THE RESULTS OF INTERIOR COLONIZATION IN FINLAND lOI 



§ 6. The LIABILITIES OF THE COLONISTS. 



During the period of enquiry into the colonists' lots not only the 

 property but also the liabilities of the colonists underwent changes, in the 

 manner which will now be described. 



1. The State debt on the land. 



When the colonists were settled the vState granted the lots as bearing 

 their full taxable value. The amount with which the farms (woodland being 

 excepted) on the 85 investigated lots were burdened was 174,236 Finnish 

 marks, giving an average of 2,049 Finnish marks for a lot and 206.19 Finnish 

 marks for a hectare of arable and meadowland. This debt on the land (prior 

 debt) has been lessened by annual payments in redemption, but on the other 

 hand has been increased when woodland has been subjected to agriculture 

 and the area farmed thus extended. Altogether the debt to the State has 

 diminished only by 4,826 Finnish marks, giving for each lot an average 

 decrease of 56 marks. These low figures are explained by the circumstance 

 that the State, in the first years after the lots had been taken over, did not 

 compel the colonists to make payments in redemption. 



At the end of the period of enquiry this prior debt was of 169,410 

 Finnish marks, giving an average of 1,993 marks for a lot and 186.57 ^o^ a 

 hectare of arable and woodland. 



2. Loans from hanks and private persons. Debts of this category have dur- 

 ing the period of enquiry altered, in respect of their total amount and the 

 average for a single lot and for a hectare of arable and meadowland, as 

 follows : 



