41 



the mirasidars ; for, as market prices still average 70 per cent, 

 over the settlement commutation rate, they must be able to 

 gain so much more beyond their mirasi-waram share as origi- 

 nally fixed ; but this estimate of their profits holds good only 

 a& regards the well irrigated delta taluks. There are parts of 

 the district, especially those situated at the remote ends of 

 irrigation channels, where irrigation is from its nature pre- 

 carious, and the present system of conservancy under the direc- 

 tion of a highly centralized, but in point of numerical strength 

 utterly inadequate, professional agency is necessarily inefficient. 

 In such parts there can be no question that the recent high 

 prices of agricultural produce have alone enabled the land- 

 holders to punctually discharge the Government dues." The 

 decline in prices, however, benefited the landless classes whose 

 wages had risen during the years of high prices, but did not 

 decline when the prices fell. Inquiries^® were instituted at 

 this time by the Government of India regarding the pressure 

 of taxation. The Board of Kevenue reported " there can be no 

 doubt that there is a feeling of uneasiness and perplexity abroad 

 among the tax-payers which is strong enough to warrant grave 

 anxiety. This feeling is the result not so much of the nature or 

 weight of the taxes as of the rapid changes in the law which 

 have been taking place of late years. When a tax is new it is 

 bitterly felt, but as the people get more and more used to it, 

 their dissatisfaction wears away. The great bulk of the popula- 

 tion being engaged in agriculture, the cultivation statistics, 

 which are recorded with great minuteness, would show if the 

 burden of taxation were too great ; but there is no evidence that 

 this is the case. On the other hand, any considerable fall in 

 the prices of produce would make the burden unbearable, and 

 it may safely be said that the load cannot be increased or even 

 shifted without danger." The Madras Government expressed 

 a similar opinion. It remarked "with the exception of the 

 income-tax, in condemning which there is a very general con- 

 sensus of opinion, comparatively little soreness seems to be 

 felt in the country at any existing Imperial taxation. The 

 stamp duties perplex the people and probably would produce 

 more with less annoyance, were the schedules framed on some 

 more easily intelligible principle. The system irritates, but 

 the tax cannot be called burdensome on the masses. The rise 

 in prices of late years has indirectly tended to alleviate the 

 burdens on the land, whether for local or Imperial purposes, 

 while the concurrent improvement in wages has prevented the 

 increase in prices from telling hard on the lower classes. 

 1 ^- , 



^8 An abstract of the reports of Collectors and other officers in regard to the condition 

 of agricultural classes in 1872 is given in the appendix F, section IV. 



