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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 24, p. 79.

ADMINISTRA TION 79 lands fetch from Rs. To to Rs. 2o an acre. The gross rental of the District, as ascertained from the road and public works cess valuation rolls, is 72•51 lakhs, or more than four times the land revenue. The cultivated area in 1903-4 was estimated at 1,663 square miles, and the incidence of the gross valuation per acre is therefore Rs. 6-13, of which only Rs. r-9 reaches the treasury. These figures are much above those for Bengal as a whole, where the average rental is only Rs. 3-1 and the revenue only r3 annas per cultivated acre. In the Government estates in Diamond Harbour the average size of a holding varies from 2 2 to 8 acres. The general average for the District is probably from 3 to 4 acres, but in the Sundarbans holdings are considerably larger. The following table shows the collections of land revenue and of total revenue (principal heads only), in thousands of rupees.- 1880-i.* 1890-1. 1900--1. 1903-4. Land revenue. x6,92 16,02 16,13 ~ r6,6ī Total revenue. 2p,89 29,89 32,60 36,24 * In ī88o-r the District included the Satkhira subdivision, which was subsequently transferred to Khulna. The District contains 26 municipalities, and their inspection and control occupy much of the District officer's time and energies. Out- side municipal areas, local affairs are managed by a District board, with subdivisional local boards and three village unions at Bāsudebpur, Itinda, and Jadurhati. The income of the District board in 1903-4 was Rs. 2,89,ooo, including Rs. r,59,ooo derived from rates; and the expenditure was RS. 2,92,000, of which Rs. 1,78,000 was spent on public works and Rs. 6o,ooo on education. The District board has guaranteed interest at the rate of 4 per cent., up to a maximum of Rs. 38,000 per annum, on the light railway from Barāsat to Basirhat. The Public Works department maintains 222 miles of embankments, of which 216 miles were constructed, and are kept in repair, at Govern- ment expense. The main embankment has a total length of 194 miles, and runs southwards along the left bank of the Hooghly river from Akra a few miles below Calcutta to Rangafala near the head of Sągar Island; thence it branches east and north to Samukpotą, and terminates at Gariya 8 miles south of Calcutta. This embankment protects a tract of 716 square miles in the south-west of the District from inundation by the Hooghly and other rivers. Drainage is provided for by nume- rous sluices, of which 13 are on a large scale. The Charial works drain a large area near Budge-Budge, and the Satpukur, Kalpi, and Tengrą- bichi works drain a considerable tract in the south of the Diamond Harbour subdivision, while the Balh bil in the north-east of the District is drained by a channel with a sluice at Tetuliā. Large schemes have