268 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



— that he introduced his Savings Banks legislation with the 

 view — to which he was afraid to own openly — of obtaining 

 money for the Exchequer and making the Exchequer to 

 some extent " independent of the bankers." However, 

 that momentary inconvenience being overpast, Government 

 aid proved in Ireland altogether dispensable — which means, 

 seeing that the State has no business to spend public money 

 in support of private enterprise, that it could not be economi- 

 cally justified. 



In India, among the poverty-stricken and economically 

 untrained rayats some little State help was required, for a 

 time — to serve, like that pailful of water, which in the olden 

 days of sucking pumps we used to pour into the newly made 

 pump, to enable the sucker to work. That pailful being 

 supplied, the pump took care of itself. There was, of 

 course, in India, a great cry for liberal State help, as well 

 as for summary powers to collect debts. The poverty of 

 the rayat and his helplessness turned out to have been 

 exaggerated — also his aptness to disregard the duty of repay- 

 ment. As one Registrar assured me in 1904, when the 

 movement began, it was utterly useless to look for any 

 deposits from rayats. These were too poor. Lord Curzon, 

 being Viceroy, gave way on neither point. And in his 

 speech on the new Bill, on March 23, 1904, he gave his reason 

 in the following words : ^ 



" There is one point upon which there seems to have been some 

 misconception, and which it is desirable to make clear. I have 

 seen it complained, and at an earlier date I have heard the com- 

 plaint from the lips of an Honourable Member of the Council, that 

 Government might have been a good deal more liberal in initiat- 

 ing so great an experiment, and that part of what we take from 

 the people in land revenues we might very appropriately give 

 back in capital for these societies. These views, plausible as 

 they may seem, rest upon a complete misconception, both of the 

 co-operative system and of the policy of the Government with 

 regard to this particular scheme ; and I desire to supplement 

 what fell from the Finance Minister on this point. It is not 

 primarily because the financial contributions that might have 

 been required to assist any new institution would be great, or 



1 See "Lord Curzon of Kedleston's Speeches," Vol. III. 



