8 INDEBTEDNESS OF THE LAND-HOLDING CLASSES. 



can be no doubt. Writing of the Ahmeduagar ryot more than 

 20 years ago, Lieutenant Burgess of the Survey says, "As long as 

 the ryot is in the hands of the money-lender, how can he prosper, 

 being so involved ? Should he do so, his prosperity would only make 

 the usurer the richer without materially, if at all, increasing his own 

 resources." This lesson the ryots have apparently now learnt; they 

 find that the lands broken up and the wells dug with borrowed capital 

 yield a profit only to the sowkar. To use Sir G. Wingate's words, 

 "the ryot toils that another may rest, and sows that another may- 

 reap." The result has been well shown in a report from the Irriga- 

 tion Department dated 16th June, 1875. It was found that the ryots 

 did not use the water of the Lakh Canal, an important irrigation 

 work in the Ahmednagar District. The Executive Engineer for 

 Irrigation reported to Colonel Merriman, the head of his department, 

 on this subject as follows : "While on the canal I questioned the 

 ryots closely, and they stated that, without exception, they were all 

 deeply indebted to the money-lenders, who get as much as possible in 

 the shape of interest on money lent out to each land-holder at harvest 

 time. They stated that a very large portion of the value of each crop 

 goes towards paying interest on their debts, and that they are dis- 

 couraged from taking more trouble than necessary with the cultivation 

 of their land. I consider it is very probable that this is the reason why 

 so little is done towards extending irrigation on this canal." The 

 Assistant Collector in charge of the District, Mr. Blathwayt, writes 

 on the same subject to the Collector of Ahmednagar : "I believe the 

 fact is that the holders of land under the Lakh Canal are generally 

 poor. Their lands have been mortgaged to sowkars who take away 

 the products of the fields for interest of the money lent, and the poor 

 landholders have to trouble themselves for nothing ; they have to pay 

 for the water, but could not get the profits to themselves, and conse- 

 quently do not care to use the water/' On the above, Colonel 

 Merriman, the Chief Engineer for Irrigation, remarks : "The reason 

 given by Mr. Blathwayt is a very sufficient one. The district is very 

 thinly populated, and the indebtednes of the cultivators no doubt 

 explains why the progress of irrigation is so slow." 



Whether the land itself now yields less than formerly it is im- 



Prodnctiveness said possible to determine with certainty. Possibly 



to be diminishing. ^j ie } je li e f generally held on this point is in some 



measure due to the fact, that as cultivation extended until it embraced 



