The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

from them now. To introduce any change
under such circumstances would have been a
matter of very questionable policy ; but to
subvert the whole landed-revenue system of
the country in a hasty, ill-digested, and
summary manner, does seem to have beep
culpably imprudent :

The assessments (says the report) gars 41 fixed in
money, and included all payments in one aggregate sum.
Thy were unavoidably made with great expedition, an 4
generally by officers who possessed but little previous know-
ledge of the subject, and who, therefore, committed many mis-
takes.

Such was the mode in which, by its own
confession, the Indian Government dealt with
the interests of its million of cultivators in
the Punjaub. The result (we quote again the
report) was that
in the Shellarpoorie, now Goojeranwalla, difitrict large
reductions were made in the second year. . . . In the
Rawul Pindu district also the people complained of over•
assessment, which was greatly aggravated by the remark-
able fall of prices in the commencement of last year; but
here the relief was not granted with the promptitude
which the occasion demanded, and much discontent and
distress was in consequence experienced.
In the province of Mooltan
representations of over•assessment have been made by
the local authorities, and many complaints were made to
the president during his late tour. . . . In the Dera
(}hazes Khan district the complaints to the president were
loud and numerous as he passed round and through the
district last year.
-

While speaking of the rest of the Punjaub the
report says that
the complaints during the last year have been loud and
general, and there can be little doubt there has been cause
for this discontent.

With all this evidence of the ill-success of
their measure before them, the Board of
Administration can give no better explanation
of the mischief than that
production has exceeded consumption, and hence that
while an abundance of food exists there is not a sufficient
market for it to secure its sale at remunerative prices.
But the following paragraph of the report
negatives this view, and shows that there has
been an increase instead of a falling off in the
demand for agricultural produce, and that the
true cause of the evil is the law which compels
all the agriculturists in the country to bring
their corn at once into market on the con-
clusion of the harvests, in order to obtain the
cash in which their rents must be paid :
The demand for food (says the report) has not de-
creased, it has probably increased ; for, although the army
of the late Government has been disbanded, there are not
between the Sutle) and the Khyber less than 60,000 fight-
ing men, with perhaps three times that number of camp
followers. Hence there is a larger demand than before for
food over the country generally, though the market round
about Lahore is more limited. The labour employed on
canals, roads, cantonments, and other public works that
have been undertaken, must cause the circulation of large
sums of money and increase the demand for food. The
pay of our army within the limits above quoted has been
estimated to be equal to 156 lacs (one million six hundred
and fifty thousand pounds). The expenditure by the
various civil establishments, the commissariat and
executive departments, and the different works in progress,
are probably equal to another million ; so that nearly
double the Punjaub revenues are at present spent in the
country.

Will any one doubt, after reading these
admissions as to the greatly-increased demand
for food and labour in the Punjaub, that the
true cause of the admitted discontent and dis-
tress prevailing among the cultivators arises
from the oppressive proceedings adopted by a
Government which appears to bear towards
the landed class a peculiar hostility, and in
the East as well as in the West disregards its
interests and its convenience ?
One particular in these admissions calls for
especial remark. It is not long since we
he --garding a
th double
ssedly ex-
any one be
this surplus

.SM.
the ques-
was one of
present
tight was in

considera-
tions. It was not to the few hundreds asked
for, but to the principle involved, that the

-
heard in certain circles much said reg
surplus income in the Punjaub. Witt
the amount of its revenues confess
11). pended o its establishments, will an,
good en Ipl o tlifirin Rs where this
o i 1 1' N 3
. ,;,..
E REPULSE .O
F
, ' OMANI!
THE efent of thOGrovems, tnt on ti
tion Roznish chAplains i. gaols wa!
the t signitFcant eve . s of the
sessicit;l; 71' ,-qt ,v‘.. -,, onday nigh
-'-- 4
_ '
no degree inlifiencl , 9t.
14.* economic c(