gratulated the Sirkar on the financial results.. They wrote: "The Government are glad to learn from the financial report of the Travancore State for the Malabar year 1048 which closes on the 14th August 1873, that notwithstanding. an estimated deficit by the transactions of the year a surplus of about Rs. 22,400 was secured by economical management of the funds in pursuance of the advice given by Government......On the whole His Excellency the Governor in Council considers the result of the financial administration of Travancore during 1048 to be very satisfactory." A similar small surplus was achieved in the next year (1049) as well. In 1050 the prospect of the cardamom revenue became more and more disappointing as the season advanced. The tour of the Maharajah to Madras and Calcutta, the Census established and carried out in part and the preliminary expenses on account of the Muraijapam* involved an extraordinary expenditure to the amount of a lac and a half. The * A course of prayer (japam) consisting of seven instalments (murai), each lasting eight days and the whole covering fifty-six days The chanters of the prayer are Namburi Brahmans who are invited to Trivandrum through and with their religious leaders,conveyed, fed, feted and attended to en route at Sirkar expense. The feeding of the Brahmans is on a very grand scale. On the last day there is the Sarvani-distribution of money dole to all Brahmans, and after supper a very grand illumination and procession in the temple-called Lakshu Dipam (a lac of lights) to which myriads of pilgrims come thronging from all parts of Southern India-far and near. Dewan had therefore to keep a very sharp lookout and succeeded in obtaining a surplus of a little over two lacs. In 1051 the Maharajah undertook another trip to Madras and Calcutta and the Muraijapam ceremony was celebrated, the two, between them, costing more than three lacs of rupees and remissions had to be granted to nearly a lac of rupees. With such odds against him Sashiah was still able to make both ends nearly meet, the expenditure not exceeding the receipts above Rs. 300. The Madras Government in reviewing the administration of the year, wrote :— 66 Seeing that the extraordinary items of His Highness the Maharajah's visit to Madras and Calcutta, the Census and the Muraijapam ceremony, aggregated Rs. 3,15,549 and that remissions of revenue demand amounted to about a lac of rupees, the Governor in Council concurs with the Resident in deeming the result of the financial administration of the past year to be successful, although equilibrium was apparently attained by reduced expenditure on Public works." In spite of an anticipated fall, the revenue had gone on steadily increasing, so that the receipts for 1051, the last year of Sashiah Sastri's regime, surpassed those of the most favourable years till then recorded. A large number (about 120) of very petty dutiable articles were struck out of the export tariff as a relief to commerce generally. The export duty on Coir matting was also abolished as a measure of encouragement to that new branch of industry which had just taken root in the country. More than six lacs of rupees remained on the Sirkar books as arrears of land revenue. A considerable portion was due from pauper or deceased defaulters; a portion was on lands that had been eaten up by rivers or taken up for public works. But whether justly recoverable or not, these outstanding balances furnished a ready means for the petty officials to harass the ryots perpetually. So all demand on account of interest on these arrears was remitted on condition that they were liquidated within the end of the year 1050; the concession was extended for a year more as the character of the season put it out of the question to make any progress in the collection or settlement of the old balances. Meanwhile an inquiry was ordered for examining them and writing off such portions as had from various causes ceased to be justly due. The season of 1051, which by its disastrous failure brought on one of the direst famines that have visited Southern India, left its mark on Travancore also. Both the early and the later rains failed to a distressing extent and the drought told seriously on the paddy cultivation in South Travancore and Shencottah and remissions, amounting to nearly a lac of rupees, were granted readily. A long standing grievance of the holders of Ain Zufti lands (that is, those lands transferred from the British territory in exchange) was redressed in 1051. They had remained on the old Tinnevelly tenure and were liable to the payment of Ayakat grain rent commuted at the market price of Tenkasi—a taluq in the Tinnevelly District. The payment of the entire rent in kind, commuted at the price of a distant market, was causing great hardship. This was now removed by placing the lands on the same footing as the more favourably assessed surrounding lands of Shencottah proper. The village officers, proverties and maniams, humble and low paid as they were, did a vast amount and variety of work, both important and unimportant. They constituted the groundwork of the administrative agency. They collected the land revenue, had sole charge of the Sirkar granaries, had police, maramutt and purveying work, in fact represented, within their limited sphere, almost all the functions of a well-ordered Government. Their pay was not, however, in proportion to their constant duties and never-ending responsibilities; but they had, by virtue of their multifarious powers, frequent opportunities of recompensing themselves for their trouble and worry and they seldom scrupled to take advantage of them. Formerly they had been held in great respect and their position had been recognised, not unwisely, as one of honour. A gradual change for the worse had come over them of late years. Sashiah Sastri saw that the first step towards real reformation was to better their status and he quietly prepared the way for the amelioration of this class of officers who, thus gradually taught to think better of themselves, might learn to treat their fellow-subjects with greater consideration. One of the first things to engage Sashiah's attention was the inadequate scale of salaries that obtained in many of the departments of the state, especially the Revenue and the Judicial. He held very strong views on the subject. The tone of the administration depended not a little on the men in the service; and to attract talent, to exorcise all thoughts of illicit gratification and to ensure cheerful and honest work no charm was so powerful as a proper and liberal adjustment of emoluments. There was little wisdom in a policy of cheese-paring economy-in effecting a |