MANUAL OP THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



311 



But wiiatever the results of the field measurements may have CUAP. 



XIII, 



been, Mr. Sullivan did not attempt, during the period the Hills 

 were under his control, to interfere with the settlement of 

 Major McLeod as revised two or three years later by Mr. Garrow, 

 who succeeded Major McLeod as Collector of Coimbatore. 

 Writing in January 1835, Mr. Sullivan remarks that this assess- 

 ment, which did not, on the average, exceed half a rupee a 

 cawnie, and "which was in former times as much as the 

 land could afford to pay, has become, under the improved circum- 

 stances of the people, little more than a quit-rent ; but as 

 the owners, in common with their neighbours in Malabar, have 

 enjoyed the advantage of a light tax so long, the faith of Govern- 

 ment is in fact pledged for its continuance.'' 

 These rates ^ were as follows : — 



PART I. 



Revenue 

 History. 



Rates of 



No change of any importance took place in the rates of assess- Changes 

 ment on lands held by hill cultivators without the Settlements i8g2°''*^' 

 for forty years after our advent, but in 1862 the question of the 

 land system of the Nilagiris came under discussion, and this 

 discussion resulted in important changes in the tenure of land 

 by the hill-men and in the rates of assessment paid by them. The 

 causes which induced these changes appertain mainly to the 

 gradual extension of coffee and other plantations on the hills and 

 slopes, and the consequent demand for land for such purposes ; ^ 



but there were certain evils in the land system of the Hills which 

 aggravated the disadvantages of the position of the settler and 



' Only the rates marked with an asterisk are mentioned in Mr. Conolly's 

 letter to the Board of Revenue, 20th July 1833. Those which practically were in 

 operation on the plateau are marked with across. Major Ouchterlony gives also two 

 rates for potato cultivation, Rupees 7 and Rupees 5 per bullah for good and inferior 

 land respectively. Those, however, appear to have been si^ecial rates in the 

 Settlements. The rates of assessment for lands taken up under the darkhast rules, 

 where lands may still be so granted, differ according to the locality. In the 

 Segur tract it is Rupees 1-2-4 on dry and wet lands per cawuio of 1'32 acres, whilst 

 garden lands are assessed at Rupees 2-5-7 per bullah of 3-82 acres. In South-East 

 Waindd the rate is Rupees 1-4-0 per acre on cultivation, besides 8 annas jemna- 

 bhogam or landlord's fee. In the Waindd hill-tribes are permitted to cultivate 

 hill slopes not being forest at the ordinary assessment without darkhast. The 

 revenue so derived is debited to Seva jamma. 



