LECTURE IX 

 GENERAL POLICY 



A reformed tenancy system on the lines indicated in a 

 previous lecture (number VII) will not confer so much 

 benefit as we hope upon the tenant, or prosperity on the 

 country at large, unless it be accompanied by vigorous action 

 in other directions for the improvement of agriculture and 

 the status of the rural population. The Legislative Council 

 should give its earnest attention to a big series of measures 

 for the amelioration of the rural population. 



I pointed out in my first lecture that no permanent im- 

 provement of the condition of ryots was possible without 

 raising their standard of living, for the population would 

 always inevitably increase and thereby swallow up any por- 

 tion of the produce of the land which might be transferred 

 to them. We have, therefore, to consider by what means 

 the standard of living can be raised, and shall find at least 

 four distinct methods presenting themselves which should all 

 be adopted simultaneously. 



(1) The most direct method of raising the standard of 

 living is by education ; and this has two distinct aspects : 

 (a) general education which will stimulate the wants of 

 the people and give them the idea of a higher standard of 

 life, (b) education and industrial training with a view to 

 making labor more productive, in other words, to provide 

 the means of satisfying the new wants which the general 

 education develops. The productive education would take 

 the form of giving to the instruction in rural primary 

 schools what is called an agricultural color ; and a number 

 of agricultural middle schools should also be established. 



