740 THE HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION OF MALACCA. 
discussions and controversy,—is a proof of the very low consideration 
in which the ownership of land is held in Malacca.” 
A few months after this a document was brought to light, which 
seems to have satisfied Mr. Fullarton’s mind as to the nature of the 
rights of the so called proprietors over the lands of Malacca. This 
was a proclamation issued by the Dutch government in 1819, re¬ 
ferring to one in 1773 which expressly interdicts and prohibits pro¬ 
prietors from levying more than one-tenth of the produce from their 
tenants. From this it was concluded that the government of the 
day gave up to the proprietors, not the absolute right or ownership 
over the land, but only the government right over it, that is, the 
tax of one-tenth of the produce. 
Considering the important question to be thus settled, Mr. Ful- 
larton determined on negotiating with these proprietors for the re¬ 
transfer to the government of this right of levying one-tenth of the 
produce from the tenant, and the following is a summary of the ar¬ 
guments on which he founded that measure : 
“ The object of the Dutch government in assigning to the per¬ 
sons designated as proprietors, the right of levying one tenth, pro¬ 
bably was to make it the interest of certain individuals to introduce, 
encourage and extend the cultivation of the land, but it appears that 
so far from taking any pains for that purpose, they never even visit¬ 
ed their estates, that they did not themselves collect the tenth, but 
rented it in the mass once a year to a China contractor by public 
sale, who having only one year’s interest in the country extracted 
from it the utmost he could, and it appears that an excess is some¬ 
times levied, beyond the tenth, moreover that services are required 
and labor exacted from the tenants, in short they are kept in a state 
of vassalage and servitude quite inconsistent with the encouragement 
of cultivation. The right of levying - the government tenth carries 
with it all the real power of the state ; that right vested in the Dutch 
proprietors, by them transfered in the mass to Chinese, has esta¬ 
blished a power and influence in that class too great ever for the 
officers of government to hold in check. The advantages there¬ 
fore which would result from the redemption of the rights of Go¬ 
vernment are too obvious to require farther illustration.” 
During the course of the year 1828, nearly the whole of the lands 
were thus redeemed at a total cost of 17,354 Rs. per annum ; se¬ 
parate calculations were made founded on the best information that 
could be obtained of the then probable value of the tenth leviable from 
