78 



in Madras, and the commutation of annual pay- 

 ments in Bengal.* 



It is quite true that in August 1860 the Lieut.- 

 Governor of Bengal had transmitted to the Govern- 

 ment of India the draft of a new set of rules for the 

 disposal of the waste lands in the provinces under 

 his Government, providing for the sale of grants as 

 a ' valid heritable and transferable tenure in per- 

 petuity/ subject however to the conditions previously 

 in force regarding clearances, except as regards the 

 penalty of forfeiture, which included only such 

 portions of the grants as might not have been 

 brought under cultivation ; and the mind of the 

 Calcutta public was in the state above described, 

 when these rules were brought before the Supreme 

 Government for consideration. One Member of 

 Council wrote a Minute, strongly advocating the 

 sale out-right of all waste lands ;| another drafted 

 a set of rules for carrying the measure into effect ; 

 and His Excellency the Viceroy, after considering 

 in Council the opinions of all his Lieutenants and 

 their subordinates on the general question, published, 

 on the 17th October 1861, a Resolution, in which he 

 sanctioned the sale of all unassessed wnste lands 



* These are the men who have done so much injury to the 

 interests of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal, one of the finest 

 and most promising agricultural enterprises ever undertaken 

 in India. Yet these very identical men and their friends, are 

 now clamouring to be relieved of the lands they so eagerly 

 purchased at ten times their actual value, because they cannot 

 pay for them. 



f See Parliamentary papers "Waste Lands (India). 



