GRANT OF LOANS AND ADVANCES TO AGRICULTURISTS. 93 



It is for the Local Government to satisfy itself that the security 

 offered, in whatever form it is given, is sufficient to guarantee the 

 repayment of the loan, and where it is of opinion that security other 

 than land is sufficient, there is no objection to such security being 

 accepted. Indeed, the Government of India strongly endorse the 

 opinion recorded by the Irrigation Commission that, the joint personal 

 security of several persons may often be accepted as sufficient to 

 ensure the repayment of a loan, and recommend for the consideration 

 of Local Governments the rule now in force in Madras to the effect 

 that, when a loan is applied for by the members of a village communi- 

 ty, or by a group of cultivators on their joint personal security, the 

 Collector may, at his discretion, advance on such security an amount 

 not exceeding five times the annual assessment of the land held by 

 the applicants. In this connection it may be mentioned that in some 

 Provinces great delay is caused by an enquiry into previous encum- 

 brances on the land offered as security ; although, seeing that under 

 the Act, the existence of mortgages or other charges on the interest 

 of the borrower does not lessen the security for the loan, it would 

 seem unnecessary to make elaborate enquiries regarding previous 

 encumbrances on the land to be improved ; and the Government of 

 India trust that Local Governments will provide that such an enquiry 

 shall not be carried further than is necessary with due regard to the 

 security of the loan. The Irrigation Commission have called atten- 

 tion to the difficulty of advancing money for improvements to tenants 

 in some Provinces owing to their having no transferable rights in 

 their holdings, and Local Governments will be separately addressed 

 on this subject. Meanwhile the Government of India 

 desire to express their concurrence in the recommendation of the 

 Commission that, where the personal security of a tenant, or the joint 

 security given by several tenants, is sufficient to ensure the repayment 

 of the loan, the experiment of making advances to tenants on such 

 security ought to be freely tried. In some Provinces a rule exists 

 forbidding the granting of a loan to any borrower, who is in arrears 

 for land revenue, or for a previous loan; but the Government of 

 India are of opinion that this in itself is no sufficient reason for 

 refusing a loan, if the security offered is otherwise satisfactory, and 

 recommend that Collectors should be given the discretion of granting 

 loans to persons in arrears, when they are satisfied as to the security 

 offered. 



