215^ 



devolves on Government and the Government assessment is 

 remitted when there is a failure of supply of water for 

 irrigation. These considerations, however, important as they 

 are, only limit, it seems to me, the scope of a permanent 

 settlement, but do not show that its application to the bulk 

 of unirrigated lands in the country is impracticable. The 

 advantages of a permanent settlement of land revenue are so 

 great, that I am inclined to think that it should be intro- 

 duced, wherever practicable. I must, however, at the same 

 time admit that, considering the extreme uncertainty in 

 regard to the future value of silver and the instability of 

 the opium revenue, the present time is very inopportune for 

 Government to commit itself to any irrevocable decision 

 on this question. 



78. Barring a permanent settlement, the scheme of the 

 , ^. Government of India propounded in 1883 



uovernment of India j, .... , ^.i ••tji, 



scheme for jninimizing lor mmimizmg the cvils mciQental to 

 the evils of periodical periodical revisious of assessment, is un- 



revisions of assessment. ii.n ,i ■, ,i, i I'l 



doubtedly the best that can be devised. 

 As these orders are not as well known as they deserve to be, 

 a summary of them will be given here. In these orders the 

 Government of India announce that the policy of a permanent 

 settlement, pure and simple, proposed in Sir Charles Wood's 

 despatch in 1862, has been definitely abandoned as involving 

 an unjustifiable sacrifice of the future resources of the State. 

 The evils of periodical revisions of assessment are at the same 

 time admitted in the most unreserved manner. The most 

 prominent among them are " the uneasiness arising from 

 uncertainty, the harassment of the agricultural classes, the 

 discontent engendered by mistaken assessments, the check to 

 expenditure on improvements, the positive deterioration of 

 agriculture in the last years of the term of settlement, and 

 the heavy cost and great delay involved in the operations." 

 In calling attention to these evils, the Government of India 

 is careful to point out that it is not intended to disparage or 

 under-value in any way the work done by the Settlement 

 department. That department has had a gigantic task toper- 

 form and has done it in a creditable manner. It has demar- 

 cated the boundaries of every property, and provided a map 

 of every field ; and in the face of almost insurmountable 

 difficulties has effected an official valuation of land which is 

 as approximately correct as it is possible for an official 

 valuation to be ; and indeed without an initial valuation of 

 this kind it would be impossible to introduce auy reforms 

 whatever in the system of settlement. The problem for 

 solution is how best to secure to the land-holding classes a 



