202 



RESTRICTIONS ON THE ALIENATION OF LANDS. 



remaining methods which are applicable or in any way advisable. 

 The main features have been sketched by the Hon'ble mover, and 

 consist of the restriction of the power of alienttion of land by sale or 

 perpetual lease, and of the prohibition of all usufructuary mortgages, 

 except what I may call the automatic repayment mortgage, where 

 after the expiry of the term of mortgage, which is limited to a 

 maximum of 15 years, the land reverts to the mortgagor, with the 

 mortgage debt extinguished. The second of these provisions has my 

 unhesitating concurrence. It is, in a way, the sheet anchor of the 

 measure, as preserving the credit of the agriculturist. In regard to 

 the restriction of sales, it would be tedious, as well as unnecessary, 

 for me to explain my personal attitude. The measure as now proposed 

 is a compromise, arrived at, after the fullest consideration, between 

 two sets of opinions, and, like most compromises, deliberately and 

 thoughtfully adopted, probably represents the best counsels. In the 

 first place, there is nothing absolute about the restrictive provisions. 

 The person who lies under the greatest disability under the proposed 

 Bill, can obtain a dispensation from its provisions, if due cause be 

 shown. Then the market for sale of land will be fairly open under a 

 system which permits transfers to any agriculturist of the village or 

 any member of the same agricultural tribe in the same district, it 

 being understood that the word 'tribe' is used in its widest signification, 

 and that the 'district' may be wider than the Revenue District, if 

 reason exists. And I concur with the Hon'ble mover that in these 

 provisions there lies, to some extent, a reversion to a state of ideas 

 which was prevalent in the early days of Punjab administration, and 

 is still widely recognized in Native States. 



Therefore, with due reserve as to details, I support the Bill which is 

 now before the Council, believing it to be in many respects one fraught 

 with great benefit to the Province, while those provisions regarding 

 which there is most room for difference of opinion embody the result 

 of one of the most laborious and protracted investigations ever conduc- 

 ted by the Government, and I feel it to be my duty to accept them. 



