416 MONTGOMERY DIS'TRICT
Assistant or Extra-Assistant Commissioners, one of whom is in
charge of the treasury and another is District Judge. Montgomery is
also the head-quarters of the Executive Engineer in
Administration. charge of the Upper Sutlej Canals, and the Extra-
Assistant Conservator in charge of the Montgomery Forest division.
The Deputy-Commissioner as District Magistrate is responsible
for criminal justice, and civil judicial work is under the District
Judge. Both are supervised by the Divisional Judge of the Multan
Civil Division, who is also Sessions Judge. There is one Munsif,
who sits at head-quarters. Burglary and cattle-theft are the chief
forms of crime.
The first summary settlement, made between 1848 and 1851, was
based on a scrutiny of the revenue returns of the Sikhs. The main
defect of the assessment was its inequality of distribution. A second
summary settlement was completed in 1852, and local knowledge
was then available to adjust the demand to the varying capacity
and resources of estates with a considerable degree of fairness.
The regular settlement was begun by Mr. Vans Agnew in 1852, and
completed by Captain Elphinstone in 1856. Mr. Vans Agnew pro-
posed a fluctuating assessment on land irrigated by canals or floods,
but it was finally decided to impose a water-rent. This was to be
paid for all canal-irrigated land, in addition to the ordinary revenue
assessed at rates for unirrigated land; but remissions could be claimed
if the supply of water failed. The total demand so fixed amounted
to 3,4 lakhs.
The settlement was revised between
fixed assessments was continued in
Montgomery), the revenue consisting
in use (Rs. 8-12), a charge of from 8 annas to R. i per acre on
all cultivation, and a rate on all new fallow of 4 or 6 annas per
acre. In 1879 fluctuating assessments were introduced in the riverain
villages of this tract. All cultivable land was assessed at a fixed rate
of i or r 'N annas an acre, and a charge of Rs. io per wheel was levied
on each well worked during the year, while, in addition, fluctuating
crop rates were framed for different forms of irrigation, varying
from Rs. i-io to R. 0-12 per acre. Experience showed that the
new system pressed hardly on the flood lands, and the rates were
modified three times before 1886. In 1887 a still more lenient system
was adopted, which practically assessed all crops at R. i an acre. This
was extended to an increasing number of estates, so that by 1892-3
364 villages were under fluctuating assessments, and the demand had
fallen from Rs. 85,000 to Rs. 31,000. In 18gi the Ravi tahsils again
came under settlement. A fixed demand was imposed on wells, deter-
mined by the area it was estimated they could irrigate during the
1868 and 1872. A system of
the Ravi tahsils (Gugera and
of a lump sum for each well
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