Salem District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Salem District
An inland District in the south of the Madras Presidency, lying between 11 i' and 12 54' N. and 77 29' and 79 2' E,, with an area of 7,530 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Mysore and North Arcotj on the east by North and South Arcot and Tnchmopoly ; on the south by Trichmopoly and Coimbatore ; and on the west by Coimbatore and the State of Mysore.
Physical aspects
Salem is made up of three distinct tracts of country, which were formerly known as the Balaghat, the BARAMAHAL, and the Talaghat The Balaghat, consisting of the Hosur taluk^ is situated on the Mysore table-land and is the most elevated portion of the District, the greater part of it being 3,000 feet above sea-level. The Baramahal is the next step in descent, and its extensive plain comprises the Knshnagiri, Dharmapun, Tiruppattur, and Uttangarai taluks. Of these, Krishnagin slopes from 2,000 down to 1,300 feet, which is the general level of the other three. An almost unbroken chain of hills, traversing the District a little south of its centre from east-south-east to west-north-wesV separates this tract from the Talaghat The latter, comprising the Salem, Atur, Namakkal, and Tiruchengodu taluks, is, as its name imports, below the Eastern Ghats, and descends from a maximum of about 1,200 feet in the Salem taluk to the level of the plams of the Carnatic on the east and south.
The southern Talaghat is marked by three most striking masses of rock, all alike more or less bare of vegetation : namely, the walled and battlemented height of NAMAKKAL, the crescent-topped hill-fortress of TIRUCHENGODU, and the great, square, white mass of SANKARIDRUG. From it, over a saddle on the north-western base of the KOLLAIMALAIS, an unsuspected ghat> guarded by a huge statue of Hanuman, descends into the gardens of Namaginpet and Rasipur. Emerging from this VOL. xxi. c c valley, which is shut in by the Bodamalais, one reaches the higher plateau of the northern Talaghat, studded from end to end with numerous isolated hills, Particulaily striking are the serrated ridge of the KANJAMALAI outlined sharply against the south-western sky, and the peaks of the Godumalai which rise boldly on the east towards the Atur valley. Much mineral wealth lies hidden in these hills ; their iron is exceedingly rich, and valuable beds of white magnesite, which local tradition declares to be the bones of the legendaiy bird Jatayu, crop out among the hills on either side of the railway before it enters Salem city.
The great mountain screen above referred to, which stretches across the District with the SHEVAROYS as its centre, is pierced by four passes giving access from the Talaghat to the Baramahal. The easternmost of these is the Kottapatti pass, leading to the village of the same name at the head of a lovely valley stretching away to the historic ghat of Changama (Chengam), through which flows the trade from the north into the ancient mart of Tiruvannamalai. This Kottapatti pass separates the Tenandamalai from the range of the KALRAYANS. On eithei side of the Shevaroys is a ghat leading to the two great land- marks of the Baramahal country. The trunk road over the eastern, 01 Manjavadi ghat, passes to the left of the Chitten hills and winds round Harur towards the sacred heights of Tirthamalai (3,500 feet). On the west, the railway, toiling up the Morurpatti ghat, keeps the Vattalamalai to the left and runs past the sharp peak of Mukkanur (4,000 feet). The westernmost, or Toppur pass, leads to the rolling downs of Dharmapuri.
On the north-east of the Baramahal the JAVADIS hang like a curtain. From the breezy top of Kambugudi (3,840 feet) there is a fine view of the fertile Alangayam valley, of which Munro wiote, 'There is nothing to be compared to it in England, nor, what you will think higher praise, in Scotland ' A rifle-shot carries across from the Javadis to the Yelagin, which is more healthy, and deserves to be more popular, than the other minor hill ranges. An extensive view of the whole Baramahal country is obtained from this hill. On the right gleam the white minarets of Vaniyambadi, above the dark groves of coco-nut that stretch away on both sides of the Palar. To the left the great red plain heaves into billows, and its many rocky hills seem to surge against the mountain guard of the Balaghat, from which the country rises tier over tier to the Mysore plateau.
