that the settlement of the public demand on the land is only lightly, or, as some say, not at all connected with the occurrence of famines. It lies, in reality, far nearer to the root of the matter, because of its intimate and vital relation to the every-day life of the people and to their growth towards prosperity or towards degradation, than any such accessories as canals, or roads, or the like, important though these unquestionably are. It is no doubt quite true that not the best settlement, which mortal intellect could devise, would cover the skies with clouds, or moisten the earth with rain, when the course of nature had established a drought. But given the drought and its consequences, the capacity of the people to resist their destructive influence is in direct proportion-I would almost say geometrical proportion-to the perfection of the settlement system under which they are living and growing." 1

A careful and exhaustive comparison of the famines of 1837 and 1860 confirmed Colonel Baird Smith in this belief. The areas affected by the two famines were about the same; the population affected by the later famine was larger; and the other conditions were worse in 1860. Nevertheless, the sufferings and deaths in 1860 were far less than in 1837, because the land system introduced in Northern India, since 1833, was infinitely better than the previous system.

Foremost, then, among the means whereby society in Northern India has been so strengthened as thus to resist, with far less suffering, far heavier pressure, from drought and famine in 1860-61 than in 1837-38, I place the creation, as it may almost literally be called, of a vast mass of readily convertible and easily transferable agricultural property, as the direct result of the limitation for long terms of the Government demand on the land, and the careful record of individual rights accompanying it

1 Report of August 14, 1891, paragraph 36.

which have been in full and active operation since the existing settlements were made." 1

Relying on the facts and figures he had collected, and on his careful inquiries into the state of Northern India as it was then and as it had been before, Colonel Baird Smith recommended a Permanent Settlement of the Land Revenue as a protection against the worst effects of future famines, and as a means of increasing the general revenue of the country with the general prosperity of the people.

"The good which has been done by partial action on sound principles is both a justification and an encouragement to further advances; and entertaining the most earnest conviction that State interests and popular interests will be alike strengthened in an increasing ratio by the step, the first, and, I believe, the most important remedial measure I have respectfully to submit for consideration, is the expediency of fixing for ever the public demand on the land."

"It may be supposed that a great sacrifice of public revenue is involved in the concession of a perpetually fixed demand on the part of Government. It is to be observed, however, that, with a single exception to be noticed separately, the recent tendency of the measures of Government has shown a different conviction, and indicated a belief that its interests are best secured, not by general enhancement, but by general lightening of its demand on the land. . . . The land would enjoy the benefit of such accumulations, and as a necessary consequence of the increased prosperity of that class which must always be the very core of Native society, and with the strength of the weakness of which the social fabric generally must always have the acutest sympathy, trade and commerce and general wealth would not only increase, but as years passed on the community must grow stronger and stronger, and the risk of its collapsing under any such calamities as that we are now considering would gradually become 1 Report of August 14, 1861, paragraph 60.

less and less. Assuming, then, that the results of the measure would, in some degree at any rate, realise these anticipations, it seems unreasonable to suppose that an intelligent and powerful Government could fail to participate in them. Its intelligence would direct it to the least offensive and most effective means of sharing in the general prosperity; and its power would insure the fair trial and ultimate success of those means. There would be no real sacrifice, therefore, I believe, but, on the contrary, a marked increase of the public resources, from the creation of the increased private property to which, it is conceived, that a Perpetual Settlement of the public demand must lead.”1

Such was the first remedial measure suggested by Colonel Baird Smith, and he also urged the extension and completion of irrigation works and of roads and communications. Lord Canning sent Colonel Baird Smith's Report to all the Provincial Governments for their careful consideration.

PUNJAB REPORT.

The Government of the Punjab was the only Government in Northern India which demurred to the immediate introduction of a Permanent Settlement, because the Province had been brought under British rule only twelve years before, and cultivation was still backward in many of the districts. The new Lieutenant-Governor said:

The Punjab is not half cultivated; there are immense waste tracts almost unpopulated; the communications are incomplete; and the resources generally but partially developed. Hence, even admitting that it were wise to abandon the prospective right of Government to a share of the increased rent in a Province which had attained to an average degree of agricultural advancement, it might still be prudent to maintain it in one which remained in a backward state."

1 Report of August 14, 1861, paragraphs 62 and 64.

"On a view of the whole subject, as it affects the Punjab, the Lieutenant-Governor considers that, if it be prudent in a country like the Punjab, which is still in a backward state of cultivation, which cannot be said to pay its entire military expenses, and the civil institutions of which are not adapted to the most advanced state of society, to declare the Land Tax liable to no future increase, still the existing and prospective inequalities of distribution are so many and great as to render its perpetuation very inadvisable." 1

REPORT FROM THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.

Northern India has been under British rule for sixty years; and the opinion in favour of introducing a Permanent Settlement in the well-cultivated districts was strong and unanimous.

William Muir, then Senior Member of the Board of Revenue, and afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of the Pro'vince and Finance Minister of India, summed up the benefits of a Permanent Settlement under six heads.

(1) Saving of the expenditure of periodical settle

ments.

(2) Deliverance of the people from the vexations of resettlements.

(3) Freedom from depreciation of estates at the close of each temporary settlement.

(4) Prosperity arising from increased incentive to improvement and expenditure of capital.

(5) Greatly increased value of landed property.

(6) Content and satisfaction among the people.2

And the junior Member of the Board of Revenue,

R. Money, foresaw no financial loss to the Government from this measure.

"I am of opinion that no amount of direct land

1 Letter from the Punjab Government to the Government of India, dated April 25, 1862, paragraphs 6 and 16.

2 Minute dated December 5, 1861, paragraph 30.

revenue which might possibly be hereafter assessed in excess of the demand which will be fixed at the approaching settlement, could bear any proportion to the increased sources of revenue which will, directly or indirectly, be gradually developed when the utmost possible simplification of the tenure of land shall have been affected and its stability assured."1

Agreeing in these opinions, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces recommended the conclusion of a Permanent Settlement in a long and carefully considered Minute.

"I do not in the least doubt that the gradual and cautious concessions of a guarantee of permanency to the settlement of the land revenue in the North-Western Provinces, generally, will be productive of all the advantages which Colonel Baird Smith and Mr. Muir, in even greater detail, have depicted. Judging by the effect of settlements for long periods, it may be safely anticipated that the limitation of the Government demand in perpetuity will, in much larger degree, lead to the investment of capital in the land. The wealth of the agricultural classes will be increased. The prosperity of the country and the strength of the community will be augmented. Land will command a much higher price. The prospective loss which the Government will incur by relinquishing its share of the profits, arising from extended cultivation and improved productiveness, will be partly, if not wholly, compensated by the indirect returns which would be derived from the increased wealth and prosperity of the country at large.

"Nor should the minor. advantages of freeing the people from the vexation and exaction which are inseparable from a periodical settlement of the Land Revenue, of saving the large expenditure which each revision of settlement entails upon the Government, and of removing the temptation which the approach of each revision holds out 1 Minute dated December 21, 1861, paragraph 11.