1. This appeal is by the sole defendant and arises out of a suit for partition in a Malabar Tarwad which has been decreed by the court below.

2. The plaintiffs 1 to 4 and the defendant comprises a Marumakkathayam thavazhi governed by the Madras Marumakkathayam Act. The defendant is the Karnavan and Manager of the thavazhi. The first plaintiff is his deceased sister's daughter and the plaintiffs 2 to 4 are the children of the 1st plaintiff. The plaintiffs claim partition by metes and bounds of their 4/5 share in the two schedules of property B and C attached to the plaint. B schedule consists of two items of immovable property. Item 1 of the B schedule is the subject of a controversy between the parties. For, while the plaintiffs claim it to be a puthravakasam gift in favour of the thavazhi, the defendant claims that it was a joint acquisition by way of tenancy-in¬common in the names of himself, his mother and his sister, viz., 1st plaintiff's mother and with the death of his mother one-half of the property belonged to him, the other half to the 1st plaintiff's mother and it was only this half that the plaintiffs could claim. Item 2 of the B schedule is admittedly thavazh