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tive machinery, so far as the village under study is
concerned. Two remarks of importance are necessary
at this stage, (i) It is too presumptuous to offer from the
study of such a small unit, any remark with regard to the
efficiency of the general administrative machinery and the
extent to which it actually promotes the welfare of the
people. (2) So far as the immediate village officers are
concerned, enough has been said about the Police and
Revenue Patel, Mr. Manibhai. As regards the village
accountant, we may generally observe that wherever
there is an efficient Patel, the village accountant behaves
as his clerk ; wherever the Patel is inefficient, as was the
case in the history of this village before 1914, it is the
village accountant who rules the people and, more often
than not, with an iron hand.
Having thus studied the administrative machinery of
the village and its relation to the people, we now pass on
to a consideration of government dues and village welfare.
GOVERNMENT DUES AND VILLAGE WELFARE
Under this heading, we shall examine the total dues
paid by the people of this village to the government, and
the amount that they receive back in the form of good
administration, educational facilities and so on.
Of all the government dues paid by the people of a
village, land revenue is usually the largest. In the case of
this village, as we have ascertained, excise revenue is the
largest. The latter is, however, not so evident because
it is paid indirectly by the people. Besides land revenue
and excise there are other dues which the village people
pay to the government like tolls, stamp-duties, registra-
tion-fees, salt tax and several others. Moreover, one of the
Sowcars of this village pays income tax the incidence of
whic'h is, of course, shifted to the borrower.
The dues other than land revenue, excise and income
tax cannot be separately calculated because of the want of
separate records for the village. We have, therefore,