148 Appendix. 



Officer gets his patwaris for nothing. True ; but the patwaris must he 

 paid in any case, and from the point of view of the Local Govern- 

 ment, it is more economical to get the work done for nothing by 

 existing agencies than to import a costly survey party from outside. 

 Nor is the further advantage of thus permanently improving the 

 efficiency of the patwari staff to be lost sight of." 



Extract from the judgment of J. Tweedie, Esq., Judge of Shahabad, 

 passed in Rent Appeals, Nos. 510, 511, and 512 of 1886, on the 2St/i 

 of February 1887. In these appeals " neg ;" " dak-beari" 

 " sarakh ; " and " saraf" were asked. " Batta " had been allowed 

 by the first Court, as being an equalizing item as between " Sicca" 1 

 and " Queen's" rupees. There was no cross-appeal on this point. 

 The suits were under The Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885. 



* * * * * * * 



4. These cases and all similar cases, must, in the absence of 

 < consolidation ' made with the ry of s consent, be tried by the Courts 

 with reference to Section 74 of Act VIII of 1885. That section is a 

 modern recast of the old law, and places the difficult question of what 

 are usually called vaguely, ' cesses,' in a clearer position than what 

 it previously occupied. It must be prominently noticed, in the first 

 place, that that section by no means renders illegal all payments over 

 and above the " asl-jttmma." Only " impositions" upon tenants are 

 rendered illegal. An imposition may be taken to mean any payment 

 (in addition to actual rent) which is without a new ' consideration ' to 

 support it ! And moreover, such ' imposition ' must admit of being 

 appropriately called by the name of abwab, mahtut, or other " like 

 appellation." Thus, if two different standards of money-measurement 

 are merely equalized ; here, the new state of things and the old are 

 identical, and there is not even an increment to the " actual rent " ; 

 far less, an "imposition " upon the tenants. Or, if a zemindar supplies, 

 say, a sugar-mill for crushing sugar-cane (as is commonly used in these 

 parts) and charges for its use, when he charges for the use of his land 

 here also we have no " imposition " on the tenants, but we have a new 

 charge on a new " consideration." So, also, if a zemindar engages 

 to keep all the village accounts for the tenants, providing necessary 

 establishment for the work, paper, pens, ink ; and so forth ; here also we 

 have on a fair claim made ^no "imposition" on the tenants in 

 addition to their actual rent ; but a demand for value received ; 



