Notes on the North-Western Provinces of India

Preface

. These pages, written during some hours of unwilling inactivity, are published in the hope that they may interest those few who care to know anything about India. The writer has tried to set down such notes on the Agriculture and Land Tenures of the North-Western Provinces as will be intelligible to English readers. Members of the Civil Service, who have served in the Provinces, will find little in these pages worthy of their perusal ; but if men now entering the Service will, without taking the writer as an authority, closely test his statements by their own inquiries, they will find, it is hoped, some aid towards the attainment of that knowledge of agricultural customs and tenures which it should be their first object to acquire. C. H. T. C. NOTES ON THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES OF INDIA.

I. ON THE AREA AND POPULATION. The territory of the North-Western Provinces is shaped like an irregular crescent, the western horn reaching up through the Himalayas to the watershed line which divides us from Thibet, the eastern stopping abruptly at the base of those mountains. Snug in the hollow of the crescent lie the dominions of Oude; while, from the mid point of the outer edge, a small neck of British soil runs down between the kingdom of Gwalior and the native states of Rewa and Bundelcund. On the north-western boundary lie the territories of the Punjab, and of the independent state of Bhurtpoor. On the south-eastern we have the Lower Provinces of Bengal, and the kingdom of Rewa. From horn to horn, following the sweep of the crescent, run the Jumna and the Ganges. Flowing in nearly parallel lines until they meet at Allahabad, they enclose between their streams a long and narrow strip of country, known as the Doab.

From Allahabad, which is now the capital of the provinces, the united stream flows on to the very end of the eastern horn, where it meets the Ghogra river. Besides this territory, which I have likened to an irregular crescent, there is an outlying district, that of Ajmere, also under the Govern ment of the North-Western Provinces. The area of Ajmere is 2,672 square miles, while that of the main territory is 80,707 square miles. The total area under the North-Western Government is 83,379 square miles, which support a population of thirty millions one hundred and ten thousand. In extent of territory, then, these Provinces nearly equal England, Wales, and Ireland together, while in numbers they surpass Great Britain and Ire land, and approach within a few thousand of the population of the United States.

This vast province, which would be an empire in Europe, is ruled by a Lieutenant-Governor, under the Governor-General of India. He is aided by a AREA AND POPULATION. 3 Revenue Board, consisting of two Members and a Secretary, to whom all matters belonging to the revenue and the land are, in the first instance, referred. The administration of civil and criminal justice is watched over by a High Court, similar in constitution to those which sit in the Presidency Towns. The Provinces are divided into eight Divi sions, under as many Commissioners, each of whom, in his own Division, is the agent and representative of the Governor. The Divisions are again divided into five-and-thirty Districts ; each District is under an officer known by the name of "Magistrate and Collector."* This officer is responsible to the Government for almost everything connected with the welfare of the district entrusted to him.

He has to see that the revenue is collected, and the accounts properly kept. He has the administration of criminal justice, and, to some extent, of civil also. He is responsible for the police, and he is expected to take an interest in all Govern ment institutions, schools, dispensaries, and the like, and to promote their efficiency. Except * In the "non-regulation" districts this officer is called "Deputy Commissioner," and his duties include the adminis^ ration of civil justice to a greater extent. I * the main lines of communication, which have been handed over to the Public Works Depart ment, the District Officer has the making and mending of all roads and bridges, and the con struction of most of the buildings, such as schools, police stations, and the like. In each department of his work he has more or less assistance, both native and European.

But the reins which guide the team are all drawn together and put into his hands. To the natives he is the personification of Government ; and it is not too much to say, that to them the character of the British Government varies with the character of their District Officer. The Districts are again divided into three or more Sub-districts, according to their size. In charge of each Sub-district is a native officer, who may be best described as a miniature of the District Officer, to whom he is entirely and completely subordinate. These native officers, or Sub-collectors, as they are somewhat inade quately named, are the links between the District Officer and his people. They are more or less the executive of every department of the Government, and their importance cannot well be exaggerated.

They are generally allowed to remain for many years in their Sub-districts AREA AND POPULATION. and when they are good and efficient men, they acquire a minute and extended knowledge of the people and the country which the English officer, often shifted as he is, can rarely hope to obtain at first hand. Each Sub-district contains one or more " Hundreds," to use an English word. These hundreds are ancient divisions of the country, the boundaries of which have seldom been tampered with by us. After the Hundreds, conies the last division of the land into Town lands, or Townships. As each Sub-district is united to the District Officer by its Sub -collector, so each Township is connected with the Sub-collector by the Village Accountant, who has charge of one or more Townships, according to their size.

