CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEW. BEVEOTE. 



9 



terns which prevail in the Madras Presidency. First of 

 all we have the relic of ancient times, the village joint- 

 rent system ; in which the inhabitants of each village 

 still pay through their Head man to the Collector of the 

 District, a yearly lump tax for the whole of their lands ; 

 and then they are left to allot to each one of their 

 number, the lands he is to cultivate, and the yearly 

 contribution he is to pay. The defect in the village 

 joint- rent system is, that each villager is responsible 

 not only for the payment of his own contribution, but 

 virtually for the payment of the contributions of all the 

 others ; whilst at the same time there is no clear de- 

 finition of his individual right to the land which he 

 cultivates and holds. 



2nd, The Zemindary system. — This system may also 12 

 be explained in a few words. A set of middle-men, or 

 aristocracy, arose between the Sovereign and the Head 

 men of the villages, known by the general name of Ze- 

 mindars. Some had received villages as rewards for 

 services ; others were simply farmers of the revenue ; 

 others again may have obtained villages in return for 

 supplies of troops, or by chicanery or force during the 

 dark days of a declining dynasty; whilst some were 

 undoubtedly descendants of old feudal chiefs and barons, 

 who had held possession of the villages from time imme- 

 morial. Be this as it may, we found all the Zemindars 

 exercising proprietary rights, and paying a fixed annual 

 sum to the existing Government. Accordingly, this 

 Zemindary system has, in many parts, still continued to 

 exist under British rule. The objections to it are that 

 the Zemindar's profits swallow up from 15 to 33 per 

 cent, of the revenue derived from the lands under culti- 

 vation, as well as the whole of any future revenue which 

 may arise from the waste lands being taken into culti- 

 vation. 



3rd, The Ryotwary system. — The Eyotwary system 13 

 is the most important of all, and the one which gener- 

 ally prevails in the Madras Presidency. Here the 

 Government does not take the rent from the Head 

 man of the village, nor from the Zemindar of a number 

 of villages, but direct from the Ryots or village land- 



