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of superior qualities and form only a small proportion of the 

 total lands under cultivation, and the whole of the rent is not 

 realized in adverse seasons, and consequently it would be 

 erroneous to accept the ratios, ascertained as regards tliem, 

 as applicable to all lands leased out, much less to all lands 

 generally. From inquiries I have made, I find that in most 

 districts, and more especially in Coimbatore and Tinnevelly, 

 the rental of wet lands taken as a whole is a little less than 

 3 times the Government assessment, and that of dry lands is 

 about twice. The land-owner has to bear a portion of the 

 cultivation expenses in connection with farm repairs and pays 

 the Government assessment and local cesses out of the rental. 

 Roughly speaking, the net profit of the owner of wet lands 

 may be stated to be half as much again as the Government 

 assessment and that the owner of dry lands makes as much 

 as the Government assessment. Lands in the vicinity of 

 towns, on which market garden produce can be grown give 

 an enormous profit, but, on the other hand, there is a large 

 extent of land of very poor quality on which chance crops 

 are grown. These lands which are on the margin of culti- 

 vation pay no rent, and the land tax imposed on them is not 

 a share of the retit but a tax on the earnings of labour. 

 Individual districts have, of course, been dealt with, more or 

 less liberally, according to the circumstances of the period 

 during which the new settlement rates were introduced and 

 the views entertained by the officers who had a predominant 

 influence in the decision of the question of the extent to 

 which the tracts settled could bear increased taxation. Thus 

 in the Trichinopoly district, which was settled by Mr. Puckle 

 at a time when the country had just begun to recover from 

 the prolonged depression from which it had suffered and 

 when the enormous rise in prices which soon after took place 

 could hardly be foreseen, the assessments were reduced by 

 25 per cent., notwithstanding that the survey disclosed an 

 increase in the area to the extent of 18 per cent. Salem, 

 Nellore and Chingleput, settled at the end of the period of 

 high prices, were treated less liberally, this being the result 

 of the re-action of the lenient assessments of the earlier 

 period. The enhancement of the revenue in Nellore, es- 

 pecially, viz., 11 per cent., must be considered heavy when 

 it is remembered that the survey, so far from disclosing 

 any excess in the area of holdings, showed a slight deficiency. 

 Taking all the districts in which the settlements have been 

 completed, as a whole, the increase in the revenue^ due to the 

 enhanced settlement rates does not exceed 5 per cent., which 

 cannot be considered excessive. In special 'tracts and as 



