Their co-sharers in the
land often find much inconvenience from it, and apprehend that,
sooner or later, the influence of the sipahee will enable him to add
their shares to his own. The village so transferred, being removed
from the observation and responsibility of the local authorities,
often becomes a safe refuge for the bad characters of the district,
who thence depredate upon the country around with impunity. Claims to
villages, to which the claimant had really no right whatever, have
been successfully prosecuted by or through sipahees, for the sole
purpose of having them transferred to the Hozoor Tehseel, and made
dens of thieves and highway robbers. The person in charge of the
Hozool Tehseel villages has generally a good deal of influence at
Court, and this he lends to such claimants, for a consideration,
without fear or scruple, as he feels assured that he shall be able to
counteract any representations on the part of the local authorities
of the evils suffered from the holders and occupants of such
villages. He never pretends to be able to watch over or control the
conduct of the holders and occupiers of the villages under his
charge, situated, as they mostly are, in remote districts. The
transfer of such villages can be justified only in districts that are
held in contract, and even in them it might be easy to provide
effectually for the protection of the holders from over-exactions on
the part of the contractors.
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