— xxix— 197 



Extract from a Letter from the Honourable the Court of Directors, 

 dated 30th September, 1829. 



156. The investigations requisite for the adjustment of the 

 landed tenures at Malacca have, we are happy to see, been satisfac- 

 torily performed, and the adjustment itself completed. The follow- 

 ing are the points which have been ascertained : — 



1st. — That the pecuniary claim of Government upon the soil, 

 by the custom of the place, and of the neighbouring Malay States, 

 amounted to one tenth of the produce. 



2ndly. — That the persons called the proprietors, mostly Dutch 

 colonists resident at Malacca, were merely persons to whom Gov- 

 ernment had granted out its tenth, and who had no other claims 

 upon the prodnce, nor upon the occupiers, not founded in abuse. 



Srdly. — That the occupiers, therefore, were the real proprietors 

 of the soil. 



^thly — That the Panghooloos were merely the Agents of Gov- 

 ernment, or of the persons called the proprietors, for collecting the 

 tenth share, and performing certain duties of the nature of Police, 

 attached by custom to the proprietorship. 



157. We are extremely glad that you have baen able to effect, 

 with the bodjrof proprietors, an arrangement whereby they make over 

 to you the whole of their rights, for the fixed annual payment, 

 about equal to the present amount of their annual receipts. You 

 propose to manage the lands directly on account of Government, 

 employing the Panghooloos as Collectors and Police Officers. They 

 are probably the most efficient instruments whom, in the present 

 state of society at Malacca, you have it in your power to employ. 

 They will, however, require a vigilant superintendence, and the more 

 so since the administration of justice, as at present organised, 

 does not afford to the cultivators so accessible or expeditious a 

 means of redress in case of their sustaining any injury, as to dis- 

 pense with the necessity of other securities. 



158. You have reserved, as the privilege of Government, the 

 absolute disposal of all lands hitherto unreclaimed, or which here- 

 after be suffered to run again into forest and remain unproduc- 

 tive for five years. 



159. The limits of all lands occupied by individuals are to be, 

 as soon as possible, determined by survey, and defined by Grants 

 duly issued and registered. All future transfers of landed proper- 



