152 



RELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 



of State dated December 26th, 1878, which has recently become 

 public. 



' Under Native Governments, it seems no assistance was, ordinarily, afforded by 

 the State to a creditor for the recovery of his debts. No Court of Justice was open 

 to him, and he was left to his own devices to extort what was due, Grovernment wink- 

 ing at very forcible measures that were occasionally employed. The result was not 

 so bad as might have been expected. It speaks well for the national character that 

 contracts were rarely repudiated. And the Commissioners observe that in these pro- 

 ceedings honesty was th best policy for the ryot, and caution was a necessity to the 

 money-lender.' 



In order to state correctly the present practice in Native States, 

 I have made special enquiries in four cases. As to Hyderabad, His 

 EXCELLENCY SIR SALAR JUNG has favoured me, through the Resident, 

 SIR RICHARD MEADE, with a valuable memorandum and summary of 

 regulations. From Bhaunagar, a large State in Kathiawar, which 

 was, till lately, under joint-administrators, English and Native, during 

 the minority of the Thakur, and of which a graphic account by SIR 

 DAVID WE ODER URN appeared last year in the Fortnightly Review, 

 I obtained a note through MR. PKRCIVAL. The system in Morvi, 

 another Kathiawar State, is described in communications from the 

 administrator, MR. SHAMBHUPRASAD, who was a member of the Deccan 

 Riots Commission. About Baroda full information is forthcoming in 

 the administration reports of SIR T. MADHAVA RAO and letters of some 

 private Native friends I have there. In all these States, civil suits 

 for debt are comparatively rare. -The limitation period, where there 

 is any definitely laid down, is twelve and six years. The Hindu rule 

 of dam-dupat, or disallowance of interest at any time in excess of the 

 principal, is observed in Baroda, Bhaunagar and Morvi. In 

 Hyderabad usurious interest is summarily cut down to a reasonable 

 rate. Imprisonment for debt is not allowed in Morvi, nor, apparently, 

 in Bhaunagar. In Baroda it is forbidden altogether during the 

 cultivating seasons, and very sparingly used at other times. In 

 Hyderabad it is reserved for cases of contumacy and fraud. As to 

 the sale of a ryot's land and house for debt, both are exempt in 

 Bhaunagar, and the former (if not both) in Morvi. In Hyderabad 

 the sale of either is said to be resorted to in extreme cases only. In 

 Baroda only such portion is saleable as may be in excess of what is in- 

 dispensable for the residence and support of the ryot and his family, and 

 sales are not favoured by the Courts. The sale of movables is also 

 under characteristic restrictions. In Baroda the ryot's implements 



