RELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 185 



has produced several very able articles on the Bill, thinks that, 

 though the experiment may well be tried, the difficulties in the way 

 of obtaining proper Conciliators are insuperable. Finally MR. JUSTICE 

 WEST appears almost to question whether half-a-dozen men of inte- 

 grity and intelligence can be found for Conciliators in the whole 

 Deccan tract. Such an opinion, even if not meant to be taken 

 literally, cannot but arrest our serious attention, coming, as it does, 

 from one who is not only a Judge of the High Court but Vice- 

 Chancellor of the Bombay University. I do not ignore the pro- 

 bability that men qualified in all respects will not be easily met 

 with ; but I must confess scepticism as to a population of even 

 three millions and a half (which the four districts comprise) being 

 in a condition verging on that of Sodom and Gomorrah. If it be 

 so, notwithstanding all our education, civilization and vaunted pro- 

 gress, then the inference seems difficult to resist, that our measures 

 for the advancement of Natives to higher positions in the public 

 service are premature. If the population, as a whole, are thus tainted, 

 can our Subordinate Judges, our Deputy Collectors and our Mam- 

 latdars be utterly different from their caste-fellows and kinsfolk ? 

 Without pursuing this interesting dilemma, I will only say that, 

 having spent a large share of my time in the Mofassil, and having 

 always mixed freely and canfidentially with the people of all classes, 

 I should have no difficulty in finding a sufficiency of competent 

 men in the districts with which I am best acquainted. It is now 

 for those who think similarly to bestir themselves, lest the Native 

 community lose the honourable and beneficent sphere which the 

 legislature lays open for them, and to make good their opinions by 

 presenting suitable persons to the notice of the authorities. And 

 it is for the latter to strive without prejudice to give the experiment 

 a fair trial, remembering that a knowledge of law is unnecessary, 

 and even reading and writing are not indispensable to a successful 

 discharge of the functions in question, in which the layman of age, 

 influence, shrewdness and good temper may easily surpass the highly- 

 trained judge. After all, if a competent Conciliator cannot be found 

 for any particular local area, no one will be appointed, and the require- 

 ment of conciliation before suit will not apply there. 



Turning from personnel to functions, I observe considerable 

 contusion and misapprehension of those of Conciliators. A Con- 

 ciliator is neither an arbitrator nor a judge, either in our Bill or in 