The Village Accountant, as his name implies, keeps the rent-roll and accounts of every estate. This is his first duty. But he has many im portant offices besides ; and as a means of com munication between the people and the Govern ment, he can be made of much value. It will be seen, then, that the organization at the disposal of the Government of these Pro vinces is such as to enable them to reach the very lowest strata of which society is composed. Whether the machine works so as to attain this end, depends very much upon the personnel of the District Officers and their subordinates. That the end is attained to a great measure, and that our hold upon the country is firm and deeply felt, I believe can hardly be denied. It is in this respect that the Government of the North-West differs from that of Lower Bengal.

In the latter Province there is nothing below the District Officer. The links which connect the English officer with the native population are wanting. The following facts, taken from the Census Re port of 1865, for the North-Western Provinces, will give the reader some idea of the country : — The people of the Provinces are chiefly occupied in agriculture, the numbers being nearly eighteen millions of agriculturists to twelve millions of other pursuits. By far the greater number are Hindoos. There are only four mil lions and a quarter of Musulmans to twenty-six millions of Hindoos. Yet so little do mere numbers weigh against energy and independence of character, that there are few ordinary ob servers who would not assign a far larger place to the followers of the Prophet. Of the Maho meduns, sixty per cent, are engaged in non- AREA AND POPULATION. agricultural pursuits, while only thirty-eight pei cent, of the Hindoos have any other occupation than husbandry.

The total area of the Provinces is 53,363,152 acres, of which 23,747,268 are cultivated. Of the remainder, 10,754,382 acres are returned as barren. The land revenue is, in round numbers, four million pounds sterling, falling at the rate of one shilling and eightpence per acre on the total area, and of three shillings and fourpence on the cultivated acre. The land revenue is held to represent not less than half of the whole rental. The average rental of the Provinces may, there fore, be roughly stated at six shillings and eight pence per acre. There is still room for an enormous rise in the rents, and consequently in the land revenue, if land in India ever ap proaches in value to land in England. I, for one, have no doubt that it will. ON THE SOILS. The soils in the North-West Provinces of India fall readily into the common classification of clay, loam, and sand.

The local names and varieties are legion, but they can all be reduced into one of these three classes. In the Doab the loam is found to prepon derate. Clay is seldom met with in any great quantities except in the low lands which border the rivers, and form the beds of the ponds and marshes. Sand is very common. It is generally found on high-lying ground, and runs in broad ridges, with clearly-defined boundaries, through many miles of country. These sandy tracts appear to be more or less shifting in character at first. Cultivation and planting tend to settle or fix them ; and in time they improve greatly in quality as arable soil. In the moist countries of Rohilcund, which lie almost under the shadow of the Himalayas, more clay is found than in the Doab. Hence those countries are great rice producers, and the character of their cultivation differs much in many respects from that of other parts.

In Bundelcund and Central India a black clay is found, which is especially adapted for cotton. It is a soil peculiar to those parts, so far as I know. It is very black in colour. In dry weather it cracks and splits with the heat of the sun, and the surface of it becomes like the rotten ice known to skaters as cats' ice. It is a work of danger to ride over it in this state. The cracks sometimes, when the first rain falls, become deep fissures, and extend for a mile or more. Large buildings of sound masonry crack from end to end owing to the progress of one of these fissures, and the mud buildings of native towns fall in numbers from the same cause. With regard to the subsoils, they vary very much. In many parts of the Doab sand is the subsoil ; sometimes a yellow sand ; often a grey sand, which is hard and stiff when wet.

The lime formation, which is known as "kunkur," and forms the admirable material for metalling our roads in Northern India, is a common sub soil. It is found at various depths from the surface, sometimes cropping up through the soil, 1 f at other times ten or fifteen feet below it ; some times, like the chalk in Kent, underlying a thin coat of soil. The black clay of Bundelcund is generally, I think, a deep soil ; but as wells are not common in that country, I am not sure of this. Wherever I have seen it opened up to any depth, the soil still appeared as black as on the surface, with veins of blue, the colour of sulphate of copper, running through it. In digging wells in this soil, it is generally necessary to go to a great depth; and rock is often met with. In close connection with the character of the subsoil is the productiveness of the land.

