al home their wives and live together and raise their
families in the common home of their father. The supreme authority, in
the direction of all their affairs, rests with the father. And the
mother generally takes charge of the household commissariat. The whole
income of all the members of the family is brought into the common
treasury, out of which all expenses are met. There is no individual
property, and no rights and privileges which any one can claim apart
from another's in that home. In large Hindu families there is often
found a small colony thus living together and dependent for guidance
and instruction upon the father. This system entails a great deal of
responsibility upon the head, whose authority is supreme. And so loyal
is every Hindu to paternal authority that there is never any question
raised by any one as to obedience to his commands.

This system has its advantages. In early times, it brought strength
and security to households thus consolidated. It is doubtless
favourable to general economy. And it has the peculiar merit of
developing a strong sense of responsibility in the whole family for
its every member, however incapacitated she or he may be for
self-support. The weak and the sick and the feeble-minded have the
same claim upon the resources of the family as have the others, and
the claim is universally recognized. For this reason, poor-houses are
not needed in India.

On the other hand, Hindus themselves are coming to regard this system
as being out of joint with modern life, under the aegis of a
progressive, civilized government. One of its chief defects is its
encouragement of laziness in members of families. No one feels that he
is responsible for his own maintenance. And no matter how industrious
a member may be, the product of his labour is not his own--it belongs
to the family. Such a system saps the foundation of industry and
enterprise. It furnishes constant temptation to slothfulness and
inactivity. In former times, this may not have been so manifest; but
at present, when opportunities open wide their inviting doors, and
means of accumulating wealth and influence multiply, the system has
become a source of discontent and of serious difficulty in the
community.

A few years ago the educated Hindus of South India were so exercised
over the injustice of the situation that they urged upon the Madras
Legislature a new act, called "the Gains Learning Bill," whereby every
man might claim t