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 CHAPTER VII

Madras. Sale Laws. Resumptions

The introduction of the Permanent Settlement into the Province of Benares seems, from the legislative and official correspondence of the time, to have followed rather as a matter of course. But the Court of Directors inclined to the opinion that the same measure might be introduced into the Madras Presidency, as they were sensible 'of the propriety and expediency of the late revenue and judicial regulations established in Bengal.' A vast amount of correspondence ensued. Both the Madras and the Bombay Governments had been furnished by Cornwallis with all the papers regarding the Bengal Settlement and the establishment of the new Courts of justice. The Revenue Board at Madras directed an elaborate enquiry into the resources of certain tracts which at that time, or about 1798-9, comprised Bárámahal and Dindigal, Coimbatore and Kánara, a district subsequently transferred to Bombay. Much caution had been enjoined and information had been procured of the various Collectors about the rights of the