( 98 ) 



90. These are not isolated instances ; over and over again the cultivator 

 absconds, leaving his banker unpaid. I do not say that the money-lender is not 

 oppressive in the rates of interest he takes, nor that he does not take all he can 

 get out of his debtor ; but I do say that without the banker the agriculture of the 

 country could not proceed, any more than it does in England without 

 banks supported by and supporting the agricultural interest there. I say that 

 the cultivator is generally thriftless and improvident, spending any extra re- 

 ceipts he may have in weddings, and often to the deliberate defrauding of his 

 creditor ; and where he is not so improvident, he is, as so many are, not in 

 debt to any man, and gradually becoming a substantial man. In a profession 

 so greatly dependent on the chance of a season or some con vulsion of society, 

 it would be strange were we to find every year as profitable as the last, or the 

 careless improvident cultivator as prosperous as his thrifty brother. But at 

 any rate he has now every chance of keeping his head above water ; he is not, 

 under the new distribution of instalments, called upon to pay his rent when 

 he has not touched one pice of the produce of his field. This relief, so strongly 

 combated by money-lending zamiudars, does not, strarge to say, entirely re- 

 commend itself to certain minds even yet, but it seems to me unjust to deli- 

 berately force a man to borrow, and then turn round on those who lend and 

 call them extortioners, &c., whilst the miserable state of the cultivator, forced into 

 debt by our system of collection, is quoted to excite commiseration, and to form 

 the basis of attacks on the system of settlement. 



91. The following are the usual forms of money transactions betwe3n 

 the cultivator and his banker : 



iwdi If the ryot takes grain in Kdtik he returns five- fourths in Je'h in 

 grain or money value, that is, the amount of grain due is converted into its money 

 value in Kdtik (when it is dear), and in Je'h, when grain is cheap, the money due, 

 enhanced one-fourth, is reconverted into grain ; thus if wheat sells at 16 seers the 

 rupee in Kdtik) but at 24 seers in Je:h, the lender gets 30 seers for his 16, or 

 87 per cent, profit. 



Uglidi. Is a form of loan of Es. 10 to be repaid in monthly instalments 

 of Re. 1 in 12 months. This ia " clihoti ughai." Rs. 20 for a loan of Rs. 16 (also 

 repaid at Re. 1 per mensem) is called "Iambi ughai." If a man does not pay his 

 instalment he is charged two pice in the rupee on his arrears, or he will serve 

 his banker, being credited with the usual rate of wage against his debt. If a 

 debtor pays off before the term fixed he gets no allowance, the creditor natu- 

 rally liking long credit. 



92. The usual rate of interest is Rs. 2 per cent, per month, and the 

 amount paid is first credited to payment of interest. 



