A History of Assam c23: Chapter XVII. Important Events of Recent Times

A History of Assam c23

Language: English

Chapter XVII. Important Events of Recent Times

THE great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 left Assam almost untouched. The situation was at times by no means free from danger; and the comparative immunity which this part of India enjoyed was due very largely to the watchfulness and resource displayed by the civil and military officers on the spot. Shortly before the first outbreak Mr. Allen, of the Board of Revenue, had been deputed to visit the Khāsi and Jaintia hills; and the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Frederick Halliday, took advantage of his presence at Cherrapunji, then the capital of that district, to place him temporarily in charge of the Eastern Frontier, including Sylhet and Cachar. Exaggerated stories of the fall of the British power caused some excitement amongst the Khāsi chiefs, and the ex-Raja of Jaintia began to intrigue with some of them with a view to the recovery of his lost possessions. Mr. Allen thought that to cause his arrest would invest the matter with undue importance; he therefore contented himself with ordering him to reside in Sylhet town, where he would be under the eye of the British authorities. In November 1857, the three companies of the 34th Native Infantry stationed at Chittagong mutinied and, after burning their lines, breaking open the jail and plundering the treasury, marched in the direction of Comilla; they then turned off into the jungles of Hill Tippera, whence they subsequently emerged in the south-east of the Sylhet district. Their intention was to push on, through the south of Cachar, into Manipur. As soon as Mr. Allen heard of their movements, he determined to intercept them. Under his orders Major Byng, the Commandant of the Sylhet Light Infantry (now the 8th Gurkha Rifles), set out with about 160 men and reached Pertābgarh, some eighty miles distant, in the short space of thirty-six hours. Then, hearing that the rebels were expected shortly to pass through Latu, twenty-eight miles away, he made a night march and arrived there early next morning. The rebels, numbering about two hundred, came up soon afterwards. They tried by taunts and solicitations to pervert the Hindustanis, who formed half the detachment, but the only answer they received was a steady fire, which put them to flight with a loss of twenty-six killed. Major Byng was also killed. His successor in the command did not think it advisable to follow them into the jungle, but a few days later, after entering the Cachar district, they were attacked by another detachment of the Sylhet Light Infantry under Lieutenant Ross, and were again put to flight. They still headed for Manipur, and were joined by some Manipuri princes, pretenders to the Rāj, with a few followers. They were repeatedly attacked, both by the regular troops and by Kuki scouts, who received a reward for each mutineer whom they killed; and at last, of the whole number that left Chittagong, only three or four escaped death or capture.

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When the news first reached Calcutta of the arrival of the mutineers in Sylhet, several companies of a British regiment were sent thither, but they returned to Dacca as soon as it was found that the local regiment was thoroughly loyal. The services of the latter and of Mr. Allen were repeatedly acknowledged by the Lieutenant-Governor.

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There was a large number of Hindustani sepoys in the 1st Assam Light Infantry, then stationed at Dibrugarh, as well as in a local artillery corps. There was also a considerable, though smaller, number of these upcountry men in the 2nd Assam Light Infantry which was quartered at Gauhāti. In September 1857 an uneasy feeling began to display itself among the men of the Dibrugarh regiment, owing to letters received by some of the Hindustani sepoys from Shāhābād, where many of them had been recruited; and some of them were found to have entered into a conspiracy with the Sāring Raja, a scion of the Ahom royal family who resided at Jorhat. Colonel Hannay, the Commandant, at once deprived the Hindustani members of the regiment of the opportunity for communication with each other, and for combination, by sending them to the small outlying outposts, while he concentrated in Dibrugarh the loyal Gurkhas and the

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(b) Brahmaputra valley.

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hillmen attached to the corps. The Sāring Raja was a mere boy, and a complete tool in the hands of his Dewan, Manirām Dutt, who was at this time in Calcutta. The Raja was placed under arrest and, on his house being searched, treasonable letters were discovered from Manirām. The latter was arrested in Calcutta, and, after being detained there for some weeks, he was sent up to Assam, where he was tried, convicted and executed. Four other ringleaders in the plot were placed on their trial, of whom one was hanged and three were sentenced to long terms of transportation. When tidings of the conspiracy reached Calcutta, three companies of the naval brigade, each numbering a hundred men, were sent in succession to Gauhāti. These prompt measures prevented further trouble. The thanks of Government were conveyed to all concerned, including Colonel Jenkins, the Commissioner, Captains Bivar and Holroyd, the Principal Assistants of Dibrugarh and Sibsāgar, and Colonel Hannay, the Commandant of the 1st Assam Light Infantry.

