The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke

That the said Warren Hastings, immediately after his appointment to the government of
Fort William, in April, 1772, did abolish the office of Naib Dewan, or native collector of
the revenues, then existing; that he did at the same time appoint a committee of the board to
go on a circuit through the provinces, and to form a settlement of the revenues for five
years; that he did then appoint sundry of the Company's servants to have the management
of the collections, viz., one in each district, under the title of Collector; that he did then
abolish the General Board of Revenue or Council at Moorshedabad, for the following
reasons: "That, while the controlling and executive part of the revenue and the
correspondence with the collectors was carried on by a council at Moorshedabad, the
members of the administration at Calcutta had no opportunity of acquiring that thorough
and comprehensive knowledge which could only result from practical experience; that the
orders of the Court of Directors, which established a new system, which enjoined many
new regulations and inquiries, could not properly be delegated to a subordinate council, and
it became absolutely necessary that the business of the revenue should be conducted under
the immediate observation and direction of the board ."[13]—That in November, 1773, the
said Warren Hastings abolished the office of Collector, and transferred the collection and
management of the revenues to several councils of revenue, commonly called Provincial
Councils. That on the 24th of October, 1774, the said Warren Hastings earnestly offered his
advice (to the Governor-General and Council, then newly appointed by act of Parliament)
for the continuation of the said system of Provincial Councils in all its parts. That the said
Warren Hastings did, on the 22d of April, 1775, transmit to the Directors a formal plan for
the future settlement of the revenues, and did therein declare, that, "with respect to the
mode of managing the collection of the revenue and the administration of justice, none
occurred to him so good as the system which was already established of Provincial

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