'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1903-1904' [‎78r] (43/112)

1903-1904. J
EE VENUE AND EENT-PAYING CLASSES.
19
432
588
1,021
407
699
314,559
•Area taken
during the year
Area r*;
during
Acres.
k
27,376
|
9,429
t
11,428
l
3,376
2,881
1,327
55,817
1
162
17,899
9,365
l
61
783
5,810
34,080
1
557
876
482
1,110
56
52
3,133
¥
—"
223,513
23;
28,150
11
25,225
%
40,152
188,249
l
1$
44,034
-
——’
549,323
U-T
1.*—Estates in chaege oe the Talukdaki Settlement Officee.
Chap, II.
ADMINISTRA
TION OP THE
LAND.
1. There were in all 613 estates under the management of the department with a General,
nominal gross revenue of about Rs. 11,00,000, of which Rs. 9,25,000 were realised during the
year under report. The improvement in agricultural conditions made possible a reduction in the
amount of tagavi granted from Rs. 1^01,283 to Rs. 8,928, and also the recovery of Rs. 2,93,728
on account of tagavi and advances in Ahmedabad, and Rs. 20,014 on account of famine loans
to Thakors in Kaira and Broach. As a result of the special enquiry made into the condition of
the Ahmedabad TalukdArs, Government sanctioned reductions amounting to 12 per cent, of the
Jamas fixed at the Revision Settlement.
2. There were 31 estates in Ahmedabad under management under Act VI of 1862, Estates under
while 4 others were under management owing to debts due to Government. Rs. 3,035 were mana g emeat -
repaid during the year. The balance due to Government at the end of the year was
Rs. 1,80,070 and that due to private creditors Rs. 22,749. There were 20 estates under
management under Act XXI of 1881 in Kaira and two in Broach. The Kaira estates paid
Rs. 11,464 to Government and reduced their debts to Rs. 90,579 due to Government and
Rs* 4.863 due to private creditors. The Broach estates owed nothing to Government and only
Rs. 8,570 to private persons. There were 53 estates under management under the Guardians
and V ards Act, of which 43 were in Ahmedabad, 9 in Kaira and 1 in Broach. There were 242
estates under management under section 323, and 9 under section 504 of the Civil Procedure
Code. The total decretal debts of these which remained unpaid amounted to Rs. 7,18,246.
3. Decrees and darkhasts under execution under section 32Q,of the Civil Procedure Code, Execution of
including 36 received during the year, reached a total of 708, of which 74 were returned to the decrees *
Court, 83 were under enquiry and 551 under execution by management of the property
concerned. In all Rs. 18,815 were paid to judgment-creditors during the year.
4. There were also 219 miscellaneous estates under management under the T^lnkdari M i scellaii eous
Act and on account of tagavi advanced to the TdlukdJrs and their tenants. One of these Cbtates '
estates, the Gamph Estate, paid Rs. 72,000 to its creditors including Rs. 8,000 to Government.
5. Six out of 15 partition eases pending during the year were disposed of. Partition cases.
2.—Incumbeeed Estates, Sind.
1, The receipts of the one estate under the management of the Collector of Karachi were Estates under the
Rs. 28,369 and the expenditure Rs. 28,669. A loan of Rs. 15,000 was raised during the year, management of
The closing balance was Rs. 4,177. The two estates under the Collector of Larkana paid ais riu °
Rs. 16,512 in liquidation of debts and had a closing balance of Rs. 6,310. One estate came
under the management of the Collector of Sukkur during the year.
2. Fifteen new estates came under the Manager of Incumbered Estates in Sind and 40 were Estates under the
thrown out, so that 500 estates remained under management at the close of the year. Receipts ^ Iana €er of
amounted to Rs. 8,48,968 and expenditure to Rs. 8,00,264. Of the latter sum Rs. 50,173 in^ind.^ * a 3
and Rs. 1,20,774 were spent in liquidation of loans and private debts respectively. The amount
due to Government on account of loans at the end of the year was Rs. 37,077. Besides this
Rs. 67,450 were due on account of private loans.
6- Revenue and Eent-paying Classes-
1. So far as any change can be noted in a single year in the relation between landlords Relation between
and tenants, the good season of the year under report seems to have produced a slight tenants!* am
improvement. While making the agriculturist less dependent on the sowkar, who in too many
cases is the same person as his landlord, it has also put the landlord in a good humour by giving
him his full rent, and in some cases enabling him to collect the arrears of past years. In all
classes of tenure in which the rent paid is a fixed proportion of the actual produce, a good
season is equally beneficial to landlord and tenant. In Sind this kind of tenure is very common,
and consequently in very few cases have relations been strained, as the increase in the acreage
of arable land, caused by the extension of the canal system, has given the cultivator a chance to
defy his landlord if he attempts to raise his rent. The same happy state of affairs has prevailed
in most districts of the Deccan and the Karnatak, where the ordinary cultivator is safe-guarded
against a rack-renting landlord by bis comparative willingness to leave his home and seek
land to cultivate elsewhere, if necessary. In other districts where the sentiment of the people
is strongly against leaving the villages of their birth, the favourable season, combined with
a growing tendency to take as rent a proportion of the produce instead of cash, has somewhat
improved the relations of landlord and tenant, though there were some indications of the growth
of a spirit of opposition to the exactions of landlord in some of the Konkan districts. In some
districts the mortgage transactions show an increase, but the probable explanation of this is
that the money-lenders merely wished to bring to book outstanding debts. In the case of the
talukddri estates, the position of both landlords and tenants improved slightly as is shown by
the better receipts and the smaller demand for tagavi. The relations between landlords and
tenants on the whole seem during the year, if not to have grown more cordial, to have at least,
with one or two exceptions, developed no signs of becoming really strained.
2. In the Northern Division considerable progress was made with the re-settlement of Working of Act
land under Act VI of 1901. During the year ending on June 30th, 1904, in the Ranch Mahdls
District 13,707 acres, and in the Ahmedabad District 4,934 acres, were voluntarily surrendered