308 



tion, because it furnishes the incentive for the adoption of 

 such improved methods and the means to adopt them, the 

 former by the necessity it imposes on the people for keeping 

 up the fertility of the soil, and the latter by the additional 

 value received for the produce exported. It is with a view 

 to enable the cultivators to take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunities and openings presented by foreign trade that the 

 diffusion of education — general and technical — has to be pro- 

 vided for by the State. From the point of view of the interests 

 of the country, a policy of protection would, therefore, be 

 injurious. The above remarks refer, of course, to a policy 

 of protection as such and does not apply to duties imposed 

 for purposes of revenue. The cotton duties which were 

 repealed in 1878 and 1882 belonged to the latter class. The 

 duties were only 5 per cent, on the value of the articles ; 

 and a special investigation made as to the character of the 

 duties showed that they operated in a protective manner to a 

 small extent on an insignificant portion of thft trade affected. 

 From the point of view of the interests of India they were far 

 less injurious than the salt duties or the export duties, the 

 former of which were enhanced soon after the cotton duties 

 were removed,'^^ 



V. — Costliness of Justice. • 



106. Another evil which is frequently complained of as 



tending to the impoverishment of the 



The maciiiDery pro- agricultural classcs is the costliness of 



vided for the decision t , • . • . i j_ • . p ii ^ i 



of petty litigation. litigatiou, the uuccrtamty or the law, and 



the insufl&ciency of the judicial machi- 

 nery. There seems to be a pretty general impression among 

 those who have given attention to the working of the courts 

 that, while on the one hand the machinery provided for the 

 settlement of petty litigation is much more costly and compli- 

 cated than is necessary or desirable, that dealing with the 

 more important litigation is weak both in numbers and 

 quality. Out of a total number of about 260,000 suits for 



'2' Even the German economists who have laid so much emphasis on the necessity for 

 securing many-sided development of the industries of a nation by means of protective 

 duties recognise that a purely agricultural country like India should begin with free trade, 

 stimulating and improving its agriculture by intercourse with richer and more cultivated 

 nations, importing foreign manufactm'es and exporting raw produce. On the other hand, 

 uncompromising free trade economists like Mr. Fawcett admit that in the choice of 

 modes of raising revenue a government cannot be guided solely by economic considerations 

 and duties operating protectively may sometimes have to be tolerated as the least objectioui 

 able of the niodes available of raising revenue required for purposes of government, 



