COXXll 



aristocratical authority, and the village panchayat system has almost 

 ceased to be an institution of the country. 



Given the same laws, the same situation, and the same form of 

 Government as that of a highly advanced country, what will be the 

 situation of the ryot now ii he does not go in for the foreign import- 

 ations of the market for the desire of keeping up appearances, for the 

 interchange of callings, or for the affectation of the many foibles which 

 now attend on him ? One other great feature which adds to his misery 

 is the laxity of the abkdri rules, the spread of stills and shops, and the 

 encouragement given to wholesale and retail systems, which place the 

 juice at the door of the ryot at cheap rates. Again there are the forest 

 and salt laws, the one depriving him of the use of the forest, and the 

 other stinting the supply of the necessary of life to himself and to his 

 cattle. In this aspect of the question, the condition of the ryot may 

 fairly be said to have deteriorated. 



Other industries. — As regards other industries, some show improve- 

 ment, some are stationary, and others show decline. The mason, the 

 carpenter, the blacksmith, and the brass-smith are now prosperous more 

 than before. The potter has remained in the same position as 30 or 25 

 years ago. It is in the case of the weaver that one finds almost 

 complete collapse. The weaver stands helpless before the gigantic array 

 of machines and machine-made cloths of the mighty Manchester, and 

 realizes in the application to India of the principles of free-trade the 

 plain fact that his ruin is not far off, and cries for protection. 



Native industrial arts have generally declined. They were in times 

 gone by held in deservedly liigh esteem and every encouragement was 

 given to the proprietors by the former rulers of the country. With the 

 beginning of English rule, and the importation of machinery, from the 

 cooking stove to the locomotive engine, native industrial arts received a 

 death-blow, and there are now glasses for lotas, and the shining chintz 

 for the thick elegant cotton fabric of the native dealer. Government 

 seems to have felt the necessity of reviving them wherever possible. 

 In this district, trade in senna leaves, jaggery, and cotton seems to be 

 the most flourishing at present, as the labor bestowed on them is 

 attended with more profit. 



Oeneral JRernarks. — That the agricultural classes are on the whole 

 improving there is no doubt. There are larger areas now under 

 cultivation. Greater number of people find a living in agriculture. 

 Larger varieties of things are grown. Large landed properties found 

 accumulated in a few hands are now split up and spread over a larger 

 number of hands. The condition of the actual cultivators is much better 

 than what it was some twenty years ago ; some big mirasidars may 

 perhaps be seen ruined here and there ; but it is no proof of the agri- 

 cultural classes as a whole going down. 



Before the beginning of the present generation, the agricultural 

 population of the country was divisible into only two sections — the 

 landlords and the tillers of the soil. The relation between these two 

 classes was anything but satisfactory. The landlord had the " lion's 

 share " of the produce of the soil ; and he allowed only a pittance just 

 to keep the body and the soul together of the toiling cultivator. The 

 landlord maintained the cattle, supplied the expenses of cultivation, 



