BACKWARD CONDITION <>!< A<i!,'H'i:i/TUHE 101 



landed property in India : and primogeniture is the rule in 

 taluhdan estates in Oudh, and in farms held for special 

 purposes in the canal colonies of the Punjab (especially the 

 Upper Jhelum colony) ; and a permissive law for this pur- 

 pose has recently been passed in the Agra Province. It is 

 doubtful whether the legislature can do anything further ; 

 but social reformers will be doing a service to the country 

 in trying to establish a custom of avoiding in various ways 

 the further sub-division of land. 



In conclusion, F would ask you to notice that the 

 various measures of reform which I have mentioned in 

 this lecture are all necessary as auxiliaries in the pro- 

 motion of the general economic welfare of the country. 

 In this course of lectures I selected two particular 

 lines of reform for detailed discussion, especially in their 

 economic aspects, namely, tenancy law and estate develop- 

 ment. These I selected not only on account of their 

 present interest, but also because they appear to me to be 

 precisely those lines of advance which promise the greatest 

 fruits in enhancing the welfare of the people of India. 

 Furthermore, it is these very subjects the economics of 

 tenancy law, the improvement of land, and the principles 

 of estate management which are so little understood in 

 this country. 



The backwardness of India in the practice of agriculture 

 and everything which assists therein is both lamentable and 

 remarkable. Considering the extraordinary advance in 

 education of a literary character and the rapid growth of 

 universities ; considering the progress in introducing western 

 industries \ on a large scale, the backward condition of 

 agriculture is undoubtedly a reproach to the country a 

 reproach to the^Groverument and a reproach to the people. 

 It is for the. latter to arouse themselves to an understanding 

 of the'supreme importance of agricultural prosperity, to 

 learn the paths of progress, to adopt a new ideal and to be 



