Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/201

 $1'ZE OF LND ; OLDNG $ 189 all cases the extreme benefit that has (6) In resulted from such remedial measures is clearly recognized. In some cases the value of the land is said to have trebled, in other cases 60 per cent, and to have increased over there is a general con- census of opinion as to the increased yields of crops obtained by reason of these measures and as to the reduction in the cost of production. If, therefore, the facts and the arguments, as detailed above, are accepted, it only remains to consider what action can be taken in this Presidency 'to remedy the sub-division and fragmentation of hold- ings which exists in a degree beyond that of any other ount-y mentioned, with the possible exception of hOan. There can be no doubt that here as elsewhere the trouble is caused by the law of inheritance; and u the Hindu law of inheritance is more thorough in its dividing tendency than the law of inheritance; in any other /listribution country, so its results on the size and of the holdings are more marked. In former times when there was no pressure o! population on the soil, and when waste land was available for all who wanted it, no serious inconvenience was experi- enced in India or elsewhere from such law of inheritance; ht, with the increased pressure of the population on the cultivable land, the nd the present state of situation is quite different, the holdings constitutes a serious and increasingly serious handicap. No industry 0ld prosper under such conditions, and it is safe to say that if the mill industry in t3omy City were lettered in this way it could not exist. Fortunately for the and the intact, mill industry capital and however it rests on a joint-stock basis, management of a mill remain much the component units o! the