The Melagiris, the chief hill range of the Balaghat, attain a height of over 4,500 feet at their southern extremity. Sandal- wood and valuable timber abound here, as well as in the Denkanikota jungles. The rolling uplands of the Balaghat or Hosur taluk are admirably adapted for pasture ; and abundant forage is available at the Cavalry Remount Depot at Mattagm, which, with its paddocks and hedgerows and the green lanes between, recalls the familiar features of an English landscape.
The river systems of Salem are four in number. The chief stream in the District is the CAUVERY, which Bows along its western and southern boundaries, separating it from Coimbatore, and is joined by the Sanatkumaranadi, the Sarabhanganadi, the Tirumammuttar, the KaruvattaY, and the Aiyar rivers. The second system may be called the VELLAR system ; to it belong the Vasishtanadi and the Swetanadl, which dram two parallel valleys running east and west in the Atur taluk^ the former carrying off the drainage of the Kalrayans and the latter that of the Kollaimalais and Pachaimalais. The third system is that of the PONNAIYAR, which flows through the Balaghat and Baramahal to the east coast. The last and smallest system is that of the PALAR, which traverses the northern corner of Tiruppattur
Geologically, Salem is covered with gneisses and crystalline schists belonging to the older and younger Archaeans of Southern India. The quartz-magnesite schists of the Kanjamalai, Tlrthamalai, Kollaimalais, and the Javadis, beds of great thickness with an average of 40 per cent, richness in non, are included in the latter class . and the former is represented by the lower platform of mixed gneisses, chiefly micaceous and hornblendic, partially laid bare in the plains round Salem city. The more massive plutonic Archaeans associated with the mixed gneisses comprise the charnockite series of granulites, well developed in the rugged masses of the Shevaroys and elsewhere, on the eastern borders of which occurs a line of exposures of corundum ; the biotite gneissose granite of the Baramahal, which builds the sharp cones and drugs of that country , and the mottled gneiss of Uttangarai. The only rocks of later age than these Archaeans are a scattered set of younger mtrusives of considerable interest, including an enormous number of lock types. Among them are the dunites, the magne- site of the CHALK HILLS, and some acid pegmatites containing good mica.
Varying so considerably in altitude and m rainfall, the District naturally contains a wide range of flora. On the lowest levels are the usual Coromandel plants, while at Yercaud on the Shevaroys English fruits, flowers, and vegetables flourish wonderfully, and the wild flora is almost that of zones of heavy rainfall.
The District is not rich in large game. Tigers and bears are met with in the hills adjoining the Cauvery in the Hosur and Dharmapuri taluks ) and an elephant occasionally wanders across from the Coimba- tore side. Bears and leopards have been almost exterminated on the Shevaroys, and deer are now unknown there. The Malaiyalis on all the hill ranges have enormously reduced the quantity of smalt* game-; C C 2 but the jungles in the plains still abound with hares, partridges, quail, and spur-fowl.
In Hosur, which is on the Mysore table-land, the climate is as pleasant as that of Bangaloi e, while in the lower Talaghat section the heat is as oppressive as m the adjoining District of Trichmopoly. The mean tempeiature of Salem city is 82. The Shevaroys from their elevation naturally boast the coolest climate in the District, the thermo- meter rarely rising above 75 m the hottest months. The other hill ranges approach the Shevaioys in this respect, but they are not free from the drawback of malaria.
The rainfall is fairly evenly distributed through the plains, except in the two southernmost taluks of Namakkal and Tiruchengodu, which get an average of only 30 inches annually as compared with the District average of 32, The Shevaroys are quite exceptional, receiving nearly double as much as the rest of the District.
Floods on a large scale are unknown. In the autumn of 1874 heavy freshes occurred in the Palar, washing away the railway line in several places and sweeping away a portion of the town of Vamyarnbadi. This disaster was repeated on a larger scale in November, 1903, when, owing to the bursting of tanks in Mysore, the river rose even higher than before and two suburbs of the town were completely ruined.
