1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, %c. 543 



portion of the price to the landlord, and adding a small sum on his own 

 account for the privilege of storing his purchases on the property until 

 they are completed; the rent here includes the hire of the soil, the 

 value of the product, and in addition to it is charged a rent for the 

 ground on which the collected store is deposited, pending transit. 

 Bunkur literally signifies wood or belonging to the forest, but mineral 

 products, generally speaking, found in woody places, all go to make up 

 Bunkur rents; that is to say, they form part of the assets on which the 

 rent of a Bunkur farm is calculated, such as chalk, coal, stones, chu- 

 nam : these again have separate subdivisions, but the principle on which 

 the rent is to be calculated is the same. With reference to the two 

 latter, labour is bestowed not only in the collection of the article, but in 

 its preparation for the market ; this preparation consists in the reduc- 

 tion of the bulk, and the landlord compensates himself for what he 

 loses in not taxing it in bulking by participating to a certain extent 

 in the increased value of the article after it has undergone preparation. 

 For the manufacture of the limestone into lime he makes a charge 

 for the wood consumed in the heating of the kiln, and for the kiln 

 itself; as he has the power of dictation, he generally prefers avoiding 

 the risk of failure from injudicious heating, by taking the kiln accord- 

 ing to the quantity of lime which it is estimated to yield rather than 

 wait for the lime itself, hence this rate is generally levied on the kiln 

 at so much per hundred maunds. Bunkur rates being generally levied 

 as a toll, disputes regarding them seldom come before the Revenue 

 Courts, except when disputes arise between the landholder and farmer, 

 and these will of course depend on the terms of the lease. A Bunkur 

 ryut is seldom a resident on the estate ; in fact, Bunkur estates are gene- 

 rally unfitted for continued residence; the want of scientific knowledge 

 by which to avail itself of the treasures of the hill and forest have 

 served to depreciate the value of Bunkur property in the estimation of 

 natives far too low : as the products become of more importance, laws 

 will become necessary for the protection of each peculiar class, instead 

 of their being left now in indiscriminate confusion, all classed under 

 one unmeaning title, Bunkur. 



Nerick-i-churhaie, the rate of rent paid for the right of pasturage 

 in extensive forests on waste lands. Trials will come before the 

 Revenue Courts, rather regarding the right to levy, than the rate 



4 K 



