MANUAL OP THE NiLAGIRI DISTRICT. 363 



roads, riglits of way, wood, or any other right, to be clearly CHAP. XIII, 

 shown in the survey plans and exhibited in distinctive colour. PART III. 

 The Collector to give survey officers the necessary information, revenue 

 The assessment on area reserved to be in all cases deducted. History. 



Shortly after the constitution of the Nilagiri Commission Survey 

 Mr. Breeks reported that, owing to the delay in the survey and operations 



,1 • -1 1 i • i.-i.i J J • after creation 



demarcation, it had been impossible to issue title-deeds, m of Nilagiri 

 many cases, of land sold under the rules, and consequently that Commission. 

 no assessment had been levied on the lands sold. The demar- 

 cation was so defective that he recommended the transfer of 

 the work wholly to the Survey Department, the boundaries 

 being pointed out to the surveyors by the Commissioner or his 

 Assistant in the presence of the demarcating clerk, who was to 

 remain on the ground until the work was completed to aid in 

 supply of labour and in other ways. This clerk was finally 

 abolished by order of Government in 1873. These proposals 

 were sanctioned ; the responsibility of the surveyor extended 

 little beyond seeing that the marks were fixed in the manner 

 indicated by the Commissioner, on whom still devolved the adjust- 

 ments of disputes and the settlement of the limits of blocks. 



He at the same time recommended the location of a small 

 but fully constituted party on the Hills, not only to be employed 

 on survey of waste land blocks, but also in marking out the main 

 lines of roads and also outlying estates, and in the preparation 

 of a guide map. In the following year he urged the matter again, 

 but it was not till 1870 that the sphere of the department's action 

 was extended to all lands under occupation, including the putta 

 lands occupied by the Hill tribes. Prior to this, with exception of 

 occasional special surveys of estates, such as those in Kdteri Valley 

 in 1869, the work undertaken was chiefly connected with waste 

 land blocks and the survey of all properties in the Hill stations. 

 About this time an Assistant Superintendent was placed in 

 charge of the detachment in place of a Sub-Assistant, and 

 he conducted its operations until the close of 1872 under the 

 general superintendence of the Deputy Superintendent at Coim- 

 batore. The old arrangement was then reverted to, but in 1876 

 the superior officer was again placed in immediate charge. 



The following memorandum shows the position of the survey 

 up to 31st March 1878 :— 



The total area of the Nilagiris, exclusive of the Ouchterlony Work 

 Valley and the three amshoms annexed from Waindd, is 704-27 P^i^oi'^ed. 

 square miles. The area surveyed on i6-inch scale of coffee estates 

 is 23-59 square miles ; waste land blocks, 19*33 square miles ; and 

 puttas, building sites. Government forests, reserves, &c., 278-39 

 square miles. The number of holdings comprised in the district 