History
The District was never an independent political entity In early times the north of it was ruled by the Pallavas, while the south was included m the Kongu kingdom. In the ninth cen- tury the Chola kings annexed the whole, and subse- quently it passed under the Hoysala Ballalas. In the fourteenth century it was conquered by the Hindu kings of Vijayanagar, whose sway was acknowledged till the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the District passed under the Naik rulers of Madura. From 1652 parts of it began to fall under the power of the rising Hindu dynasty of Mysore, till the whole was absorbed by Chikka Deva Raja, the greatest of them, about 1688-90. In 1761 Haidar All usurped the Mysore throne. In 1767 the English reduced portions of the Baramahal and carried on, both within and without it, a desultory warfare with Haidar, m which the latter had the advantage By the treaty which concluded the war with Haidar's son Tipu in 1792 the whole District, excepting the Hosur taluk, fell to the Company. After the fall of Senngapatarn and the death of Tipu in 1799, Hosur also passed to the English.
The chief objects of antiquarian interest in the District are the old fortresses at KRISHNAGIRI, NAMAKKAL, and SANKARIDRUG.
Population
Excepting Coimbatore, Salem is the most sparsely peopled of the southern Districts of the Presidency. The numbers at the four enumerations were as follows: (1871)
J i9 66 995i (1881) 1,599)595) ( l8 9 I ) I J 9 62 59 I s an <* (*QOi) 2,204,974. The decrease of 19 per cent, in 1881 was due to the seventy of the great famine of 1876-8 , but the recovery was rapid during the ten years ending 1901, the rate of increase being higher than in any District except Kistna. Salem consists of nine taluks, the head-quarters of which are at the places from which each is named Statistics of them according to the Census of 1901 are appended
The chief of the eleven towns in the District are the three munici- palities of SALEM, TIRUPPATTUR, and VANIYAMBADI. Of the population in 1901, 2,116,768, or 96 per cent, were Hindus; 68,497 were Musal- mans; and 19,642 Christians. Tamil is the mother tongue of 71 per cent, of the people, and Telugu is spoken by 19 per cent. In Hosur Kanarese is the vernacular of a considerable proportion.
As elsewhere, agriculture is the predominant occupation The largest castes are all agriculturists, the most numerous being the Palhs (516,000), Vellalans (396,000), and Paraiyans (185,000). Brahmans are unusually few, numbering only 15 in every 1,000 of the population, or less than in any area except the three Agencies in the north of the Presidency and the Nilgiris. The shepherd Kurumbans (50,000) and the Kuravans, a wandering people who have a bad reputation for crime, are more numerous in Salem than in any other District.
Of the total Christian population in 1901, 18,701 were natives of India Of the various sects, the Roman Catholics greatly preponderate, numbering 17,624. The foundation of the Christian Church in the District was laid in 1630 by the celebrated Robert de Nobih. He landed in India in 1606, and after founding the Well-known mission at Madura, turned his steps to the north. He passed by Tnchmopoly to Sendamangalam, which was then the capital of a ruler called Ramachandra Naik, tributary to the king of Madura This chief welcomed the missionary and gave him a site on which to build a church. De Nobili then pushed on to Salem, where after a period of trouble he succeeded in winning over the ruler theie, who was also tributary to Madura, in 1630, A church was built m the place about this time.
The mission then developed towards the north, and a centre was established at Koilur m the Dharmapun taluk. By the middle of the eighteenth century the number of converts had reached a large total, but the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 checked the advance of Christianity , and when Tipu Sultan ascended the throne of Mysore he ordered the Koilur crunch to be destroyed and depoited half the Christian population to Mysore, where he sought to convert them forcibly to Muhammadanism. The work, however, went on in spite of these difficulties, and at the present day there are Catholic mission- aries in every part of the District, Of the Protestant missions the most important is the London Mission, which began work in Salem as early as 1827.
Agriculture
Agriculturally, the northern and central sections of the District are generally inferior in soil and situation to the southern or Talaghat section. The prevailing soil everywhere is red sand, which occupies as much as 82 per cent, of the whole area, This, however, is not the ordinary barren red sand of Trichi- nopoly and South Arcot, but is of superior quality and as good as red loam, The first three months of the year are usually rainless, and the fall in April is not great. The May rainfall, the early showers which precede the south-west monsoon, is usually copious and marks the commencement of the cultivation season, which goes on through the south-west monsoon, on which the District mainly depends, and the north-east rams The months during which the largest sowings are made are July, August, and October ; but over the greater part of the western taluks a wide area of crop is put in even before June.
A considerable portion of the District is composed of zaminddri and inam land, which covers 2,052 square miles out of the total area of 7,530, Returns are not available for the zamlndaris, and the area for which statistics are collected is 5,675 square miles. The table on the next page gives details for 1903-4, areas being in square miles.
