CHAPTER II 



AGRICULTURAL POLICY 



IT is obvious that the same line of policy cannot be, and 

 ought not to be, followed in every country, on account of the 

 extreme variety in the local conditions. The suggestions that 

 follow are therefore of the most general description, and it is 

 for local authorities to decide which are the most applicable to 

 their own state of affairs. At the same time, it must be borne 

 in mind that for rapid and steady progress, it is necessary to 

 attend to all the most important lines. There should be 

 complete concentration of effort upon agricultural progress. 

 For example, it is of very little use settling the conditions of 

 land without also attending to those of finance or transport. 

 We may put these suggestions into a tabular form thus : 

 Make agriculture in general more attractive as compared 



with other pursuits. 



Make the land fully available, by providing roads, drains, 

 etc., at first of course simply as reservations ; start with 

 the best land. Settle the forest and other reserves once 

 for all. 



Attract population into the country, capitalist, peasant, and 

 labouring, by good advertisement with rigid adhesion to 

 the truth. 



Break up the land, if there be in the country many races 

 and many types of agriculture, into sections, divided by 

 roads, and reserved for one only of these races or types. 

 For instance, one section may be reserved for estate 

 agriculture, one for Tamils, one for Chinamen, one for 

 Javanese, in an eastern country ; one for estates, one for 

 negroes, one for coolies, in a western. Of course existing 