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Mr. Allen, the Member of the Board of Revenue, whose visit to the Khāsi and Jaintia hills has already been alluded to, came to the conclusion that the Syntengs should be required to contribute something to the general revenues in acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Government. He was of opinion that a light and judicious taxation would conduce to the preservation of tranquillity and good order in the Jaintia hills, and referred, as an example, to the Hos of Singbhum who, it was asserted, by virtue of a moderate taxation, had become less turbulent and aggressive, and more thrifty, diligent and submissive to the authorities. His advice was followed, and in 1860 a house-tax was imposed. A few months later the hillmen broke out in open rebellion, but a large force of troops was at hand, and before the revolt could make any head, it was stamped out, and the villagers were awed into apparent submission. Measures were then taken for the improvement of the administration. The powers of the dolois, or headmen, were increased, but they were made liable to dismissal for misconduct, and were required to report all criminal offences to the police.

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Unfortunately, at this juncture, it was decided that the Jaintia hills were to be treated in the same way as other parts of British India in respect of the levy of the new income-tax, and 310 persons, including all the leaders of the people, were assessed with an aggregate tax of Rs. 1,259. It was paid the first year without overt opposition, but the discontent which it engendered, following closely on the imposition of the house-tax, coupled with rumours of further imposts and the offensive conduct of the police, led to a fresh outbreak in January 1862. The police station at Jowai was burnt to the ground; the garrison of sepoys was besieged, and all show of British authority was swept away. In order to quell the revolt, two regiments of Sikhs and an elephant battery were moved into the hills, but the Syntengs, though armed only with bows and arrows, fought bravely for their independence. Their chief defence, like that of most tribes on this frontier, consisted in a series of stockades, one behind the other; and the paths leading to their villages were thickly planted with *pānjis*, or little bamboo spikes, stuck into the ground.

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The operations were tedious and harassing. At the end of four months the rebellion seemed to have been put down, but it soon broke out again with greater fury than before; and it was not until November 1863, when every glen and jungle had been searched out by our troops and police, that the last of the insurgent leaders surrendered and the pacification of the hills was completed. It was decided that the house-tax should be retained, but in other respects everything possible was done to make the Syntengs contented with British rule. Roads were constructed; schools were opened; the interference of the regular police was reduced to a minimum; the people were given the right to elect their *dolois*, and to form *panchāyats* for the trial of civil and criminal cases; and lastly, the European officer stationed at Jowai was required to qualify in the Khāsi language and to visit every village in his jurisdiction at least once a year.

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The inhabitants of the Brahmaputra valley were formerly addicted to the use of opium to a degree unknown anywhere else in India. The poppy was grown by the people themselves. When the heads had reached the proper size, diagonal incisions were made and the juice was collected on strips of cloth, about two inches broad, which, when fully saturated and dried, were rolled up in little bundles and kept till required for use. It is not known when the drug was introduced into Assam. In a report written for Mill by the ex-Dewan of Raja Purandar Singh, it is said that it was first cultivated in the reign of Raja Lakshmi Singh, but that the area sown with it was strictly limited until the Burmese overthrew the old Ahom institutions. We know, however, that it was already in fairly common use in 1793, when Captain Welsh found the Raja, Gaurināth, so completely abandoned to the opium habit that he was often quite incapacitated for the transaction of public business. A few years later David Scott remarked on the enormous quantity of opium consumed by the inhabitants. The widespread and immoderate consumption of the drug was noticed by Robinson and other writers, including Mill, who, in 1853, said that "three-fourths of the population are opium-eaters, and men, women and children alike use the drug." Mill held that its excessive use was the greatest barrier to improvement which it was within the power of Government to remove, and he quoted with approval the opinion of a late Judicial Commissioner of Assam that "something should be done to check the immoderate use of the drug, and to rescue at least the rising generation from indulgence in a luxury which destroys the constitution, enfeebles the mind and paralyzes industry."

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Although convinced of its injurious effects when taken in excess, Mill was by no means disposed to prevent the people from having any opium at all. "Its use," he said, "has, with many, almost become a necessary of life, and in a damp climate like Assam, it is perhaps beneficial if taken with moderation." He recommended that, while home cultivation should be prohibited, opium should be issued to all the treasuries in Assam, for sale to persons who might require it, at a price which, though not prohibitive, should be sufficiently high to act as a deterrent on its excessive consumption.* This plan was adopted, and it has met with marked success. During the sixty years for which the system has been in vogue the price of the drug has gradually been raised. It is now more than treble the amount originally fixed. Consumption has steadily declined, and there are now comparatively few men who take it to marked excess, while it is seldom, if ever, consumed by women or children.

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In 1853 the officers appointed to carry on the administration of the Brahmaputra valley were the Commissioner, who was assisted by a Deputy Commissioner, both stationed at Gauhāti, a Principal (or Senior) Assistant in charge of each of the six districts, three junior assistants, and eight sub-assistants. There was also a separate civil judicial establishment consisting of a principal sadr amin, six sadr amins and seventeen munsifs. Four of the sub-assistants were stationed at the outlying sub-divisions of Barpeta, Tezpur, North Lakhimpur and Golāghāt. The pay of the Commissioner was Rs. 2,000 per mensem; four of the Principal Assistants drew Rs. 1,000, and two, Rs. 750; the junior assistants got Rs. 500 and the sub-assistants Rs. 350. The maximum remuneration of the sadr amins and munsifs appears to have been Rs. 300 and Rs. 100 a month, respectively.

