Page 60 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

fluctuating assessment by crop rates in the Thal circle and ghair-mustaqil
part of the Pacca circle of the Tehsil Muzaffargarh with effect from Rabi 1933.
The system of assessment on mangoes, palms and grazing was maintained,
though the rates were raised in some cases. The total estimated assessment
of the district was raised by 8 percent as a result of the re-assessment.
Mr. Anderson, the Settlement Officer, in his report on the special assessment
of two circles of the Tehsil Muzaffargarh pointed out that the Kharaba rule
with two anna (12 Paisa) gradations had not worked well. In estates under
fluctuating assessment, the big owners used the rule to buy Kharaba from
the Patwaris. Mr. Anderson conclusively proved that the new rule was so
abused that whatever its theoretical advantage might be in practice, its
application had been invariably unsatisfactory. He therefore recommended
that old rule should be introduced under which any crop better than an eight
anna (0.50 Paisa) crop paid full assessment, whereas a crop of less than four
annas was counted as a complete failure. Government had accepted these
proposals with the further modifications that a crop between eight and twelve
annas (0.50 and 75 Paisa) would get one-fourth remission and a crop of more
than twelve annas (0.75 Paisa) would pay full assessment.
Orders of the Government were also received regarding the secure and
insecure areas, suspension and remission rules of land revenue on the small
area under the fixed assessment and rules for protective leases of wells.
The following information, with minor adjustments, has been taken from the
final settlement report of 1925 of Mr. J.D. Anderson which will give fuller
particulars of various points tackled in this Settlement.
Revision of Record
The measurements made at last settlement were, as a rule very accurate in
the canal-irrigated parts of the three southern tehsils where the country was
open and it was easy to layout the squares which were the basis of
measurement. Along the Chenab riverain, where there was seldom taller
growth, the same system was finally successful though creeks and protective
embankment has been improved. In the Indus riverain, where at last
settlement there was heavy jungle, the measurements were inaccurate, so
much so that several villages had to be measured after settlement without
much improvement because the only system then available was unsuited to
the natural conditions. At the first regular settlement, the whole Thal had
been surveyed on the squares system; on account of its vast size, its sands
dunes and the hardship undergone in the desert by the surveyors, the
measurement was very inaccurate, the error in parts of the Kot Addu Thal
being more than two miles. At last settlement, this expensive and useless
labour was not again undertaken, and only the cultivated land around the
wells was measured, no efforts being made to plot the position of the wells.
The district, for the purposes of measurement, thus fell into three parts (1)
the canal villages, in which there had been little change since settlement and
the old maps were accurate; in these maps correction could be carried out

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