MANAGING STAFF 91 



the agent may have an assistant who is not a mere clerk ; 

 or the estate may be divided into sub-divisions each in charge 

 of a tahsildar, each having from 8 to 12 ziiladars under him. 

 This comprises the administrative and executive staff. The 

 legal business of the estate is important and intricate ; and 

 every estate extending to 2,000 acres or more will have a 

 permanent legal representative, termed a mukhtar, whose 

 business is to attend local courts and file ejectment-notices 

 and conduct all the numerous cases in which the landlord 

 enters as plaintiff or defendant. 



In conversation with talukdars, zemindars and their 

 agents, the impression gained is that most of their thoughts 

 about the management of their estates are centered in litiga- 

 tion. They are proceeding against contumacious tenants, 

 or being sued by tenants who claim various rights. They 

 also get involved in suits with neighboring landowners and 

 their tenants, and also in disputes with more or less distant 

 relatives, claiming some share or division of the property. 

 This I regard as the greatest tragedy of the economic life 

 of rural India and the greatest hindrance to progress. Every 

 effort should be made by simplification of the tenancy law 

 and of procedure in lawcourts to avoid and curtail litigation. 

 I believe that in Oudh a dispute involving no more than a 

 thousand rupees can be carried through seven successive 

 courts (Revenue, Civil and Appellate) before the question is 

 finally settled, involving the continuous attention of both 

 parties and much expenditure for two or three years. 

 Training of Agents 



In the preceding lecture I advocated the training of men 

 for the positions of estate agents and their subordinates. I 

 believe that one advantage of employing trained and certi- 

 ficated men would be to reduce litigation. Instead of their 

 fomenting disputes, as now sometimes happens, they would 

 endeavor to prevent their occurrence ; and being men of 



