Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/793

769 ADMINISTRATION.] nlete the total area of territory under British administra tion, it is necessary to add certain ^se-provinces, under the immediate control of the viceroy. These consist of Ajmlr (Ajinere), transferred from Rajputana; Berar, or the dis tricts assigned by the nizam of Hyderabad ; the state of Mysore, to be restored in 1881 upon terms to its native raja ; and the tiny territory of Coorg, in the extreme south. Another differencs of administration, though now of less importance than in former times, derives its name from the old regulations, or uniform rules of law and practice which preceded the present system of acts of the legislature. These regulations, originally intended to be universal in their application, have been from time to time withdrawn so far as regards certain tracts of country which from their backward state of civilization or other causes seemed to require exceptional treatment. In non-regulation territory, broadly speaking, a larger measure of discretion is allowed to the officials, both in the collection of revenue and in the administration of civil justice ; strict rules of procedure yield to the necessities of the case, and the judicial and executive departments are to a great extent combined in the same hands. Closely connected with this indulgence in favour of the personal element in administration, a wider field is also permitted for the selection of the administrative staff, which is not confined to the covenanted civil service, but includes military officers on the staff and also uncove- nanted civilians. The title of the highest authority in a non-regulation district is not that of collector-magistrate, but deputy commissioner ; and the supreme authority in a non-regulation province is usually styled, not lieutenant- governor, but chief commissioner. The Central Provinces and British Burmah are examples of non-regulation pro vinces ; but non-regulation districts are to be found also in Bengil and the North-Western Provinces, where their existence can always be traced by the office of deputy commissioner Alike in regulation and in non-regulation territory the unit of administration is the district, a word of very definite meaning in official phraseology. The district officer, whether known as collector-magistrate or as deputy commissioner, is the sole responsible head of his jurisdic tion Upon his energy and character rests ultimately the efficiency of the Indian Government. Not only are his own special duties so numerous and so vast as to be bewildering to the outsider, but the work of his subordinates, European and native, largely depends upon the stimulus of his personal example. His position has been compared to that of the French prtfct ; but such a comparison is unjust in many ways to the Indian district officer: he is not a creature of the Home Office, who takes his colour from his chief and represents only officialism, but an active worker in everv depart ment of popular well-being, with a large measure of individual initi ative. As the very name of collector- magistrate implies, his main functions are twofold. He is a fiscal officer, charged with the col lection of the revenue from land and other sources; and he is a civil and criminal judge of first instance. But this explanation of his title by no means exhausts his multifarious duties. He does in his local sphere all that the home secretary is supposed to do in Eng land, and a great deal more ; for he is the representative of a pater nal and not of a constitutional government. Police, jails, education, municipalities, roads, sanitation, dispensaries, are all to him matters pi daily concern; while, in addition, he is expected to make himself acquainted with every phase of the social life of the natives and with each natural aspect of the country. Besides being a lawyer, an accountant, and a clerk, he ought also to possess no mean knowledge of agriculture, political economy, and engineering. The total number of districts in British India is two hundred and thirty-eight. They vary greatly in size and in number of inhabitants. The average area is 3778 square miles, ranging from an average of G612 square miles in Madras to an average of 1999 square miles in Oudh. The average population is 802,927, similarly ranging from an average of 1,508,219 in Madras to an average of 161,597 in Burmah, The Madras districts are thus 7G9 both the largest and tue most populous. In every pro vince but Madras, the districts are grouped into larger areas, known as divisions, each under the charge of a com missioner. But these divisions are not properly units of administration, as the districts are. They are aggregates of units, formed only for convenience of supervision, so that an intermediate authority may exercise the universal watchfulness which would be impossible for a distant lieutenant-governor. The districts are again partitioned out into lesser tracts, which are strictly units of adminis tration, though subordinate ones. The system of parti tioning, and also the nomenclature, vary in the different provinces; but generally it may be said that the sub division or t disil is the ultimate unit of administration. The double name indicates the twofold principle of separa tion : the subdivision is properly the charge of an assistant magistrate or executive officer, the tahsil is the charge of a deputy-collector or fiscal officer ; and these two offices may or may not be in the same hands. Broadly speaking, the subdivision is characteristic of Bengal, where revenue duties are in the background, and the tahsil of Madras, where the land settlement requires attention year by year. There is no administrative unit below the subdivision or tahsil. The thdnd, or police division, only exists for police purposes. The par gaud, or fiscal division under native rule, has now but an historical interest. The village still remains as the agricultural unit, and preserves its indepen dence for revenue purposes in certain parts of the country. The township is peculiar to Burmah. The judicial jurisdictions coincide for the most part with the magisterial and fiscal boundaries. But, except in Madras, where the districts are large, a single civil and sessions judge, i.e., the supreme judicial officer under the high court, sometimes exercises jurisdiction over more than one district. As has been already mentioned, in non-regu lation territory judicial and executive functions are com bined in the same hands. The preceding sketch of Indian administration would be incom plete without a reference to the secretariat, or central office, which in some sense controls and gives life to the whole. From the secre tariat are issued the orders which regulate or modify the details of administration; into the secretariat come all the multifarious reports from the local officers, to be there digested for future reference. But though the secretaries may enjoy the advantages of life at the- presidency capitals, with higher salaries and better prospects of promotion, it is recognized that the efficiency of the empire rests ultimately upon the shoulders of the district officers, who bear the burden and heat of the day, with few opportunities of winning fame or reward. Land Settlement. As the land furnishes the main source Land of Indian revenue, so the assessment of the land tax is the settle- main work of Indian administration. No technical term nujnt - is more familiar to Anglo-Indians, and none more strange to the English public, than that of land settlement. No subject has given rise to more voluminous controversy. It will be enough in this place to explain the general principles upon which the system is based, and to indicate the chief differences of application in the several provinces. That the state should appropriate to itself a direct share in the pro duce of the soil is a fundamental maxim of Indian finance, that has been recognized throughout the East from time immemorial. The germs of rival systems can be traced in the old military and other service tenures of Assam, and in the poll tax of Burmah, &c. The exclusive development of the land system is due to two conditions, a compara tively high state of agriculture and an organized plan of ad ministration, both of which are supplied by the primitive village community. During the lapse of untold genera tions, despite domestic anarchy and foreign conquest, tho Hindu village has in many parts preserved its simple cus toms, written in the imperishable tablets of tradition. The land was not held by private owners, but by occupiers under XII. - 97