§ SIR R. LETHBRIDGE (Kensington, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal has decided to push on the operations for a Cadastral Survey of Behar, notwithstanding the serious distress prevailing there, and the adverse opinion of nearly the whole of the local officers; whether the Government of Bengal has received urgent protests against the measure from the representatives of the tenant cultivators of the province, and whether the Board of Revenue has stated to the Lieutenant-Governor that, certainly in one district, and probably in others, "a general enhancement of rent might result from the Survey"; whether the Lieutenant-Governor has admitted that the result of the Survey will be "an increase of the rents now paid by the most influential among them" (the cultivators), and whether, on the occasion of an experimental Survey made in Behar, the tenants 1118 ran away on the approach of the Survey party, and what is the total amount of the estimated cost of the Survey in the four districts of North Behar that will fall on the cultivators, and through what agency, in how long a time, and by what instalments, will this charge be exacted from them?
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. CURZON,) Lancashire, Southport(1.) The present intention is to begin the Survey in parts of two districts of North Behar in October next, by which time, if the coming rainy season is favourable, the distress will have abated. The Secretary of State is not aware of the adverse opinion of nearly the whole of the local officers. (2.) Representations againt the Survey have been received, and publicly answered by the Local Government in Bengal. It is the case that the Board reported that there might be an enhancement of rent in the Champarun District. (3.) The words quoted are to be found in a letter from the Bengal Government. The officer who made the experimental Survey reported that the ryots, as soon as they understood the matter—
Attended the Survey work readily, and took pains to see that their lands and rents were correctly recorded—they took an interest in the proceedings, and recognised the value of the record.(4.) Neither the proportion of the cost that will fall upon the ryots nor the manner and mode of incidence have yet been settled. The whole cost of the work is not expected to exceed eight annas per acre.
§ SIR R. LETHBRIDGEArising out of the answer of my hon. Friend, I should like to ask him whether the House is to understand that this Cadastral Survey has not been commenced and will not be commenced until the failure or otherwise of the coming monsoon has been established, that is to say not until October; and is it a fact that no appointment to the headship of this Survey has been made in Bengal?
*MR. CURZONThe latter part of the question of the hon. Gentleman is new, and I shall be glad if he will put it down on the Paper. With regard to the first part of the question, it is the case that the Survey will 1119 not commence, as I said in the opening words of my reply, till October next. Whether its commencement will or will not depend upon the nature of the monsoon I cannot say at this moment; but I believe myself that it will not depend upon that factor.
§ SIR R. LETHBRIDGEI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India when the Return ordered 8th March will be printed, giving the Correspondence between the India Office and the Government of India on the proposed Cadastral Survey of Behar?
*MR. CURZONThe Return moved for by the hon. Member, ordered 8th March, has not been ordered to be printed; but the printing of it is not a matter over which the Secretary of State has any control. Perhaps the hon. Member will communicate with the proper authorities.