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wealtli among a small number of persons. I have already 

 alluded to the tendency of the present regime to diffuse wealth 

 among the masses of the population, and this tendency, 

 while improving the condition of the lower classes to a 

 certain extent, dissipates the wealth, which might be other- 

 wise available for being devoted to productive purposes. 

 The corrective of this tendency is, of course, the provision 

 of banking facilities whereby the wealth diffused can be col- 

 lected again in one mass in a form readily available to those 

 who are in need of capital for carrying on industrial under- 

 takings. As Mr. Bagehot has pointed out " a million in the 

 hands of a single banker is a great power ; he can at once 

 lend where he will, and borrowers can come to him, because 

 they know or believe that he has it. But the same sum 

 scattered in tens and fifties through a whole nation is no 

 power at all ; no one knows where to find it, or whom to ask 

 for it." There are various classes of the community in pos- 

 session of capital who, for want of ability, opportunities, or 

 inclination, do not employ it directly in industrial enterprises ; 

 these are, first, persons who, by age, sex, or infirmity, are dis- 

 abled from active occupations; secondly, zemindars and rajahs, 

 who, from a sense of dignity or love of leisure, do not care to 

 engage in undertakings requiring constant attention to busi- 

 ness ; and thirdly, persons engaged in Government service or 

 in professional occupations whose work is of too engrossing 

 a character to permit of their being constantly on the look-out 

 for opportunities for the employment of their savings. Even 

 of those who venture on business undertakings, success is 

 confined to those who have special aptitudes, and this deters 

 many men from incurring the risks. Banking facilities would 

 furnish persons with special aptitudes for industrial enter- 

 prises with the capital needed by them, while giving those 

 who have capital without special aptitudes for business, 

 opportunities for earning an income by lending it. Owing to 

 want of banking facilities in this country, with the exception 

 of trading classes with hereditary aptitudes and connections, 

 the modes of investment hitherto known and practised have 

 been — first, investment in lands ; second, investment in jewels 

 and houses; third, hoarding; and fourth, investment in Gov- 

 ernment securities. With the growth of security of tenure 

 and the gradual diminution of undefined exactions, land has 

 come to be regarded as a " safe investment," and the compe- 

 tition for it has raised its value to such an extent, that in the 

 more populous districts of the Presidency, investments in land 

 do not yield a larger return than investments in Government 

 securities, except to the cultivating classes. Latterly, how- 



