454 PROVISION OF BOEEOWING FACILITIES. 



now offered. But I must repeat what I have said before on this 

 subject, namely, that the measures now in course of execution must 

 still be regarded as wholly experimental. The relations between 

 the money-lenders and the cultivating classes, which are very similar 

 in character in all backward agricultural countries, constitute an 

 economic problem of extreme difficulty. I am not aware that any- 

 where a thoroughly satisfactory solution of this problem has been 

 found. It is, in fact, impossible to feel sanguine of the success of 

 any protective measures devised with the object of safeguarding the 

 poorer class of cultivators against the consequences of their im- 

 providence. In the present instance, all that is possible is to give 

 the cultivator a fair chance of escaping from his financial embarrass- 

 ments ; but no measures devised by the Government can prevent his 

 incurring fresh pecuniary obligations of a nature to frustrate the 

 intention of the scheme now contemplated on his behalf. I am well 

 aware of the force of these arguments. They do not constitute a 

 sufficient reason for total inaction ; but they enjoin watchfulness, with 

 a view to deciding, by the light of the practical experience which 

 will eventually be gained, whether it will or will not be desirable to 

 continue the experiments now in course of progress. 



