BENGAL.
307
There are tenants who have paid a quittance in money for their rents and there are tenants who pay at a lower rate than others in consideration of personal service, or from their being connected by family or marriage with their zammdar. In the indigo Districts a general concurrence has been established between the planters and altogether
their
tenants that indigo plant shall count in favour of the latter in
The
rdyat who sows indigo compromises his dislike by paying a smaller rent for his land ; the rdyat who does not sow has to pay the full rate. It is notorious also fixing the rent.
to that cultivation
that the zam'uiddr^s rdyats pay, as a rule, a lower rate than the rdyats
The
of an under-tenant. chiefly in
Act
x.
already mentioned, a
Law
rent law of the country has been codified,
of 1859 and Act
of Bengal,
is
Tenancy
now
Bill,
viii.
(Bengal Council) of 1869.
containing a revision of the
As Land
(1884) before the Legislative Council of the
Governor-General.
Government Estates
.
—Besides
portion of the soil of Bengal
is
the zamtnddri lands, a considerable the private possession of Government,
being managed under the directagencyof the District revenue authorities, or under special circumstances let out to a contractor lease.
The
44,376,
number of
total
with
a current
these
rent
Government
demand
upon a farming
estates in
1881-82 was Hitherto the
of ^^246, 904.
expenses of management of Government estates have been met by a
lump assignment made annually from Imperial Funds. This arrangement was found inconvenient, and has now (1883) been abandoned in favour of a more methodical plan of a percentage on collections, whereby expenditure is proportioned to income. During 1881-82, the assignment for the management of Government estates amounted to 18,000, although the actual expenditure somewhat exceeded this amount.
—
The management by the State of the landed prowho are wards of Government, or adults incapacitated management of their own affairs, has been placed on a sound
Wards’ Estates
.
perties of minors for the
by Act
legal basis
On an average, this an aggregate area of nearly or 3300 square miles, and a rental of nearly three
iv.
of 1870 (Bengal Council).
management comprises about 1 25 of acres,
2 millions
estates with
quarters of a million sterling per
annum.
extends also to the minors themselves, for
The
whom
care of
Government
were provided at Calcutta and Benares, where they received a good education suitable to their station.
The
institution at
institutes
Calcutta has, however,
been abolished, and a system, inaugurated in 1881, of educating the minors at the best local schools and colleges, is now on its trial. Surveys The professional survey of Bengal has been almost entirely .
—
many
administrative
changes and improvements which are being carried out
in the interior
completed.
It
proves
very valuable
for
the
