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

CHAP. II.] NATIVE ADMINISTRATION. 125

the government of the Peshwa. In course of time, when the late Hast India Company succeeded to the Peshwas of Poona, they were appointed farmers of the land and sea customs of Northern Konkan. In 1836 they were the sole farmers of the customs of Northern and Southern Konkan and also of the landcustoms of the districts of Poona, Sholapur, Ahmednagar, and a part of Khandesh. Their management of these provinces was remarkable, on the one hand, for the magnitude of its area and the vastness of its resources, and, on the other, for a vigorous and wellorganised system in the administration of its details. It was found to be so highly efficient that the Thana collector of the day, in his report to the Revenue Commissioner of Poona, dated the 31st of August 1835, wrote of Vikaji Merji in these terms: — He may well boast of never having given a single cause to regret their (ve. the British Government) having given to him, a private individual, the management of an extent of territory and a sum of money never before equalled in the records of any Government.” The solid results of this policy on Vikaji’s part were that the State revenues of the provinces within the seven years that they had been administered by him were more than doubled without at the same time appreciably adding to the burdens of the subject. Synchronously with their official connection with the State they also directed their