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high prices were almost immediately felt on the acreage under 

 cultivation and the amount of revenue. In South Arcot seven 

 lakhs of rupees, amounting to nearly one-third of the revenue 

 on cultivated lands, and 8j lakhs on waste lands were remitted 

 in 1854. rhe area under cultivation the very next year rose 

 from 632,180 to 810,707 acres. The Collector reported in 

 1857 that " the demand for fresh land since the reduction of 

 assessment, and especially where the reduction was most liberal, 

 had been very great ; that the relief had given a decided 

 impetus to industry ; that the condition of the people had been 

 indisputably improved, as was evident from the substantial 

 houses they were building in every direction and by the in- 

 dependent manner in which they deported themselves ; and that 

 labour was in great demand and emigration to Bourbon had 

 ceased." The Collector of Kurnool in the same year stated 

 that since the reduction of assessment, cultivable lands had 

 become every year more difficult to obtain, that the revenue 

 came in readily, and that wells, topes of trees and indigo vats 

 were increasing in number. Similar reports in regard to the 

 favorable turn in the circumstances of the ryots were received 

 from other Collectors also. The Collector of Godavari reported 

 in 1859, " it is very gratifying to me to be able to bear testi- 

 mony to the rapid increase of prosperity among the people of 

 this district. This has been perhaps more especially apparent 

 during the last two years and is accounted for in various ways 

 — by the great demand for labour, by the great increase in the 

 rate of wages and in the prices of all commodities and in the 

 general appearance of the people. The high prices of all kinds 

 of agricultural produce during the last few years may have 

 aided in obtaining this result ; but that the main cause is 

 the work at Dowlaishweram no one can, I think, for a moment 

 doubt." In the Coimbatore district the relinquishment by Gov- 

 ernment of the right to tax improvements to land effected by 

 the ryots had led to a great extension of cultivation. Mr. E. B. 

 Thomas, who perhaps had done more to develop the resources 

 of this district than any other Collector, wrote in 1856, "a 

 great many new wells continue to be dug in punjah fields, and 

 some of the old deserted and exhausted wells are being opened, 

 and fences restored ; and garden crops are again appearing on 

 fields long waste, some 30 or 40 years. A great proof of the 

 practical value and policy of the garden remissions is exhibited 

 in lands (fit for new wells or with old wells in themj becoming 

 more saleable, and in discussions now arising on old dormant 

 claims to lands long since waste." Again in 1857 he said, 

 " the .district only wants rain. With a moderate assessment 

 and most, of the oppressive taxes relieved, the moturpha alone 



