Report of the land revenue settlement of the Hazara District of the Punjab, 1868-74

· 1876 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2jiDf agricultural producG whicli have prevailed now for 12 years past,

3pLnd the feelings of the old proprietary classes (who reganl the sale of

4pbmd as dishonorable) * combine to secure this result. Where debts or

5Dther emergencies force a man to part with hia land, he ordinarily

6mortgages it, and only rarely sells it outright

7The mortgage rates are commonly higher than the selling rates*

8The explanation of this apparent anomaly I believe to be that the sales

9are due to exceptional circumstances ; they ordinarily occur among the

10■amilios whose connection with the land is of late standing, or they

11are contracted for the ]>nrpose of dealing with a stray field, which one

12gide in the contract wishes to add to his holding, and the other «ide

13does not ca^re to retain in his possession, or the vendor is a spend*

14Ihnft, parting with his patrimony carelessly. But the mortgages

15represent the ordinary land transfers of the conntiy, ar»d aflbrd the

16liest standard of the real value of the land. An old loan account has

17to be squared, or money has to be borrowed for a domestic emergency ;

18in either case the borrower covers the loan liy mortgaging a small

19portion of his best land. He will pass off inferior land on the mort-

20gagee if he can, but the mortgagee is generally in a position to see

21that the land is good of its kind. The mortgages are in almost every

22case usufructuary, and the mortgagees are generally the village Khatris,

23*Fhe loans covered by these mortgages probably include a good deal of

24accumulated interest, but the mortgagee is ordinarily placed in full

25Jjossession, the whole profits are ijiken as the interest of the debt, and

26the land is released only when the mortgage debt has been repaid.

27Omitting excseptional villages^ the highest prices for land prevail

285nTarl.>ela, in the irrigated tract round Haripur, and in the vicinity of

29the Abbott-abad Cantonment, In Tarbela the best irrigated land

30(Bdgli or Kata) commands Rs* 50 a kanal, or Rs. 400 an acre ; the

31^average of the recorded mortgages is Rs. 200 an acre. Rs, 200 is not an

32qin common mortgage price for the best irrigated land round Haripur.

33.And in 1871 Government had to pay Rs. 320 per acre for manured

34^umrrrgatcd land in the vicinity of Abbott-abad, nor could a private

35^purchaser have bought the same land at a cheaper rate. At the begin-

36^ning of the present year Government paid Rs,160 an acre for unirngated

37iinmanured land in the same vicinity.

38In the Haripur and Abbott-abad Tah-iil good manured land (unirri-

39gated) w^i 11 readily command Rs, 100 per acre, the unmanured lands

40from Rs. 10 to Rs. 50 per acre according to quality.

41In the Mansahra Tahsil the im gated rice fields and manured unirn-

42gated lands command from Rs. 50 to Rs. 120 ]>er acre, the dry

43Iinmanured land fi-om Rs. 10 to Rs. 50 per acre according to quality,

44I have caused a retum to ho prepared of all transfers by sale and

45mortgage, recorded in the Settlement papers m having taken place

46since annexation, which are still in force, (Of the mortgages made and

47redeemed, no records exist owing to the absence of all previous yElarr^

48papers), I give below the total results of the return thus compiled ;