LANDLORD AND TENANT IN 1886 71 



there was at that time a pronounced antagonism 

 between the two classes. It is true that as early as 

 1882 the Board of Revenue noted the existence of ill- 

 feeUng, and explained that 'the main, though by no 

 means the only, reason of the antagonism between the 

 two classes is what is known as the * twelve years 

 rule.' But the Local Government in reviewing the 

 Revenue Administration report was not convinced 

 that this ill-feeling was general. * Some officers,' the 

 Government remarked, ' (especially in the western 

 parts of the Province), unhesitatingly report that the 

 antagonism between landlords and tenants, as classes, 

 exists, and is becoming more embittered. But others 

 find no such widespread and increasing unfriendliness 

 as to give rise to any special and immediate anxiety 

 for the welfare of the agricultural community at large; 

 while in the great majority of districts the land held 

 in occupancy right forms a large proportion of the 

 cultivated area, and the positions of the tenants is one 

 which they seem generally well able to preserve and 

 maintain.' From time to time, however, disquieting 

 evidence was brought to light ; in Bulandshahr, for 

 instance, the result of a special inquiry was to prove 

 that * since the last settlement the occupancy area had 

 decreased by 29 per cent., and that the tenant -at- 

 will area had correspondingly increased, and that the 

 rise in rents over the tenant-at-will area had been no 

 less than 40 per cent.' In 1886 the Lieutenant- 

 Governor (Sir Alfred Lyall) completed a close in- 

 quiry into the working of the existing law, with a 

 view to ascertain the importance which ought to be 

 attached to such facts as those recorded from Buland- 

 shahr. Sir A. Lyall summarized the results of his 

 inquiry as follows : 



' After making every allowance for error in the 

 returns, and for the oppressive action of individual 

 landlords in certain localities, these figures for the 

 Meerut Division and for the Province as a whole, are 



