were also parts of the older presidencies which it was desirable to exempt from the ordinary law. The 'NonRegulation Provinces,' in fact, soon came to comprise the larger portion of the total number of districts in British India 1.

Of the two features which distinguished the Non-Regulation districts, one relating to the difference of the laws in force cannot be fully explained till we have further studied the legislative powers of the Indian Government in the next chapter. I must therefore defer my remarks for the present, only saying that the difference in law has now almost disappeared as regards the bulk of the districts; but as regards a few which are really backward, or exceptional tracts of country requiring a simpler and more 'paternal' form of government, the old distinction has given way to a new and real one.

The second feature of the original distinction survives still, but only in the titles and salaries of certain officials, and also in the fact that in Regulation Provinces certain posts are, by law, reserved to be held by members of the Covenanted Civil Services 2. Under the Act of 33 Geo. III. (1793), it was provided that offices under Government should be filled by Covenanted Civil Servants of the Presidency to which the vacant office belonged. Consequently districts not attached to any Presidency were not bound by this rule, and the Governor-General could provide for their administration as he pleased.

1 Colonel Chesney (Indian Polity, 2nd edition, p. 193) gives a list showing that there are 111 NonRegulation to 97 Regulation districts. Readers must beware of certain inaccuracies in this otherwise excellent book, as regards the legal position of the Non-Regulation Provinces. The author is mistaken in supposing that the Non-Regulation Provinces were excluded from the operation of Legislative enactments till 1861. They were exempt from the Regulations, but all Acts applying generally to British India, passed by the Legislative Council (which

began in 1834), applied equally to these territories, provided the province formed part of British India when the Act was passed. Thus, any general Act passed after 1849 would apply to the Panjáb, and one passed after 1856 to Oudh.

2 The question what appointments in India, generally, must be held by Covenanted Civil Servants and what must be so held in the Judicial and Revenue Branches in Regulation Provinces, is now determined by the Act of Parliament, 24 and 25 Vict., cap. 54.

It was both natural and advisable in such cases that military and political officers (who had been, in many cases, engaged in the affairs of a province before its annexation) should be appointed to the task of first organizing and conducting the new administration. Besides this, as time went on, an increasing staff of native and European and Eurasian uncovenanted' officers came into existence. It consisted of qualified persons appointed in India or otherwise, but who had not signed a covenant under the old forms with the Court of Directors, or passed through Haileybury College, or been selected by competitive examination under the later rules (since 1856).

Such officers could of course be also employed. At the same time there was nothing to prevent civilians of the Covenanted Services being also appointed as their services became available: consequently the Commission in those provinces is always a mixed one1.

In the Non-Regulation' districts also the district officer (called Deputy Commissioner' 2) originally had civil as well as criminal and revenue powers, and this is still maintained in a few cases, though the later tendency has been to confine the district officer to his revenue and executive duty; he however has in all provinces criminal powers as magistrate, because that is necessary, though of course he does not take any large share in the disposal of ordinary Criminal Court cases. As magistrate he hears appeals and superintends the administration, and in some provinces is invested with special powers enabling him to deal directly with heavy cases (all offences not punishable with death) without committing them for trial to the Sessions Court.

1 And local rules exist as to what appointments should ordinarily be open to or be held by each class, -Military in Civil employ, Civilian and Uncovenanted-with a view to giving a fair proportion to each.

2 This special title of the district officer is about the most tangible 'outward and visible sign' that a district is Non-Regulation' that I am aware of.

§22. List of Districts in India.

The following provincial lists will prove useful to the student, who will in the course of this book find continual reference to the Districts' and 'Divisions' (aggregates of three or more districts under a Commissioner).

The table shows the form of government, whether a 'local government' (i. e. under a Governor or LieutenantGovernor), or a 'local administration' (under a Chief Commissioner)', and also the groups of districts under 'Divisions—a plan which, as we shall see, interposes a certain intermediate superintendence and control over the districts before coming to the chief revenue and executive control vested in the Financial Commissioners or Boards of Revenue, and in the head of the Government. I have also given the chief facts regarding the acquisition of the districts, and the date of their passing under British rule 2. The date of the Land-Revenue Settlements is also given as far as possible.

1 See pp. 39-40.

2 This is stated generally: in some cases the district was acquired piecemeal, and small portions ac

quired by treaty, exchange and other arrangement for simplifying boundaries, which it is impossible to include in a general table.