APPENDICES. 67 



district is large, yet many tracts are totally unproductive, even 

 of grass, for the cattle in the plains. The hilly tracts are those 

 which contain pasturage necessary for the sustenance of their 

 own cattle, as well as that of other tracts, whence, from time 

 immemorial, flocks have been sent to graze in the mountains, 

 during the hot months of the year. 



Deprived of this resource, by the grant of land to European 

 settlers, the cattle would not obtain sufficient pasturage in the 

 district, and the result might be very injurious. The only way 

 in which the increase, if authoritatively enforced, could be 

 carried out, would be to fix such fair compensation as might be 

 determined by a commission, composed of Government officers, 

 zemindars, and other natives. Terms for rent might be more 

 easily determined ; but here again it is doubtful whether Euro- 

 peans could deal with the zemindars without the intervention of 

 Government. 



Mr. Saunders, the commissioner, however, dissents from the 

 .opinion expressed by Captain Cracroft, that the location of a 

 European colony would of necessity interfere with the privileges 

 of the zemindars of the neighbourhood, by contracting their 

 grazing grounds, although he gives no indication of the extent 

 of land available. He believes that, by judicious management, 

 this difficulty might be removed. 



Lieutenant Paske, who is specially employed in buying land 

 for European capitalists who wish to settle in the Kangra district 

 as tea planters, is of opinion that a considerable extent of land 

 might be made available at Kumaon, and in the neighbourhood 

 of our hill sanataria; but that for the present, owing to the 

 dread which the natives of the interior entertain of European 

 settlers, and European soldiers in particular, it would be 

 advisable to confine the experiment to the immediate vicinity of 

 Dhurmsalla. He believes that the now deserted cantonment of 

 Dhurmsalla, together with a few sites in the neighbourhood, 

 might be made available for the location of from twelve to 

 twenty families of settlers, whom Government might also assist 

 in the way of employment in the civil duties of the station, 

 and by allowing them to cut timber for their own use, free of 

 charge. 



The officiating financial commissioner suggests that the 

 Government should follow, and not lead, this movement. Land 

 should be purchased for European soldiers applying for it, or 

 Government land might be assigned to them, within five miles 



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