Edible Products. 



was nearly a million B. P. less (6'3) prob- 

 ably damaged by excess of wet, except 

 in the N. W. Province which was again 

 well to the front with a record crop of 

 12. M. B. P. 



A comparison of the two periods gives 

 the following results : — 



Province. 



... 1867-71. 



1862-1 



h 



Western & Sabara^amuwa 1,2 13 







Central and Uva 



... 1,523 



1,407 





North Western 



844 



9<7 1 



[Thousands 



Southern 



753 



856 1 



[of Bushels 



Northern 



693 



71 





Eastern 



... 1,2 iO 



560 J 





Crops, Total ... 6,i8S,0UO 5,80%0n0 bushels 



Area cultivated ... 494,<iC0 49d,i,0U acres 



The decrease in the Southern Province 

 was due to the short rainfall which was 

 specially severe in the eastern parts of 

 Matara and the whole of the Hamban- 

 tota district, where there were very 

 short crops both in 1868 and 1870, and 

 still worse in 1869, owing to "unusually 

 excessive drought," and consequently 

 the extent sown in that year fell off to 

 31,000 acres. . 



I have noticed the details of these 

 years, as 1 am desirous of emphasizing 

 the great and early benefits of the first 

 Paddy Cultivation Ordinance. If from 

 the above figures is deducted the odd 

 300,000 bushels as the addition due to 

 the 24,000 acres of land affected by the 

 irrigations works carried out in Sir 

 Henry Ward's time, an area of 470,000 

 acres cultivated with paddy producing 

 a crop of six millions may be taken as 

 the development due to this beneficent 

 measure at a time when the average 

 production had fallen below four millions 

 of bushels as already shown, and the 

 area cultivated to probably 350,000 acres.* 



Coercive Measures for ensuring the 

 due discharge of the '"services" or 

 obligations to the Crown, as original 

 grantor, and subject to which occu- 

 pation of land was permitted, here call 

 for notice, in view ot the passing of the 

 new Ordinance in 1866 in relation thereto. 

 Under Native and Dutch administra- 

 tion the records handed down restrict 

 the penalty to simple forfeiture for 

 non-pertoimance of the service or non- 

 cultivation ; but the arbitrary powers 

 of the King and chiefs under Kandyan 

 rule, and the personal authorityt vested 



f Pridharn gives 381,000 acres, which is 

 apparently the area cultivated in the year 1845, 

 but an examination of the other data available 

 indicates this was probably about 10 per cent, 

 above the average. Ihe figures given at the 

 end of the second period, or the probable 

 average production between 1846-55, should be 

 3 6 JM.B. and not 3 as printed. 



t "The people's little property was at the 

 mercy of the "Modliars" (note by Gleghorn, 

 Secretary of the .Records of the island, 1799, 

 pa l>ut«h Administration,) 



22 [January, 1912. 



in the "Modliars" in the maritime 

 districts under the Dutch Government, 

 probably permitted of other and more 

 drastic forms of patriarchal compulsion, 

 under " the unwritten law," some of 

 which indeed survived in the early days 

 of the British occupation, judging by 

 the following extract from a Jaffna diary 

 of 1800 (given in Sessional Paper XVII. 

 of 18U0) :— 



" October 4 — punished with 62 lashes 

 M. Morogeu, Renter of the Passes, 

 tor repeatedly promising to discharge 

 his balances and frequently failing 

 therein.'' 



Such severe measures, however, did not 

 long survive, and Collectors, as Sitting 

 Magistrates, were authorised to commit 

 defaulters to prison until payment ; but 

 the influence of the Mudaliyars was 

 largely relied on, as shown by the 

 Circular of September, 1818, which 

 ordeied that " with the view of making 

 the native headmen pay more attention 

 to the interests of agriculture, each of 

 them must in future be compelled to 

 reside in the division he is attached to, 

 and go frequent circuits, causing every 

 landholder to account for the cultivation 

 of his land. . , and finally delivering 

 return of uncultivated grounds and how 

 long uncultivated, in order that the ex- 

 pediency of taxing the present possessors 

 or of resuming their grounds and be- 

 stowing them on more industrious per- 

 sons may be submitted to Government." 



The renting system was never intro- 

 duced into the Kandyan districts, and 

 the Government share of the crops was 

 delivered by the cultivators at certain 

 stores as required by section 18 of the 

 Proclamation of November, 1818. In the 

 maritime districts the procedure was 

 the same where avmani collection 

 exrsted ; and when " renting " was in- 

 troduced, the renters were at first 

 allowed to make their offers in kind, but 

 thrs was gradually restricted, and pay- 

 ment in money required. 1 have been 

 uuable to trace any legislation regulat- 

 ing the relations of such renters and the 

 cultivators, but there are references to 

 evasions by the latter, and consequent 

 difficulties in securing suitable renters. 

 Thus, Mr. Dyke writes (1833) :—" As the 

 number of capitalists in the habit of 

 bidding for the rent has been yearly 

 decreasing, and the headmen, being un- 

 opposed in any manner, have engrossed 

 the rents almost entirely to themselves, 

 generally at very unfair prices. They 

 have further abused their powers and 

 influence to evade payment of the price." 

 Probably a similar state of affairs existed 

 in other districts, and this accounts for 

 the grain revenue tailing to the low 



