Land systems of British India : Being a manual of the land-tenures and of the systems of land revenue administration

IN 1882, the Government of India printed at Calcutta a Manual of the Land-Tenures and Land-Revenue Systems of British India, which was written by me under the orders of Government. The edition was exhausted in two or three years; but as about that time great changes. in the law were under consideration, it was thought desirable to await the passing of the Bengal Tenancy Act (1885), the Oudh Rent Act (1886), and the Panjáb Land Revenue and Tenancy Acts (1887)- to say nothing of minor enactments-before preparing a new edition.

When (in 1888-9) things seemed ripe for a new issue corrected and brought up to date, I found that so much had to be altered and added, and that such improvements might be made, especially in the chapters on Land Tenures, that it would be better to write a new book. The present work is therefore independent of the original volume, except as regards a very few pages. It has also been illustrated by maps. In this form it is much larger, and may be less adapted for the purposes of some officials who have to pass an examination in Land-Revenue subjects: on the other hand, it will have become, I hope, much better suited to the needs of others; and it is certainly more complete as a general handbook of the Land-Systems of British India.

As regards Forest-Officers and others for whom the present work is too detailed, or contains too much on branches of Revenue work-such as Assessment-with which they are not practically concerned, it will be easy to meet their requirements by the subsequent issue of a Primer' or Shorter Manual especially written for them.