180 BELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 



sactious within his means. The issue can only be known upon ex- 

 periment. But it seems clear that the course which has been adopted 

 was the best under the circumstances. No solution of the land-sale 

 question generally admitted to be satisfactory is forthcoming. MR. 

 JUSTICE MELVILL candidly admits that he has not got one to produce ; 

 the reservation to the ryot by ( a kind and impartial authority' of 

 the ' minimum of land' requisite for ' a decent subsistence/ which MR. 

 JUSTICE WEST advocates has been severely criticized, directly and in- 

 directly, by very competent authorities. To have postponed relief 

 to the Deccan till this question was settled for all India would 

 have been little less than criminal ; to have made no attempt to check 

 the rapid alienation of ryots' lands, by a method equitable in itself 

 and offering the chance of even a limited success, would have been 

 neglectful. At the same time, it is also clear that the land-sale question 

 cannot be put off much longer ; and I earnestly hope that what has 

 been written, said and done upon this Bill may accelerate its solution. 



I must now notice the important subject of management by 

 the collector, provided by clause 2 of section 22, and by section 29. 

 In my introductory speech I said that ( compared with what we 

 mean to compel a man to pay, the question of what we shall hold 

 to owe sinks into insignificance'; and, again, that 'we cannot justly 

 and reasonably legislate for the summary relief of the debtor from 

 unjust and extortionate claims, unless we also give to the creditor 

 full and effective aid in obtaining all that is fairly due to him and 

 reasonably recoverable. A creditor's difficulties when he has got his 

 decree should be reduced to a minimum. If we make the decree a just 

 one, it should be effectively enforceable. Without ample provision on 

 this principle, the destruction of the ryot's credit or his bondage to secret 

 and extortionate agreements must ensue, and all our well-intentioned 

 interference will do harm instead of good. With such provision, 

 the measure will not injure the ryot's credit, but improve it'. 



In short, I look upon this provision as the keystone or 

 test-point of the Bill. If it works well, the ryot's credit will 

 be secured on a satisfactory basis : if otherwise, his borrowing, 

 even for reasonable purposes, within the limits of his true means 

 will become most difficult, while the alternatives of absolute 

 non-transferability of land, or eviction and a poor-law, will 

 stare us in the face. I note, on the one hand, that the Pdona 

 Sabha, MR. MOORE and MR. NAYLOR doubt the collector's power to 