Where drainage of every kind is still unknown, the sub strata are often the cause of actual barrenness. The quantity of actual barren land in the Doab is very large. By the returns of the last census, which was taken in 1865, it was found that the barren land covered an area of more than ten million and seven hundred thousand acres, of which nearly eight millions are in the plain country. One of the chief causes of barrenness is the presence of alkali in large quantities in the soil. The ground becomes perfectly white with it, and all vegetation is destroyed. In the Doab especially may be seen broad plains of this description, stretching for miles, looking as if they were covered with frost. The surface of the plain rises, as it were, into a crust, and feels soft and spongy to the tread, and, after rain, becomes slippery and difficult to travel.

Here and there a small irregular patch will be found fit for cultivation, and such patches are invariably made the most of. Wherever the soil is affected in this way, the fields will be found irregular and capricious in shape, following, as they must, the veins of arable land. The soil is almost always a light loam in character. I have never seen sand in proximity to land of this kind. Seeing that there are vast tracts of land lying useless from this cause, it would be of great con sequence, in a financial point of view, as well as in others, to discover a remedy. The result of my own observation is, that want of drainage is the chief, if not the sole, cause. Generally, beneath soil of this kind will be found a hard compact bed of "kunkur" — that limestone for mation already spoken of. This bed of kunkur as effectually prevents drainage as if a layer of masonry were beneath the soil.

Hence the salts and injurious alkalies are retained, and are never sufficiently diluted or diminished to render vegetation possible. If this bed of kunkur be removed, the ground will recover, Thus there are places along the Grand Trunk Road which have been quarried for kunkur, and which are now under cultivation, whereas they were per fectly barren before the kunkur was removed. If this surmise is correct, and if the want of drainage is the cause, it will be long before there is capital enough among the agricultural com munity, and longer still before there is education enough, to enable them to apply the remedy. In connection with this subject, it should be noticed, that the use of canal water for irrigation sometimes causes barrenness of this kind. That there is nothing in the canal water itself which would alter the character of the soil in this way I am convinced ; for it has been in use for years in many places without any appearance of the soil becoming overstocked with alkali.

The cause of the phenomenon must be sought else where—either in want of drainage, or in latent peculiarities of the soil itself, which may be evoked by the canal water. Another great cause of the land lying waste is the growth of a sort of grass with long spread ing stems, which are deep and strong enough to resist the small natne plough. This grass is called " kans "* in the language of the country. Its ravages are great, especially in Bundelcund, where wide plains lie untouched by the plough for years, owing to the hold taken by this weed. In the Doab it is also found widely spread in some places ; but out of Bundelcund I have not seen it take a hold in any but the very poorest sandy soil. The ravages of " kans " are not only to be measured by their extent, but also by their duration. Once firmly rooted in the soil, there is apparently no remedy but patience until the ground shall recover its former strength, and the weed shall die out.

It would appear that not less than ten years are necessary for this process. It is said, too, that a great drought which has caused famine has been fatal to this grass, and has left the soil free ; but no process of manuring br tillage has been discovered which will answer the purpose. There is, I believe, no doubt but that this grass will not appear in the land so long as it is kept in good condition. Hence we often find that the estates which are suffering from the ravages of " kans," are those that are in a distressed state from over-assessment or other cause. The farmer had not the means to * Saccharum spontaneum. maintain his cattle in working order, or to manure his land ; and when once the grass has appeared, the plough bullocks have not the strength to tear up the long stem, which spreads underground for many feet, throwing out rami fying roots at close intervals.

A good deal of barren land is also found on the high banks which overlook the valleys of the larger rivers. The heavy torrents of rain which fall during the wet season pour down the sloping lands, and soon cut them up into ravines, and wash away every particle of soil. Year after year this process goes on, and the estates thus situated undergo a visible and speedy deteriora tion. The land lying unproductive to Govern ment, as well as to the nation at large, from this cause is very extensive. The remedy is simple. It is merely requisite to bank up the fields so as to prevent the collection and rush of the rain fall. The good soil would thus be retained. But this process of embankment would have to be done systematically. It would also require the expenditure of some labour ; and the tenure of the land in small and scattered holdings pre vents any combined action, unless it is organized and put forth by the Government, who have more than enough on their hands already.

