description of the country. The immediate effect of its enquiry was that the increment of 12½. per cent, imposed by Early Sir Thomas Rumbold on the zamindars was confirmed, and in 1786 his settlement was extended for a period of three years till 1789; so that it was actually in force for eleven years.
In 1789 the Chief and Council reported that a just assessment on the zamindaris would be two-thirds of their gross revenue. The Board of Revenue (which had been established in 1786) and the Government agreed, and a settlement was made on these terms except in the case of the zamindari of Pithápuram, the lease of which had not expired and which was then being administered by renters.
In 1791, however, famine devastated the country,1[1] the zamindars fell into arrears, large remissions were granted them, and their settlements were extended from three to five years wherever the shorter of these terms had been fixed.
The Chief and Council at Masulipatam had distinguished themselves during this trying time neither by their knowledge of the conditions of their charge, nor by their loyalty to superior authority; the reports of the Committee of Circuithad also proved the inefficiency of their administration; and in 1794 they and the other Chiefs and Councils in the Northern Circars were abolished, and the country was divided into Collectorates. At first, three Collectorates were formed with head-quarters at Cocanada, Rajahmundry and Mogalturru, now in Kistna; but shortly afterwards the greater part of the present district was placed under one Collector at Rajahmundry and was named the Rajahmundry district.
Collectors had already been appointed in 1787 for the management of the havili land. Till 1792 they were independent of the Chiefs in Council, but from that year till 1794 were subordinated to them. They introduced much-needed improvements, reducing the size of the areas leased to renters, and in some cases dealing directly with the ryots by sharing the actual crop with them in fixed proportions without the intervention of middlemen. The latter practice, though a great improvement on the system it succeeded, had many drawbacks, as it involved, among other things, the maintenance of a large establishment of native officers who generally combined with the inhabitants to defraud the State.
From 1794, land which fell under the immediate management of Government was leased out in appropriate farms on joint rents to the leading ryots, the rents being fixed
- ↑ 1 See Chapter VIII, p. 137.
