Renewed pre-Act debt remains subject to scaling-down under the Agriculturists Relief Act, not treated as a new liability.

A promissory note executed after the commencement of the Madras Agriculturists Relief Act, 1938, in renewal of an earlier debt remained governed by section 9 because the renewed liability had to be traced back to the original pre-Act indebtedness. Section 7 provided the general scaling-down mandate, sections 8 and 9 dealt with pre-Act and specified earlier debts, and the proviso to section 9(1) showed that renewal after commencement did not convert the debt into a new post-Act liability. Section 13 applied to interest on debts incurred after commencement and did not displace section 9 where the underlying debt was earlier. The renewed debt was therefore subject to the Act's scaling-down scheme.

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Issues: (i) Whether a promissory note executed after the commencement of the Madras Agriculturists Relief Act, 1938, in renewal of a debt originally incurred before the Act, is governed by section 9 of the Act or only by section 13.

Analysis: Section 7 gives the general mandate for scaling down all debts payable by an agriculturist at the commencement of the Act, while sections 8 and 9 classify pre-Act and post-1 October 1932 debts and expressly permit renewal debts to be traced back to the original liability. The proviso to section 9(1) shows that a debt renewed after the commencement of the Act does not cease to be a debt incurred earlier for the purpose of the Act. Section 13 is meant to regulate future interest on debts incurred after the commencement of the Act and does not exclude the application of section 9 where the underlying liability arose earlier. The provisions must be read harmoniously so that the beneficial object of the Act is not defeated by treating every post-Act renewal as a wholly new debt.

Conclusion: The debt under the renewed promissory note was governed by section 9, not section 13, and the appellants were not entitled to exclude the earlier liability from the statutory scaling-down scheme.

Final Conclusion: A post-Act renewal of a pre-Act debt remains subject to the Act's scaling-down provisions applicable to the original indebtedness, and the appeal therefore failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a debt is renewed after the commencement of the Act but the original liability arose earlier, the renewal must be traced back to the original debt and the provisions applicable to that original indebtedness govern the transaction.

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