The Origin and Growth of Village Communities in India. By
B. H. Baden-Powell. (Swan Sonnenschein. and Co. 2s. 6d.)—Mr. Baden-Powell gives in this volume (which belongs to the " Social Science Series "), some of the substance of his previous work, " The Indian Village Community." It is his object to correct by the help of general information since acquired and a wider inquiry the somewhat hasty generalisations of Sir Henry Maine. Briefly put, Sir H. Maine's account of the Indian village was that it was a " communal " holding of land. The corrected account given here is that there are two kinds of village, distinguished as the "severalty village" and the "joint village." The characteristics of the first are :—(1) Hereditary headman ; (2) separate hold- ings; (3) revenue assessed on each holding ; (4) no common or waste land. Of the second:—(1) Official headman; (2) holding shares in an estate; (3) joint liability to revenue ; (4) village waste land in common and allotted in case of need. These facts are supplemented by various ethnographical and historical com- ments, and the action of the British Government in dealing with the question is explained. There is so much idle, and worse than idle, talk about our relation to India, that it is a duty as well as a pleasure to quote our author's emphatic words : " Under British rule, it early became a principal object to assess this demand [for revenue] fairly, and at such moderate rates as would leave a substantial surplus,"—a very different course from that pursued by previous rulers. Perhaps the most generally interest- ing chapter is that on " Practical Aspects." It would have been well if we had been more self-asserting. The studied policy of disclaiming State ownership of land has practically given it into the hands of the usurer.
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