NORTII-II'ESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDII. 35:) Classes of Cultirators.—Omitting sub-proprietors, there are in Oudh only two classes of cultivators, the landlords themselves and the tenants-at-will. Occupancy tenants in that Province have only weak sub-proprietary rights. In the North-Western Provinces, cultivators who have no proprietary rights have been divided into three classesprivileged tenants at fixed rates, occupancy tenants, and tenantsat-will. The land which is cultivated by the proprietors themselves is known as their sir. In Oudh there are no restrictions on the landlord's power to take as much of the land belonging to him as he may wish into his own cultivation, nor does he enjoy any special privileges with regard to it. In the North-Western Provinces, sir land differs from the rest of the village land, in that no tenant cultivating it can acquire occupancy rights with respect to any portion of it, and its definition includes three classes :(1) Land recorded as sir at the last settlement, and continuously so recorded since; (2) land cultivated by the proprietor continuously for twelve years with his own stock, or by his servants or hired labour ; (3) land recognised by village custom as his special holding, and treated as such in the proprietary accounts. Any other land which he may cultivate, though it may be known as such in common parlance, is not his sír in law, and does not bar the accrual of occupancy rights against cultivators to whom he may sub-let it. Sixteen per cent. of the holders are sir proprietors in the North-Western Provinces. Land in which the same person is both proprietor and cultivator cannot pay any true rent. A nominal rent may be assessed on it, and entered in the village papers, this being usually the sum which the proprietor has to contribute, in addition to the rental from his tenants, in order to adjust the accounts of the proprietary body of which he is a member. Privileged tenants occur only in the permanently-settled Districts of the North-Western Provinces, and are those who have held continuously at the same rate since the time of the Permanent Settlement. It is presumed that a man who can prove continuous possession for twenty years has held since the settlement; such tenants are entitled to a right of occupancy at the rate they have hitherto paid. Occupancy right accrues in respect of any land which has been held by the same tenant for twelve years continuously, provided that it is not part of the sír, or of the tenure of another favoured tenant, or granted in lieu of wages, and that no such right can accrue during the term of a written lease. It protects a tenant from eviction so long as the land is properly cultivated and the rent paid punctually, and from enhancement except by agreement, or at the order of a rent court, which will be guided by the rents paid by similar tenants for similar lands in the neighbourhood, and will not revise the
