INDEBTEDNESS OF THE LAND-HOLDING CLASSES. 



Mortgages of land. 



Joint Security. 



no accounts ; but with all, the bond is the recognized record 



of the transaction. Bonds are never or very rarely made for large 



amounts. When a large amount of debt has to be reduced to paper 



several bonds are drawn : thus a debt of Rs. 175 will be represented 



by one bond of Rs. 100, another of Rs. 50, and a third of 



Rs. 25. Probably, the chief object of this arrangement is that the 



sowkar may have means to get a decree without much cost. A 



decree on the Rs. 25 bond will usually give him the power over the 



debtor that he requires to compel him to meet demands on 



account of the entire debt of Rs. 175, and will not cost so much. 



Moreover, interest usually ceases on a bond being converted into a 



decree, and it is not to the bond holder's advantage to take a decree 



for the whole debt. When the debt has reached an amount for which 



the ryot's personal security is not sufficient, it is commonly converted 



into a mortgage of land ; where the ryot possesses 

 a well or a share in a well, the well or share 

 together with the irrigated land are preferred as security. Sometimes 



a joint security of another ryot of substance is 

 added to the personal bond ; in such cases the 

 joint surety usually has a direct interest in the loan, or as a near 

 relation assists the debtor, or his security is purchased by private 

 arrangement. Often before the mortgage of land is resorted to, there 



is a mortgage of the debtor's house, bullocks, 



Other mortgages. 



crops, cart, or other movable property. When 



bullocks ars mortgaged, the debtor has to pay for their hire which thus 

 becomes the interest of the loan. When the mortgage of land is 

 completed it is usual in the Ahmednagar District for the right 



of occupancy to be transferred to the creditor 

 in the Government books. This is not the 

 case in Poona. It is not easy to trace the 

 cause of this difference in the practice of the two districts, but it 

 is probable that the assessment being lower in Ahmednagar, there is 

 more to be got out of Government land, and the Marwari, who has 

 almost a monopoly of money-lending in Ahmednagar, is harder and 

 more exacting in his terms than the soivlcar of the Poona district, 

 while at the same time the ryot is, if possible, more ignorant and help- 

 less. It is riot uncommon for the Ahmednagar ryot to continue 

 paying the assessment of his land after he has transferred the right of 

 occupancy to his mortgagee. 



Transfer 

 pancy. 



of 



oecn- 



