RELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 173 



proposed village-registration will at least ensure that every ryot 

 when he pledges his land shall understand what he is doing, and 

 insolvency will open to him a loophole of escape when unreasonably 

 pressed by an extortionate creditor, if he prefers that alternative. 

 The second measure, also contained in section 23, is the grant of power 

 to the Court, when passing a decree or subsequently, to direct the Col- 

 lector to pay off the amount by managing, for not more than seven 

 years, any land not specifically pledged, after deducting a modicum 

 sufficient fo* the support of the debtor and those of his family depend- 

 ent on him. This course, which is only a new application of the 

 principle of temporary alienation, will add greatly to the creditor's 

 security, while diminishing the worry and expense to both himself 

 and the debtor; but I reserve further exposition for the Insolvency 

 chapter, where analogous provisions occur. 



While thus contemplating the continued recovery of debts from 

 movables and land, however, policy no less than justice demands 

 that the last refuge of an effective insolvency-law should be pro- 

 vided for the debtor. Such a law is really the bottom of the whole 

 matter. Compared with what we mean to compel a man to pay, the 

 question of what we shall hold him to owe sinks into insignificance. 

 The need for it has been generally admitted for a long series of years, 

 and has led to various legislative efforts and measures. SIR GEORGE 

 WINGATE in 1852 advocated strongly ' the enactment of a simple and 

 equitable insolvent-law to enable a debtor hopelessly involved to free 

 himself from all his liabilities within a limited period'; and, so recently 

 as December 23rd, 1877, he wrote thus: ' Of all the remedies 

 proposed, I estimate the Insolvency Act as of the highest importance, 

 and as likely to prove the most efficacious.' SIR BARTLE FRERE in 1853, 

 when Commissioner in Sindh, issued Rules which worked well, but 

 were superseded in 1861 by the Code of Civil Procedure. MK. 

 WILLIAM FRERE, Member of Council at Bombay, introduced into 

 the Legislative Council there in 1863 a Bill based on these Rules and 

 the Insolvent Act of the Presidency town (11 & 12 Vic., cap. 21), but 

 applicable to the whole Presidency. It was carefully matured in 

 Select Committee, but was eventually withdrawn in 18b'7 for a variety 

 of reasons, of which the expediency of awaiting the result of con- 

 templated legislation in England was one of the chief. SmJAMi;s 

 STEPHEN in 1870 introduced into the Legislative Council of the 

 Governor General an Insolvency Bill applicable to all India. It was 



