162 MALAY LAND TENURE. 



the local customary tenure, and who came, therefore within 

 the first category, were declared to be liable to a payment, 

 either in money or kind, of one-tenth part of the produce of 

 the land to Government. 



Those (class 2), whose occnpation was independent of the 

 native customary tenure were to be treated as squatters un- 

 der the Straits Land Act (Act XVI of 1839, s 2) and had the 

 alternative of " engaging for " their land on terms fixed by the 

 Government, or of removing from it altogether. 



Power was given to the Governor to commute the custom- 

 ary liability of a land-holder to pay tenths in kind, for a sum 

 down and an annual quit-rent. 



Waste land at the disposal of Government was to be alien- 

 ated, in the discretion of the Governor, to applicants, in 

 perpetuity or for any term of years and subject to any quit- 

 rent agreed upon ; and the local customary right, which the 

 peasantry of Malacca possessed, of taking up forest, waste or 

 uncultivated land and acquiring a proprietary right over it by 

 clearing and cultivating it, was taken away. Every land-holder 

 was, however, declared to be entitled to add to his holding by 

 engaging for contiguous uncultivated land in the proportion 

 of one part of waste for every four parts of land cultivated 

 by him. 



Finally, certain legal powers were given to 1 officials to 

 be appointed by the Governor, to make a survey of the 

 lands of the Settlement, to require the attendance of parties 

 and the production of documents, and to enquire into and 

 decide questions of title, subject to an appeal to the Court of 

 Judicature. 



If this Act had been properly worked by a sufficient estab- 

 lishment, there would seem to be no reason why the Malacca 

 Land Eevenue Department should not be at the present time, 

 as regards survey, settlement, maps, registration of holdings, 

 and record of rights, on as satisfactory a footing as any settled 

 district in an Indian province. 



But no settlement operations on a sufficiently extended scale 

 were ever undertaken. A surveyor was appointed and worked 

 for some years during which time a tolerable survey of the coast 

 districts (about one-fourth of the whole) was executed. The 



