276 



awkward question from ever having been raised, 

 and Her Majesty's Government would thus have 

 been saved the embarrassment they must have 

 felt, when committed to a line of policy official 

 documents on the subject would seem to indicate 

 they partially adopted with the utmost reluctance. 

 To this obstacle I have before alluded.* It is 

 simply this. The Government can only sell the 

 land at a certain price, and that price the land- 

 holders will not pay. 



Many, arguing on the attachment of the natives 

 to ancestral rights in the soil, their desire to free 

 it from all risk of sale, and the facilities a fee-simple 

 tenure affords for raising money, have expressed the 

 opinion that the natives would largely avail them- 

 selves of the privilege of redeeming the land 

 revenue on their estates, at tvventy or twenty-five 

 years,' purchase. A few, more cautious again, have 

 expressed doubts as to whether much success would 

 attend the measure while the rate of interest for 

 money in India remains as high as it is at present ; 

 and this is correct. Yet the exact position does 

 not appear to have been clearly apprehended by 

 any. Some say ' we will calculate the rate of 

 interest at 5 per cent., and sell at twenty years' 

 purchase.' Others say ( no ! rates will fall. You 

 must, therefore, calculate the rate of interest at 

 4 p. cent. "We cannot then afford to sell under 



* See page 226 supra. 



