GllA] 



AC4HICULTUHISTS. 



suggested that a more careful adjustment of the payments might be 

 made to the time when profits begin to accrue. On this point also the 

 Government of India think that within reasonable limits the 

 convenience of the borrower may be consulted, and that the object 

 should be to ensure that payment, either of principal or interest, is 

 never exacted before the date when, by the exercise of such due dili- 

 gence as may reasonably be expected of an Indian peasant, the profits 

 of the improvement might be expected to cover the payment. This 

 period of grace should not, however, exceed 2i years in any case, and 

 interest should be charged during its currency : this will be allowed 

 for in the tables above mentioned. The Government of India are not 

 prepared to agree to the suggestion that the borrower might be 

 allowed to repay instalments of the loan only so long as the well 

 endures, as this would involve enquiries which would be accompanied 

 by some trouble everywhere, and might often prove impracticable 

 owing to insufficiency of staff or of records. 



7. In some Provinces the rules regarding the nature of the security 

 to be required before a loan is granted for the improvement of land seem 

 to be unnecessarily strict. Under section 7 (1) of the Land Improvement 

 Loans Act, all loans granted under the Act, as well as the interest 

 chargeable thereon, may be recovered from the borrower as if they 

 were arrears of land revenue due by him, and- out of the land for the 

 benefit of which the loan has been granted, up to the extent of the 

 interest of the borrower in that land, including the interest of 

 mortgagees on, or persons having charges on, that interest. Where, 

 therefore, the borrower's interest in the land to be improved is sufficient 

 security of itself to cover the loan, no further security should be 

 demanded. The Madras rule on the subject lays down that no loan 

 should be granted unless the value of the security offered exceeds by 

 at least one-fourth the amount of the loan applied for. The Govern- 

 ment of India are, however, of opinion that this rule may be relaxed 

 with safety, and are inclined to suggest that, where the amount of the 

 loan does not exceed three-fourths of the value of the land after the 

 improvement has been carried out, no collateral security need be 

 required. Where the interest of the borrower in the land to be 

 improved is not sufficient of itself to ensure the repayment of the loan, 

 it is necessary to require further security, which may consist of other 

 lands belonging to the applicant, or of land belonging to other 

 persons who are willing to become his sureties, or of personal security. 