The characteristic food-grains of the District are ragi (Eleusim coracana) and cambu (Pennisetum typhoideum)^ the former, generally speaking, being most prominent in the northern and central sections and the latter in the southern portion, The area under them in 1903-4 was 431 and 516 square miles respectively. Rice is grown largely in Namakkal and Atiir. The former taluk contains a large area of plantain and sugar-cane cultivation, and the latter of areca-nut and coco-nut Of special crops, the coffee on the Shevaroy Hills is the most important. It covers an area of 9 3 ooo acres, most of it grown under European supervision. In Atur 3,000 acres are occupied by indigo, and in the Hosui taluk mulberry is grown to a small extent fot rearing silkworms,
After the great famine of 1876-8 there was a considerable decrease in tbe area of the holdings m the District, the decline being as much as 20 per cent. Since then, however, the country has rapidly recovered, and the area now occupied is one-fifth more than it was before that famine. No marked improvements can, however, be said to have been made in the local methods of agriculture. Only m the extension of well-irrigation has a real advance been made. During the sixteen years ending 1904 nearly af lakhs was advanced to ryots under the Land Improvements Loans Act, and this has been chiefly laid out in digging or repairing wells.
Owing to the number of hill ranges and the large area of waste land affording pasture, the District is generally rich in live-stock, This is especially the case in the Hosur taluk, where the climate is favomable to the growth of grass, and almost every ryot keeps attached to his holding a small patch of grass land which is reserved for pasture. The chief breeds of cattle are three : namely, the Mysore, the Alambadi, and the Tiruchengodu. The first is raised in the forests bordering on the Cauvery in the Hosur taluk, and the second in the forest land of the Pennagaram side of the Dharmapuri taluk. The bullocks of both these breeds are in much demand for draught, and command good prices at the great cattle fairs of the southern Districts The cows of the Tiruchengodu breed, though small, are good milkers, The sheep are of the two well-known classes called Kurumba and Sem- meri. The former is woolly and black or brown ; the latter, hairy and reddish in colour. Government encourages pony-bieeding by main- taining stallions at different stations in the District, and there is a Remount De"p6t at HOSUR.
Of the total cultivated area of the ryotwari and mmoi inam ' land, 291 square miles, or 14 pei cent., weie irrigated in 1903-4. Of this, 122 square miles (42 per cent.) were supplied from wells; TIT square miles (38 per cent.) from tanks , and only 44 square miles (15 per cent.) from canals, The Cauvery is of little use for irrigation till it enters the Namakkal taluk. Here three channels of a total length of 49 miles take off from it, atid convert more than 7,000 acres, which would otherwise be barren, into a fertile area that has with justice been called the garden of the District.
The tributaries of the Cauvery have not the same constant flow as the main stream, and the land watered by them is liable to failure of crops, owing to short supply of water. The Vellar river system in the Atm tahtk possesses a perennial supply and irrigates an area of 9,400 acres. The Ponnaiyar, with its tributaries, waters 26,000 acres, in- cluding both direct and indirect irrigation, Of the 1,842 Government tanks in the District, the only one large enough to be worth mention is the Barur tank fed by the Ponnaiyar, which irrigates about 3,000 acres. Of the tanks, 79 per cent, are small reservoirs supplying less than 50 acres each, and 32 per cent, of these irrigate less than 10 acres each. In these small works the supply is very precarious, and has to be supplemented by wells to enable a 'wet crop ' to be raised Accord- ingly, we find that there are 25,152 wells m ' wet ' land, a larger number than that m any other District in the Presidency except North and South Arcot. Wells in ' dry ' land are also numerous, numbering 53,878, a figure exceeded only by Coimbatore and North and South Arcot. They are most numerous in the Talaghat and least so in the Balaghat, The garden land supplied by them is cultivated with great skill, and the crops raised are heavier and more valuable than those irrigated from channels or tanks. In the Rasipur side of the Salem taluk this garden cultivation is especially excellent.
Forests
The chief forests form a horseshoe belt across the District from west to east, beginning on the mass of hills bordering the Cauvery and thence extending along the Shevaroys in the centre orests. to j-kg chitten and Kalrayan hills.