Something, however, might be done in this direction, if the matter were entrusted to a man of practical experience and knowledge. But if all the barren land were redeemed, the increase to the productive capacity of the country would be small in comparison to what it might be, were the means devised of saving the farm yard manure. Nothing, I believe, tends to keep the agricultural classes so poor as the want of fuel, which compels them to use the dung for that purpose. The cow-dung is all carefully saved for this end. It is the chief occupation of the Indian peasant housewife, after she has drawn the water and kneaded the dough, to make the cow dung into pats, and spread it to dry in the sun. It is then, if not wanted for immediate use, stacked and coated with mud to preserve it from wet. Tons of it are every day brought into the large towns for sale, and it forms the only fuel used by the great mass of the population.

In the cold weather, when a fire at night and in the early morning is a want, every available bit of horse, sheep, or goat's dung is greedily gathered and burnt. The women of the village may be seen scattered over the grazing plains gathering in baskets every scrap of precious ordure that they can find. There are, or were, I believe, benighted tracts in this kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland where the same custom existed. But if the whole farmyard manure of the country went to supply the place of coal and turf and wood, then only would the condition of India in this respect be realized. Nothing, in fact, but the wonderful fertility of the soil, which seems to need water alone as a manure, saves the agricultural classes from utter ruin under such a system. But that it leads to the impoverish ment of them, and of the whole country with them, is, I believe, as certain asit is that a good dose of farmyard manure will more than double the crop.

The only remedy for this great evil is to be found in the growth of wood for fuel. When timber grows so rapidly and easily as it does in India, this ought to be no difficult matter. Government is, indeed, in no way open to the charge of neglect in the matter of encourage ment. But what has been done in this direction has been with a view to provide the country with trees for shade and timber, rather than for fuel. Until some large and compre hensive scheme for the growth of forests for this purpose, in every part of the country, be put in force, nothing will have been done. The railway, while it depended on wood, devoured more timber in a year, than Government officers ever planted since attention was given to the subject. Coal has not yet been found either in quan tity or in localities which can meet the demand even of the richest classes.

Wood for fuel sells at about three hundred-weight for two shillings. While the wage of the common labourer is from four to eight shillings per month, the pay of a policeman from ten to fourteen shillings, and flour seldom sells for less than a shilling per stone. How, then, can the poorer classes buy wood for their fires ? It is obviously impossible, until it is offered to them at a very small part of its present price. There is very little forest land in the North- Western Provinces, except in the mountainous or hilly tracts, and in the damp lands at their base. Within the last few years, the attention of Government has been drawn to the preservation of the forests already existing. A department, ably officered, has been organized for this pur pose, and there is every hope that the woods will increase in extent and improve in character every year.

But in a vast country like India, where we count our miles by hundreds, something much more must be done before firewood is placed within reach of the people. It would be necessary to have large woods grown and kept for fuel in every twenty square miles of country. Nature has provided a wood especially for the purpose in the tree called "Dhak," which used to cover vast tracts of country, and is still found in considerable quantities. It is the wood usually sold for fuel in this part of India ; it grows freely in bad soil, can be cut every three years, and its timber is no good for anything else. It also yields a gum which is valuable in commerce. Large tracts of country might easily and quickly be covered with this tree. Objections may, of course, be urged against such a scheme. It will be thought chimerical to propose that Government should undertake to suppty a vast continent with firewood ; but the Government of India being virtually landlord, has means at its command which one, unacquainted with its machinery, could hardly dream of.

If success could be attained, there is no difficulty in the way worth a thought. It is not to be supposed that the whole population could be supplied with firewood by this or any other plan until a long course of years had matured a system and altered the customs of the people. But with the example of many European nations before us, we surely need not despair of attaining such a result. The growth of timber in India is so rapid, compared to its growth in Europe, that we start with a great advantage on our side ; and although we might be long ere we completely, or even nearly, sup planted dung as fuel, yet it would be only a very short time before we could supply wood in sufficient quantities to meet the wants of the upper classes, and of the manufacturers of such articles as bricks, and the like.

The quantity of manure consumed in brick and lime kilns alone is a great loss to the soil. Other objections connected with police, might be urged against the growth of such plantations. These "Dhak Junguls," as they are called in common parlance, have always been a resort for robbers and bad characters, and many of them were in former times cut away in consequence. This evil result might be prevented by due care in planting to leave such rides and avenues in the woods as would render them useless for hiding-places. At any rate, considering the end in view, namely, to saye from destruc tion the greater part of the farmyard manure of so vast a country, and one so dependent on itself for food, I think some minor inconveniences might be endured. Before dismissing this subject, it may be as well to say a little about those lands commonly called " waste."

