CCXCVl 



sort, went down as low as Rs. 128 per garce, the lowest point it had 

 reached during the previous 30 years. If the purchasing power of silver 

 had risen, this result would be consistent with increased pressure of 

 population; hut the purchasing value of silver has really fallen by 

 more than one-third, or nearly 35 per cent., as compared with gold, 

 and absolutely by at least 20 per cent. This being so, supposing other 

 things were equal, the prices of food-grains should have risen in the 

 same ratio. When, however, we find that there has been in recent 

 normal years no rise in the prices of food-grains at all, the conclusion is 

 irresistible that the increased pressure of the population on the means 

 of subsistence is so far a mere tigment of the imagination. 



Actual cultivation and holdings. — Further instances of the re- 

 viewer's unfair and inconclusive reasoning are found in his remarks on 

 the proportion borne by the area of actual cultivation to the acreage 

 of ryotwar holdings, the increase of the land-tax, and the sub-divisions 

 of holdings. Prior to the famine of 1877—78, the ratio of the area 

 of cultivation to holdings was 88*2 per cent, on an average, and in 

 1890 the ratio was 85'2 per cent. The fall in the ratio is taken 

 by the reviewer as indicative "of a decided retrogression in the 

 ability of the ryots to carry on the cultivation of their holdings." To 

 ordinary minds, a fall in the ratio in normal years would be proof of 

 the fact of the pressure on land having been lightened and not increased, 

 for, were the latter the case, the land-owners who were unable to cultivate 

 portions of their holdings would relinquish such portions, and increasing 

 difficulty would be felt in realising the Q-overnment dues, leading to 

 forced sales for the recovery of arrears of revenue. This is not only not 

 the case, but the very opposite of it is true. The area of land sold for 

 arrears of land-tax has been constantly diminishing during recent years, 

 while the revenue itself is collected with the greatest punctuality. The 

 area sold in 1890 was 23,615 acres out of a total area of holdings of 21 

 million acres ; more than half of this area consisted of valueless land 

 on the margin of cultivation taken up or relinquished by the ryots 

 according to the exigencies of the season, and was pui'chased by Grovern- 

 ment for nominal prices averaging less than 2 annas per acre. The 

 true reason, however, for the fall in the percentage is the fact that prior 

 to 1874 the statistics of acreage of cultivation included portions of 

 demarcated fields left waste which are now excluded. In 1871 the 

 extent of portion of fields left waste amounted to 325,000 and in 1872 

 to 500,000 acres or 1^ and 2^ per cent., respectively^ of the total area 

 of holdings. In the calculations given in my Memorandum, I accord- 

 ingly made an allowance of 2 per cent, on this account. The reviewer, 

 who has not thought it necessary to take the trouble of investigating 

 the question fully, has summarily rejected my estimate as " without 

 justification." 



IV. PrcsHure of population. — What then are the actual present 

 position and immediate future prospects as regards pressure of popula- 

 tion ? I have dwelt at some length in my Memorandum on the various 

 considerations bearing on the question, but as the reviewer has ignored 

 most of them, confining his attention almost exclusively to the single 

 consideration of the extension of the area of cultivation, it is desirable 

 even at the risk of repetition to consider the question as a whole. The 



