Edible Products. 



[January, 1912. 



secured the confidence and sympathy 

 of the people, so that not only had he 

 suitable proposals ready to hand, but 

 had no difficulty in obtaining the requir- 

 ed consent of the cultivators to a large 

 expenditure. 



Previous association with this far- 

 seeing mastermind during a period of 

 great distress in the Giruwa Pattu had 

 imbued the writer of this sketch with 

 Birch's views in regard to irrigation, so 

 that when he got charge of the Matara 

 District, and Sir Hercules Robinson's 

 terms were promulgated, he did not 

 hesitate to strongly advocate their 

 acceptance, so as to secure the execution 

 of the works required at once, trusting 

 to the subsequent financial success 

 which he believed would follow to 

 obtain future concessions. While, there- 

 fore, others held back, large sums were 

 devoted to meeting the requirements 

 of these two districts, and in them 

 paddy cultivation made headway. Ia 

 consequence of the rising importance of 

 Batticaloa, Birch obtained the transfer 

 of the Headquarter of the Eastern Pro- 

 vince to it from Trincomalie (January, 

 1870). 



The expenditure during Sir Hercules 

 Robinson's term of office amounted to 

 Rs.780,000, but in the endeavour to limit 

 the outlay per acre to the figure con- 

 templated by him. the first estimates 

 were kept low and were moreover 

 framed on insufficient data and hasty 

 information unverified by survey or 

 otherwise. 



Soon after his departure, the destruc- 

 tion of the Bund of Denegama Tank in 

 Matara and other practical experience 

 convinced the Engineers that cheap irri- 

 gation wat not possible. Many of the 

 original estimates on which engage- 

 ments had been based proved insufficient, 

 and the fear of having to pay more 

 heavily than contemplated led to dis- 

 content and trouble in Matara, and a 

 paucity of applications even from Batti- 

 caloa, after the departure of its inde- 

 fatigable Agent, Woodford Birch— who 

 had been, on Sir Hercules Robinson's 

 recommendation, appointed in May, 1870, 

 Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settle- 

 ments—a great loss to Ceylon and a 

 doubtful advantage to himself, as he 

 was shortly after murdered while carry- 



Note. — The first estimates, especially of the 

 Eastern Province were extremely'low, from 

 Fvs.3'70 for the Pattipala works (24,000 acres) to 

 Rs.22 - 20 per acre for, the Ailai scheme (-2.400). 

 Consequently out of a total cost of 1*3 millions 

 of rupees, Government paid one million and 

 the people only, 300,000, as it was held they 

 were only liable for the original estimates dis- 

 closed at the early meetings. 



ing out the annexation of the Malay 

 States. 



Sir William Gregory, who became 

 Governor early in 18V2, himself an agri- 

 culturist and Irish Landlord, was natur- 

 ally interested in, and equally anxious 

 to advance and restore, native cultiv- 

 ation, soon recognised the necessity for 

 making some concessions. He conse- 

 quently provided for an alternative 

 return for th« outlay on irrigation, by 

 the payment Re.l per acre in perpetuity, 

 as interest on the expenditure, which it 

 was then hoped would be restricted to 

 the Rs. 50 per acre in future. 



The Batticaloa landowners were, how- 

 ever, content with the bargains already 

 made, and eventually paid up in full 

 (the amount of the original estimates) 

 as the areas benefited were large and 

 the assessment very light, while there 

 were large extents of waste lands to be 

 had on easy terms of purchase or lease 

 and good crops from new soil, besides 

 returns from the sale of the timber in 

 the absence of an interfering forest 

 department. 



But in Matara the alternative was 

 most unwillingly acquiesced in, and 

 when the writer left on promotion in 

 1875 to Mannar (with the gubernatorial 

 intimation " he had to win his spurs 

 anew"), it was thought by the great 

 body of the cultivators he had burdened 

 their interests with an oppressive load. 

 When, however, in 1886, he returned as 

 Agent of the Province, it was gratifying 

 to find this view had completely 

 changed, and no one questioned the 

 undoubted success of the works, while 

 Government was satisfied with the 

 return it was receiving on its expend- 

 ture, viz., 5j % less | % required for 

 maintenance, which is heavy on these 

 works as there is such a length of 

 Channels to upkeep. 



Sir W. Gregory's festhetic tastes 

 naturally inclined him to take much in- 

 terest in Anuradhapura, the wants and 

 capabilities of which had a few years 

 before been set out forcibly in a report 

 by Mr. Rhys Davids, when Assistant 

 Agent of the district, and who actually 

 had the hardihood to propose its separ- 

 ation from the Northern Province and 

 the appointment of an independent 

 Agent for Nuwara Kalawiya ! But the 

 idea had lain dormant until revived, I 

 believe, by J. F. Dickson, who about 

 this time got bis 2nd-class promotion as 

 Assistant Agent of the district, but 

 was temporarily acting as Govern- 

 ment Agent at Kandy on Russell's 

 death. Sir W. Gregory took the pro- 

 posal up warmly, obtained the Secret- 

 ary of State's sanction (September 

 1873), and Dickson (who had meanwhile 



