of law, to grant pattás or leases. This confusion they have aggravated by the imposition of cesses, and then by incorporating them with the rent, till it has become uncertain in each case how much is really rent and how much cess. Moreover, I am inclined to believe that in many cases measurements have been abolished, and a system substituted which changes the size of the pole, and nearly doubles the rent; and this in a manner so secret, informal, and gradual, that though the change has been made during this generation, every zamíndár's agent affects ignorance of the date at which it was introduced, and can produce no document in proof thereof. Finally, it appears from the judicial decisions, that some of the zamíndárs, and those the most influential, have resorted to the practice of preparing false measurement, papers, and accounts.'

However, in 1874, the disputes on the estates of the late Dwárkánáth Tagor were adjusted without the aid of the local officers, and good relations were restored between landlord and

tenants.

The following account of the position of the rent question at the close of the year 1874-75 is taken from the Magistrate's Annual Administration Report for that year:-'The estate on which the disturbances originated is that of the Banarjís of Dacca. The zamíndárs rejected all overtures towards arbitration, and resorted extensively to litigation. The first class of suits brought by them were brought on kabuliyats-agreements characterized by the Government of Bengal as unfair and illegal documents, and as obtained by undue pressure. These were agreements to pay at an enhanced rate, and to surrender the right of occupancy. They had been registered, but in a majority of instances had not been delivered, and both in the original suits and on appeal they were set aside as invalid. More important, because affecting a wider area, were the cases brought upon the ordinary zamíndárí accounts. In these, the agents of the Banarjís alleged that the rayats had for years paid at the enhanced rate, and offered as evidence the papers showing the demands, collections, and balances. The rayats replied that they had never paid at the alleged rate, and that the accounts produced had been falsified in order to make it appear that they had accepted the enhancement. Here again both the lower and the appellate courts concurred in finding the zamíndárs in the wrong. The rent now established in the villages as to which suits have been brought is that acknowledged by the rayats, generally

10 ánnás a bighá, or 3s. 9d. per acre. This rate is low, and an attempt has been made to enhance it, but failed. The rayats on the Banarjís' estate have, therefore, been throughout successful.'

In several of the other large estates in the District, the rent question is still unsettled; and although the rayats refuse to pay the rents demanded, the zamindárs, from want of confidence, or from feuds among co-sharers, abstain from having recourse to the civil courts. On many of the smaller estates, the Magistrate reports that the zamindárs have arranged with the rayats. 'The terms agreed to were generally favourable to the tenants, whether they were, as usually happened, fixed by word of mouth, or by a registered deed. On the other hand, many rayats who, during the scarcity of 1874, said they would agree to the zamindárs' terms, have since repudiated their promises.'

The disputes as to rent are still far from settled. On the 4th June 1876 a riot, resulting in the homicide of two men, took place in the Sirajganj Subdivision; the disputants being the zamíndárí servants of Bábu Durgá Náth Sándyál, and the cultivators, of whom they demanded rent. A special police force of two head constables and twenty constables has accordingly been quartered for six months in the disturbed villages, at a total cost of Rs. 1334, or £133, 8s., to be levied from the villagers in proportion to their means. But the Magistrate reports, that in the first place, a wholesale attempt to extort from the rayats the privileges conferred on them by law has failed; in the second place, peace and order have, in spite of the most serious agrarian disputes, been preserved to a degree unknown during similar troubles in former years.

MANURE, IRRIGATION, ROTATION OF CROPS.-Manure is seldom, if ever, used in Pábná District. Cultivators depend for their crops almost entirely upon the local rainfall, and artificial irrigation. is rarely adopted. In some parts of the District, however, the water from a large tank or from a marsh (bíl) is used to irrigate the adjoining lands. The low lands of the District, which are annually flooded, do not require to lie fallow in order to preserve their fertility; but the high lands are allowed to lie fallow for three out of every seven years. The Collector reports that only three rules as regards the rotation of crops are observed in Pábná District. First, land on which betel-leaf (pán) has been grown for three years can never again be used for that crop; secondly, sugar-cane must not be grown two years in succession on the same land; and

thirdly, turmeric must not be grown on the same land for more than two successive years.

NATURAL CALAMITIES: BLIGHTS.-The crops of the District have never been materially injured by blight, although particular crops, in small portions of the District, frequently suffer from the attacks of insects. In the year 1876, grasshoppers (pharing) were very destructive; and in 1870, an insect called medá poká is reported to have destroyed the kalái and mustard crops at Sháhzádpur.

FLOODS.-The Padma, Jamuná, and Haráságar annually overflow their banks during the rainy season, and inundate the country; but the Collector reports that no inundation causing general loss has occurred within the memory of persons now living. There are no embankments in the District to restrain the rivers within narrow and definite limits; and the Collector states that none are needed. The rivers flow over the whole country as soon as they have filled their natural channels.

DROUGHTS.—The years 1866 and 1873 are the only ones within memory in which the drought was sufficiently severe to cause any approach to scarcity in the District. The failure of the crops in both these years was caused by the deficiency in the rainfall; but droughts are of such rare occurrence that no irrigation works have been constructed, and the Collector reports that none are needed.

