88 



THE PREDECESSORS OF THE 



besides which bills of sale wrote in (rentoo on cadjan leaves 

 were to be entered in the register kept by the Town Conico- 

 poly for that purpose. 45 A register of Kespondentia Bonds 

 was also established in 1727 ; 46 and on Wednesday the 11th 

 June 1735 it was resolved by the Governor and Council that 

 notice be given at all the gates and by beat of tom-tom 

 that all persons produce their titles to their lands, houses, &c, 

 within six months; and that " all those whose titles are already 

 registered and certified by any of the Justices shall pay no 

 fees, and those whose titles have been already registered in 

 either the Choultry or Mayor's Court, but not certified, shall 

 pay only the fee due to the Justices ; and such who have 

 neither paid that duty nor registered their titles at all shall 

 pay the full fees hereinbefore established ; and to prevent 

 delay in the same it is further ordered that notice be given 

 at the same time that the Honorable Company, as propri- 

 etors of the soil, will resume into their hands all such houses 

 and grounds as at the expiration of the said term of six 

 months shall not be registered as above directed." 47 One 

 great and principal end proposed by establishing this registry 

 in 1735 was to prevent the Moors purchasing too much in 

 the Black Town, and in prosecution of such purposes the 

 Justices made it a rule to themselves not to register any 

 bill of sale or conveyances to Moormen without the particu- 

 lar leave of the Board. The Moormen, however, evaded the 

 prohibition by procuring some of the Malabars or Gentoos to 

 buy houses for them in their own names, after which the 

 Moormen, under pretence of having lent money on the pre- 

 mises, brought their mortgages to be registered, and by that 

 means possessed and inhabited as uninterruptedly as if the 

 original titles were made to themselves. To put a stop to this 



45 "Wheeler's Madras, vol. ii, p. 314. 



46 Do. do. ii, p. 426. 



47 Do. do. iii, p. 139. 



