
and energy of the cultivators.
<!-- Leaf 78, Page: 68 -->
\"3. Garden lands in Gujarat may be divided, with reference to the
mode in which they are irrigated, into 4 classes—  
  
  
  a.—Lands watered from tanks.  
  
  
  6.—Lands watered from kucha wells.
{empty}c.—Lands watered from streams and rivers.
{empty}d.—Lands watered from permanent wells.


And a very little consideration will show that these different kinds of
garden lands cannot be assessed in the same way.


\"4. The first class, a, is chiefly composed of rice lands, the irrigation
value of which is allowed for in the water classification, and which I
need not remark on.


\"5. In the second class, b, are comprised, 1st, the bhatta or river
lauds of the Ahmedabad and Kaira collectorates, described at the end
of paragraph 2 of Mr. Rogers' letter No. 1561 dated 15th ultimo, and
Indly, tho exceedingly fertile and valuable lands in the Surat
collectorate which we call " ootum prukar," and a large area of which exists
between Unklesur and the Nerbudda, and near the sea-coast between
Sucheea and Bulsar.


\"6. These lands are deep beds of the finest alluvial soil, generally of
a dark-brown colour. They are usually quite flat and are intersected by
tidal rivers, the Ainbeeka, the Kurreera, the Kaveri, &c, above the level
of which they are little elevated. Their limits are perfectly well defined
by an abrupt rise in the ground, and by a sudden change in the nature
of the land to the ordinary black or gravelly soils of that part of the
country. Water, not in all places of exactly the same quality, but
always good enough for the irrigation of sugar-cane, can in all parts
of these lands be procured at depths varying slightly according to the
locality, but always within a very moderate distance from the surface.
These lands are capable of producing the finest sorts of sugar-cane,
plantains, ginger, pineapples, pumpkins, &c, and in most of them such garden
crops are grown in rotation with dry-crops, but how often, depends upon
the energy and capital of the cultivators. They are irrigated either from
masonry wells, or from kucha wells, which are merely holes dug in the
ground, and do not last longer than one or two seasons. When a
cultiyator is ri<3h enough to grow a garden crop every year, he usually finds
it worth his while to build a masonry well, which costs only Rs. 40 or
Rs. 50, and will probably last 20 or 30 years. If, on the other hand, he
only grows a garden crop once in 5 or 6 years, he generally digs a new
kucha well when he wants it, at a cost of 5 or 6 Rupees.


\"7. Such lands as these I consider to be natural bagayut, and we
have therefore entered them in distinct columns of the Survey registers,
and have assessed them at garden rates, whether all the fields comprised
iu them are cultivated or not with garden crops at the time of the
classification.
<!-- Leaf 67, Page: 57 -->
Khandeish. If my views be approved, assessment will in future not be
imposed on wells at all, the revenue thereby lost to the State being made
up by the imposition of a slightly enhanced rate on all lands capable of
producing water. The lands of which the well assessment is now to be
commuted would, like other lands of the same class, como under this
settlement at the end of the guaranteed period.


{empty}6. The people will, of course, be made clearly to understand that the
acceptance of the offer of commutation is optional, and they should be
allowed time to determine whether or not they would accept it.


{empty}7. As regards the appropriation of the proceeds, I do not think that
Mr. Pedder's proposition to devote the amount realised to local funds can
be acceded to. But it would be a very legitimate mode of disposing of
the money if a sum not exceeding one lakh of Rupees be assigned for
the drainage of the Kaira district for the improvement of its agricultural
resources. Drainage works are as proper an object for the expenditure
of Imperial funds as Irrigation works, and yet sanction can seldom be
obtained; I would suggest, therefore, that one lakh of Rupees might be
asked for from the Government of India in addition to the ordinary
Budget allotment, at the rate of 50,000 Rupees per annum, to be
expended in the Revenue Department for drainage works in the Kaira districts,
in the course of the ensuing two years, the instalments for the
commutation of the well assessment being spread over the same period.  
  
  
  Letter from <NAME>, Esq., Survey Settlement Officer in Gujarat,  
  
  
  to Captain <NAME>, Superintendent of Revenue Survey and  
  
  
  Assessment in Gujarat, No. 23, dated 14th November 1864.  
  
  
  With reference to the correspondence marginally noted, relating to the

well assessment
imCollertor of Kaira to Revenue Commissioner N. D. No. 1137,
dated 19th October 1864 posed by the burvey
Reply of Revenue Commissioner No. 3429, dated 29th October _,
1864, forwarded by Collector to Superintendent of Survey No. upon rice ana
gar1176, dated 2nd November 1864. <jen ian(j irrigated
from wells, I beg leave to make the following remarks :—


{empty}2. The reply of the Revenue Commissioner N. D. to the Collector's
letter sets at rest the question—which, indeed, a little consideration will
show can be decided only as it has been by the Revenue Commissioner—
whether when a well used for the irrigation of Government lands
becomes totally useless, the extra assessment (bagayut kussur) imposed
on such lands with reference to the capabilities of the well should be
remitted or not.


{empty}3. A well used for irrigation in the alluvial soil of Gujarat very
seldom pierces the rock, and consequently will rarely last, unless
considerable expense in repairing it be frequently incurred, for longer than from
twenty-five to fifty years. We may, therefore, reckon that the greater
portion of the well assessments imposed by the Survey will have been  
  
  
  S
<!-- Leaf 76, Page: 66 -->
any equitable means for making up the loss of revenue which would
be caused by its abandonment could be devised. When I submitted
my scheme—which was applicable as will be seen further on to
JerayutBagayut tracts only—I was fully aware that its adoption would be
attended with some difficulty, and that it would require very great study
before it could be applied, and although I was not prepared—as the
Revenue Commissioner supposed—to carry it out " sine die," 1 did not
consider the difficulties insurmountable, and hoped that my letter would
create discussion and'be the nucleus of a well-matured plan.  
  
  
  5. I very much regret that my letter referred to was not more clearly  
  
  
  expressed, for I remark that it has conveyed
{empty}. ■ __ i_ _.i_ _.
a wrong impression oi my meaning both to
your predecessor and yourself. In the first
piaoe my proposal had reference to
Jerayuta
Bagayut districts or tracts only, whereas the

Revenue Commissioner's letter 
to Superintendent No. 1049 30th 
MKetnuei\'oPmmis4sione_-s letter 
to Government No. 1561 of isth 
J_u.3V, ptirti. '2. 

plan proposed by the Revenue Commissioner could be applied in natural
Bagayut tracts or districts only.


{empty}6. It was never my intention to dispense with the classification of well
water. Under any circumstances it would have to be done to enable us
to collect the necessary data for grouping the villages for water
assessment.  
  
  
  What I intended was briefly this :—  
  
  
  (a)—To collect all the information regarding the capabilities of  
  
  
  wells, the supply, quality, and depth of water just as at present.  
  
  
  (&) —To put all villages in which no brackish or salt wells exist  
  
  
  into the 1st group, for water.  
  
  
  (c)—To put in the 2nd group those villages in which salt and  
  
  
  brackish wells are found mixed with sweet ones—on the
assumption that all existing sweet wells in such villages might turn
brackish or