less than those worked out at the first settlement. For black paddy the outturns adopted were also rather below those calculated at the earlier settlement. For vicissitudes of season and unprofitable areas allowances of 10 per cent, were made in wet, and 20 per cent, in dry, land. The delta crops never fail and the ryots there obtain very high prices for their crops in famine years; but their assessment was not enhanced on that account. The estimated cost of cultivation was raised, the maxima for wet and dry crops being Rs. 14 and Rs. 8 against Rs, 5-8-0 and Rs. 4 respectively under the old settlement. The commutation prices were taken at Rs. 118 and Rs. 96 per garce for black and white paddy respectively. The average prices of the last twenty non-famine years were actually much higher than these figures, but fifteen per cent, was deducted from the averages to allow for merchants' profits. Half the net annual money value of the outturn of each field as thus ascertained was taken as the Government share and rounded off to the nearest standard rate of assessment. The result was the marginallynoted * fourteen rates for dry, and twelve rates for wet, lands. The two highest dry rates were only applied to lanka or padugai (river bank) lands, which are of exceptional fertility- For purposes of dry assessment, the villages were divided into two groups with reference to their means of communication and their proximity to markets; while wet land was grouped in blocks (irrespective of village boundaries) into four 'classes' with reference to the quality of the irrigation and drainage. When the rates of assessment were applied to particular fields, they were modified according to the groups and classes in which the fields were included.
| Wet. | We.t | Dry. | Dry. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rs. | A. | Rs. | A. |
| 12 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 10 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 9 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| 0 | 8 | ||
| 0 | 4 |
The general result of the settlement was that in the whole of the Gódávari delta — including those portions since transferred to Kistna district — there was a gross increase in the assessment of Rs. 2,35,000, or eight per cent.
The change from the system of water-rate to a consolidated wet assessment caused some difficulties. The first doubt which arose was as to what land should be assessed as wet and what as dry, since under the former system the ryot had been able to please himself as to whether he would grow dry crops or wet. It was eventually decided that all land which had been continuously under wet cultivation for the five years