The Pachaimalais and Kollaimalais form a separate block in the south-eastern corner of the District The area of ' reserved ' forests is 1,560 square miles, and that of 'reserved' lands 96 square miles. Sandal-wood flourishes on almost every hill range, but is most abundant on the Javadis and the Chittens at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. Teak, black-wood (Dalbergia latifolia), acha (Hardwickla bmata\ vetigai (Pterocarpits Marsupiuni), Terminalia tomentosa^ satin-wood (Chloro- xylon Swiete?iia\ Anogeissus latifoha, and other timber trees grow to a moderate size in all the forests, while along the streams in the hills some large specimens of Terminalia Arjuna are found. At the foot, and on the lower slopes, of all the hill ranges on the eastern side of the District are numbers of tamarind-trees growing to a remarkable height and size, The forests within 1 5 miles of the Madras Railway were until recently worked principally for the supply of fuel for the line. The work in the Forest department has now become so heavy that an additional Forest officer has been posted to the District.
Minerals
Salem is rich in minerals Gold, iron, saltpetre, mica, corundum, rubies, magnesite, and crystalline limestone have all been found. Dr. Heyne, an Indian medical officer who toured throughout the country in the early part of last mera S *
century, refers to some gold-mines at Siddharkovil, a place conjectured to be near Rayakottai. Gold used to be found also at the foot of the Kanjamalai hills, people washing foi it in the streams aftei the rains. No gold in workable quantities is found now. Licences have been taken out for prospecting in the village of Kanavaypudur in the Salem taluk and in the Kurumbapatti ' reserved ' forests of the Shevaroy Hills, but the search has been without result.
Magnetic iron ore of an excellent quality is found in practically inexhaustible abundance in the District, but the scarcity of cheap fuel prevents its utilization The iron beds occur chiefly m five groups : the Kanjamalai group at the hill of the same name, the Godumalai group in the Salem-Atur valley, the Singipatti group 4 miles south of the Godumalai, the Kollaimalai-Talamalai group in the eastern part of the Namakkal taluk^ and the Tirthamalai group in the Uttangarai taluk In the villages in the vicinity of these beds the ore is smelted in the primitive Indian fashion, but not to the same extent as formerly when there was no competition from English wi ought iron. Salem iron was famous in the early years of the last century, and a company known as the Porto Novo Iron Company worked the ores on the Kanjamalai hills at foundries established at PORTO Novo in South Arcot and at Pularnpatti on the Cauvery m the Tiruchengodu taluk As the jungles diminished, charcoal foi smelting had to be brought from longer distances, and the working expenses became too heavy to allow of any profit. The company finally ceased to exist about 1867. At present two firms hold prospecting licences for the Kanjamalai iron, but nothing has yet been done to develop it.
Saltpetre gives work to three refineries at Mohanur in the Namakkal taluk. Mica-mining operations were conducted for a short time in the villages of Chmnamanah and Cholasiramam, but have ceased. Corundum is extracted under a mining lease at Komarapalaiyam m the Namakkal taluk. In a number of other villages also corundum is found, and the right to quarry for it is annually leased out by auction. Along with the corundum, rubies are sometimes discovered. Magnesite is being extracted under a mining lease in five Government villages and one jdglr village in the Salem taluk. The area leased is 1,131 acres, and in 1904 the out-turn was 174 tons in Government land and 1,141 tons m jdglr land.
Trade and communication
The chief industry in Salem is weaving, which is carried on in every town or village of any importance Pure silk cloths and good white cloths with silk borders are woven, especially in
. Salem cit . y ' and ex P orted to other Districts ; but the " industry is now on the decline, owing to the competi- tion of English machine-made goods. Kurumbans or shepherds weave coarse blankets from sheep's wool all over the District, and a superior variety of these articles is made at Lattivadi in the Namakkal taluk. Indigo is manufactured in fifty-five factories in Atur and two in Tirup- pattftr. Several tanneries for the curing of hides exist at Tiruppattur, Vaniyambadi, and elsewhere. The latter town is a centre of the Labbais, a mixed race of Musalmans who do most of the skin trade m the Presidency. Potstone utensils are made at Omalur in the Salem taluk.
