189 



any approach to minute accuracy, either the gross or the net 

 produce of each field ; but I am at the same time convinced 

 that, if either or both of these objects could be accomplished, 

 the right course would be to take a fixed proportion of the 

 net and not of the gross produce. The expenses of cultivation 

 vary greatly in areas of land of diff'erent qualities, yielding the 

 same quantities of gross produce ; and the net produce will, 

 of course, vary inversely in the same degree. I do not desire 

 that the Director of Revenue Settlement should endeavour to 

 ascertain with precision the actual net produce of each field ; 

 but that, in determining the rates of assessment for the 

 different qualities of land, the principle which was laid down 

 should be carefully borne in mind." In other words, a share 

 of the net produce was to be considered as the maximum 

 State charge, and having regard to the difficulty of calculat- 

 ing it accurately and to the injurious consequences of over- 

 assessment, the tax was to be so fixed as to leave a liberal 

 margin for miscalculations. This share of the net produce was 

 eventually fixed at one-half. It was further ruled that the 

 grain assessment should be commuted into money- value with 

 reference to the average prices at which grain had been sold 

 by the ryots for a sufficiently long period of years, in view to 

 taking account of the fluctuations in prices which usually 

 occur, and that the money rates imposed should not be liable 

 to alteration for thirty years. Another important consideration 

 to be taken note of and allowed for in the conversion of land 

 revenue payable in kind into a money assessment is the fact 

 that payment in kind with reference to each year's produce, 

 however inconvenient in other respects, has the merit of 

 calling upon the ryot to pay a small tax in years of deficient 

 produce when the ryot is straitened in his means of payment, 

 and a proportionately higher tax when he has reaped an 

 abundant produce and can aff'ord to pay with ease a larger 

 revenue. 



70. These are the cardinal principles of the settlement, 

 The elaborate methods ^"^^ ^hey are as applicable to the Bombay 

 of Madras settlement as to the Madras Presidency. The instruc- 

 .rpZ»eth:"„'fEo^! tions issued to the Madras Settlement 

 bay; the two do not officors for Carrying out these principles 

 substantially differ. rcquiro that the net produce of every 



variety of soil should be ascertained by a very large number 

 of actual experiments, and the procedure prescribed for this 

 purpose is most elaborate. The first process is to divide 

 the soil into certain main classes according to the mechanical 

 composition and chemical properties of the lands dealt with ; 

 there are 14' such classes recognized by the Settlement 