We are constantly hearing of these " waste " lands in the public press of the day. Thus the Times of the 20th November, 1868, says, " Why should not waste lands, of which there is an enormous area, be reclaimed and cultivated ? " And even in the Indian newspapers, I have read a good deal of vague talk about " waste " lands, from which a stranger might imagine that large tracts of arable land were lying unclaimed and ownerless all over our dominions ; and that the Government, through its civil servants, was preventing ready and able English capitalists from bringing them under the plough. One paper even went so far as to assert, that all the uncultivated lands in every estate were more or less "waste" in this sense. And the civil servants were charged with having culpably allowed these lands to be portioned off to the neighbouring estates, under the influence of that partiality to the native, and that hatred of the independent Englishman, which the Anglo-Indian editor once delighted to attribute to the officers of Government.

There is no harm in trying to brush away the cobwebs which cluster round this phrase " waste lands." What then, and where are the " waste lands " iu the North-Western Provinces ? In the plains, the land has from time immemorial been divided into separate townlands, or, as we usually call them, villages, known by distinct names, having definite boundaries and recognized owners ; even the barren lands all fall into one or other of these townlands. The little good land which is left unfilled for grazing has its own place and proprietor, just as much as the cultivated lands. It is perfect nonsense to apply our English term " common " to any land of this kind which exists in the North-West. There is no land, and never was, so far as we know, of the sort ; nor, if there were, would it at all follow that Government might dispose of it to the highest bidder.

There is, however, one tract in the plains to which the term " waste," in the sense in which the Times uses it, does apply, Under the Hima laya range lies a broad strip of damp malarious country known as the " Teraee," or the " damp country." This tract, although it was in ancient times inhabited, has long been abandoned to the hand of Nature, which luxuriates in such a spot. She has covered it with forests of timber trees, and crowded it with high grass and tangling creepers, and made it a home for the elephant and the tiger. Except for a few months iu the coldest and dryest seasons of the year, it is almost certain death to remain in this place. There are, indeed, a few natives who have be come in process of time inured to it. These Taroos, as they are called, lead a kind of nomad life, using the almost virgin soil so long as it yields a full crop, and then seeking a fresh spot.

But they are far too few in number to fight against the forest ; and, if left alone, the Teraee would run a poor chance of being reclaimed. This country is, I believe, at the entire dis posal of the Government. But I am not aware that private enterprise has ever sought for a field in it. The Government of the North- Western Provinces has, for some years, worked steadily to reclaim it. An officer, known as the Superintendent of the Teraee, assisted by a civil engineer, manages it on behalf of Government. Cultivators are induced, by low rents and ad vances of money, to settle and break up land. Men from the adjoining districts, who have failed, or have quarrelled with their own landlords, are the chief recruits. Many of them die from fever before they have weathered their first year in this unhealthy region ; but still the work is progressing.

More land is yearly broken up. Roads and bridges are made, and the returns from the rents amply recoup the Government for their outlay. So much for the " waste " lands in the plains. In the " Hills," as we term them, — that is, in the mountains of the Himalayan and Sewalick ranges, — there are, as one may suppose, vast forests and slopes, which are waste in every sense of the term. But here, too, I believe it to be a great mistake to suppose that all the uncultivated land is unowned. Great contro versy has raged on this head between the officials and the tea planters. Especially where the land is adapted for cultivation, villages have existed, and the country has been parcelled out as in the plains. But, naturally, in a moun tainous and difficult region, with a sparse popu lation, boundaries have been ill-defined, and, no doubt, large areas do exist to which none of the present townships have any claim.

But when a tea planter selects a site in a place which he believes — and perhaps rightly — to belong to no one save Government, the neigh bouring villagers would not be Orientals if they did not claim it at once. And their claims, it is said, have been too readily listened to in some cases. Of this I know nothing, save what I have seen in the newspapers, which are often not too well-informed. I merely mention the matter to show that the "waste " lands are not so ready at hand, even where they do undoubtedly exist, as people seem to think, in this country. It is not a case of Canada or Australia. You cannot go into the country and measure off a few thousand acres where it pleases you, and take possession. On the contrary, you will go into an ancient thickly populated country, among a litigious, ill-disposed people ; and the area of " waste " land really at the disposal of Government exists only in certain places, although, relatively speaking, it may be of enormous extent.