RESTRICTIONS ON THE ALIENATION OF LANDS. 237 



the advantages which the privileged position involved to all who 

 came within the definition, and section 3 (1) () permits permanent 

 alienation of laud by a member of an agricultural tribe only to a person 

 who 'holds land as an agriculturist in the village where the land 

 alienated is situated/ Thus the privileged agriculturist owed his 

 position to two circumstances which might be purely accidental, the 

 point of departure in respect of the original acquisition being taken 

 to be the first Regular Settlement, while the second accident was 

 that of the acquisition having been made in the particular village. 



It was not to be expected that a distinction of such a highly 

 artificial nature would be at once understood even by those directly 

 affected. The ordinary zamindar at once grasped the fact that he could 

 not in future make a permanent alienation of his land except to one 

 of his own class; but the privileged agriculturist was beyond not 

 only his comprehension, but also as a rule that of the agriculturist him- 

 self, and, it may be added, of the ordinary run of subordinate officials 

 who had to deal with the details of the working of the Act. Owing 

 to this and other reasons, it has come about that comparatively little 

 use has been made of the permission to make permanent alienations to 

 statutory agriculturists, while we have the broad fact that, notwith- 

 standing this result, the Act has hitherto worked with all the success 

 that could be desired, and without any of the anticipated economic 

 difficulties in view of which the statutory agriculturist was created. 



It has thus been proved in practice that the statutory agricul- 

 turist is not a necessity for the working of the Act. It has also been 

 proved that the maintenance of this artificial class is highly incon- 

 venient. The arbitrary line drawn by the Act as to the time before 

 which the qualifying acquisition must have been made works most 

 irregularly. First regular settlements were effected in the Punjab 

 between the years 1837 and 1870, or even later. Each claim to be 

 an agriculturist requires special inquiry, and there are many troubles 

 and uncertainties involved in the determination of the question. 

 Moreover, further permanent alienations by an agriculturist alienee 

 are subject to special restrictions, and this involves ear-marking the 

 areas concerned, while there are other numerous complications which 

 need not be detailed. These reasons fully justify the conclusion 

 ^that ' the confusion and trouble caused by the introduction into the 

 Act of the statutory agriculturist are such as would only be justified 



