1 ( 40 )
2 Tribute. 67. The Tribute has realized during—
3 1853-54 1854-55, 1855-56,
4 Rupees ... 4,63,176 5,00,613 4,87,205
5 orL£... 46,317 50,061 48,720
6 This Revenue, chiefly derived from feudatories in the Cis-Sutlej States,
7 is precarious, and will decrease as these persons gradually demise.
8 68. The ordinary miscellaneous, consisting of judicial fees, proceeds
9 of prisoners’ labor, fines, and the like, and the
10 extraordinary consisting of sale proceeds of confis-
11 cated property, arrears due to the late Government, and “the like, yielded
12 as follows :—
13 Miscellaneous items.
14 1853-54. 1854-55. 1855-56.
15 Ordinary, Rupees .. 3,15,868 3,49,462. 7,16,787.
16 Extraordinary, Rupees 6,59,297 - 5,86,948 8,738,570
17 The ordinary items will be more or less Pay but the extra-
18 ordinary will shortly cease.
19 69. To conclude this important Section, it may be safely urged that
20 Sound state of Punjab the Punjab Revenue is in a sound and satisfactory
21 Revenue. state. It has been seen that the Land Revenue, in,
22 spite of many vicissitudes, is still buoyant, and through the accession of
23 lapses and resumptions still maintains its proper figure. On the
24 other hand the Revenue for Excise on Salt, Spirits, Drugs and from
25 Stamps is annually rising and has become nearly double since Annexation.
26 This increase is the more satisfactory in that it results not from direct
27 collections, but indirectly from enhanced consumption of the dutiable
28 articles. There is probably much connexion between the reduction of
29 Land Tax steady and the Land Tax and the increase of the Excise, ~The
30 Excise increasing. latter circumstance probably results from the
31 former. The people take more of the excisable articles, because they
32 are better off, owing to diminution of Land Tax. If the Government have
33 remitted some thirty lakhs of Land Tax since Annexation, the people
34 themselves have compensated Government for its liberality by increasing
35 the Excise Revenue by some fifteen lakhs. The Government has partially
36 gained by indirect what it lost on direct taxation. But then how