BELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 1$ 1 



manage vast numbers of small holdings, while the Commissioner and 

 the other two Collectors consulted express no misgivings on the 

 subject. I myself consider that there need be no fear of failure, 

 provided it be, from the first, recognized that the duty is important 

 and difficult, not to be performed by mere perfunctory orders, 

 passed on from the Court to the kulkarni through an intervening 

 chain of little-heeding functionaries. Success will, I anticipate, 

 lie most frequently in a pretty close adherence to the system in 

 native states, and to the provisions for security and recovery 

 still extant in our law, though of late years little resorted to. 

 If the ryot be retained as cultivator wherever possible, if a 

 reasonable rack-rent be imposed, personal security exacted, precau- 

 tions taken against making away with the crop, aid given when want- 

 ed in securing a fair price, and payment required at the time 

 means are forthcoming, I see no reason why satisfactory results 

 should not be attained. But careful supervision by assistant or 

 deputy collectors and mamlatdars will be indispensable ; and possibly 

 the appointment of a special officer for a few months to start the 

 system in the four districts might be advantageous. These, how- 

 ever, are details, which will, I doubt not, receive full attention 

 from the Local Government. 



A consideration of the chapter on Insolvency, together 

 with the sections about going behind the bond, suggests the interest- 

 ing question as to whether their combined effect may not be to 

 destroy credit, put a stop to money-lending, render the revenue 

 irrecoverable and bring the country to a deadlock. On this point 

 MR. JUSTICE MA.XWELL MELVILL, who, I hope I may say without 

 offence, has treated the problem forced upon us with equal moderation 

 and statesmanship, makes the following remarks : 



I presume that the Government is satisfied that the effect of the measure will 

 not be to destroy the ryot's credit altogether, or to induce the money-lenders to 

 close their shops. If this should not be the result, but if, on the contrary, it should 

 turn out that after the agriculturists have been relieved of their existing debts on the 

 easiest possible terms the money-lender will go on lending, not on his own terms but 

 on such terms as may, in the uncertain future, be deemed reasonable by the Judge 

 for the time being, it would indeed be a consummation devoutly to be wished. 

 Regard being had (to use the phraseology of the Evidence Act) to the common 

 course of natural events, human conduct and public and private business, I should 

 be inclined to fear that such happy results as I have last contemplated are not likely 

 to ensue ; but it must be admitted that Natives often disappoint our most reasonable 

 expectations, and that the consequences of such a measure as that which is proposed 

 can only be determined by experiment. 



