RESTRICTIONS ON THE ALIENATION OF LANDS. 



lines. No action up to date has been taken on these proposals, and 

 the letter forwarding them remains unanswered. Personally I should 

 have been content to follow SIR JAMES LYALL'S programme. But 

 restriction of the power of alienating land had no place in his scheme, 

 nor did he ever contemplate such direct interference with the discretion 

 of proprietors. The initiative in this respect was taken by the Govern- 

 ment of India in 1895, when the Governor General in Council 

 announced the distinct opinion that some action in the direction of 

 restriction upon the alienability of land is generally advisable and 

 even necessary throughout India. As explained by the Hon'ble 

 Mover in his speech in this Council on the 27th September, 1899, 

 this opinion was framed in connection with, though not in conse- 

 quence of, the recommendations of the Commission appointed in 1891 

 to report on the working of the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act 

 of 1879 and on the desirability of extending a similar measure to 

 other Provinces. What led the Government of India to this conclu- 

 sion has not been explained. The idea did not emanate from the 

 Local Governments, and up to the present time I believe no province 

 except the Punjab has been asked to consider it. I shall probably 

 not be far wrong if I say that MR. THORBURN'S advocacy of the cause 

 of the indebted peasant of the North-West Punjab against the money- 

 lender had a good deal to say to it, while the distinguished Punjab 

 officers who at that time and since have been connected with the 

 Supreme Government have greatly influenced the decision. Be that 

 as it may, the proposal to restrict the alienation of land in the Punjab 

 was made to SIR DENNIS FITZPATRICK in 1895 by the Government 

 of India and not initiated by the Punjab Government. In reply 

 SIR DENNIS FITZPATRICK committed himself to the opinion that, if 

 an overwhelmingly strong case were made out in regard to any 

 particular tract, legislation empowering the Local Government to 

 interfere with alienation in that tract would be justifiable, and having 

 satisfied himself that such a case had been made out in regard to at 

 least one assessment circle of one tahsil in the Gujranwala District, 

 he founded on this conclusion a recommendation for an enabling Act 

 restricting transfers, not for an Act applying throughout the Province. 



The reply to SIR DENNIS FITZPATRICK'S proposals was received in 

 April, 1898, after I had succeeded to the Lieutenant-Governorship of 

 the Punjab. The conclusions framed by the Government of India 

 were set forth in that reply and consisted of two main propositions ; 



