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Longsa want to marry off an eleven year old girl; shortage of rice in Rengma areas |
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27th. To Tseminyu. When passing Longsa the gaonburas produced a miserable girl aged about 11 whom they wanted to marry off. I said that if they did both husband and father would go to gaol under the Sarda Act. The Lhotas are very bad about marrying off minor girls, probably because males are in excess as a rule. |
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The Rengma villages are short of paddy and though most villages in the district are rather glad to have demands and the Government rate is slightly above market prices, it is the other way on here and the Gaonburas of Kotsenyu complained that when they bought paddy to satisfy indents (for transport ponies of the 3rd Assam Rifles) they suffered a loss of -/2/- in the rupee. Therugunyu also complained of having to provide paddy at a loss. The loss is very slight and I told them that for the present I would fix the price at 9 pice for 4 seers of paddy, fractions of a pice to count as one pice. This will apply to the stages at Kotsenyu and Therugunyu only. There are also complaints of the difficulty of producing rice when the village is genna unless it is collected before hand. If the Commandant could give notice a few days in advance of the coming of the convoys, I could warn the village; as they leave monthly a fixed date might possibly be employed for their departure from Kohima. Chichama and Nerhema are short of paddy and are having to buy from other villages. The price at Nerhema is fixed at 3 pice per seer. Therugunyu village made a claim for Re. 1/4/- for coolies engaged by the sepoys building the transport lines there to fetch material, and to dig out a water hole etc. |
