The common tenure of land appears to be a freehold of the amples description, subject only to the fi ting, or poll-tax, and eh'ien liang, or land-tax, the two now being. merged in one, and the representatives of the ancient tithes and services, In the province of Chih Li there are a number of holdings called kti tse or "banner farms." It is said that the Emperor gave: each of his nobles or retainers as much land as his horse could. cover, in some way not precisely described, A ling ptiao, or "imperial warrant," was given as' evidence, and as authority to collect rents from the Chinese occupiers. At first these Manchu lords were found much easier task-masters thin the rapacious collectors of the Ming dynasty which they had overturned, but in time the people grew slow in their Sianchu, became almost useless as that ments, and the warrants, written in language lost ground. The Manchu families, by sub-division, inheritance, sub-grant, want of proper registration, &e., gradually lost record of their precise possessions, and at the present date there are very few Manchus who can proveunbroken, ion of their original estates. These chiang, or farms, may not be sold to Chinese, but there appears to be no objection to their being mortgaged, even in such a way as to become irredeemable. Some of them are spoken of as having been redeemed three or four times. Most of these holdings are inthe hands of stewards, cheang tow, whose exactions have lately been the subject of the Emperor's animadversions. In times of difficulty, the owners are directed to reduce granted by the Emperor to the common their rent in proportion to the reductions tenures. The ''shoreland" tenures of Canton and other places are usually more extensive than the common holdings. For the first five years after such lands are reclaimed, no taxation is demanded, and five months' notice must be given before such lands can be officially confirmed to the cultivators. Mr. Meadows gives an interesting account of these tenures in the North China Branch of the Asiatic Society's Journal for 1847. He says ten years exemption from taxes are granted to dry lands, and six to wet, coupled with the right to abandon in the meantime. Near Canton there are three classes, the " pro-last named are taxed, after a lapse of six years from information given, and an extra fine is levied in cases where the reclaiming has been concealed from the authorities. Waste lands, salt marshes, &c., seem to be' on the same footing as shorelands. 'The adjoining owner seems to have a prior right to enclose such lands; but with certain limits as to the quantity of land he can hold in all. When these lands are finally confirmed to the holder, they seem to be' "raised" in all respects to the rank of common tenures. A survey of such lands ix supposed to be held in the spring of every fifth year, but for the past thirty years these surveys have been Tacleeiod: great families have monopolised huge estates; and thousands of acres which should be entered in the Great Register continue indefinitely as "'unripe reclaimed lan" The town tien, or cantonment tenure, is independent of the district magistrate, and holders are un: der the administration of military officials, responsible to the Director-General of Transport. There are numerous holdings of this description at Tientsin and Yangchow, and their origin there appears to be connected income way with the transport of Government grain. The tt tien, or kite tien, at Wenchow are taxed much more heavily than the common tenures, or min tien, The land cannot be sold, but only let at a rent to the cultivator, The document of grant is called a tax, The son does not inherit, as the grant is personal, and it ean-not pass to others without the Captain's consent. In the Kwei Chou province the military colonies are very extensive, and the heidi: include dry lands suitable for cotton, tobacco, hemp, varnish, ete, Li-pring Fu seems to have consisted largely of these tenures, until a year or two Ago, when they were done away. Defence against the savage tribes called them into existence, and Government took thirty per centum of the harvests. The Manchu Garrison in Sz Ch'wan owns a quantity of t'n tien outside the provincial capital, Tt. in farmed for them by Chi ey who po for each mow an annual rent of five hundred weight of grain, and ten catties of straw. Several million mon of land on the coasts near Tientsin have been reclaimed by the oldiers of the Viceroy Li, and it is pre sumed that these are military tenures for! the most part. Of recent years the tun tien system has been introduced with success in the outlying territory of Tarbagatai; and to the above incomplete list may doubtless be added many other places, both in the provinces and in the colonial territories. In hen-si, for instance, an. enormous tract of territory was confiscated in 1865, havin, been owned by " population which ha joined in the Dungan rebellion. Some thorities estimate it at over 3,000,000 acres, i.e. 18,000,000 mon. Tt goes by the name of ying tien, and is distributed over seven prefectures and departments. The rents, or ting yin are levied on much the same rineiple a the taxes on common tenures.
the Meu-kung sub-prefecture -of Sz Ch'wan, there is a military frontier apparently cultivated with a view to keep-Ing off the Si-fan tribes, Married soldiers receive 30 mov, on which they pay an annual tax of little over two fou (or measures) the mo. Unmarried soldiers pa} the same tax on half the quantity of land. Other parcels of tu t'iew are those lands found unoccupied when the Manchu dynasty organized the present system of common tenures, These lands are granted out by the State on special terms to those who are willing to bring them under cultivation, Some years ago one of the Manchurisn provinces submitted the following rule for the Emperor's approval: The first person who reports having placed barren lands under cultivation shall receive such land, Whether these tenures are'of the tun provided no obstacles stand in the way."
description, or are assimilated to the common tenures does not appear. Several
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.