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ryots. Experience, however, having shown that even these 

 regulations were not free from ambiguity, the Committee was 

 of opinion that the main principles on which disputes regard- 

 ing rent should be decided should be clearly laid down as 

 follows : — first, ryots who held in their own right hereditarily 

 or by custom of the country, at a fixed or long established 

 rent, were to be protected ; secondly, a division of the crop 

 between the land-holder and the tenant formed the ancient 

 basis of rent, and the local rate of this division was to be 

 referred to in cases of dispute, when other means of settling 

 the rate of rent to the satisfaction of both parties proved 

 unsuccessful ; thirdly, land-holders were to be at liberty to 

 arrange their own terms for rent in the case of unoccupied 

 lands. The Committee was further of opinion that voluntary 

 engagements regarding rent between the land-lord and tenant 

 should be respected and that any other course would lead to 

 great confusion and wrong. As regards the terms on which 

 the occupation of waste lands was to be allowed, the Com- 

 mittee remarked, " While it is essential to protect the rights 

 of old tenants, it would injure the due rights of the land- 

 holder and oppose the advancement of the country to declare 

 that he cannot let out unoccupied land to the best advan- 

 tage. By introduction of valuable new products, such as 

 indigo, silk, coffee, oil-seeds, &c., and by improved means of 

 communication in some parts of the country, lands have at- 

 tained an enhanced value, and as a land-holder can refuse 

 application for waste lands, it would be anomalous and in- 

 jurious to declare that he can only arrange for their culti- 

 vation by cultivating them himself or leasing them out on 

 inadequate rent founded on an ordinary and obsolete grain 

 crop. The Committee, therefore, proposed to enact the 

 following rules, viz., (1) all contracts for rent, express or 

 implied, shall be respected; (2) where no express contract 

 exists, the payment of rent continuously at the same rate for 

 12 years is to be considered an implied contract to hold 

 permanently at that rate ; (3) in districts or villages which 

 have been surveyed by the British Government and in which 

 a money assessment has been fixed on the fields, such assess- 

 ment is to be considered the proper rent, where no contract 

 for rent, express or implied, exists; (4) where no express or 

 implied contract has been made between the land-lord and 

 tenant, and where no money assessment has been fixed on 

 the fields, the rates of rent shall be determined according to 

 usage, and^where such usage is not clearly ascertainable, then 

 according to the rates established or paid for neighbouring 

 lands of similar description and quality ; provided that if 



