Appendix. 143 



contravention of the statute. He is frequently the village tahsildar 

 (rent-collector) as well. To enable him to fill this office, he keeps a 

 double system of papers one for the Sarkar, and the other, for the joint 

 mystification of landlord and tenant. One he calls the Sarkari jama- 

 band i, in which rates are low and collections recorded as well up ; 

 the other goes by the name of the tahsil-dehi, or gaoni-tahsil, a bloat- 

 ed and ever wonderful record of wrongs. The Bengal pativari resides 

 upon his halka or circle ; in the North-West this gentleman loves to 

 dwell in the bosom of his family, far away from the scene of action. 

 There the oppression is vigorously prosecuted by his lieutenant, the 

 gomashta, whose commission is received upon the sum total of extor- 

 tion an iniquitous percentage. 



In Regulation XII of 1817, the Bengal Government attempted to 

 deal with ihefatwari question, but the attempt has proved unsuccess- 

 ful, chiefly because the patwari is like a regiment with no officers 

 between the colonel and the private. 



In section (3) the Regulation states that every village shall 

 have a separate pativari, but, if necessary, the Board shall authorize 

 one patwari to look over several villages, or that more than one pat- 

 wari shall be appointed to one village. 



DUTIES OF PATWARI. 



(16). The duties of \hepatwari shall be 



First. To keep such registers and accounts relating to the village 

 or villages to which he is appointed, in such manner and form as has 

 heretofore been the custom, or in such other mode as may be hereafter 

 prescribed by the Board of Revenue, together with such further 

 registers and accounts as may be directed by those authorities res- 

 pectively. 



Second. To prepare and deliver to the kanungo of the pargana, 

 at the expiration of every six months, a complete copy of the aforesaid 

 accounts showing distinctly the produce of the kharif &&& rabbi harvest. 



Third. To perform all other duties and services which it has been 

 customary for him to execute. 



(17). The Board of Revenue will determine on the mode in which 

 the accounts rendered by the patwari to the kammgo shall be brought 

 forward by the latter and recorded in the office of the Collectors. 



(18). The patwari is to be paid hereafter in the same mode as he 

 is now paid, whether in money or in grain or in land or in any other 



