1 { 46)
2 distasteful in the extreme to the money-lenders and’ the lower ‘class
3 of public servants.
4 In cases where the Battayee system, or that of an equal division of the
5 erop between the Government and the husbandman,was found to be ir
6 force, every effort, consistent with the prescriptive right of the Cultiva-
7 tors, has been made to convert it into a money payment ; and with a
8 considerable degree of success. Where, however, the system still. prevails,
9 it has been purified of its most vexatious characteristics. All the preli-
10 minary authorized and unauthorized pilferings of the village servants have
11 been put an end to; the grain is divided in the most pyblic manner ; the
12 choice of shares is left with the Ryot ; and the whole of the straw—in a
13 cattle-breeding country a very valuable: portion of the. crop—becomes
14 his own property. ;
15 - The result of these arrangements has been that the Revenue is col-
16 lected without the least difficulty ; that applications for Tuccavie (money
17 advances from Government) are becoming less numerous every day ; and
18 that outstanding balances are all but unknown.
19 No less than seven hundred and sixty-nine items of Taxation have
20 been ‘swept uway, of the generally vexatious nature of which an idea’ may
21 be formed by the selection of a few specimens, In certain places, and in
22 particular castes, taxes were levied on Marriage ; on taking a Concubine,
23 and on Incontinency ; on a female attaining puberty; on a child -being:
24 born ; on its being given a name and on its head being shaved; on a
25 death of a member of a family ; and on the subsequent purification cere-
26 monies. ' Umbrellas were taxed ; and any one passing a particular spot
27 in Nugger without keeping his arms close to his side had to pay a fee
28 for swinging his hands. There was one village whose inhabitants had
29 to pay @ tax because their ancestors had failed to find the stray horse of
30 an ancient Poligar. There was a caste of Sudras who were mulcted for
31 the privilege of cutting off the first point of one of their fingers in sacri-
32 fice. Fees were leviable from bankrupt Government Contractors for
33 permission to beg, and taxes were demanded from individuals who occu-
34 pied new houses, and listened to the reading of the New Year's Calen-
35 dar. Each of these items had its own particular name, under which it
36 Was formaliy entered in the records of the Government as among the
37 resources of the State.
38 As a full report on the Judicial system was submitted by the Com-
39 missioner on the 25th of April.1838, it may be sufficient to state hera