MALAY LAND TENURE. 135 



" If an occupant dies, one ( the eldest or responsible ) heir 

 "must be entered as the succeeding occupant who has to pay 

 " the revenue, for there can only be one registered revenue- 

 " payer for each field with a separate survey number, though, 

 " of course, there may be several sharers ( joint heirs of the 

 " deceased owner, for instance ) in a number. Which of them 

 " is so entered, depends, of course, on consent, or on the result 

 " of a Court decree, if there is a dispute." 



" Sharers can always get their shares partitioned and assess- 

 " ed separately, as long as there is no dispute as to what the 

 " shares are." * 



The advantages enjoyed by the occupant of land under the 

 survey settlement are : -*- 



1st. — Fixity of tenure conditional on the due payment of 

 the Government demand. 



2ndly. — His occupation is heritable and transferable by 

 gift, sale, or mortgage, without other restriction than the 

 requirement to give notice to the authorities. 



3rdly. — His assessment is fixed, but subject to revision 

 after periods of thirty years. The right of occupancy is not 

 affected by the expiration of a term of settlement, being con- 

 ditional solely on the payment of the assessment imposed. 



Stilly. — He is at liberty to resign his entire occupancy, or 

 any recognised share or part of it defined by the survey in any 

 year, provided notice be given by a fixed date. If waste land 

 be available, he may enlarge his holding at pleasure on appli- 

 cation to the district officials. 



bthly. — He may sub-let his lands, and Government will 

 assist him, under certain limitations, in recovering rents from 

 his tenants. 



6thly. — His holding cannot be encroached on by his 

 neighbour, every sub-division of it being clearly defined by 

 boundary marks, and susceptible of immediate identification 

 by means of the village maps and registers. Further, the 

 fact of his possession of any field or sub-division of it can be 

 traced without difficulty in the village records year by year up 



** Baden-Powell — Land Revenue and Land Tenure in India, 136-8. 