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The Principal Assistants and two of the three junior assistants were military officers. These officers were for many years recruited from the staff of the Assam regiments, to whom a pledge was given that they should have a preferential claim to the post of junior assistant, if duly qualified by character and knowledge of the local languages. In 1861 the designations of the officers serving under the Commissioner were changed; the Deputy Commissioner, whose powers were those of a District and Sessions Judge, was thenceforth known as the Judicial Commissioner; the Principal Assistants became Deputy Commissioners; the junior assistants, assistant commissioners*; and the sub-assistants, extra assistant commissioners. The separate establishment of sadr amins and munsifs was abolished in 1872, when some of these officers were made extra assistant commissioners, and the officers of the ordinary district staff were invested with civil powers; the Deputy Commissioners became Sub-Judges and the assistant and extra assistant commissioners were invested with the powers of a munsif. At first several of the sub-divisional officers exercised the powers of Sub-Judge, but after a short time they were placed on the same footing as other assistant and extra assistant commissioners.

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∗ The necessity for some such action had long been recognized; and in the treaty made with Purandar Singh, when he was installed as Raja of Upper Assam, it was stipulated that he should adopt all preventive measures that might be taken in British territory, "it being notorious that the quantity of opium produced in Assam is the cause of many miseries to the inhabitants."

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For more than ten years after the annexation, Assamese was the language of the Courts in the Brahmaputra valley proper, but it was then superseded by Bengali, which also became the medium of instruction in the schools. The people protested loudly and often, but for a long time without any result. It was not until Sir George Campbell became Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal that Assamese was restored to the position which it ought never to have lost. This is not the place to review the old argument as to whether Assamese is a distinct language or merely a dialect of Bengali. It may be pointed out, however, that the possession or otherwise of a separate literature is generally regarded as one of the best tests to apply, and that, if this be taken as the criterion, Assamese is certainly entitled to rank as a separate language. Assamese is believed to have attained its present state of development independently of Bengali; and it is the speech of a distinct nationality which has always strenuously resisted the efforts which have been made to foist Bengali on it.

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In 1860 the general Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure were extended to the Brahmaputra valley, and in 1862 the Indian Penal Code came into force *proprio vigore*. These enactments superseded the special Assam Code, which had been drafted in 1837 and revised ten years later, but there was still great uncertainty as to the operation of the other laws in force in Bengal. These laws, as a rule, contained no local extent clause, and the general opinion of Assam officers seems to have been that they were not actually in force, and needed only to be followed in the spirit "as far as applicable." A very similar state of affairs prevailed in Cachar, but not in Sylhet, which at this time was regarded as an integral part of Bengal and, as such, was subject to all its laws and regulations.

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∗ Amongst the villagers the Assistant Commissioners are still, or were until recently, often known as "Junior Sāhibs."

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Since about 1870 all legislative enactments have been provided with a clause showing precisely how and where they are to operate. The difficulty in respect of the earlier enactments which did not contain these particulars was met in 1874 by the passing of two Acts—The Scheduled Districts Act, XIV of 1874, and the Laws Local Extent Act XV of 1874. The latter enactment was designed to specify the laws which were in force in India generally, except in certain backward tracts, which were described as "scheduled districts." The Scheduled Districts Act gave power to Government to declare by notification in the Gazette what laws were in force in such districts, and to extend to them any enactments in force elsewhere which it might seem desirable to bring into operation. The whole of Assam, including Sylhet, was classed as a "scheduled district" and all doubts as to what laws are, and what laws are not, in force, have now been removed by a series of notifications under the Scheduled Districts Act. The effect of these notifications has been to place the plains of Assam in much the same legal position as other parts of India.

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The inhabitants of the hilly tracts, however, were not yet suited for the elaborate legal rules laid down in the procedure codes and in several other enactments of the same class, and they had to be governed in a simpler and more personal manner than those of the more civilized and longer-settled districts. It was, therefore, provided by the Frontier Tracts Regulation, II of 1880, that the operation of unsuitable laws might be barred in all the hill districts, in the North Cachar sub-division, the Mikir hills tract in

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Exclusion of certain tracts from the general laws.

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Nowgong and the Dibrugarh frontier tract in Lakhimpur By orders issued under this Regulation the tracts in question have been excluded from the operation of the enactments relating to criminal procedure,* stamps, court-fees, registration and transfer of property; and a simpler system of administrating justice in civil and criminal matters has been prescribed by rules framed under the Scheduled Districts Act. In these tracts the Head of the Local Government is the chief appellate authority in civil and criminal cases, and the High Court possesses no jurisdiction except in criminal cases against European British subjects; the Deputy Commissioner exercises the combined powers of Judge and District Magistrate, and the Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners the powers of magistrates and munsifs; petty cases, both civil and criminal, are dealt with by village tribunals, presided over by headmen chosen by the people themselves, whose procedure is free from all legal technicalities.

