338 KAMRUP
High Court at Calcutta is the chief appellate authority. The Assamese
are a quiet and peaceful people, and there is not much serious crime.
The land revenue system does not differ materially from that in force
in Assam proper, described in the article on ASSAM. The settlement
is ryotwdri, being made direct with the actual cultivators of the soil,
and is liable to periodical revision. The District contains a large area
of waste land, much of which is fit for permanent cultivation; and the
settled area in 1903-4 was only 27 per cent, of the total area, including
rivers, swamps, and hills. Mustard and summer rice are seldom grown
on the same land for more than three years in succession, and the
villagers are allowed to resign their holdings and take up new plots
of land on giving notice to the revenue authorities. In 1903-4, 31,000
acres were resigned and 47,000 acres of new land taken up. Fresh
leases are issued every year for this shifting cultivation, and a large
staff of mandals is maintained to measure new land, test applications
for relinquishment, and keep the record up to date. Kamrup, like the
rest of Assam proper, was last settled in 1893, and the average assess-
ment per settled acre assessed at full rates in 1903-4 was Rs. 2-7-2
(maximum Rs. 4-2-0, minimum Rs. i-n-o). The District is now
being resettled after a detailed examination, in which the different
classes of land have been more carefully discriminated. In recent
years the people have suffered severely from exceptional unhealthiness
and from the earthquake of 1897, which altered the levels of the
country, causing obstructions to drainage and deposits of sand. An
abatement of Rs. 60,000 has been made in the land revenue of the
tracts most seriously affected. A special feature of the District is the
large number of estates held revenue free (Idkhiraj) or at half-rates
(tiisfkhiraj). These cover respectively an area of 53 and 229 square
miles, and represent grants made by the Ahom Rajas, usually to priests
or temples.
The following table shows collections of land revenue and total
revenue in recent years, in thousands of rupees :—
1880-1. 1890-1. 1900-1. 1903-4.
Land revenue Total revenue . 9,12 I3.a5* 9,52 14,90 11,92 17,38 I2,3° 18,56
* Exclusive of forest receipts.
Outside the municipalities of Gauhati and Barpeta, the local affairs
of each subdivision are managed by a board, presided over by the
Deputy-Commissioner and the Subdivisional Officer respectively. The
expenditure of these boards in 1903-4 amounted to about Rs. 1,43,000,
nearly two-fifths of which was devoted to public works.
For the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, the District |
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