68 HOLDINGS 



fairly represent it five years after ; in fact we might 

 almost as well attempt to map the waves of the ocean 

 as to field-map the face of any considerable area in 

 any part of India." In another place he says: 

 " I have heard Hindu and Mohammedan land-holders 

 all equally lament the evil effects of the laws by which 

 families are so quickly and inevitably broken up, and 

 say that it is the duty of Government, as the great 

 proprietor and leaser of all the lands, to prevent the 

 evil by declaring leases (i.e. holdings) indivisible." 

 While, however, there is nothing new in the nature 

 of the evil, its intensity has much increased in recent 

 years. Dr. H. H. Mann, writing * in 1918 of a village 

 in the Poona district, gives the following information 

 regarding the size of the land-holdings at different 

 dates. In 1771 the average size of the holding was 

 40 acres. By 1818 it had fallen to 17-J acres. From 

 1820 to 1840 it remained constant at 14 acres, and 

 by 1915 it had been reduced to 7 acres. Of the 

 total number of holdings in the village 81 per cent, 

 are now under 10 acres in size, and 60 per cent, 

 under 5 acres. Further, these holdings have been 

 fragmented into 729 separate plots, of which 463 are 

 less than 1 acre, and 112 less than one-fourth of an 

 acre. 



In calling attention to the excessive subdivision 

 and fragmentation of the land in the Bombay 

 Presidency it may be stated, once and for all, that 



* "Land and Labour in a Deccan Village," by Dr. H. H. Mann 

 and others (Oxford University Press). 



