[1] _Village Government in British India_, by JOHN MATTHAI. Preface by
SIDNEY WEBB, p. xv.
[2] "The Indian Government compiles no statistics showing the
distribution of wealth, but such incomplete figures as we have obtained
show that the number of persons enjoying a substantial income is very
small. In one province the total number of persons who enjoy an income
of £66 a year derived from other sources than land is 30,000; in another
province 20,000. The revenue and rent returns also show how small the
average agricultural holding is. According to one estimate, the number
of landlords whose income derived from their proprietary holdings
exceeds £20 a year in the United Provinces is about 126,000, out of a
population of forty-eight millions. It is evident that the curve of
wealth descends very steeply, and that enormous masses of the population
have little to spare for more than the necessaries of life."
[3] See _Punjab in Peace and War_, by S. S. THORBORN, London, 1904.
[4] They are collected in _England's Debt to India_, by the present
author. New York, B. W. Huebsch, 1917.
[5] See Sir D. HAMILTON, _Calcutta Review_, July, 1916.
[6] "Banya" in Hindustan means "trader."
[7] In this connection the pertinent observations of the AGA KHAN in his
book _India in Transition_ may be read (Chapter XXV), Putnam, New York.