17 



condition of the Indian ryot. I quote his own 

 words : " I do not hesitate to say that half our 

 agricultural population never know from year's end 

 to year's end what it is to have their hunger fully 

 satisfied. The ordinary phrase in these parts 

 when a man asks for employment is, that he wants 

 half-a-seer of flour ; and a phrase so general must 

 have some foundation. I believe that it has this 

 much truth in it, that 1 Ib. of flour is sufficient 

 though meagre, sustenance for a non-labouring 

 man. That a labouring adult can eat 2 lb&. I do 

 not doubt ; but he rarely, if ever, gets it. But 

 take the ordinary population in a family of five, 

 consisting of a father, mother, and three children. 

 The father will, I would say, eat a little less than 

 2 Ibs., tfoe mother a little more than 1 Ib.,. the child- 

 ren about 3 Ibs. between them. Altogether 7 Ibs. 

 to five people is the average, which, after much 

 enquiry, I am inclined to adhere to* I am confi- 

 dent that with our minutely divided properties, 

 our immense and cramped population, and our 

 grinding poverty, any attempt at heavier taxation 

 would result in financial failure to the Government, 

 in widespread distress and ruin to the people. " 



To quote a Bengal journal, " What India wants 

 is the development of all its agricultural resources, 

 of rice and wheat and millet, as well as of cotton; 

 of jute and silk, as well as of china grass ; of tea 

 and coffee, as well as of , cinchona and ipecacuanha. " 



