Abul Fazl declares that 'the payment of this tax is looked upon as auspicious', a statement open to doubt (Blochmann, transl.

_Ain_, vol.i, p.

278).

In 1772 Warren Hastings abolished the marriage fees levied up to that time in Bengal by the Muhammadan law-officers.

But I am disposed to think that a modern finance minister might reconsider the propriety of imposing a moderate tax, carefully graduated.
5.