193 



classification under sort 2 or sort 3 was the more correct. 

 In later settlements, the difference in the rates appertaining 

 to consecutive sorts of land has been reduced by increasing 

 the number of "sorts" from 3 to 5 ; but it is obvious that 

 even a difference of 50 or 25 per cent, in the money rates 

 must affect the ryot to a considerable extent. 



72. It is important to bear in mind these considerations 

 which illustrate the inherent difficulties in 



Hence the necessity ii i n i , • i p. 



to aUow a large margin all land valuatious, as proposals are oiten 

 for error in fixing land niadc for increasiuff or diminishing the 



assessments. Mr. Good- , , « *^ • i <• l^ 



rich's remarks regard- land tax, morc oitcn the tormer, on the 

 ing "excessive allow- supposition that the hypothetical data 



ances ignore this fact. ^"^ t . ,,, . it,- i 



assumed m settlement calculations, whose 

 main object may be stated to be (1) to systematize the classi- 

 fication made by the subordinate officers for purposes of easy 

 check by the higher officers, and (2) to regulate the relative 

 incidence of the tax imposed upon lands of different soils in 

 small tracts of country whose conditions as regards climate, 

 facilities for irrigation, access to markets and supply of labour 

 are fairly • homogeneous, have any pretensions to scientific 

 accuracy. Thus, Mr. Goodrich, late of the Madras Civil 

 Service, in an article entitled " Land Revenue in Madras," 

 published in the Economic Journal for September 1891, states 

 that the grain valuations and their money-equivalents fixed 

 by the Madras Settlement department are unduly low, the 

 estimates being " whittled down by excessive allowances, or 

 by making a fair allowance several times over in the course 

 of the calculation." Mr. Goodrich in making these remarks 

 entirely ignores the original instructions issued to the Settle- 

 ment department when it was organized, viz., that having 

 regard to the extreme difficulty of valuing soils, the varia- 

 bility of the seasons and the precariousness of the crops, the 

 poverty of the agricultural classes and the injurious conse- 

 quences of over-assessment, the assessment imposed should 

 be extremely moderate, and that a very liberal margin should 

 be allowed for errors and miscalculations. I agree with Mr. 

 Goodrich in considering that on the whole the estimates of 

 average outturn of soils adopted by the Settlement depart- 

 ment are below rather than above the mark, though one 

 cannot be very certain about this in the case of the poorer 

 soils, large areas of which obtain a catch-crop when they can. 

 As regards the " excessive " allowances, it seems to me that 

 the allowances, so far from being excessive, are barely suffi- 

 cient. The deduction of from 15 to 25 per cent, from the 

 average outturn for vicissitudes of season and unprofitable 

 areas measured with holdings is, in many cases, less than 



25 



