HC Deb 04 June 1894 vol 25 cc296-7
MR. HENNIKER HEATON

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Permanent Settlement of Bengal put a limit on the Government demand payable on incomes derived from land; whether the cost of the Cadastral Survey and the annual maintenance of the record-of-right in the Province of Behar is to be borne by the Government, as in other Provinces, or by the landlords and tenants as an addition to the Government demand; whether the Hon. C. C. Stevens, senior member of the Bengal Board of Revenue, and other local officials, have recorded their opinion that under existing arrangements the main burden of the survey will fall on the cultivators alone; and whether the Government will order the survey to be suspended in Behar until the local Reports on the meaning of the recent tree-smearing in that Province have been received and considered?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. H. H. FOWLER,) Wolverhampton, E.

The Permanent Settlement Regulation of May, 1793, fixed in perpetuity the Land Revenue demand of the Government in parts of Bengal; but it is established that the Regulation of 1793 does not bar the levy of Income Tax upon landed incomes, or the levy of local rates for local purposes. The cost of the Cadastral Survey will be defrayed partly by the Government, partly by the zemindars, and partly by the ryots. It has not yet been decided how the record of rights will be maintained in future years. At page 104 of the Papers presented to Parliament on this subject in November last will be found Mr. Stevens' Opinion, to which apparently the hon. Member refers. He says stringent precautions will be required to prevent the whole cost falling on the ryots; and he further expresses his belief that, even if the ryots had to bear the whole cost, the benefit secured to them would be worth the outlay. It is, moreover, the intention of the Government of India to take every possible precaution to prevent an undue proportion of the cost falling upon the ryots. It is not proposed to suspend the Cadastral Survey at present.