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The Eastern Duārs in Goālpāra are also administered, in civil matters, in accordance with rules under the Scheduled Districts Act, in lieu of the Civil Procedure Code which is not in force there.

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Inner Line Regulation. The unrestricted intercourse which formerly existed between British subjects in Assam and the wild tribes living across the frontier frequently led to quarrels and, sometimes, to serious disturbances. This was especially the case in connection with the traffic in rubber brought down by the hillmen, for which there was great competition. The opening out of tea gardens beyond the border-line also at times involved the Government in troublesome disputes with the frontier tribes in their vicinity.

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In order to prevent the recurrence of these difficulties, power was given to the local authorities by the Inner Line Regulation of 1873 to prohibit British subjects generally, or those of specified classes, from going beyond a certain line, laid down for the purpose, without a pass or license, issued by the Deputy Commissioner and containing such conditions as might seem necessary. As it was not always convenient to define the actual boundary of the British possessions, this line does not necessarily indicate the territorial frontier, but only the limits of the administered area; it is known as the "Inner Line" and, being prescribed merely for the above purpose, it does not in any way decide the sovereignty of the territory beyond. Such a line has been laid down along the northern, eastern and south-eastern borders of the Brahmaputra valley. There was also formerly an Inner Line on the Lushai marches, but it has been allowed to fall into desuetude since our occupation of the Lushai hills. Planters are not allowed to acquire land beyond the Inner Line, either from the Government or from any local chief or tribe.

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∗ The Civil Procedure Code never was in force in the hill districts.

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The Inner Line Regulation was the first law promulgated in Assam under the authority conferred by the Statute 33 Vict., Chapter 3, which gives to the executive government of India a power of summary legislation for backward tracts. Such laws are called Regulations to distinguish them from the Acts, or laws passed after discussion in the legislature.

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The inconvenience of governing Assam as an appanage of the unwieldy province of Bengal had long been recognized. It was remote and difficult of access, and few Lieutenant-Governors ever visited it. The local conditions were altogether different from those which prevailed in Bengal, and were quite unknown to the officers responsible for the government of that province, who had not the time, even if they had the inclination, to make themselves acquainted with them. But the patronage was valuable, and proposals for its severance were always vigorously opposed until Sir George Campbell became the Lieutenant-Governor. That strenuous ruler, thought he took a greater personal interest in this out-of-the-way tract than any of his predecessors had done, speedily became convinced of the impossibility of carrying on the administration of Bengal on the system which then prevailed. He was strongly of opinion that the position of the Bengal Government should either be raised, by amalgamating the Board of Revenue with it, or lowered, by lopping off some of its more remote territories. The Government of India preferred the latter alternative, to which Sir George Campbell assented; and, on the 6th February, 1874, the districts which now form the province of Assam, with the exception of Sylhet and of tracts subsequently acquired, were separated from the Government of Bengal and formed into a Chief Commissionership. On the 12th September of the same year Sylhet was incorporated in the new province.

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Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Keatinge, V.C., C.S.I., was appointed the first Chief Commissioner. By Acts VIII and XII of 1874 the legal powers which were previously vested in the Lieutenant-Governor or the Board of Revenue, Bengal, were transferred to the Governor-General in Council, who was at the same time authorised to delegate all or any of them to the Chief Commissioner. The powers so delegated, combined with those conferred by the General Clauses Act, which vests in the Chief Commissioner the powers of a Local Government in respect of Acts of the Imperial Council passed since the year 1874, practically placed the Chief Commissioner in the position of a Local Government in respect of all legislative enactments in force in the province.* By Resolutions of the Government of India dated the 12th May and 18th December, 1874, the new Administration was provided with a separate staff of Deputy and Assistant Commissioners and other officers required to carry on the revenue and judicial business of the country. Since then the term Assam, which had originally been applied to the tract of country ruled by the Ahoms, and was subsequently used with reference to the area under the control of the Commissioner of Assam, *i.e.*, the six districts of the Brahmaputra valley, has been given a wider signification, and is now used as the designation of the whole territory which was included in the Chief Commissionership, including the Surma valley, the hill districts and Manipur.

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∗ The laws in force in Assam include such unrepealed Statutes of the Imperial Parliament, Bengal Regulations of the Governor of Fort William, Acts of the Governor-General in Council, Acts of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in Council and Regulations under Statute 33 Vic., Cap. 3, as apply *proprio vigore*, or have been declared in force under section 3 of the Scheduled Districts Act, or have been extended to the province under section 5 of the said Act or under some power of extension contained in the enactment itself. They also include laws made by the Assam Legislative Council which was created in 1920.

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In October 1905 Assam was amalgamated with the districts of the Dacca, Chittagong and Rajshahi Commissionerships of Bengal, with the exclusion of the Darjeeling district and the addition of Malda, to form a new province, known as Eastern Bengal and Assam, under a Lieutenant-Governor. This change, however, was of very brief duration. At the Imperial Coronation Durbar held at Delhi in December, 1911, His Imperial Majesty announced a new distribution of territory. The sub-provinces of Bihar and Orissa were cut off from Bengal and formed into an independent Lieutenant-Governorship; Eastern Bengal was re-united with West Bengal, and Assam again became a separate province under a Chief Commissioner. The new scheme took effect from 1st April, 1912.

