164 MALAY LAND TENURE. 



by Government in all cases and that this right is still enjoyed 

 by a few individuals in Malacca. Blundell speaks of the 

 omission to carry out the redemption policy in these few 

 instances (which of course ought to have been dealt with as 

 soon as the exceptional circumstances alluded to ceased), as an 

 " important error, " but describes the unredeemed lands as 

 " so small in extent (probably not one-tenth of the whole), 

 " and already ( 1848) so far occupied, as to preclude their 

 " being selected for any extensive cultivation " by a new 

 colonist prospecting for agricultural land.* 



The plan proposed by Mr. W. R. Young, in 1838, of providing 

 by a special Act for the resumption by the State of the privileges 

 held by the few remaining tithe-impropriators, upon the award 

 of compensation on an equitable principle, has not yet been 

 acted upon. Perhaps the limited area of the land in question, 

 which, he states, " does not exceed in area four or five square 

 miles/'' was thought to characterise the matter as one of not 

 sufficient importance to demand special legislation in Calcutta. 

 Mr. Young's remarks and recommendations are as follows : — -j- 



" I must here mention that although the great bulk of the 

 " impropriators transferred their rights to the Government in 

 " 1828, a few of them were not included in Mr. Fullerton's 

 " arrangement, either by reason of the absence from Malacca 

 " of the principals, at the time of the negotiation, or because 

 " some of the tithe-owners had sub-let their privileges to 

 " others for a term of years, and the derivative interests thus 

 " created stood in the way of the admission of those impro- 

 " priators into the scheme of adjustment. The land thus 

 " excluded from the general arrangement does not exceed in 

 " area four or five square miles, and I believe that the impro- 

 " priators would be quite willing to surrender their privileges 

 " to the Government in consideration of receiving compensa- 

 " tion on the principle which was applied to the cases of the 

 " other tithe-owners. I think it would be desirable, for the 

 iC sake of uniformity, to extend the arrangement to these par- 

 " ties, although the land in question is not sufficiently exten- 



* Jour n. Ind. Arch., II, 743, 744. 



f Correspondence relating to the Land Revenue System of the Straits Settle- 

 ments, 1837-1844, para. 40, p. 69. 



