Report On The Administration Of The Punjab And Its Dependencies, For The Year 1875-76

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

18 PUNJAB ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [ 1875 «78.

2if the present year may be taken as an average,:that after

3‘making allowance for water-advantage revenue and progres-

4sive jamas, there was a net decrease of some Rs. 40,000 per

5annum in the Amritsar division settlements, and a net increase

6of some 2 lakhs of rupees per annum in the districts of Lahore,

7Gujranwala and Gujrdt. These settlements belonged to the

8first set of districts in which the revision of the original

9Punjab settlements was undertaken. The opinion enter-

10tained by the Licutenant-Governor that the assessments

11of the rich tract of country comprising the districts ‘of

12the Amritsar division, were framed too low to ensure to

13the Government its equitable share in the increased pros-

14perity of the country, he has found no reason to alter.

15On the fronticr, first regular settlements have been in

16progress in Peshawar, Hazdra and Dera Ghazi IChan, and have

17been undertaken in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Kohat.

18The frontier settlements thus belong to a class by themselves

19as distinguished from the revisions of scttlements in the Punj-

20ab proper. The assessments sanctioned by the Lieutenant-

21Governor in Montgomery, Dera Ghazi Khan, Peshawar and

22Hazara yicld a net increase of some Rs. 2,140,000 per annum,

23taking the fluctuating assessments in the Montgomery dis-

24trict into account. The general fiscal results of the Punjab

25settlements are given in the appropriate place in the body

26of the Report. It may here be noted that in the assessment

27reports which have been received in regard to one or more

28sub-divisions of the Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Mooltan and

29Gurgaon districts, substantial increases arc everywhere pro-

30posed except in one tahsil of the Gurgaon district and the

31Marwat parganna in Bannu, and ‘that the return for the

32expenditure is now beginning to come in at the rate of some

334 lakhs of rupees per annum. The recently sanctioned

34settlements have in fact turned the scale and demonstrated

35the profit of the undertaking.

3611. ‘In order to explain the recent scttlement policy of the

37The amount of the Punjab Government with reference to assess-

38ree a ments, it is only necessary to repeat the re-

39marks already recorded in the General Summary of the