110 



occurred in Guntiir, where 10 acres of dry and 2 acres of 

 wet land yielding a gross outturn of Rs. 55, and bearing 

 an assessment of Rs. 34 fetched a price of Rs. 78. In the 

 dry districts, such as the Ceded Districts, &c., the only 

 lands that had any saleable value were inam lands, and lands 

 irrigated by }3rivate wells or on which cocoanut and areca 

 plantations had been formed, almost the entire value in these 

 cases being due to the capital and labour laid out by the 

 ryots in improving the lands. In the Tanjore district the 

 statistics given in the appendix V.-E. (d 1 and 2) show that the 

 value of lands in most places has risen to not less than ten 

 times what it was in the early years of the century. In the 

 deltas of the Kistna and the Goddvari, lands which were 

 unsaleable have, during the last 30 years, acquired a high 

 value, though in the former district there are still large tracts 

 where, owing to the sparseness of the population, the value 

 has not risen to anything like the height it has attained 

 in Tanjore. As regards the rise in the value of lands in the 

 Coimbatore district, Mr. Nicholson remarks " (1) that whereas 

 up to 1850, or at least in 1839, only about one-eighth of 

 the dry land, three-fourths of the gardens, and one-fourth 

 of the wet land was saleable, in 1884 the bulk of the dry 

 land has a price ranging from As. 4 to Rs. 50 per acre; 

 all gardens are saleable, and are worth from Rs. 50 to 100 

 per acre, inclusive of the well, while the wet land is wholly 

 saleable at an average of from Rs. 250 to Rs. 300; (2) that 

 a very large proportion of the lands bears a rental of one- 

 half of th;^ gross produce, whereas in 1839 a smaller propor- 

 tion bore a rental of one-half the net produce, i.e., after 

 deducting cultivation expenses ; (3) that interest has de- 

 creased, mortgages on landed property being now freely 

 accepted at 9 per cent., whereas in 1839 interest on such 

 transactions was from 12 to 18 per cent, and higher; (4) that 

 trading capital now turns to land as an investment, and is 

 willing to accept from it a return of 6 per cent., whereas in 

 1839 it was declared that trading capital did not invest in 

 land ; (5) that wells have increased from about 22,000 to 

 about 55,000 in actual use, representing capital permanently 

 sunk since 1800 of at least 100 lakhs, besides that sunk in 

 wells not now in use ; (6) that thousands of acres have been 

 turned from dry into wet; (7) that the cultivation of very 

 valuable products, such as sugar-cane, turmeric, cocoanuts, 

 plantains, &c., has largely increased; and (8) that in the 

 recent unprecedented famine (1877-78), it was not t^he ryot 

 class who suffered severely, save only those who depended 



