SUMMARY 5 



would need careful working out. 



The Oudh tenancy system seems to have been devised 

 with the right objects in view, but with too many loopholes 

 for legal evasion. All practices opposed to the spirit of the 

 Act should be prohibited by law in detail ; and every effort 

 should be made to enforce the law. At the same time, the 

 best protection of the tenants is to raise their standard of 

 efficiency and their standard of living, which may be 

 accompanied by some measure of education. This will tend 

 to decrease the competition for land and increase the labor 

 supply for the development of industries ; and at the same 

 time it will put the tenants in a position to protect them- 

 selves by obtaining enforcement of the law. To reach these 

 ends there are many reforms in which Government must 

 directly concern itself. The most important is the consolida- 

 tion of scattered holdings. This is to be followed by demon- 

 stration of improved agricultural methods, and by distribu- 

 tion of improved seed through the agency of the landlords, 

 if possible. Assistance needs to be given in the draining of 

 land by the construction of main drains to all villages where 

 the land requires drainage ; irrigation facilities should be 

 extended, not only from the canals, but also by grants of 

 loans through the Agricultural Department for the construc- 

 tion of wells and small pumping schemes. The staff of the 

 Agricultural Department needs to be enormously increased ; 

 and if officers be rightly chosen every pice of such expendi- 

 ture will be highly remunerative to the country. 



Agriculture being the greatest industry of the country, 

 technical classes in this, and in estate management, are 

 even more necessary than technical schools for industries. 

 Everything should be done to encourage talukdars and 

 zemindars to study agriculture themselves, and to improve 

 the cultivation of their home farms. They may then become 

 interested in improving their tenants' cultivation and may 



