience of this, 

 and the fact is well known to all who know India. 

 And there is yet another, and far more powerful 

 cause than any here given, but this I shall notice 

 under* a different head. 



Of the 13,554,333 acres of cultivable land said 

 to be waste in the Madras Presidency, only a very 

 limited extent is said to be 4 at the absolute disposal 

 of Government, the remainder being subject to 

 certain established rights of the village commu- 

 nities. 7 * 



In Bombay, the land suitable for cultivation at 

 the disposal of Government, is defined to be ( of the 

 poorer sort/ and in small detached patches, except 

 in districts which are so unhealthy as to be pro- 

 nounced deadly to Europeans. 



The Lieutenant-Governor of the N. W. Provinces 



* Official Correspondence Return to an order of the House 

 of Commons, dated 30th May, 1862. 