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A further change occurred early in 1921 when, in accordance with the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1919, Assam was constituted a Governor's province. It is now administered in regard to the subjects classed as "reserved," by the Governor and his Executive Council consisting of two Members, and in regard to "transferred" subjects by the Governor and two Ministers, who must be chosen from the elected members of the Legislative Council.* The latter body has power to make laws for the peace and good government of the province, subject to certain restrictions laid down in the Government of India Act: it consists of the members of the executive council *ex-officio*, 39 elected members and 12 members nominated by the Governor, of whom 4 are officials.

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∗ The "reserved" subjects at present include *inter alia*, police, law and justice, land revenue and forests and the "transferred" subjects, education, excise, public works, medical and jails.

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The two districts of the Surma valley, which were transferred from Bengal to Assam on the formation of the Chief Commissionership, differed considerably in respect of their system of administration. Sylhet was a "Regulation" district and already had a separate judicial service, at the head of which was the District and Sessions Judge. He is aided at the present time by an Additional Judge, two subordinate judges, and a staff of munsifs for the disposal of civil cases. In 1874 the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet and his subordinates had no civil powers and exercised only ordinary magisterial powers in criminal matters. In Cachar, the conditions at that time more nearly resembled those prevailing in the Brahmaputra valley. The Deputy Commissioner was vested with special powers under Section 30 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Judge of Sylhet was also Sessions Judge of Cachar, but he had no civil jurisdiction in that district; the Deputy Commissioner exercised the powers of a District Judge while the duties of subordinate judge and munsif were performed by the assistant and extra assistant commissioners respectively. Various changes have since been made. Except in North Cachar the powers of a District Judge have been transferred to the District Judge of Sylhet; and though the Deputy Commissioner has been vested instead with the powers of a subordinate judge (now no longer exercised by the assistant commissioner), he usually exercises them only for the performance of routine work. One of the subordinate judges of Sylhet has been given jurisdiction in Cachar, and he pays periodic visits to the district and hears most of the appeals from the assistant and extra assistant commissioners, who still do the work of munsifs.

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The earlier British administrators of Assam included several men of great ability and energy; and the preliminary arrangements which they made for the government of the country were excellent. But as time went by, and the people settled down contentedly under British rule, the administration was allowed to run in a groove. The district officers, as we have seen, were in almost all cases military officers transferred from the local regiments to civil employ, and, so long as their orders were not openly flouted and the revenue was collected with fair punctuality, they left most things in the hands of their subordinates and troubled themselves but little with the details of district work.

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Colonel Pollok, who went to Assam shortly before the formation of the Chief Commissionership, had a very poor opinion of the manner in which the province was governed at that time. According to him the Commissioner, constantly thwarted by the higher authorities, who resided nine hundred miles away and were quite ignorant of local conditions, “soon became disgusted, and contented himself with drawing his salary,” while “generally the officials in Assam knew very little of the country. The Commissioner confined himself to the river, went perhaps to Udalguri at the time of the fair, and visited Shillong, but knew nothing of the interior of the country. The Deputy Commissioners went year after year along certain routes, where everything was prepared for them; but even they knew nothing of the interior of the country.”*

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The free and easy methods of former times are well illustrated by McCosh’s account of the jails. The prisoners were all put in irons, but there was very little discipline, and they were given an allowance of three pice a day, with which they purchased their own provisions from traders in the jail bazar. “Many of the prisoners,” he says, “lead rather a happy life and consider themselves as Company’s servants. They take as much pains to burnish their irons as they would a bracelet, and would not choose to escape though they had an opportunity.” On more than one occasion undetected burglaries were traced to convicts in the jail, who were let out at night by the jailor, and shared with him their ill-gotten gains.

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The formation of the Chief Commissionership led to a marked improvement in the government of the province. The Commission was strengthened by the addition of a number of trained civilians from Bengal, and the proceedings of the local officers were more closely and efficiently supervised. Every branch of the administration was

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∗ *Sport in British Burma, Assam, etc.*, Vol. II, pages 61 and 78.

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Improvements effected under the Chief Commissioners.

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overhauled, and many necessary reforms were introduced. Special enactments were drafted to provide for local needs, and the uncertain maze of incomplete and conflicting executive instructions was replaced by clear and precise rules, framed under these enactments and deriving therefrom the force of law.

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Formation of Sylhet sub-divisions. One of the first improvements brought about under the new régime was the introduction of the sub-divisional system into the Sylhet district, which had previously been administered entirely from the head-quarters station. It was clearly impossible, in this way, to deal adequately with the requirements of a tract containing a population of two millions, and possessing a most difficult and complicated system of land tenures, and in which the communications were so bad that many parts were almost inaccessible at certain seasons of the year. To remedy this state of affairs, four outlying sub-divisions were formed, viz., Sunāmganj, Habiganj, Maulvi Bazar and Karimganj, and a separate officer at head-quarters was told off to deal with the Jaintia parganas. It is now possible for the people in all parts of the district to obtain justice, pay in their land revenue, and transact other business with the officers of Government within a reasonable distance of their own homes, and for the officers to obtain an adequate knowledge of the local conditions prevailing in the areas which they have to administer.

