Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/614

 GON

536

The drug

business

ia

carried on directly

farmed

P

out,

and the

by Government, instead of being results do not seem to be parti-

cularly happy.

To the

contribute Rs. 23,536-14-10, being about a quarter of the receipts on that account for the whole province. They are almost invariably let out to Jlocll f7n^r*"^"''°°' private speculators. Seven are on the Rapti, at Sisai, Behta, Kondari, Materia, Mathura, Karmena, and Pipra twelve on the Gogra, ^at Kamyar, Sardaha, Koslawar, Samraha, Dhamora, Lodhemau, Dhanoli, Simor, Ganoli, Sehar, Seria, and Mangalsi ; one, Balpur, on the Tirhi ; and one, Katra, on the Sarju. local funds, ferries

—



—

There are seven municipalities, one of which, Balrampur, contributes independently Rs. 4,500 per annum, and is managed Municipalities under the immediate supervision of the Maharlja. The remainder— Gonda, Colonelganj, Nawabganj, Utraula, Katra, and Khargupur contribute altogether Bs. 23,754. The receipts from pounds for stray cattle amount to Rs. 4,198 ; and almost all the rest of the local expenditure is met from the cesses and local rates which are levied in addition to the ordinary revenue from the land.

—

with any accuracy the amount which the State derives in this district from the monopoly of salt, but Monopoly of salt it must be something very considerable; and the prohibition to manufacture is felt much more severely here than in any other part of Oudh with which I am acquainted. It is impossible to state

In the same way the profits from opium can only be roughly conjectured; ^^* ^^ ^^^J ^^^ drawn entirely from the Chinese, and Profits from opium rather benefit than exhaust the cultivators, the subject is not one of the least local importance.

When we took over the administration of the district, we found

very extenin which the neighbouring landowners exercised only the vaguest indefinite manorial rigbts. The title of Government to large tracts of waste land was asserted, and the chief jungles, lying mostly on either bank of the Kuwana, the Bislihi, and the Chamnai rivers, were divided into parcels of manageable size, and distributed among various grantees. At first the principle adopted was to take fees at the rate of Rs. 10 per hundred acres, and give a lease, remitting land revenue for twenty years, and stipulating that a certain quantity of land should be brought under cultivation by certain fixed periods, and in every case a half was to be cleared before the twenty years of rent-free tenure were concluded. In case the grantee did not clear the stipulated area, he was to receive the land he actually had brought under the plough, together with an equal amount of waste, and the remainder was to be confiscated. Subsequently it was thought that money might be more rapidly and profitably realized by out-and-out sales of the fee simple; and such plots as had not been dealt with under the old rules were put up for auction, the land revenue being absolutely remitted in perpetuity, while an indefeasible and unconditional proprietary title was conveyed to the auction-purchaser. An area of 43,275 acres, broken up into thirty^one Manorial

rights.

^^^® forests

-