170 



COLOMBO. 



[Part VII. 



riee^ Avas originally instituted as an encouragement to na- 

 tive agriculture, but with strange inconsistency the tax 



^ In an island so peculiarly cir- 

 cumstanced as Ceylon, owing to its 

 dependence on Lidia for supplies of 

 inimigTant labour, the policy seems 

 almost suicidal of raising revenue by 

 a duty of Jifti/ per cent, on the im- 

 portation of food. But when it is 

 borne in mind that for upwards of 

 three centimes since Bartliema and 

 Barbosa visited Ceylon in the IGth 

 century, there has been a sustained 

 complaint of the deficiency of home 

 cultivation, and the dependency of 

 the popidation on foreigTi coimtries 

 for rice ; the error is glaring and in- 

 defensible of so loading native agri- 

 cidtm'e with vexatious taxes as to 

 discourage and A'ii'tually check its 

 extension. In a case so peculiar and 

 anomalous, it might be questionable 

 whether in any general scheme of a 

 land-tax for the whole colony, it 

 might not be judicious to encourage 

 the gTOwth of corn by exemjjfing from 

 its operation such lands as had been 

 brought under culti^•ation for rice, 

 or at least by subjecting them to the 

 pa^inent of only a modified amount ; 

 but in sti-ong conti-ast to such a 

 policy, the lands employed in the 

 production of rice are not only the 

 only ones which have been made sub- 

 servient to the purpose of revenue, 

 but a special legal provision made 

 public in 1824, for exempting from 

 assessment the produce of all other 

 lands thi-oughout the island which 

 might be brought into cidtivation for 

 cotiee, cotton, or pepper, pertinaciously 

 re-enacts the assessment upon the cul- 

 tivation of grain ! 



The mode of collecting the tax 

 on rice is even more mischievous 

 than the impost itself. With some 

 slight modifications in different dis- 

 tricts, it is this : " "When the crop is 

 sufficiently advanced to enable an 

 estimate to be formed of its possible 

 produce, the Government Assessors 

 proceed to calculate its probable 

 A alue, and a return is made to tlie 

 Government Agent of the amount 

 liable upon every field. The farm of 



the tax of each disti-ict is then sold 

 by public auction ; and as the haiTest 

 approaches the cidtivator is obliged 

 to give five days' notice to the pur- 

 chaser of his intention to cut ; two 

 days' notice if he finds it necessary 

 to postpone ; if the crop be not 

 thi-eshed immediately the renter is 

 entitled to a fm-ther notice of the 

 day fixed for that pm-pose ; and for 

 any omission or in-egadarity he has 

 a remedy, by suing for a penalty in 

 the District Coui-t. 



" It would be difficult to de"vise a 

 system more pregnant with op- 

 pression, extortion, and demoralisa- 

 tion than the one here detailed. The 

 cidtivator is handed over helplessly 

 to two successive sets of inquisitorial 

 officers, the assessoi*s and the renters ; 

 whose acts are so imcontroUed that 

 abuses are inevitable, and the inter- 

 coiu'sa of the two pai-ties is charac- 

 terised by rigour and extortion on 

 the one side, and cimning and sub- 

 terfuges of every description on the 

 other. Eveiy artifice and disin- 

 genuous device is put in practice to 

 deceive the headmen and assessora 

 as to the extent and fertility'' of the 

 laud and the actual value of the 

 crop ; and they, in return, resort to 

 the most inquisitorial and vexatious 

 interference, either to protect the in- 

 terest of the Govemmeut, or pri- 

 vately to fm-ther theii* own. Betn'een 

 these demoralising influences, the 

 cliaracter and industiy of the rimal 

 population are deteriorated and 

 destroyed. The extension of cid- 

 tiA-ation by reclaiming a poilion 

 of waste land only exposes the ha- 

 rassed proprietor to fi-esli Aisits fi-om 

 the headmen, and a new valuation by 

 the Govei-nment ^Vssessor, and wliere 

 annoyance is not the leading object, 

 recourse is had to corruption, in 

 order to keep doAATi the valuation. 



" ]3ut no sooner has the cidtivator 

 got rid of the assessor than he falls 

 into the hands of tlie renter, who, 

 under tlie authority with which the 

 law invests him,tind8 himself possessed 



