puty Agent as
eligible, then the cultivator, in addition to the usual advances,
receives an advance of so much per biggah to enable him to bestow a
certain amount of extra care in tilling and dressing the soil. The
first advance is made on the completion of the agreement or
bundobust, and this takes place in September and October. The second
advance is made on the completion of the sowings in November, and
the final or Chook payment is made immediately after the delivery
and weighing of the produce. Nothing therefore can be fairer to the
cultivator than this system of advances; he is subject to no sort of
exaction, in the shape of interest or commission on the money which
he receives, and it puts within his power the certain means of
making a fair profit by the exercise of common care and honesty. It
is an established rule in the Agency that the cultivator's accounts
of one season shall be definitively settled before the commencement
of the next, and that no outstanding balances shall remain over.
When a cultivator has from fraud neglected to bring produce to cover
his advances, the balances due by him are at once recovered, if
necessary by legal means; whereas, if he can satisfactorily show
that he has become a defaulter from calamity and uncontrollable
circumstances, and that the liquidation of his debt is placed
entirely beyond his power, his case is then made the subject of
report to the Government by the Agent, with the request that the
debt may be written off to profit and loss. These provisions are
most wise, for outstanding balances may be made the means of
oppression, and to their operation may be traced a considerable
amount of litigation and agrarian crime in the indigo districts of
lower Bengal. It is clear that when such balances become so large
that the cultivator cannot discharge them, he is no longer a free
agent, but is perfectly subservient to the will of his creditor, for
whom he must cultivate whether he desire it or not. Such burdens may
even be handed down from father to son. The fairness of the Agency
system, and the justice with which the cultivators are treated, are
best evidenced by the readiness with which they come forward to
cultivate, and also by the comparative rarity of agrarian crime,
arising out of matters connected with the poppy cultivation.

Opiu