The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

240 Laurence D. Stifel
farms and a growing tenant class which have followed from the
capitalization of agriculture. . . Furthermore there bas been a
dramatic deterioration in the income distribution in the 1960's, both
between Bangkok and the rural sector and especially within the
rural sector. 4
The objective of this study is to test the validity of the conventional
wisdom about conditions in the Central Plain by examining new
primary data on the rate of land transfers, trends in the equality of land
ownership, the degree ofland mortgaging, and the nature of landlord-tenant
relationships. While many of the basic conditions in Burma and Thailand
have been similar, the bulk of the evidence examined here is
inconsistent with the conventional wisdom that rural conditions are
gravely deteriorating. In the final section there is a brief exploration
of why the Burmo-Malthusian model has not been applicable to Thailand
and the policy implications of such a conclusion.
Sources and Reliability of the Data
The source of primary data in this study is a sample of land title
deeds (chanot thi din) from three villages in Nakhon Fathom and three
in Ayuthia, two provinces of the Central Plain. The Royal Survey
Department started preparing maps from cadestral surveys in 1897 and
a Torrens system of land registration was established by Royal Edict
in 1901.5 The first titles under the new system were issued in Ayuthia,
the heartland of the Central Plain. Although disputes over land on the
expanding frontier created an awareness in Bangkok of the need for a
system of land titling, it was more feasible to introduce the system in
areas of relatively dense and permanent settlements where property
rights comparable to the Western concept were evolving from the
4) Peter F. Bell. "The Historical Determinants of Underdevelopment in Thailand."
Undated revision of Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper, No
84, Yale University (February 1970), p. 27,30.
5) General Report of the Operations of the Royal Survey Department, Season
1904-05. (Bangkok: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1906), I?• 18 A!sc;>
~ee Johnston, Chapter Ill·