The
author writes on the assumption that Government was the proprietor of
the soil. While he was writing, the settlements under Regulation IX
of 1833 were in progress. Those settlements, or revenue contracts,
were ordinarily sanctioned for periods of thirty years, and the
landholders, whom the author calls 'lessees', have gradually changed
into 'proprietors', with full power over their land, subject only to
the State lien for the 'land revenue' (Crown rent, or State share of
the produce), and to the laws of inheritance and succession. The
'resumption of rent-free lands' simply means the subjection of those
lands to the payment of 'land revenue'. It is inaccurate to say that
the lands are become 'the property of Government' by reason of their
being assessed. Even when land generally was regarded as the property
of the State, and the landholders were considered to be only lessees,
no objection would have been made to the planting of groves if
payment of the 'land revenue' had been continued for the planted area
as for cultivated land. Now that landholders have been recognized as
proprietors, there is nothing to prevent them from planting as much
land as they like with trees, although the State has not always been
willing to exempt the whole planted area from assessment.
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