RESTRICTIONS ON THE ALIENATION OF LANDS. 195 



and would produce more difficulty "and jealousy than legislation of 

 a general character. It was said that a strong case seemed to have 

 been made out for prohibiting all permanent alienations of agricul- 

 tural land, except with the sanction of some duly empowered Revenue- 

 officer, and for restricting temporary alienations to the term of the 

 alienor's life, or with the consent of his heirs to a maximum period 

 of 15 years. In inviting the Punjab Government to consider these 

 proposals, it was suggested that the quickest and easiest way of deal- 

 ing with them would be to have them discussed by a Committee of 

 selected officers. 



Accordingly, the Lieutenant-Governor, SIR MACKWORTH YOUNG, cir- 

 culated to selected officials and non-officials a series of questions framed 

 on the proposals of the Government of India, and followed this up by 

 convening a strong Committee of Revenue-officers over which His 

 HONOUR himself presided. The recommendations made by this Com- 

 mittee were that any permanent alienation of agricultural land to a 

 non-agriculturist, if made without the sanction of the Deputy Com- 

 missioner of the district, should be void, but that otherwise there 

 should be no restriction on sales or other permanent transfers ; that 

 the definition of an f agriculturist ' should be 'any person who either 

 in his own name, or in the name of an agnate ancestor, was recorded 

 as an owner of land, or as a hereditary tenant in any estate at the 

 first regular settlement,' and that of l land ' as in the Punjab Tenancy 

 Act, that is, all agricultural and pastoral land, whether ancestral or 

 self -acquired ; that the only forms of temporary alienations to be 

 allowed in future should be, (1) usufructuary mortgage, with delivery 

 of possession to the mortgagee, foi a maximum period of 20 years, 

 and on condition that at the end of the period of mortgage the 

 mortgaged land shall revert to the mortgagor or his successor in 

 interest with the mortgagee debt extinguished, (2) simple mortgage 

 which, in certain circumstances, may be converted into a usufruc- 

 tuary mortgage of the nature I have just mentioned, and (3) leases 

 for 20 years, or for the life of the lessor, whichever is less ; that 

 the form of mortgage which is conditional sale be declared illegal 

 with retrospective effect ; and, that the hypothecation of a share of 

 the produce of land should be prohibited for any term exceeding a year. 

 The Committee proposed to make their suggested restrictions on aliena- 

 tions* general throughout the Punjab, but to give power to the Local 

 Government to exempt any district or part of a district, or any person. 



