50 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Voi,. VIII 
a fixed rent in cash or produce, and cannot be ejected at the will of 
the landlord. Cash rents are now becoming more and more popular, 
and are preferred by the landlords on account of the ease of collection ; 
they fare also preferred by the capitalists and banias, who are now 
taking an increasing personal interest in cultivation and frequently 
lease large areas from the zamindars with a view to securing their own 
supplies of lac. 
In Palamau district developments have been slower. The 
following is quoted from para. 418 of the final report of the Palamau 
settlement :— 
“ It is only within the last thirty years or so that the landlords 
of Palamau have begun to regard lac seriously as a source of income 
but since then, spurred on no doubt by the booms of 1895 and 1905, 
they have done so to such good purpose that the raiyats ’ former 
privileges are in most villages annihilated. In a few villages, it is 
true, the raiyats still hold their lac-bearing trees rent free; in a very 
few the trees are included with the holdings in a common assessment; 
and in a few more the trees are held upon a fixed rent. But, in the 
great majority of cases, lac trees are entirely at the disposal of the 
landlords, and (I quote from Mr. Hignell, a former Deputy Com¬ 
missioner) ‘the rates charged are only limited by the landlords’ 
discretion, and the tenants’ inability to pay more than the lac on the 
tree will fetch in the market.’ The trees are let out just before the 
sowing time. No count is actually made, but the tenant engages 
for a definite number of trees. The number has nothing to do with 
the actual facts and is a mere matte of haggling. The landlord’s 
agent endeavours to make the raiyat agree for as large a number as 
possible, while the raiyat attempts to represent that there are not so 
many trees available. The rent is fixed later on by the landlord 
when the crop is ready for cutting ; he considers current prices and 
the general nature of the crop from his own point of view, and acts 
in such a manner as to justify Mr. Hignell’s criticism.” 
In Palamau, Government have decided that tenants in Govern¬ 
ment estates shall enjoy the annual produce of all trees which grow 
on their holdings, free of charge. Lac-bearing trees outside such 
holdings may be given on lease in suitable blocks for a term of five 
years, preferably to one or other of the settled tenants of the village ; 
and in such cases the rates are calculated at one anna per tree, or at 
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