Rice, wheat, castor-oil seed, castor-oil, ghl, cloth, betel-leaves, plantains, areca-nuts, indigo, tamarinds, mangoes, coffee, and cattle are among the chief exports of the District. Salt, pepper, tobacco, yam, and ground-nuts aie some of the principal articles imported Cattle are driven from Hosur and Dharmapuri to the great cattle-markets in South Arcot, Trichinopoly, Madura, and Tmnevelly. The mangoes go to Madras and Bombay (where they are sold as Bombay mangoes), and betel-leaves and plantains are sent to the same places. The internal trade of the country is carried on at weekly markets, which are held at most of the large villages and form a feature of social life in this District. They are usually managed by the local boards, which in 1903-4 collected Rs. 15,800 in market fees.
The south-west line of the Madras Railway enters the District near Vaniyambadi and runs through to the Cauvery, which it crosses by a fine bridge near Erode. A narrow-gauge (2-J feet) railway between Morappur and Dharmapuri is under construction, and a similar line between Tiruppattur and Krishnagin has recently been opened. The District has the largest mileage of roads (2,020 miles) in the Presidency except Coimbatore, but only 582 miles are metalled There are avenues of trees along 1,311 miles of road, which are managed by the local boards.
Famine
During the last century the District experienced two famines, in 1833 and 1876-8, and serious scarcity in 1866 and 1891-2. The most terrible calamity was the famine of 1876-8, ami * and during its height as many as 369,137 of the population were being gratuitously fed. The expenditure on relief works was 28 lakhs, on gratuitous relief 32 lakhs, and the indirect expenditure and loss of revenue amounted to a further sum of 8 lakhs. The District is arranged into four administrative subdivisions, two of which are usually in charge of members of the Indian CiVftSeivice, and the other two of Deputy-Collectors recruited in I are Hosur, comprising the HOSUR, KRISHNAOIRI, and . .
DHARMAPURI taluks Tiruppattur, comprising TIRUP- Admmistratlon - PATTUR and UTTANGARAI , Namakkal, comprising NAMAKKAL and TIRU- CHENGODU ; and Salem, comprising SALEM and ATUR. A tahsildar is in charge of each taluk but in only four taluks is there a stationary sub- magistrate for magisterial work, which in the other five is entrusted to a shenstaddr magistrate. Ten fa$v\y-tahsilddrs aie subordinate to the fahslldars. There is the usual staff of supenoi officers, with the addition of the second District Forest officer already mentioned.
Civil justice is administered by the District Judge, aided by a Sub- Judge who sits for part of the year at Salem, and by five District Munsifs. Criminal justice is dispensed by the Sessions Court, the divisional magistrates (who have the usual first-class powers), and the subordinate second-class magistrates. Much of the crime is committed by the Pallis and the Kuravans already referred to. Dacoity has been more than usually prevalent of late.
The land revenue history of Salem District is of considerable interest, as the beginnings of the ryotwdri system were evolved here. The old native method was to rent out the country by villages or other small areas to the village headmen or other lessees. Captain Read, the first Collector of the District, took charge in 1792. Government instructed him to effect a settlement for a term of five years with the cultivators themselves. To do this, Read, with the co-operation of his Assistants, Graham and Munro, surveyed all the land in the District and fixed a money assessment on the fields, the operations being completed in five years (1793-7). During the time the survey was in progress a change had come over Read's opinions , and, on December 10, 1796, he issued his famous order which gave ryots the option of holding their land either under the old lease system or under annual settlements, the latter mode allowing them to give up early in each year whatever land they might not care to cultivate that year, and to retain for any length of time such land as they wished, subject to the payment of assessment for it. This was the germ of the ryohvdri system but the revenue system of Bengal, where Lord Cornwallis had introduced permanent settlement, was extended to Madras by the Government of India In 1802 Read's ryotwdri settlement was cancelled by the appointment of a special commissioner, who, in the next three years, parcelled out the District into 205 mittahs (estates), which were sold at auction to the highest bidders and held on fixed rents. The zammddri system was a failure. Owing to the high rates at which the rents were fixed and the low margin of profit remaining to the mittahddrs, the sums payable by them fell into arrear, their mittahs were in consequence attached and sold, and for want of othei bidders Government had to buy them in. The estates thus broken up were then administered under the ryotivari system. The evil of excessive assessments was partially reduced by orders issued in 1816 and 1818 , but systematic reduction was not effected before 1859, when the Government sanctioned pro- posals of the Collector for a percentage abatement in the old rates.
