follows up the principle of property in his instructions to the Collectors of Land Revenue. He begins by saying that: —
'By the British Government, contracts for the land revenue have been universally formed on avowedly easy terms, for perpetuity or for periods of years, and the proprietors have been allowed to appropriate to their own use all the surplus that they can derive from the land over and above the stipulated sum. The Government demand has therefore become a tax on rent.'
Towards the end of the Instructions, in reference to the Record Office, he reminds the Collectors that this office was formed so far back as 1803, that is, in the very dawn of British rule in these Provinces: —
'With a view to the future security of the dues of Government, and of rights and property of individuals ... As the office, thus constituted, is designed for the good of the community at large, all the arrangements regarding it should be such as to afford the freest access to the documents it contains.'
Not content with all these declarations he reiterates their substance in a Preface to the general edition of the Instructions, re-published in 1849. After explaining that the assessment of the land tax, now complete throughout the Provinces, 'has been so made as to leave a fair surplus profit over and above the net produce of the land,' he states: —
'It is determined who are the persons entitled to receive this surplus profit. The right thus determined is declared