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Appoint-ment of Commis-sioners. For some years after the creation of the province the Chief Commissioner had no Commissioner to assist him. But the steady increase of work rendered it more and more difficult for him to perform efficiently his duties as head of the administration and, at the same time, to exercise direct control over the proceedings of the district officers. Accordingly, in 1880, he was relieved of the latter duty in the districts of the Brahmaputra valley by the Judicial Commissioner or, as he was now called, the Judge, of those districts, who was invested with the powers exercised by a Commissioner of a Division in Bengal.

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In the course of time, the constant elaboration of the system of administration, coupled with the increase of work consequent on the growth of the tea gardens and of the immigrant population, made the two-fold duties of the Judge-Commissioner too heavy for one man to perform; and in 1903 the appointment was split up and a separate officer was appointed as Judge. There being now a whole-time Judge, the Deputy Commissioners have been relieved of the special powers which they formerly exercised under section 30 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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In the rest of the province the Chief Commissioner continued to exercise direct control over the district officers until 1905 when the growing burden of the administration rendered this no longer possible. A second Commissioner was then appointed for the Surma valley and Hill Districts, with the exception of the Gāro Hills, which was included, in 1909, within the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of the Brahmaputra valley districts.

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In the early days of British rule, the protection of the frontier was wholly in the hands of the military authorities; but, as greater precautions were taken to prevent raids, the outposts to be garrisoned became too numerous for the limited number of troops available, and some of them were entrusted to the district police. The latter force was divided into two parts, the one part being unarmed and performing duties of a purely civil nature, while the other was armed and was employed, partly in guarding jails and treasuries and in furnishing escorts, and partly in manning some of the frontier outposts. In 1879 there were four regiments in the province, who held fourteen outposts, and about 2,200 armed police, distributed over ten districts and entrusted with the defence of thirty-five outposts. It was proposed by the Chief Commissioner, Sir Steuart Bayley, to raise the strength of the armed police to three thousand men and to entrust them with all frontier outpost duty, thereby relieving the military, whose strength he thought might then be somewhat reduced. The outcome of this proposal, as revised by his successors, Sir Charles Elliott, after consultation with the Commander-in-Chief, was that the armed police were entirely separated from the civil. Instead of being scattered over ten districts, they were collected at four centres and formed into regular "Military Police" battalions, drilled and disciplined on the regimental system, and commanded by junior officers of the Indian Army. An additional battalion was formed after the annexation of the Lushai hills. There are now five battalions of Assam Rifles, as they are now called, with head-quarters at Aijal, Sadiya, Kohima, Imphal and Lokra. The total strength slightly exceeds four thousand. The men are mainly Gurkhas and Meches. They are enlisted subject to the conditions of the Assam Rifles Act, 1920, which places them on a footing very similar to that of the native army. Their discipline is, as a rule, good; and they have rendered excellent service, not only on outpost duty, but also in various expeditions against the hill tribes, for which, as they travel lighter, they have often been employed in preference to regular troops.

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The murder of Mr. Williamson and his party by Abors in 1911, which has already been narrated, following on a long series of outrages by tribes living beyond the Inner Line, led to a complete revision of the system of administration on the northern frontier. Two new charges, known as the Sadiya and Bālipāra frontier tracts, were created and placed under the control of Political Officers. These charges consist partly of settled plains portions of the Lakhimpur and Darrang districts, respectively, in which the administration is practically the same as that obtaining in those districts, and partly of areas beyond the Inner Line inhabited by the border tribes, over whom only loose political control is exercised. The Sadiya Frontier Tract extends on the north and east to the confines of Tibet and touches Burma on the south-east and south. The Bālipāra tract includes the important trade route from Udalguri into Tibet, which is the shortest way from India to Lhassa. As a result of this measure the relations between the hillmen and the people of the plains have greatly improved.

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The early revenue history of the districts of the Brahmaputra valley, excluding Goālpāra, has already been briefly described. In 1870 the assessment was raised to a uniform rate of one rupee per bigha (one-third of an acre)

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for *basti*, ten annas for *rupit*, and eight annas for *faringati*. Between the years 1883 and 1893 a cadastral, or field to field, survey, on a scale of 16 inches to the mile, was made of the whole area, except tracts where cultivation was sparse, which were afterwards surveyed by non-professional agency. The assessment was then revised; each class of land was divided into three sub-classes and new rates were imposed, ranging from Re. 1-6-0 to Re. 1-2-0 per *bigha* for *basti*, from one rupee to twelve annas for *rupit*, and from twelve annas to nine annas for *faringati*. The main consideration taken into account was the demand for land in a village, as indicated by the density of population and the proportion of settled to total area. All land of the same description in a village was placed in the same class. Experience showed that this method of assessment resulted in a very uneven distribution of the revenue demand. Between the years 1905 and 1912 a new settlement for a period of twenty years was effected. The main divisions of *basti*, *rupit* and *faringati* were sub-divided into classes recognized by the cultivators, and the relative productiveness of each class was expressed by a numerical factor: this figure was taken to represent the number of "soil-units" in each *bigha* of the particular class of land, so that when the area of any class was multiplied by its factor, the product was the number of soil-units in that area. At this settlement the average assessment per *bigha* of permanent cultivation varied from 11.5 annas in Nowgong to 14.7 annas in Lakhimpur.

