MANUAL OF THE NILAOIEI DISTklCT. 335 



followed by the following curious notification by the Collector CHAP. XI II, 

 of Malabar:— parti. 



" Government having determined that compensation for the whole Revenue 

 land included in the cantonment of Ootacamund shall be paid direct History . 

 to the Todas from the public treasury, and that no demand shall be 

 made on pi'ivate occupants on this account, and further that the 

 amount ah^eady paid by private individuals as compensation to the 

 Todas for lands occupied by them shall be paid on their making over 

 to Government the right and interest purchased by them from the 

 Todas, in lieu of which a perfect and unquestionable title will be given 

 them by Government to the lands in their occupation : Notice is 

 hereby given that on proof by authenticated documents of any such 

 payment having been made being furnished to the Sub Collector of 

 Malabar at Ootacamund on or before the 1st April next, such sums 

 shall be repaid to the parties on the terms above specified." 



But many obstacles presented themselves to the completion of 

 this arrangement_, the chief of which was the refusal of the Todas, 

 instigated by the Tahsildar of Ootacamand, to accept the compen- 

 sation offered. The Advocate-General also had pointed out to 

 Government the legal difiiculties involved in their policy. 



Things remained unsettled, and when in April 1839 the Court of Matters still 

 Directors expressed a hope that Government would soon be able to iglf^ qq^^^ 

 conclude an agreement with the Todas, '^ either by payment of of Directors 

 annual rent or otherwise/' orders were thereupon issued to the "^*®^ ^^^' 

 Collector of Malabar to induce the Todas to make over the lands 

 on payment annually of Rupees 150 *■' as quit-rent for the same.'' 

 In 1840 Mr. Conolly forwarded some important observations to 

 Government, dealing with the Todas' claims from a Malabar 

 point of view. He pointed out that even in Malabar a man might 

 cultivate waste, restoring it to the owner should a claim be estab- 

 lished on receipt from the latter of full compensation ; and further 

 that a man is not allowed to leave his land waste unless he agree 

 to pay to Government the tax they would receive if it were culti- 

 vated ; and proceeded to remark that it was a serious question 

 " whether the Todas should have greater favour shown to them 

 (allowing them to be proprietors of the soil) than is shown to the 

 proprietors of Malabar; whether they should be allowed to keep 

 the large portion of the Hills ^ which they claim as their peculiar Mr.Conolly's 

 property in a state which may fairly be called waste, to the "^'®^^^- 

 prejudice of Government, who might derive a large emolument 

 from its being brought under cultivation." And after observing 

 that the Todas only paid a land assessment on 190 bullahs (700 

 acres), and that the Government could hardly have intended in 

 1835 to have allowed them to occupy the rest of the uplands (in 



1 i.e., the uplands— Meln&d— of fcTie T<5daa.— Ete. 



