142 



It is in -reality, then, rights in property with 

 which we have to deal, and not the distribution of 

 taxation, which has not, or, from an equity point of 

 view, ought not to have anything* whatever to do 

 with the question. 



Now, admitting* the King's power to dispose of 

 the rig-lits of the Community in the soil, it is evident 

 that before they are sold or commuted, some means 

 must be ascertained for properly estimating* their 

 value. But, as these rights are in the produce, and 

 the produce, especially in India, is not a fixed quan- 

 tity, but very fluctuating, and as its money value 

 varies considerably, and as population and the 

 metallic currency increases, and the means of inter- 

 communication improve, will vary very much more,* 

 this cannot now be done with anything approaching* 

 that accuracy which it is absolutely necessary for 

 an administrator or trustee to observe, when dealing 

 with the property of others. It is only then when 

 the resources of a country have been developed to 

 the fullest, and when population has reached that 

 point where emigration should step in to relieve the 

 strain, that such a balance can be struck as will 

 enable the King to ascertain, with certainty, the 

 true value of the property he would dispose of. But 

 the advantages to be derived from the sale of the 

 land are this very development of the resources of 



* In parts of Assam the money value of rice within the last 

 four years, which were not seasons of scarcity, but seasons of 

 plenty, has increased three hundred per cent ! but no increase 

 has been made in the rent or land revenue. 



