Thus interference with the village is constant and disastrous. Headmen are bullied, fined, set to learn lessons like children, all in the name of efficiency. And Government wonders why the village system decays. A continual complaint of Government is that headmen are no longer the men they used to be, that they have lost authority. The best men will not take the appointment--and who can wonder? Here is a story in illustration: There was a small village in my district, on a main road, and the headman died. It was necessary to appoint a new one. But no one would take the appointment. The elders were asked to nominate a man, but no one would take the nomination. I sent the Township Officer to try to arrange; he failed. Now a village cannot get along without a headman. Government is at an end; no taxes can be collected, for instance; therefore it was necessary a headman be appointed at once. I went to the village myself and called the elders and gave them an order that they must nominate someone. So next morning, after stormy meetings in the village, a man was brought to me and introduced as the headman-elect. He was dirty, ill-clad, and not at all the sort of man I should have cared to appoint, nor one whom it would be supposed the villagers would care to accept. Yet he was the only nominee. "What is your occupation?" I asked. He said he had none. "What tax did you pay last year?" I asked him this in order to discover his standing, for men are rated according to their means. He told me that he had paid five shillings--less than a third of the average. "You are willing to be headman?" I asked. "No," he said frankly. "But no one would take the place, and the elders told me I must. They said they would prosecute me under the 'bad livelihood' section if I didn't. I could take my choice between being headman or a term in prison." This was, of course, an extreme case, but it illustrates the position. The headman is degraded and all administration suffers. It is the same in municipalities. The work is done by the District Officer because it is easier for him to do it than to instruct and allow others to do it. The people one and all hate this. The headman hates it, because though he is given much greater power nominally than he used to have he dare not use this power. He is isolated from his villagers, and so often becomes an object of dislike to them. Through him orders are enforced which are not liked by the people, and he has to bear all the brunt. His dignity is gone. Sometimes he is murdered. The elders hate it. They have been ignored. They are placed under a headman who may or may not attend to what they say. They have lost all interest--because all power--in their village affairs. They have no responsibility.