History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

260 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. v.

would bear heavily on the poorer families, who were relatively more numerous among the Mofussil than among the Bombay Parsis. The Commission was naturally anxious to procure illustrative evidence on this point, but, as the result of their inquiries, the majority among them felt constrained to record their opinion that the suggested case of hardship was not satisfactorily made out, and that the apprehensions of the Mofussil Parsis as to the effect on the poorer families of the allocation proposed in the draft code appeared to be mainly founded on a vague dread of change and innovation.

On this question, therefore, the answer of the majority, the Modi of Surat dissenting, was in favour of the amounts fixed in the draft code which represented the opinion and feelings of the greater number of the Parsi community in India.

The fourth point on which the Commission had to record a judgment was :—

Had Parsi married women, by custom or otherwise, a right, in the lifetime of their husbands, to hold or dispose of separate

property? and if not, is it expedient to confer on them such right, and, if so, to what extent ?

The answer was that the usage hitherto had been that Parsi wives were considered as having separate property to a limited extent over the jewels and other possessions given them on marriage by their father’s

family. The additional powers conferred on them in