§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)To ask the Secretary of State for India, in view of the announcement that the Government of India have recently laid 628 down principles which will secure liberal treatment to landowners in future settlements of the land revenue, can he state approximately for each province what percentage the land revenue will bear to the gross produce.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The Resolution of the Government of India in which these liberal principles are laid down explains in paragraph 16 why it is neither possible nor equitable to fix the demand of the State at a definite share of the gross produce of the soil. In paragraph 17 an estimate is given of the proportion of the gross produce taken by the present assessments in the several provinces, and it is there stated that the average rate, so far from showing an inclination to enhancement, is everywhere on the downward scale.
§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary of State for India, having regard to the fact that the additional land revenue receipts derived through the irrigation of State canals in the united Provinces of Agra, and Oudh, Punjab and North West Frontier Province, Madras, and Bombay, are estimated to produce £821,900, will he state how much of this sum is derived from each of the four Provinces.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) United Provinces, £89,100; Punjab, £91,300; North-West Frontier Province, £3,000; Madras, £527,000; Bombay, £111,500; Total, £821,900.