Collector - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

COLLECTOR, a term technically used for various officials, and particularly in India for the chief administrative official of a district. The word was in this case originally a translation of tahsildar, and indicates that the special duty of the office is the collection of revenue; but the collector has also magisterial powers and is a species of autocrat within the bounds of his district. The title is confined to the regulation provinces, especially Madras; in the non-regulation provinces the same duties are discharged by the deputy-commissioner (see Commissioner).