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It is a moot point whether the Bijni estate in Goālpāra ever came under the decennial settlement which was afterwards made permanent, or whether the annual payment made by its owner is not rather of the nature of tribute; but for all practical purposes the whole of the Goālpāra district may be regarded as settled permanently, except the Eastern Duārs, or the northern submontane tract taken from Bhutān after the war of 1864. Three of these Duārs are the absolute property of Government; the rates are lower, but in other respects they are managed in the same way as the districts of the Brahmaputra valley proper. The other two are settled with the proprietors of the Bijni and Sidli estates.

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Cachar.

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When Cachar was annexed, Government stepped into the position of the Raja as absolute owner of the soil. The old rates of assessment were continued till 1839, when a five years' settlement was made. During this period a professional survey was effected, and the next settlement was concluded on its basis for a period of fifteen years; all cultivated land was assessed at a uniform rate of Rs. 3 per *hāl* (nearly five acres); waste land paid no rent for five years and only half rates for the next five. In 1859 a twenty years' settlement was effected. Then followed one for fifteen years and, in 1900, another for the same term. At this last settlement an attempt was made to assign the villages to classes according to the estimated profits of cultivation, and also to recognize distinctions in the quality of land within the village. Rice lands were distributed into five classes, and other cultivated lands, except tea for which there is only one rate, into four. The *bigha* was introduced as the unit of area, and separate leases were issued to individual settlement-holders in lieu of the old co-parcenary tenures which had come down from the days of native rule, when bodies of men, often of different castes or even religions, combined to break up waste land, and were held jointly responsible for the whole revenue payable thereon. In 1918-19 the district was again re-settled for a further period of twenty years on the soil unit system adopted at the last settlement of the Brahmaputra valley. The rates now range from 1.5 to 3 annas per *bigha* for waste, from 5 to 15 annas for cultivated land and from 6 annas to Rs. 1-3-0 for homestead.

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Sylhet.

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Sylhet was included in the permanent settlement carried out in Bengal in 1793, but it differed from all other districts, except Chittagong, in that the settlement was made after measurement, and was effected, not with the zamindars, but with the superior raiyats or middlemen. There are thus many more estates than elsewhere; and considerable areas, which were then waste, were not included in any permanently settled estate. Most of these areas, or *ilām* (proclaimed) lands, have since been brought under cultivation, and have been surveyed and settled on various occasions. The area dealt with in the settlement effected in 1902, including Pertābgarh and certain small tenures of a similar status but different origin, was about 160,000 acres. On its expiry in 1922 a new settlement on the soil-unit system was taken in hand. This is exclusive of the Jaintia parganas which, though they form part of the Sylhet district, have a revenue history more nearly akin to that of Cachar. These parganas have been settled at different times for varying terms. Here also the soil-unit system has now been introduced in a twenty years' settlement dating from 1918. The rates per *bigha* vary from 1 to 2 annas for waste land, from 2 to 9 annas for cultivation, and from 4 to 12 annas for homestead.

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In the hill districts, save in a few exceptional tracts, such as the plains mauzas of the Gāro hills, there is no land revenue settlement properly so called, and the assessment is on the houses, and not on the land. The usual rate of house-tax is two rupees, but it rises to three rupees in some tracts, while in the Lushai hills it is only one rupee per house. The hill tribes generally cultivate on the *jhum* system, *i.e.*, they burn down part of the forest, the ashes of which make a valuable manure, and then dibble in various kinds of seeds all mixed together. After one or two years, cultivation becomes impossible on account of the choking weeds that spring up; the villagers then move on to a new clearance, and the deserted fields remain unfit for cultivation until, after the lapse of some years, fresh forest growth has killed out the weeds. Each village thus needs a far larger area for its crops than is under cultivation in any particular year, and serious disputes have been known to occur regarding land that to all appearance is a neglected and useless jungle. Very similar conditions exist in some of the more remote tracts of the plains districts, such as the North Cachar sub-division and the Mikir hills tract in Nowgong.

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Hill districts.