ORISSA FAMINE OF 1866.-During 1866-67, the year of the Orissa famine, the price of common unhusked paddy in Pábná reached Rs. 2 per maund, or 5s. 54d. per hundredweight; and the price of common husked rice, Rs. 3. 14. 0 per maund, or 10s. 61d. per hundredweight. No Government relief operations were, however, thought necessary, and none were undertaken. The Collector stated in 1871 that prices had not even then returned to the rates prevalent before the scarcity.

SCARCITY OF 1874.-During the year of the scarcity in Behar and Northern Bengal (1874), it was anticipated from the failure of the crops that there would be great distress in Pábná District. The rice harvests, both áus and áman, were reported to have yielded only half an average crop, while the out-turn of pulses was estimated at five-sixths of that of an ordinary year. Relief measures were organized by the local authorities under Government orders. Charitable aid, both in the shape of cooked and uncooked food, was given to those who were unable to work, advances were made to cultivators through their landlords, and relief works were

opened to give employment to the able-bodied poor. Although, as the Magistrate reported to Government, the distress prevailing in the District did not anywhere approach an actual famine, still, during three months of scarcity the condition of the people was very critical. The Subdivisional officer at Sirajganj reported in May 1874 that many of the cultivators in the two most distressed police circles were living on insufficient food, and that some of them were in an emaciated condition. Those cases in which charitable relief was given would have probably ended in starvation, had Government aid not been afforded. The recipients of relief consisted chiefly of widows with families, sick labourers, old men without children, and others who in England would find their way to the poor-house, but who in Bengal are in ordinary years supported by their neighbours. During the latter half of the month of May 1874, the average price of common husked rice in the Ráiganj police circle was Rs. 5. 5. 4 per maund, or 14s. 6d. per hundredweight; and at one time the price rose to Rs. 6. 10. 8 per maund, or 18s. 1 d. per hundredweight. Even wholesale purchases were made at Sirajganj at the rate of Rs. 4 per maund, or IOS. 10 d. per hundredweight; and at Ullápárá at Rs. 4. 4. o per maund, or 11s. 6d. per hundredweight. The average price of common husked rice in the Headquarters Subdivision during May 1874 was Rs. 3. 1. o per maund, or 8s. 4d. per hundredweight; and in the Sirajganj Subdivision, Rs. 3. 9. 2 per maund, or 9s. 8d. per hundredweight; the average price throughout the District in a good year during the same month being Rs. 1. 8. 6 per maund, or 4s. 2d. per hundredweight.

The total cost of the charitable relief given by or through Government in 1874 was Rs. 82,919. 2. 5; the amount spent on roads and relief works was Rs. 27,704. 13. 0, making a total famine outlay of Rs. 110,623. 15. 5, or £11,062, 75. Iid. In addition to this expenditure, Rs. 75,702. 5. 9 or £7570, 4s. 8d. in money and grain was advanced to cultivators through their landlords, from whom security was taken for the repayment of the loans.

FAMINE WARNINGS.-The famine point, the Collector reported in 1874, may be said to be reached when rice sells in January for more than Rs. 4 per maund, or 10s. 10дd. per hundredweight; but however high prices may rise, grain will always be procurable in Pábná District. The facilities for import by the Eastern Bengal Railway and by water are so great, that, as long as the resources

and credit of the people are not exhausted, food can always be readily obtained. The cultivators depend chiefly on the áman rice crop, but although its total failure would inevitably cause scarcity in the District, there could not be a famine unless the áus crop failed also.

By the extension of jute cultivation, a considerable amount of rice land has been withdrawn from the area devoted to food crops, thus rendering the people less dependent than formerly on the local supply. The District of Pábná, as has already been stated, is only in a small degree exposed to the danger of famine; but if it should at any time suffer from that calamity, it will undoubtedly be a great advantage that a large portion of the soil is devoted to a crop not grown for local consumption but for export. The jute might succeed when the rice failed, and the rayat would then have something wherewith to purchase food.

FOREIGN AND ABSENTEE PROPRIETORS.—The Collector reported in 1871, that out of a total of 2003 proprietors, six Europeans were registered on the rent-roll of the District, and paid a revenue of Rs. 18,854, or £1885, 8s. od. Most of the large proprietors are Hindus, but there are also many important Muhammadan landholders, and the largest landowner in the District is a Musalmán. The number of Muhammadan proprietors in 1871 was 147, and the land revenue paid by them was Rs. 19,863, or £1986, 6s. od. Large portions of the District are owned by non-resident landlords, of whom there are about 99. The aggregate Government revenue paid by them amounted in 1871 to Rs. 135,692, or £13,569, 4s. od.

ROADS AND OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.-There is a great want of roads in Pábná District, and it is difficult to supply the deficiency. The many rivers, bíls, marshy and low lands, render it impossible, without very great expense, to construct permanent roads. It is, indeed, seldom that a highway can be constructed between one important place and another, without so large a break as to render it almost useless. The longest road in the District is the Rájsháhí Road, about 30 miles in length, stretching in a north-westerly direction from Pábná to the boundary of the District. The road between Pábná and Sirajganj is incomplete, extending only about 19 miles from Pábná to Dhulori on the one side, and on the other side from Sirajganj to Gámtail, a distance of about 7 miles. All the intermediate country is too low for a road; during the rains it is