554 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



a crushing tax which has already affected the 

 tobacco trade. The merchants who have stored 

 tobacco to the value of several lakhs are already 

 in difficulties. On account of the terribly high 

 and prohibitive price now put on tobacco the 

 trade in Oeylon tobacco has come to a standstill, 

 and the merchants have begun to sustain a 

 heavy loss. The only result, if the present state 

 of affairs should continue, is the complete ruin 

 of about a dozen rich and influential merchants 

 who have long been trading in Ceylon tobacco. 



There is another point worthy of mention. 

 In the district of Jaffna a large Colony of 

 about 50,000 people has been carrying on the 

 cultivation, manufacture and export of Ceylon 

 tobacco for the past several decades. If the rate 

 of duty is to remain as it is at present, there 

 will be complete annihilation of the trade and 

 total ruin of the tobacco colony in the island of 

 Ceylon also. The Travancore Government have 

 notified that the new tax would be levied from 

 the 25th February last, i.e., with retrospective 

 effect for about six weeks. In ether words, the 

 retrospective clause has been made applicable 

 to tobacco imported months and years ago and 

 lying in the Government warehouses on which 

 duty has not yet been paid, in spite of the fact 

 that the Travancore Government had offered 

 several inducements to the merchants to buy 

 Ceylon tobacco and store it in warehouses under 

 the custody both of the Government and of the 

 merchants. And the merchants had themselves 

 no previous intimation about the enhanced tax 

 or its retrospective application. The request 

 of the merchants is threefold : — In the first 

 place, they want that on Ceylon tobacco im- 

 ported and stored in the Government ware- 

 houses before the 25th February, 1910, no higher 

 duty than R90 be levied per candy. Secondly, 

 they pray that Government should grant them 

 permission to import at once on the same terms 

 as before the tobacco already bought by them 

 and now ready for shipment. They have pur- 

 chased tobacco worth about R3 lakhs. They 

 further add that, this being the shipping season, 

 this concession be granted as early as possible. 

 Thirdly, they implore the Government that 

 they will be pleased to cancel the new impost 

 and revert to the original duty of R90 per candy. 



There is another aspect of the matter, viz., 

 that of revenue to the State. The finances of 

 the State are not in a flourishing condition. 

 It has not yet emerged safely and steadily 

 from years of deficits. As shown below the 

 excess of expenditure over income was for the 



R. 



1902 ... 2,67,073 



year 

 Do 

 Do 

 Do 

 Do 

 Do 



1903 

 1904 

 1905 

 1906 

 1907 



9,61,481 

 4,22,467 

 7,95,518 

 9,19,701 

 2,03,662 



Total for these 6 years ... 35,69,902 

 Against this total deficit of R35,69,902, Trav- 

 ancore had only R5, 65,406 as surplus distribu- 

 ted over the last two years thus : — 



1908 — 56,910 



1909 - 5,08,496 



The surplus came mainly from the new settle- 

 ment rates, and the maximum limit of taxation 

 from land has thus been reached ; the settle- 

 ment operations have almost been concluded in 

 the State. Such being the state of affairs, there 

 is no appreciable source of revenue which the 

 Government could legitimately and conveniently 

 stop. The annual revenue from tobacco alone 

 is, on an average, about R12 lakhs which income 

 is sure to be considerably reduced, if not made 

 to disappear from the Account Books, in case 

 the new tax on tobacco is to be continued. The 

 Department under the Excise Commissioner 

 has last year, as annual revenue, Rs. 46, 67, 274 

 distributed over the following items • — 



Rs. 



1. Customs ... ... 13,35.552 



2. Tobacco ... ... 12,98,549 



3. Salt ... ... ... 10,08,854 



4. Abkari ... ... ... 9,70,403' 



5. Opium and Bhang ... 53,916 



Total ... 46,67,274 

 From the above it will be seen that tobacco 

 figures largely in the receipts of the Depart- 

 ment, whose income is about half of the revenue 

 of the State. It is, therefore, a serious matter 

 for the consideration both of this Durhar and of 

 the British Government. Mr. Rajagopalachari 

 has already addressed the Madras Government 

 on the subject, and it remains to be seen as to 

 how the problem will be solved. In the mean- 

 while the merchants have also made up their 

 mind to approach the British Indian Govern- 

 ment in the matter. 



No reply — we learn on enquiry of the Acting 

 Colonial Secretary — has yet been received 

 from either Travancore or Madras to the repre- 

 sentations made by the Ceylon Government 

 re the increased duty on tobacco and the con- 

 sequent ruination of the Jaffna industry in that 

 product. The Government of India imposed 

 the duty with a view to making up for an ex- 

 pected loss in Opium revenue, and the difficulty 

 is thought to be that it cannot help Ceylon 

 without giving it preferential treatment. It 

 is, therefore, unlikely that Ceylon will be bene- 

 fited, unless, as we understand is the case, 

 the Indian Government finds that it is only 

 killing the goose which lays the golden eggs by 

 stifling the trade altogether, and thus obtaining 

 no revenue at all. In the event of this happen- 

 ing it may decide to take off the duty generally, 

 and the Northerners of this island will be once 

 again in their old position. Otherwise there 

 seems to our authorities nothing for it but for 

 the men of Jaffna to seek to gain a living by 

 the pursuit of some other industry ! 



R5,65,406 



CACAO PRODUCTION IN ECUADOR 

 IN 1909. 



The "Nachrichten fur Handel und Industrie" 

 (Berlin) of March 4th, quoting from a report by 

 the German Consulate at Guayaquil, states that 

 the total production of cacao in Ecuador in 1909 

 was 62,065,716 lb, as compared with 63,196,1251b 

 in the previous year, a decrease of about 1*8 per 

 cent, — Board of Trade Journal, March 31, 