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The Land and Revenue Regulation. Up to the year 1886, Sylhet proper was under the operation of the old Bengal Regulations and the other enactments relating to land and revenue which were in force in that province. In the Jaintia parganas and Cachar, and also, though to a less extent, in Goālpāra, the spirit of these enactments was followed, but they were not treated as actually in force. In the Brahmaputra valley, excluding Goālpāra, the settlement rules of the Board of Revenue had been replaced by local rules; in other respects the spirit of the Bengal regulations was followed, but only so far as the officers concerned considered them to be suitable to local conditions. The state of doubt and uncertainty arising from this state of affairs was removed by the enactment, in 1886, of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, which has been brought into force in all the plains districts of the Province and contains all the necessary provisions of the revenue law of Bengal, which it repeals so far as Assam is concerned. It has not yet been generally introduced into the hill districts, where the requirements of the primitive inhabitants are amply provided for by a few simple executive instructions.

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Steady improvement in communications. When Mill visited Assam in 1853, carts and carriages were unknown, and the roads were few and bad. The two great trunk roads, which now run east and west along both banks of the Brahmaputra, had not at that time been commenced, and there were practically no roads at all in Sylhet and Cachar. In recent times great progress has been made. A regular Public Works Department was established in the year 1868; and in 1880 Local Boards were created for the management of affairs of local interest, and were placed in charge of all roads of purely local importance. To provide the funds for their requirements they were given half the proceeds of a local rate of one-sixteenth the annual value of all landed property, the levy of which was authorized by Regulation III of 1879, together with a grant from provincial revenues and the receipts from pounds and ferries. At the present time there are in the Province 5,915 miles of road fit for vehicular traffic. There are also 2,283 miles of bridle-paths.

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In 1847 a steamer service on the Brahmaputra river was established by Government, but the boats ran only at uncertain intervals and they did not proceed beyond Gauhāti. Amongst the documents appended to Mill's Report is a petition by the Assam Company in which it is prayed that a regular service be established, running monthly as far as Gauhāti and, in alternate months, the whole way to Dibrugarh. Two private companies were afterwards formed for the purpose of navigating the Brahmaputra and, at a later date, the Surma river, but their steamers ran very irregularly, and were hampered in their movements by the large flats for goods which they towed, the loading and unloading of which often occasioned great delay at the different stations on the route. In 1883, aided by a government subsidy, the two companies established a service of daily steamers on the Brahmaputra river. This service has gradually been improved until, at the present time, the fleet consists of large, powerful and well-equipped boats, which perform the upward journey from Goalundo to Dibrugarh in less than a week, compared with the three weeks, or even longer, required by the old cargo steamers. A similar service was established on the Surma river in 1887.

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About 1885 two small State railways were constructed, one in the Jorhat sub-division and the other between Theriaghāt and Companyganj. The latter was closed after the earthquake of 1897. The former, which is only 32½ miles in length, is still being worked with fair success. A more important undertaking of the same period was the Dibru-Sadiya railway which brings a great part of the Lakhimpur district into direct communication with the Brahmaputra. It is a private line, 91 miles long, and gives a good return to the share-holders. This was followed in 1895 by a small private railway from Tezpur to Bālipāra, a distance of 20 miles.

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The principal railway in the province, the Assam-Bengal State Railway, was opened for traffic in 1905. This line runs from the port of Chittagong, through Tippera, Sylhet and Cachar, thence across the North Cachar hills to Lumding, and thence up the south bank of the Brahmaputra to a point on the Dibru-Sadiya Railway. The latter section is connected with Gauhāti by a branch which takes off at Lumding. Its total length in Assam is 607 miles. Two feeder lines have been constructed, the one from Chaparmukh to the Brahmaputra at Silghāt, a distance of 51 miles and the other 23½ miles in length, from Lālbazār to Kātākhāl.

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The Eastern Bengal State Railway has important extensions in the Goālpāra and Kāmrup districts, aggregating 180 miles, which bring the province into direct railway communication with Calcutta. A small line from Orāng to Singri, on the Brahmaputra, a distance of 15 miles, is under construction. The gauge of the Jorhāt State Railway is 2′, and that of the Tezpur-Bālipāra and Orāng-Singri lines 2′ 6″; all the other railways in the province are on the metre gauge.

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When Manipur was restored to Gambhir Singh, his levy was placed under two British officers, and was paid and supplied with ammunition by the British Government. In 1834 Gambhir Singh died, and the Kubo valley was restored to Burma, the Raja of Manipur receiving as compensation an allowance of five hundred rupees a year. In 1835 the assistance given to the levy was withdrawn and a Political Agent was appointed to reside at Manipur. In 1844 the Queen Dowager attempted to poison the Regent, but failed, and the latter then usurped the throne and held it till his death in 1850. His brother succeeded him, but three months later he was ejected by the prince who had been dispossessed. After a period of disorder, the British Government determined to recognize and support the latter. During the next seventeen years there were no less than eight risings, some of which were repressed by the Raja himself, while others were put down with the aid of British troops and police.

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It has already been mentioned that in the Nāga war of 1879 the relief of Kohima was effected by the Maharaja's troops. In return for this service he was created a K.C.S.I. On his death, in 1886, he was succeeded by his son Sura Chandra. A rival claimant tried to seize the throne, but he was defeated by some military police from Cachar and deported to Hazārībāgh.

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