L 16 ] 



lake, and with all measures relating to ihe security 

 and development of the salt revenue in India, and 

 the reduction of the price of this necessary to con- 

 sumers. 



From the Foreign Department was taken over the 

 control of all matters connected with Land Revenue 

 and Settlements in the non-regulation provinces ; and 

 from the Home Department all similar work pertain- 

 ing to the regulation provinces. 



The business thus devolving on the new Depart- 

 ment included all questions connected with the settle- 

 ment and assessment of the land in all that portion 

 of India which is not permanently settled (i.e, nearly 

 the whole empire with the exception of the major por- 

 tion of Lower Bengal and the Benares division) ; all 

 questions connected with waste lands, and their grant 

 in lease or fee-simple to European and other settlers ; 

 all questions connected with the alienation of the State 

 revenue derived from the land ; all questions con- 

 nected with the imposition of local taxes and cesses 

 on the land, and later, when an Act was passed pro- 

 viding for the making of pecuniary advances by the 

 State to aid the landholder or cultivator in improving 

 his land, all questions connected with the working of 

 that Act. 



From the Home Department also, the following 

 other branches of work were transferred : — 



Surveys. — Under this head were included the direc- 

 tion of the Trigonometrical, Topographical, Revenue, 

 and Geological Surveys, and the administration of the 

 vast establishments charged with their execution. 

 Connected with the Greological Survey were explora- 



