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 BENGAL.

307

There are tenants who have paid a quittance in money for their rents and there are tenants who pay at a lower rate than others in consideration of personal service, or from their being connected by family or marriage with their zammdar. In the indigo Districts a general concurrence has been established between the planters and altogether

their



tenants that indigo plant shall count in favour of the latter in

The

rdyat who sows indigo compromises his dislike by paying a smaller rent for his land ; the rdyat who does not sow has to pay the full rate. It is notorious also fixing the rent.

to that cultivation

that the zam'uiddr^s rdyats pay, as a rule, a lower rate than the rdyats

The

of an under-tenant. chiefly in

Act

x.

already mentioned, a

Law

rent law of the country has been codified,

of 1859 and Act

of Bengal,

is

Tenancy

now

Bill,

viii.

(Bengal Council) of 1869.

containing a revision of the

As Land

(1884) before the Legislative Council of the

Governor-General.

Government Estates

.

—Besides

portion of the soil of Bengal

is

the zamtnddri lands, a considerable the private possession of Government,

being managed under the directagencyof the District revenue authorities, or under special circumstances let out to a contractor lease.

The

44,376,

number of

total

with

a current

these

rent

Government

demand

upon a farming

estates in

1881-82 was Hitherto the

of ^^246, 904.

expenses of management of Government estates have been met by a

lump assignment made annually from Imperial Funds. This arrangement was found inconvenient, and has now (1883) been abandoned in favour of a more methodical plan of a percentage on collections, whereby expenditure is proportioned to income. During 1881-82, the assignment for the management of Government estates amounted to 18,000, although the actual expenditure somewhat exceeded this amount.

—

The management by the State of the landed prowho are wards of Government, or adults incapacitated management of their own affairs, has been placed on a sound

Wards’ Estates

.

perties of minors for the

by Act

legal basis

On an average, this an aggregate area of nearly or 3300 square miles, and a rental of nearly three

iv.

of 1870 (Bengal Council).

management comprises about 1 25 of acres,

2 millions

estates with

quarters of a million sterling per

annum.

extends also to the minors themselves, for

The

whom

care of

Government

were provided at Calcutta and Benares, where they received a good education suitable to their station.

The

institution at

institutes

Calcutta has, however,

been abolished, and a system, inaugurated in 1881, of educating the minors at the best local schools and colleges, is now on its trial. Surveys The professional survey of Bengal has been almost entirely .

—

many

administrative

changes and improvements which are being carried out

in the interior

completed.

It

proves

very valuable

for

the