INDIAN IDEAS OF LAND OWNERSHIP 39 



profits which the landlords draw from the ownership 

 of a natural monopoly. That those profits are not at 

 present inconsiderable is shown by the fact that in 

 the United Provinces the average selling value of 

 revenue-paying land represents twenty-eight years* 

 purchase of the land revenue. This is the official 

 calculation for the year 1899-1900, based upon the 

 records of private sales, and from these records it 

 appears that the price of land is rising, as in 1891- 

 1892 the prices paid represented twenty-two years 

 purchase. 



The general conclusion to be drawn from the facts 

 set forth in this chapter is that the Indian system of 

 land tenure is something intermediate between com- 

 i plete nationalization of land and absolute private pro- 

 \ perty in land. To the extent of one-half, the State is 

 able to appropriate that unearned increment in rental 

 incomes which is due to the development of the 

 country, and to this extent to lighten the burden of 

 the general taxpayer. But except for this contribu- 

 tion to the public exchequer, the economic position of 

 the landlord is not affected by the land revenue laws. 

 He receives rent for the use of the natural and inde- 

 structible properties of the soil, and he raises that 

 rent when the growth of population and the develop- 

 ment of the country makes it profitable to bring 

 poorer lands under cultivation. The object of the 

 following chapter is to show how the growth of 

 population has placed the landlord in a position of 

 economic advantage when making a bargain with his 

 tenants, and how the landlord has in the main followed 

 his own interest with results not very dissimilar to 

 those prevailing in Ireland. It will afterwards be 

 shown what restraints have been placed upon him in 

 dealing with his tenants, so as to give legal effect to 

 the second limitation upon the power of the landlord, 

 which I described as characteristic of the Indian con- 

 ception of landed property. 



