36 CONTROL OF RENTS 



The objection which may be raised to both of these 

 somewhat similar proposals is that their tendency is 

 retrograde or at least purely static ; for they will do little 

 to secure better cultivation, excepting such incentive as may 

 be given to a small proportion of the cultivators by their 

 retaining fixity of tenure. We are on the eve of a great 

 awakening of interest in agriculture in India. Many forces 

 are working towards this ; but it is a fundamental axiom 

 in my argument that the landlord class being educated 

 and intelligent men, can be more rapidly and effectively 

 interested in the advancement of agriculture than the 

 tenant class. This may not be true in all parts of these 

 Provinces, for it depends on many factors in the social and 

 educational development of the two classes. Looking at the 

 question broadly, however, I feel that the State, by which 

 I mean both the Legislature and the Executive Govern- 

 ment, is more likely to attain results within a reasonably 

 short time by permitting and assisting the landlord class to 

 be the agents for improvement of agriculture than by 

 merely giving the tenants fixity of tenure. In the latter 

 case the great expenditure necessary to stimulate and in- 

 struct the cultivators to improve their agriculture would be 

 a charge upon the State ; but if done through the landlords 

 the expense will be much less. Both methods are practic- 

 able ; and might indeed be applied at the same time in 

 different parts of the Provinces. My own view, however, is 

 that the greater return in improved agriculture from a given 

 amount of public expenditure will be reaped if it is made 

 clear to the landlords that they are* expected to be the agents 

 for effecting improvements of cultivators' methods, the 

 law of tenancy being so framed as to give them the oppor- 

 tunity of doing so with most effect. 



Modifications of the occupancy system in which the 

 landlord can buy out the occupancy tenant, or the tenant 



