Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/199

 SIZE OF LAND HOLDINGS 187 will become so if i is not checked; and i is much easier to check i before he evil has gone very far. The fac even hs here are s large number of holdings too small to suppo s family need not of itself be s cause for alarm. The holders of such small holdings must necessarily work part o! heir ime for ohers ss laborers, irrigation and in facilities the case of garden lands with their holdings may be more in the nature of "allotments "; but when i is found that the great majority of holdings are of these small dimensions and further that they are fragmented in s way for which there is no economic justification, and that the great bulk of the the possibility of effective land is thus put outside cultivation or economical organisation, then, I would submit, the necessity arises for some remedial measures. This state of affairs already exists in a large part of tho Presidency, and will come into oxistenee in the remainder unless timelv action is taken. In Appendix II, I have attelnpt! to show how in other countries similar causes have produced similar results, adopted sufficient and the to meet materials to remedial action which has been the difficulty, I have not by me make this paper complete, but have quoted my authorities for the statements made, I think that s perusal of Appendix II will make it clear that in other cormtries-- (1) Excessive sub-division and fragmentation of holdings have directly resulted from laws of inheritance which on the death of the father distribute the land amongst the children. (2) Though in several countries the peasants have mazle strenuous efforts (amounting in some cases to an agreement to ignore the law of the land) to preserve the holdings