274 



and the seasons variable. Indeed, the duty and responsi- 

 bilities in this respect are amply acknowledged by Govern- 

 ment, and there can be no clearer proof of this than the 

 fact that during the last season of drought the Government 

 assisted the landed classes with loans to the extent of nearly 

 30 lakhs of rupees for the purpose of digging wells and effect- 

 ing land improvements, in the spirit of true charity " which 

 blesseth him that gives and him that takes." The establish- 

 ment of agricultural banks will, as will be shown further on, 

 enable aid of this kind to be rendered to the landed classes in 

 even a more effectual and a more desirable form. 



The second objection urged by Lord Kimberley had refer- 

 ence to the special circumstances of the tract of country in 

 the Borabay-Deccan in which it was proposed to establish an 

 agricultural bank, and to the special privileges and conces- 

 sions asked for by the projectors to render the scheme work- 

 able. The ryots in the tract of country referred to were 

 admittedly in such a state of hopeless insolvency that it was 

 considered that the first tbing to be done to enable them to 

 deal with the bank was to rescue them from the clutches of 

 the sowkars by paying off their dues, as it was apprehended 

 that so long as it was in the power of the sowkars to harass 

 their debtors, the latter could not be expected to take advan- 

 tage of the facilities provided for obtaining loans on easy 

 terms. A scheme of liquidation of this kind would, doubt- 

 less, be a gigantic undertaking, and it might well be ques- 

 tioned whether the properties of these insolvent ryots would 

 be adequate security for the sums advanced on their behalf, 

 and whether in the case of the poorest classes, the assistance 

 of the sowkars could, under any circumstances, be dispensed 

 with. The projectors had also asked that the claims of the 

 bank should have precedence over all other claims, even 

 though the latter might be prior in point of time to the 

 former. Happily, the ryots in this presidency are not in the 

 hands of sowkars to such an extent as to render it necessary 

 to undertake the liquidation of the debts of the entire body 

 of the peasantry in order to clear the field for the operations 

 of banks. The ryots here do not find any difficulty in dis- 

 posing of their produce. In the case of commercial produce, 

 in regard to which the fluctuations in the demand in foreign 

 markets have to be watched, middlemen and brokers are 

 doubtless a necessity, but even in these cases, if the ryots 

 can obtain money on easier terms than heretofore, they will 

 be able to obtain better terms from brokers and merchants 

 whose gains will be limited to a fair mercantile profit, instead 

 of consisting, a-s they do at present, of these high profits, as 



