Sessional_Paper_1900 — Page 275

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himself would have to make up the deficiency resulting from such exemption. The land tax which has to be sent to Pekin from each Province is a fixed sum and has not varied for years. It is easy to see what an opportunity this system offers for incorrect returns, as new lands are continually being brought under cultivation.

New land brought under cultivation.

When land is brought under cultivation for the first time, the cultivator does not make a report to the Magistrate, but applies in the first instance to the clan or village which has taken the land under its protection. Generally, the arrangement with the clan or village results in a lease in perpetuity being made out, stating the situation of the land and the amount of rent in grain or local money that has to be paid by the cultivators. After the cultivator has arranged with the clan or village, pays such rent as may be agreed upon, and not until it has been found that the land is worth cultivating is a report made to the authorities so that it may be duly registered.

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It is noteworthy that the majority of those who bring out-of-the-way plots of land under cultivation are Hakkas, who can cultivate with success land which the Puntis would never think of attempting to turn into fields. This is due to the in- dustry of the Hakkas and to the fact that the Hakka women work as hard, if not harder, than their men, and also to the fact that the best and most available land had been appropriated by the Puntis before the Hakkas had settled in the district. The Hakkas have by industry and energy reclained large tracts from the sea and made many a hill-side hitherto barren yield good crops.

Landlord and Tenant.

The relation between landlord and tenant is often a complicated one, chiefly owing to the system of perpetual lease. Under such leases the landlords have practically renounced all rights to the exercise of ownership and are contented to do nothing further than to receive a yearly rent. They can sell this right of re- ceiving rent, but the land is otherwise under the absolute control of the cultivators, who often sell their perpetual leases.

The landlord is called the owner of the "Ti Kwat" (H), which may be termed the right of receiving rent. The tenant is said to possess the "Ti Pi" (),

), or right of cultivation. Constant lawsuits result from this double owner- ship and the contending interests which it necessarily involves.

The question of perpetual lease in the case of land brought under cultivation for the first time and of the rights of landlord and cultivator will require very careful consideration.

The most common practice in the case of landowners, who do not farm their own land, is for them to let it out to tenants, who pay them a fixed rent in kind or in money, the amount of which is settled beforehand. In bad seasons the landlords grudgingly reduce their rent on being asked by their tenants, but they are not compelled to do so.

Small villages and hamlets often place themselves under the protection of large and influential clans to which they refer all their complaints and from which they expect assistance in case of attack, robbery, and lawsuits. In some instances the smaller villages pay their land tax to the Government through the influential clans.

These clans gain their local influence, not through numbers alone, but owing to the fact that certain of their members have official rank, gained through com- petitive examinations, or obtained by purchase, which keeps them in touch with the Magistrate and even higher officials.

The clans have, as before stated, claimed large tracts of land, which they have never occupied, but which they have leased in perpetuity to others, who undertake to bring the land under cultivation.

The greater part of the land claimed by clans was never registered and, as a rule, it appears that no land tax was ever paid on this land to the Government. The cultivators, who have paid rent for years to the clans, in view of the fact that the land bad not been registered, were afraid to dispute the rights of ownership, as they anticipated it would result in the land being resumed by Government and they would thus be deprived of their right of cultivation.