June 1907.] 



391 



Miscellaneous. 



example of this enterprising man has been an active encouragement and guidance, 

 The Agricultural Inspector, to whom the above results are mainly owing, prepared 

 a loose-box for the ryot's cattle, utilising for it the materials which village economy 

 supplied. He has received applications from other villagers, who had seen the ad- 

 vantages of the loose-box system, for similar boxes to be made for their cattle." 



Here, then, is an instance of what a single intelligent ryot can do of his own 

 initiative. It must be noted, however, that in this case the stimulus in the first 

 instance came from a publication by an official of the Agricultural Department ; and 

 it is a pleasure to emphasise the fact because great credit must be given to the 

 officials of the Department, from the Director and Deputy Director downwards, for 

 the really practical assistance that they are now affording to the ryots in dozens of 

 different ways, and for the really creditable zeal with which they are pushing the 

 propaganda of the New Agriculture in this part of India. And credit must also be 

 given to those Collectors and District officers, European and Indian, who have given 

 such whole-hearted assistance to the Department in all its recent operations, as well 

 as to the AgriculturalLA.ssociations wherever they have been established. That the 

 latter will be assisted and encouraged whole-heartedly and even enthusiastically, by 

 the great body of District officials, both English and Indian, goes without saying, I 

 think. In the Agricultural Associations already organised in the mofussil, amount- 

 ing now to quite a respectable number, Collectors, Sub-Collectors, Tahsildars and 

 Deputy Tahsildars have co-operated in a manner which is beyond all praise, 

 notwithstanding the onerousness— in some cases the overburdening weight— of their 

 official duties. 



It would be the greatest mistake, everybody must admit, for these mofussil 

 Agricultural Associations to become in any considerable way " official " in character, 

 for that would stifle individual enthusiasm and diminish effort amongst the very 

 classes upon whose enthusiasm and effort their success must ultimately depend. 

 But, at the same time, the countenance and friendly advice of officials are 

 essential to the success of the movement, especially in its initial stages. In the 

 Central Provinces and in Bengal, where Sir Andrew Fraser has done so much to 

 stimulate agricultural organisation, the Agricultural Associations appear to have 

 assumed a preponderatingly official character which will certainly be found a great 

 mistake in the long run. The Government's interests and actions are sufficiently 

 well represented and centralised in the Agricultural Departments, and the uses and 

 functions of Agricultural Associations are distinct from, though supplementary of, 

 the proceedings of Government. 



Here, in Southern India, the basis of the proposed organisation of agriculture ■ 

 has been made broader and freer from the outset. And in this case those responsible 

 have followed the recommendations, distinctly given on several occasions, of His 

 Excellency Lord Ampthill and Mr. A. E. Castlestuart Stuart, i.e.s., the Director of 

 Agriculture. Thus, the Central Agricultural Committee, which has recently been 

 established in the Presidency town, has declared that it intends to work " on non- 

 official lines as much as possible," and will " supplement, not overlap, the operations 

 of the Agricultural Department." 



The constitution and objects of the Central Agricultural Committee have 

 been so often publicly explained that I need hardly dwell upon them here, It has 

 sprung from a movement which really started in the mofussil, and it is the Agricul- 

 tural Association of the mofussil by which the Central Agricultural Committee 

 stifles its own existence and hopes to do some good. In fact, already there is a 

 considerable foundation to work upon, as regards the institution and administra- 

 tion of a Central Agri2ultural Committee, in the local Agricultural Associations 

 Which have been brought into existence in the mofussil during the last two years. 



