---

Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 20, p. 238.

238 PUD Uh KOTTAI STATIV jdgzrs, and the value of the State's share of the produce of land held under the amdni system above referred to. The rates of assessment on iwet' land on ryol7vdii tenure vary from Rs. 4 to Rs. io per acre, and those on 'dry' land from 6~ annas to Rs. 1-8. There are also special rates for `dry' land on which rice is grown. The history of the land revenue possesses some interest. In 1878, when Mr. (afterwards Sir) A. Seshayya Sastri became Diwan, about 16,ooo acres were held on a tenure under which the cultivator and the State shared the produce. The Diwan substituted for the State's share a money assessment based upon the average out-turn for the five years from 1871 to 1875 and the average selling price of grain during those years. No remissions of the assessment so arrived at were to be allowed on account of bad seasons. The village accountants' fees (formerly payable in kind) were commuted into a cess of 6 pies per rupee of assessment. It had long been customary to give a paper to each ryot every year, which specified the fields which happened to be in his possession and were to be cultivated by him in that year. The ryots were not, however, considered to possess any occupancy rights in their land or any power of transfer. Their status has now been changed from that of tenants-at- will into that of proprietors; and owners of land are now able to mortgage, transfer, or sell it, proceedings which would have been void at law under the previous system. These reforms, however, quickly showed very clearly the necessity for a regular survey and settlement. The cadastral survey of the State is now in progress. On its completion, the settlement will be taken in hand. Revenue used to be derived from the earth-salt manufactured from saline soils as a State monopoly; but in 1887 the Madras Government arranged with the Darbar for the suppression of this manufacture, and entered into a convention (still in force) by which it agreed to pay the Darbar Rs. 38,ooo annually as compensation, imposing at the same time the obligation of maintaining a preventive staff costing about Rs. io,ooo. The system of collection of the excise revenue is almost the same as that in the Madras Presidency. A State distillery is maintained for the manufacture of country spirit, and rents are collected on licences for retail shops and on palm-trees permitted to be tapped for their juice. Still-head duty is collected on the liquor issued from the dis- tillery at rates nearly equal to those obtaining in the Madras Presidency. There are io8 arrack (spirit) and 233 toddy (fermented palm-juice) shops, one foreign liquor shop, and also one shop in the chief town for the sale of opium and giinja. The cost of the excise department is Rs. 8,ooo. Under the head of assessed. taxes among the sources of revenue given