Final report on the third regular settlement of the portion of Shahpur district still paying a fixed assessment, 1911-16

· 1917 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

2G. In order to meet tho difficulty discussed in paragraph 48 of the re-

3port the Lieutenant-Governor has decided, on a separate reference from the

4Financial Commissioner, that the water-advantage rate on areas irrigated by the

5Government inundation canals should be assessed on the sown, instead of on the

6matured, area and should be reduced from one rupee to 12 annas per acre.

7Failure of crops is to he more generously treated. Remissions for partial faire

8are to be granted on a prescribed scale on the application of the cultivators.

9The reduction in the rate by 25 per cent. is calculated to make sufficient al-

10towance for the change in the system of assessment, and there are obvious ad-

11vantages in having a uniform system of assessing both water-advantage rate

12and occupiers’ rates.

137. Mr, Leigh has dealt at length in chapter ITT of his report with the

14rovision of the maps and records, a task which in the Thal at least, must havo

15been a difficult one owing to tle shifting of cultivation boundaries and the

16somewhat indefinite nature of tie rights in the common waste. Great pains

17have been spent in compiling statements of facts upon which the various

18claims turn, and also in preparing records of right of irrigation in hill

19streams, The unsatisfactory character of the new maps in villages where only

20correction of existing maps was ordered is unfortunate. The abbreviated pro-

21cedure attempted in this and the Gujrat settlements has admittedly not proved

22a success and has now been abolisted His Monour agrees with the Financial

23Commissioncr that the Settlement Officer, who was seriously handicapped by

24the paucity of the staff for the furs! two years, did the best that was possible in

25the circumstances.

268. Inregard tothe term of setilement the disparity of conditions

27demands differentiation hetwocn the various circles. The Hill cirelo is fully

28developed. In the Jhelum yalley due allowance must be made for tho

29possibility of deterioration duc to water-logeing and some possible diminution

30of flood water owing to the op... ing of the Upper Jhelum canal. The prepa-

31ration of a system of fluctuatire assessment for introduction in euse of need

32in this area will, however, preclude the necessity for an abbreviated term of

33settlement. In the Thal area, quite apart from the projected Sind-Sagar

34eanal, which will aiso affeet the Mohar. cirele, there is scope for great

35expansion of cultivation, which is also encouraged hy the partition of the

36common lands under the stimulus of the present high prices. When address-

37ing the zamindars of the district at Sargodha last spring, Sir Michael

38O’Dwyer took the opportunity of explaining to them that in addition to

39economic considerations, their readiness to furnish men for military service

40would naturally weigh with Government in deciding the term of settlement.

41He stated that in the Thal and Mohar circles of Khushab gencral con-

42ditions and the probable construction of the Sind-Sagar Canal indicated

43ashort term of setilement, and that in the rest of the district, in

44view both of reerviting results and of economic conditions, a term of 30 years

45was appropriate. His Honour has purposely deferred passing orders on the

46report in order that he might have an opportunity of judging how far the

47response of the tract to the special call for reernits justified exceptional

48treatment in this matter. The response which has since been made by the

49whole district under the leadership of its maliks has execeded expectation.

50Yhe district has now 11,000 men serving in the Indian army, of whom 7,0L0

51have been raised within the last 1C months, and in contributing to this result the

52Hill circle of Khushab tahsil has been pre-eminent, the Jhelum riverain has

53done well, the Mokar circle as a whole fairly (though there has been one or

54two conspicuous failures in villages with large areas of grass land’, while in

55the Thal, with the exception cf a few villages, the response has been poor.

56After again consulting the local officers [lis Honour has decided that the

57settlement in the Thal and Mohar cireles shail be tor 15 years, subject to the

58condition that it will be open to revision in any estate on the earlier ixtro-

59duction of irrigation from the Sind-Sagar canal, It is anticipated that a

60considerable part of the Mohar circle will come under irrigation from this canal,

61but should the canal not be constructed within tle tern of settlement now

62sanctioned the question of its extension can he reconsidered for this circle, In

63the rest of the tract under settlement the teri will be 80 years,