Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/49

Rh each shareholder collected his rents by a separate agent, in the end resulted in a division of the territorial estate. It then became the duty of the Collector to see that each separate portion or cluster of villages was assessed with its proper amount of revenue. And in any private transfer or any official division of the land, the interest of Government was effectively protected by the action of the Collector. Unless this person had given his sanction to the transaction, the whole original estate was held liable for the dues of Government.

For some time subsequent to the Code of 1793 Zamíndárs were prevented by law from granting leases beyond a certain term of years and creating perpetual sub-infeudations. The Zamíndár, it has been shown, was to take the bad years with the good, and as he was liable to no enhancement, he was to expect no remission in drought or scarcity. When an estate was put up to public auction, the incoming purchaser acquired his new possession free from any fresh encumbrances created by his predecessor. And at some periods of our rule many ingenious frauds were attempted. Zamíndárs, who had received a bonus for the creation of an encumbrance or sub-infeudation, purposely allowed their estates to be put up to auction for arrears, then purchased them in the name of a dependent or third person, and tried to annul the subordinate titles which they had themselves created. This sort of proceeding had, however,