ccxlv 

 In Finance the taxes levied in 1874 were distributed as follows : — 



Millions £. 



National 4-8 



Departmental ... ... ... ... ... ... 4'8 



Indirect ... ... ... ... ... ... 8'6 



Roads, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 3'6 



21-8 



The rental of land in France was estimated in 1874 at 158 millions £. 



(B). — Tenure of Ryots in Zemindabies. 



(1) Extracts from the remarks of the Madras Board of Boyvemte 

 on the relative rights of Zemindars and. Tenants. 



In Proceedings^ dated 2nd December 1864, No. 7843, tlie Board 

 reviewed the history of the relative rights of Zemindars and ryots 

 and arrived at the following conclusions, viz. : — 



" That in the earliest times of which we have record, the right of 

 the State to a share in the produce of the land was limited, and that 

 this limit was such as to leave a sufficient margin for the growth of 

 a valuable property in the land appertaining to the occupant, whose 

 right to retain possession on payment of the limited share was in- 

 violable and hereditary ; 



'' That a fixed limit was equally maintained by the Muhammedan 

 conquerors ; 



" That the origin of the Zemiudar^s office was comparatively a 

 modern one, and that whatever its origin, the Zemindars derived their 

 rights from the State, which could not confer more than it had 

 possessed and exercised ; 



^' That the State asserted, and often in later times exercised, the 

 power of resuming the exercise of its rights from the Zemindars 

 without thereby altering the terms and conditions of the ryot's 

 tenure ; 



" That any increase in the rate of the Zemindar's demand on the 

 ryots was only justified by the Zemindar on the plea that the State 

 had raised its demands on him, although this ground was by no 

 means a sufficient foundation for any increase in the rate ; inasmuch 

 as the State share collected by the Zemindar could be legally increased 

 by extension of cultivation, and its value enhanced by improve- 

 ments in the cultivation, and when the superior kind of crops were 

 grown, and as the State demand on the Zemindar was not fixed, 

 though his percentage of the State share of the produce might have 

 been so ; 



'' That the notorious prevalence of excessive receipts by the 

 Zemindars from the ryots induced the Nazims of the Empire to 

 raise the State demands on the Zemindars, which measure again 

 excited the Zemindars still further to exact from the ryots, till the 

 latter were ground down to penury, or exasperated to resistance. 

 Heuce the Zemindars were themselves impoverished, so long as, and 

 where the officers of the Empire were able to maintain their authority 



