§ SIR W. WEDDERBURN (Banffshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to a Petition from the agriculturists of Panwel Taluka, in the Kolaba District of the Bombay Presidency, complaining of the enhancement of the Government demand at the recent revision settlement; whether he is aware that although it is a standing Rule of the Settlement Department that such enhancement shall not exceed 33 per cent. upon a whole Taluka, 66 per cent. on any one village, and 100 per cent. upon any individual holding, in the whole Taluka of Panwel the increase has been 44.8 per cent., in certain villages over 100 per cent., and in certain individual holdings over 1,000 per cent.; will he explain why it is that although under Section 107 of the Land Revenue Code, and Government Resolution of the 26th of March, 1884, the full benefit of improvements made by the owner at his own cost is secured to him, 7,000 acres reclaimed from the waste and converted into rice land at great expense have been charged the full assessment as arable land; whether the rural population of the Panwel Taluka has increased by 50 per cent. since the former settlement, without any proportional increase in the cultivated area; and whether, in view of the fact that the Petitioners allege that the enhancements are illegal and unjustifiable, he will direct an inquiry to be held by persons, official and non-official, unconnected with the Settlement Department, and pending such inquiry order the assessment to be collected at the old rates?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. H. H. FOWLER,) Wolverhampton, E.My hon. Friend has been good enough to show me a copy of the Petition to which his question refers. In 1892, the Secretary of State, after full consideration, concurred in a recommendation of the Bombay Government that the standing limit of enhancement should be set aside in the case of Panwel Taluka and other tracts similarly situated. It was held that Section 107 of the Bombay Revenue Code, as amended by the Bombay Act of 1886, did not bar the revision of assessment on lands converted 1158 from waste into cultivated lands yielding hay and other valuable crops. The facts are approximately as stated in the fourth paragraph of the question; but the value of the produce and of the land has risen greatly, and the rental of land in Panwel Taluka ranges from two-and-a-half to seven-and-a-quarter times the new assessment. In the circumstances, I do not propose to take any action in the matter.