The reduction gave a wonderful impetus to cultivation, and the land revenue rose with a bound. In 1860 a scientific survey of the District was begun, and in 1871 a new revenue settlement was inaugurated. The survey showed that the extent of holdings in the old accounts had been understated by 15 per cent, and the settlement resulted in an increase of revenue amounting to 4 per cent. The average assessment per acre on 'wet' land was Rs. 3-15-1 in the north of the District and Rs. 5-1-9 in the south, the maximum being Rs. 10-8 and the minimum Rs. 1-4 On 'dry' land the average assessment was R. 0-14-5 in the north and Rs. 1-5-6 in the south, the maximum being Rs. 5 and the minimum 4 annas per acre. This settlement is now being revised in five taluks by a resurvey and a resettlement.
The revenue from land and the total revenue m recent years aie
given below, in thousands of rupees :
Local affairs are managed by a District board and four taluk boards, the jurisdictions of the latter corresponding to the four subdivisions above mentioned. The total expenditure of these bodies in 1903-4 was 4-27 lakhs, the chief items being roads and buildings (1-85 lakhs), education (Rs. 71,000), and medical services (1-30 lakhs). The chief source of income is, as usual, the land cess. The towns of SALEM, TIRUPPATTUR, and VANIYAMBADI are municipalities and are excluded from the control of the boards. The number of Unions is thirty-four.
The police force is managed by a District Superintendent aided by an Assistant. There are 102 police stations; and the force in 1904 numbered 1,285 constables and head constables, working under 21 in- spectors, and 2,475 rura l police. Besides the Salem jail, which is one of the seven Central prisons of the Province and can hold 548 convicts, there are 18 subsidiary jails, which can collectively accommodate 201 male and 118 female prisoners
In education Salem is very backward. The proportion of the popu- lation who can read and write is scarcely more than half the average for the southern Districts as a whole, and the only areas m the Madras Presidency which at the Census of 1901 contained a smaller percentage of literate persons were Vizagapatam and the three Agency Tracts. Of every 1,000 persons in the District, only 38 were classed as literate. The number of literate persons among the males and females of the District amounted to 74 and 4 per 1,000 respectively. Only 5 per cent, of the males had received any education in English, and the number of girls (including all the Europeans and Eurasians) who could read and write that language was only 500. Education was most advanced in the Tiruppattur, Salem, and Namakkal taluks > and least so in Uttangarai and Tiruchengodu The total number of pupils under instruction in 1880-1 was 9,316 , m 1890-1, 23,171 9 in 1900-1, 31,976, and in 1903-4, 31,231. The number of educational institutions of all kinds in the District in 1904 was 972, of which 847 were classed as public and the remainder as private Of the former, 1 1 were managed by the Educational department, 197 by the local boards, and 26 by the municipalities, while 288 were aided from Local funds and 325 were unaided. These institutions include the municipal college at Salem, 25 secondary, 818 primary, and 3 training and other special schools.
The number of girls in these was 4,023 As usual, the majority of the pupils were only in primary classes. Of the male population of school- going age 15 per cent, were in the primary stage of instruction, and of the female population of the same age 2 per cent. The corre- sponding percentages for Musalmans were 72 and 12 Panchama pupils numbering 1,344 were being educated in 51 schools main- tained especially for them. The total expenditure on education in 1903-4 was Rs. 1,73,000, of which Rs. 69,000 was derived from fees Of the total, 71 per cent, was devoted to primary education.
The District possesses n hospitals and 15 dispensaries, with accom- modation for 114 in-patients. In 1903 the number of cases treated was 203,000, of whom 1,400 were m-patients, and 7,100 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 56,000, met chiefly from Local and municipal funds.
In 1903-4 the number of persons successfully vaccinated was 27 per 1,000 of the population, the mean for the Presidency being 30. Vaccination is compulsory in all the municipalities and Unions, and in the village of Komarapalaiyam in the Tiruchengodu taluk.
[H. Le Fanu, District Manual (1883).]
