1. This is an interpleader suit which has been dismissed by the Subordinate Judge as not sustainable in law. The plaintiffs appeal against this dismissal, and we think the appeal is well founded.

2. For the purposes of this appeal it is sufficient to state the following facts. The late Zemindar of Shivaganga granted a perpetual lease of certain villages to his wife, Raku Nachiar, in 1887. Subsequently in the same year, he leased to the plaintiffs, for a long term of years, the whole Zemindari excluding the villages already leased to his wife and other relations. In 1889 Raku Nachiar gave a sub-lease of five of her villages to the plaintiffs for 29 years on a rent of Rs. 10,000 a year, and put the plaintiffs in possession receiving the rent in advance up to June 1900.

3. Raku Nachiar died in 1892, leaving her surviving four daughters who are defendants Nos. 3 to 6 and an adopted son. In 1898 the Zamindar died, and his adopted son (7th defendant) became the minor Zamindar. In O.S. No. 18 of 1901 the 6th defendant and one Ramanathan Chetti the late father of the defendants Nos. 1 and 2, to whom the 6th defendants had leased the above five villages sued to recover them from the