Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/796

772 772 INDIA [ADMINISTRATION. cultivators. The average rate of assessment is about 2s. lid. per acre in the North-Western Provinces, and Is. 4d. in the Punjab. The Oudh tdlukddrs resemble English landlords even more closely than do the zaminddrs of Bengal. In origin the majority were not revenue-farmers, but territorial mag nates, whose influence was derived from feudal authority as much as from mere wealth. Their present legal status dates from the pacification that followed on the mutiny of 1857. The engagement then entered into has been described as a political treaty rather than a revenue assessment. The great tdlukddrs were invited to become responsible each for a gross sum payable from the territory over which he exercised feudal rights. This sum was fixed in perpetuity ; and the exceptional position of tb.Q tdlukddrs was recognized by conferring upon them, not only the right of succession by primogeniture, but also the privilege of bequest, a privilege unknown alike to Hindu and Mahometan law. Land not comprised in tdluMdrl estates was settled in the ordinary way with its proprietors or zaminddrs for a term of thirty years. The whole of Oudh has since been accurately surveyed. The Central Provinces contain many varieties of land tenure, from the feudatories, who pay only a light tribute, to the village communities, who are assessed in the usual manner after survey. Population is sparse and agriculture backward, so that the incidence of land revenue is every where low. The survey was conducted generally on the Punjab system, adopting the village and not the field as the unit of measurement. The current settlement for a term of thirty years will expire in 1897. Land In 1873-74 the total land revenue realized from territory revenue, under British administration in India amounted to 20,919,256, which is raised to 22,768,144 by the in clusion of certain local rates and cesses levied on land. This latter figure shows an average of 9 4d. per acre of gross area and 2s. 4 - 7d. per head of total population. The highest rate of assessment appears to be that in Bombay, which is 3s. 10 4d. per head; the lowest, Is. 2 7d. per head in Bengal and Assam. Salt ad- Salt Administration. Next to land, salt contributes the rninistra- largest share to the Indian revenue; and, where salt is locally manufactured, its supervision becomes an important part of administrativeduty. Up to within quite recent times the tax levied upon salt varied extremely in different parts of the country, and a strong preventive staff was required to be stationed along a continuous barrier hedge, which almost cut the peninsula into two fiscal sections. The reform of Sir J. Strachey in 1 878, by which the higher rates were reduced and the lower rates raised, with a view to their ultimate equalization over the whole country, effectually abolished this old engine of oppression. Communication is now free ; and it has been found that prices are absolutely lowered by thus bringing the consumer nearer to his market, even though the rate of taxation be increased. In the Punjab and Rajputdna salt administration has thus become, as in Lower Bengal, a simple matter of weighing quantities and levying a uniform tax. In Bombay, also, the manufacture is now conducted with a minimum of expense at large central depots in Guzerat under a thorough system of excise supervision. Along the western coast, however, from Orissa to Cape Comorin, the process of evaporating sea-water is everywhere carried on as a private industry, though on Government account. As with poppy cultivation in Bengal, the manufacture of salt is a monopoly, which can only be defended by the peculiar circumstances of the case. No one is compelled to manufacture, and rights of property in a salt-pan are strictly respected, while the state contrives, by means of a careful staff of supervisors, to obtain the maximum of profit with a minimum of inter- tion. ference. The system as at present carried on has been gradually developed out of the experience of nearly a cen tury. The manufacturers belong to the same class as ordinary cultivators ; and, as a rule, their condition is somewhat more prosperous, for they possess an hereditary privilege with a commerci il value. They do nut work upon a system of advances, as is the casa with so many other Indian industries ; but they are paid at a certain rate when they bring their salt to the Government depot. This rate of payment, known as kudivaram, is at present fixed at an average of 1 dnnd 5 8 pies per maund of 82y Ib ; the other expenses cf the salt department, for supervision, &amp;lt;kc., raise the total cost to 3 dnnds 5 - (&amp;gt; pies per maund. The price now charged to the consumer by the Madras Government is Us. 2.8.0 per ma-und, the balance being net profit. The equal rate of salt duty which will ultimately prevail throughout all India is Us. 2.8.0 per maund, or 7s. a cvt. This rate is already (1881) levied in Madras, Bombay, the North- Western Provinces, and the Punjab, but in Bengal a higher rate is provisionally in force of lis. 2. 1 4.0 per maund t or 8s. a cwt. In British Burmah only 3 dnnds per maund, or 6d. a cwt., is charged for local consumption, and a transit duty of 1 per cent, ad valorem for salt sent across the frontier. Excise. Excise, like salt, is not only a department of revenue I sa collection, but also to a great extent a branch of tin; executive. In other words, excise duties in India are not a mere tax upon the consumer, levied for convenience through the nianul acturer and retail dealer, but a species of Government monopoly. The only excisable articles are intoxicants and drugs ; and tin- avowed object of the state is to check consumption not less than to raise revenue. Details vary in the different provinces, but the general plan of administration is the same. The right to manufacture and the right to retail are both monopolies of Government permitted to private individuals only upon terms. Distillation of country spirits is allowed according to two systems, either to the highest bidder under strict supervision, or only upon certain spots set apart Cor the purpose. The latter is known as the sadr or central distillery system. The right of sale is also usually farmed out to the highest bidder, subject to regulations fixing the minimum quantity of liquor that may be sold at one time. The brewing of beer from rice and other grains, which is universal among the hill tribes and other aboriginal races, is practically untaxed and unrestrained. The European breweries recently established at several hill stations pay a tax at the rate of 6d. a gallon. Apart from spirits, excise duties are levied upon the sale of a number of intoxicating or stimulant drugs, of which the most important are opium and ydtijd or bhang.- Opium is issued for local consumption in India from the Govern ment manufactories at Put mi and Benares, and sold through private retailers at a monopoly price. This drug is chielly consumed in Assam, Burmah, and the Punjab. Ganjd is an intoxicating pre paration made from the flowers and leaves of Indian hemp (L annalis sativa, var. indica). The cultivation of hemp for this purpose ia almost confined to a limited area in Kajshahi district, Bengal, and to the farther valleys of the Himalayas, whence the drug is imported under the name oi charas. Its abuse is sometimes a cause, not oidy of crime, but also of insanity. Government attempts tocht ek con sumption first, by fixing the retail duty at the highest rate that will not encourage smuggling, and, secondly, by continually raising that rate as experience allows. Scientifically speaking, gdi/jd con sists of the flowering and fruiting heads of the female plant ; bhang or siddhi, of the dried leaves and small stalks, with a few fruits; while charas is the resin itself, collected in various ways as it naturally exudes. No duty whatever is now levied upon tobacco in any part of India. The plant is universally grown by the culti vators for their own smoking, and, like everything else, was subject to taxation under native rule ; but the impossibility of accurate excise supervision has caused the British Government to abandon the impost. The municipalities at present existing in India are a creation ofM [ the legislature and a branch of the general system of administration, pal s. Their origin is to be traced, not in the native panchdyut,, but in the necess ty for relieving the district officer of some of the details of his woik. Thepanchdyat or elective council of five is one of the institutions most deeply rooted in the Hindu mind. By it the village community was governed, the head-man being only the executive official, not the legislator or ju ige ; by it .-ill caste dis putes were settled ; by it traders and merchants were organized into powerful guilds, to the rules of which even European outsiders have had to submit ; by it the Sikh army of the kftdlsd was despotically governed, when the centralized system of Ranjit Sinh fell to pieces