Report of the regular settlement of the Peshawar District of the Punjab

· 1878 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1iv

2fl\V*ay. It was not until September 18G9 that the work could he twgiin

3in earnest, and the Assessment Report of Peshdvvar tahsil was submitted

4to Government in September 1872, that x)f Doaba Daudzai, Nowshera,

5in January 1S73, while the assessments of Uashtnagar and Yusafzai were

6reported in July and August 1873.

71 1 . The great thing to be aimed at was to make the people thorough-

8Mca:.rt adopte.l f..r inak- 'y uudei'.staad that this Wi:s the time to lecord

9in«j the people understand and estiiblish all their rights and claims ; and to

10what wan being done. prevent any man raismg the objection that lie did

11not know what was recorded about his status, because of his inability to

12read, a simple plan was adopted of having the parchiis given to each

13individual colored according to the status recorded on them.

1412. It Was a mattcj* cf regret that the exact boundaries of villager

15Bound ailca with maei>en- marching with independent tribes could not m

16dent territory often undofin- all cases be defined, as it gave an appeamnco

17*'*^- of incompleteness to the maps. But in almost all

18instanceg the Undefined border runs throug^n a strong waste or a rugged

19hill face, so that practicilly nothing required fv)r the * compilation ot ac-

20curate village statistics was omitted, and the village maps as a rule are

21Very good and reliable.

2213. Great additional labor was involved in the preparation of the

23irrigation water svstem maps ; indee<l in the

24nnlSi^dTo'wTiS'*^ irrigate.J viUagesit Ws9im,.lya aepaiute a-.d very

25mtncate village map that had to be preparecl,

26an! as the value of the water and the rights in it is just as important

27as those of the land itself, the gi^eatcst possible attention was devoted

28t<) the correct and distinct preparation of those and the explanatory

29record of water distribution.

3014. The expense of measurements, averaging 2 annas 1 pie per

31acre, does not aj)pe<ar to have been great when

32Cost of meaaurcnients. the difficulties and hindrances encountered at

33starting them are taken into consideration.

3415. The Settlement Officer carefully visited and made himself

35^ , acquainted with the circumstances of every

36qufX"!rcrwitS:uia^.: jiHago in the district while prc,,aring tho data

37for his assessment.

3816i I cannot help thinking that the labor of preparing the 80,000 or

39^ 90, 000 tenancy and miscellaneous revenue cases

40PUcs of tenancy ciieo.. ^^ j^ ^^^^ measure thrown away. The same

41object would have been answered, and in my belief greater accuracy se-

42cured, b}^ the careful preparation of what used to be called tho ** naksha

43madiikhilat/' or table of tenants' status.

4417. The total cost of the settlement wa* Rs. 5,22,535, of which

45Government paid Rs. 4,73,643, which gives an

46Cost of the work. average of 4 annas 9 pie per acre. This

47expenditure will be recouped from the enhancement of the actual revenue