20 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



they should take who have the power, and they should keep 

 who can." It was also by no means clear in many cases from 

 whom the tax should be demanded, rights of property in land 

 having fallen greatly into abeyance during a period when to 

 claim the proprietorship was to invite spoliation and oppres- 

 sion. Our strong and equable rule so greatly encouraged the 

 arts of peace that population soon began to press upon the 

 immediately available land ; and this circumstance, together 

 with the moderation arid certainty of our land taxation, soon 

 bestowed on property in land a value which it had never 

 before possessed. Eival claimants then began to bring forward 

 conflicting, and often long-dormant, claims to possession ; and 

 the courts established for the ordinary business of the country 

 were soon swamped by the number and complexity of these 

 cases. It was found, too, on inquiry, that there had never 

 really existed any clearly recognised right of property, in our 

 sense of the term, which would give the agricultural classes a 

 real interest in the improvement of their lands, while many 

 classes of persons had been allowed to exercise very undefined 

 powers over the whole of this immense area of unreclaimed 

 land. The culturable wastes were becoming much in demand 

 by enterprising settlers, a demand which the shortly expected 

 opening of the country by the railway promised to largely 

 increase. Such operations were clogged by these uncertain 

 claims, and thus the progress of the country was in danger. 

 The forest question also became urgent, timber being required 

 in large quantities by the railways, while a fear arose of the 

 impending exhaustion of the whole forests of the country. 

 Nothing could be effected in this direction either, until the 

 question of title in these wastes should be determined. The 

 Government then determined to appoint special officers for the 

 settlement of all these matters in every district of the province ; 



