74 FIXITY OF TENURE 



ejectment sections of the Rent Act, thinks that the 

 circumstances of the year in his division show con- 

 clusively that a rise in suits and applications follows 

 from prosperity. He notes that in Muttra, Etah, and 

 Etawah there has been a reduction in revenue, and 

 that this, taken with the favourable harvests, has led 

 to an increase in litigation. Mr. Neale's remarks on 

 the subject may be quoted. He writes : 



* " The leading idea in the zemindar's mind when 

 the harvests are good is to increase his rent either by 

 direct suit or by the terrors of ejectment. The tenant 

 in the latter case generally submits ; it is cheaper, at 

 all events for the moment. In my opinion zemindars 

 are not anxious as a rule to evict their tenantry. They 

 are not governed by the ' commercial principles ' of 

 the West. It is rather the obstinate right of the occu- 

 pancy defaulter whom they attack. The ne'er-do- 

 weel tenant they let alone from compassion, partly 

 from the feeling that he is always in their power, and 

 partly because they hope to grind something out of 

 him in future years. But they have, as a body, no 

 intention to let the budding occupancy-tenant grow to 

 maturity, nor to pass by a good harvest without 

 securing some of the extra profit to their own share. 

 This spirit is extending ; it is essentially the modern 

 spirit. And as our rent laws are conceived in that 

 spirit we should not be surprised if it produces its 

 natural result." ' 



The same story was told in the Revenue Adminis- 

 tration Report for the succeeding year 1892-93 : 



' Applications under section 2i^ for ejectments of 

 tenants-at-will rose from 64,353 to 65,665, an increase 

 of 1,312. . . . The increase (in the Agra division) is 

 ascribed, like that of last 3^ear, to the excellence of the 

 harvests, and the improvements in the condition of 

 the deteriorated tracts in the division. Thus the 

 Collector of Etah writes : " Up to date the cry has 

 been for more tenants, and ejectments were sparingly 



