Edible Products. 



24 



[July, 1912. 



a rise of 800 acres, making the total extent 

 about 16,000 acres. 



The average area cultivated has of 

 recent years increased to 15,000 acres and 

 production reached 415,000 during 1903-7 

 or only an increase of 30 % owing appar- 

 ently to the extension being chiefly in 

 Matale North, where the average Rain- 

 fall is limited (e.g. 61" at Dam bulla on 

 95 days). 



It is reported that the area under village 

 tanks lying chiefly in this portion of the 

 district is 3,058 acres, of which 2,559 are 

 served by 152 restored by the cultivators 

 —and the Assistant Agent recommends 

 that such work be " pressed forward as 

 the best means of securing extension." 



On Irrigation works a sum of Rs. 139,488 

 on construction has been expended for 

 the benefit of 956 acres. This is inclusive 

 of Rs. 55,382 at Ellahara, which only 

 now irrigates 130 acres, but is part of a 

 big old work, the restoration of which 

 was proposed by Sir John Dickson when 

 G.A;, CP. To the end of 1906 a sum of 

 Rs. 10,789 had been recouped by rates. 



In Nuwara Eliya district, the area 

 under cultivation and production shows 

 no advance during the last 50 years, 

 averaging 13,000 acres and about 250,000 

 B.P., but there appears to have been a 

 considerable advance previously as Tur- 

 nouts commutation only included about 

 6,000 acres. Upper Hewaheta alone 

 came within the purview of the Grain 

 Commissioners, and as the annual assess- 

 ment averaged Rs. 4*20 per acre, the in- 

 ference is that much of the land is culti- 

 vated twice a year. 



On Irrigation, a sum of Rs. 139,488 has 

 been expended for the benefit of 4,000 

 acres inclusive of Rs.75,183 on the Bodiella 

 which only watered an area of 57 acres, 

 and proved an utter failure, though 

 doubtless well intended to ameliorate 

 the condition of an admittedly wretched 

 population deserving of the "sym- 

 pathetic consideration " Mr. Bartlett 

 asks for in regard to another effort 

 now being made for this purpose (S.P. VI 

 of 1908). 



In Uva, the aswedumised area was 

 in 1856 reported to be 33,000 amunams, 

 of which 7,789 were entitled to exemp- 

 tion and 2,401 were waste, and tax was 

 paid by 22,281, equivalent according to 

 Bailley to 16,048 acres, which make the 

 amunam under f of an acre. The 

 commuted area is reported (S.P.XII of 

 1890) to have been 24,348 amunams in 

 1869 and for the last commutation under 

 the old voluntary system, the total of 

 the lists is stated to have been 30,050, 

 but this is probably inclusive of the 

 exemptions. 



The Grain Commissioner's returns in 

 1889 cover only four divisions (Udakinda, 

 Yatikinda, Wellasse and Bintenne) for 

 which the total comes to 17,78!) amu- 

 nams as against 22,942 under the old 

 exemptions from the former. 



In the Blue Book returns the average 

 area actually cultivated (1862-6) is given 

 as 18,000 acres, but in subsequent years it 

 is shown at as high as 38,000 and more 

 recently at 28,000. As possibly these 

 high figures may be due to different 

 equivalents of conversion, it is safer to 

 judge the development by the returns 

 of production alone. According to these, 

 the grain crops have increased from an 

 average of 406,000 Bushels in 1862-6 to 

 952,000 in 1898-1902, and though in the sub- 

 sequent five years 1903-7 there has been 

 a reduction to 644,000 B., this is doubtless 

 due to the short rainfall of the period 

 throughout the island. 



In view of these facts I am inclined to 

 doubt Mr. White's view (S.P. VI of 1908) 

 " that the abolition of the tax has result- 

 ed in less attention being paid to cultiv- 

 ation generally," indeed he supplied 

 evidence to the contrary, as he records 

 the co-opeiation of the cultivators who 

 did 1,298 cubes of earth work in 1907 

 on 55 village tanks. 



On Irrigation the expenditure to end 

 of 1906, was Rs. 468,936 on construction 

 and Rs. 86,299 on maintenance, and the 

 recoupments were Rs 18,442 by rates, 

 and Rs. 8,403 by sale of land benefitted, 



