55 
Part I] Lindsay and Harrow : Lac and Shellac 
This means that the lease begins and ends just as the 
summer brood is swarming, a most unsuitable time 
for a lac lease. The best arrangement is one by which 
the lease commences on the ist of April, and ends on 
the 31st March. The contractor thus gets several 
months in which to collect his last (winter) crop, 
phunki , and the new contractor gets several months to 
make his arrangements before the swarming of the 
summer brood. 
(4) To eliminate the speculative element, a sliding scale of 
payment should be adopted, based on the Calcutta 
TN rates. By this means the undesirable contractor 
whc takes up a lac lease solely as a gamble, makes 
huge profits if it booms, and fails completely if prices 
fall, is ruled out. The desirable contractor will get a 
just reward for his industry in extending cultivation ; 
he will get no undue advantage from merely spasmodic 
increases in prices, but will be protected from loss when 
prices fall. As a modus operandi it is suggessed that 
the sole right to cultivate lac for say ten years, in a 
selected forest, be put up to open auction. Prior to 
accepting any bids, the auctioneer will state the 
Calcutta TN rate of the day, and explain that the bid 
accepted will be the amount payable during the first 
year only. To calculate the amount payable in any 
subsequent year the original bid will be increased or 
decreased by the same percentage as that by which the 
average TN rate during the previous year has increased 
above or decreased below the original Calcutta TN rate 
at the date of the sale. As an example, let us assume 
that the forest is leased for ten years on a day when 
the Calcutta TN rate is Rs. 200 per maund. The 
highest bid of Rs. 10,000 is accepted and is payable 
as the price for the first year of the contract. During 
the first year the Calcutta TN rate fluctuates between 
Rs. 210 and Rs. 160, the average being Rs. 190. It has, 
therefore, fallen from Rs. 200 to Rs. 190, a decrease of 
5 per cent. During the second year the cultivator will 
[55] 
