159 



pointa point on which opinions so widely differed, 

 experience, the truest of all tests in matters involv- 

 ing- doubts and difficulties, would be his best and 

 safest guide. He determined, therefore, before com- 

 mitting- the Government to a measure involving- 

 such serious consequences, to fortify his judg-ment 

 by experiment. 



"As to the redemption of the Land Revenue/' 

 said his Lordship, " great caution is necessary in 

 dealing- with what has always formed so larg-e a part 

 of the revenues of the Government of India. The 

 Governor-General in Council proposes, therefore, in 

 the first instance, to limit the permission of redemp- 

 tion in any one district to such a number of estates 

 as shall, in their ag-greg'ate assessment, not exceed 

 10 per cent, of the total land tax of the collectorate, 

 or corresponding- fiscal division of the country. 



" This restriction will enable Government to ascer- 

 tain in each province, without undue risk to its 

 permanent fiscal resources, the practical effect of 

 permitting- the redemption, both in completely 

 populated and well cultivated districts, and in those 

 where there is much uncultivated land and a thin 

 population. It will afford an opportunity of here- 

 after reconsidering- the effects of the measure with 

 the lig-ht of ample experience, while the limit which 

 it prescribes is larg-e enoug'h to allow of a consider- 

 able number of those who may be able and desirous 

 of redeeming the Land Revenue of their estates, to 

 do so partially or wholly. 7 ' 



