Anantakrishna Ayyar, J.

1. In this case the plaintiff (the Roman Catholic Church, Mermajal) represented by, John Francis Cutinha instituted O.S. No. 404 of 1924 on the file of the District Munsifs Court, Mangalore to eject the defendants, the Saldhanas, on the ground that the suit properties belong to the Church and were leased to the father of defendant 1 and the grandfather of the other defendants in 1858 under Ex. D. The lessee died in about 1876 but defendant 1 who is the surviving son and the other defendants who are the grandsons of the original lessee, continued in possession of the properties paying the rent stipulated in Ex. D. On 2nd October 1923 the plaintiff gave notice of ejectment and the suit was instituted on 13th July 1914. The main pleas raised by the defendants are: (1) that the defendants are mulgeni tenants under Ex. D and are not liable to be ejected and (2) that they have acquired mulgeni rights by adverse possession. There were two subsidiary questions of which one related to the amount of rent to which the plaintiff would be entitled to in case he is allowed to eject the defendants, and the other related to the exact value of the improvements to whic