Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/129

 tilLA.TINO TO INDIA 117 if the veted interests o! the tea plantation' industry did not stand in the way o! granting land on easy terms. The next chapter, on the Pressure o! Population on the means o! ubsistence, is a long and important one, in which the author the marshals much statistical evidence. He first reviews density of population in each of the province and natural sub-di,sions, and points out that though there their in ome ditr/cts large areas o! what is officially termed "cultivable wate", in reality there is very little land, at any rate in British India, which is really available for cultivation. The so-called "cultivable waste" includes threshing floors, well-runs and village paths (see pp. 49-50); and much o! it is either alkaline land beyond the power o! irrigation. We think, or situated in dry tracts where it is the cultivator to provide water for however, that the author is unduly. pessimistic as to the opportunities for extension of irrigation, both from new canals and by pumping from wells, and that if Government would pursue a bold policy and carry out the re- commendations of the Irrigation Commission, much dry land in-Northern India would be opened up and could suppor many millions more of population which it is to i hoped might be drawn from the congested areas. Towards the end of this chapter there is a useful discussion of .the question whether the alleged carcity of agricultural labor is real. A final short chapter gives us a rerospect of the book and sums up clearly and concisely the very cogent arguments which the author puts forward regarding the economic and social evils of the growth of population and particularly of the agriculturalist population. We commend the book to the earnest study of every thoughtful Indian and to the rulers of this country; and we trust tha the author will continue his investigations and writing on this mos important subject. H. S. JEONS C,o-operative Movement in India. BY PaOFESSO P. MUZHE, .a., F.E.S. (London), Assistant Editor, "Bengal' Co-operative Journal ", with an introduction by B J.M. Mitre Bahadur, .a. Begistrar o! Co-0perative Societies, Bengal. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., pp. xxiv, 45, viii. Price Rs. 4-8. We wsloome the second edition of The Go.operativs Movement /n Ind/a which has bean "enditaly rz.writm and oonsidsrably