10 COTTOtf IK THE MADKAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. I. 



holders. By this system every registered holder of land 

 is recognized as its actual proprietor. He can sub-let 

 his property, or transfer it by gift, sale, or mortgage. 

 So long as he pays his yearly rent, the Government 

 cannot eject him ; but he can at any time throw off 

 this responsibility to Government, by throwing up all 

 or any part of his land. 



14 Advantages of the Ryotwary tenure over the Zemind- 

 ary tenure and the Village joint-rent system. — It may 

 perhaps place a complicated question in a clearer light, 

 if we thus briefly indicate the advantages of the Ryot- 

 war settlement, over the Zemindary tenure or the 

 village joint-rent system. To revert from the Ryotwary 

 to the Zemindary tenure would entail four evils. 1st, 

 It would place a middle-man between the Government 

 and the Ryot. 2nd, It would strike off from 15 to 33 

 per cent, of the existing revenue, which would go into 

 the pockets of the middle-man. 3rd, It would alienate 

 to the middle-man those waste lands, which the Ryots 

 are being induced to take into cultivation, and which 

 thus gradually increase the revenues of the State, and 

 enable the Government to reduce the rent on the whole. 

 4th, It would place the Ryots under the powerful and 

 injurious influence of the Zemindars. Again, to revert 

 from the Ryotwar to the village joint-rent system would 

 entail two evils. 1st, It would annul individual property 

 in the land. 2nd, It would render the whole of a village 

 community responsible for the short-comings of any of 

 its individual members. 



15 Revenue division of lands : Government, Zemindary, 

 and Inam. — The village joint-rent system will shortly 

 be abolished, and there will then remain but two lead- 

 ing distinctions of tenure : viz., the Zemindary and 

 Ryotwary. A large extent of land, amounting to 

 nearly one-fourth of the assessed area, is held as Inam ; 

 in other words, it is wholly or partially free from as- 

 sessment. The origin of these lands is not unlike that 

 of Zemindary lands. Certain fields have been given to 

 individuals at various times, as rewards for services, or 

 as funds for the support of pagodas, choultries (or rest- 

 ing-places for travellers), and other charitable purposes ; 



