January, 1912.] 



27 



Edible Products, 



At this juncture Mr. J. F. Dickson 

 became Agent of the Province, who con- 

 sidered "it was of the utmost importance 

 to enforce and recognize the principle 

 that all taxes should be recovered within 

 the year for which they are due, as if 

 taxes are allowed to fall into arrear 

 it is difficult for many to pay two or 

 three years' taxes at once, or in one year, 

 and the irregular collection of them 

 induces great hardship and suffering." 

 Notwithstanding this latter qualific- 

 ation, he seems to have rejected a pro- 

 posal made by Mr. Cameron for the 

 gradual clearing off of the arrears, insist- 

 ing on stringent measures being taken. 

 This led to the so-called " sales " of a 

 large number of holdings. Admittedly 

 there were serious mistakes in dealing 

 with the matter in Uva, first in not re- 

 cognising the fall in the price of rice in 

 the seventies, and the general depression 

 then setting in ; next the forbearance, in 

 enforcing payment in 1878-81 from those 

 who had voluntarily accepted the assess- 

 ment and signed an agreement to pay 

 at those rates ; and finally the stringency 

 shown in the recovery of the arrears. 

 But these did not justify the exaggerated 

 picture of the consequences subsequent- 

 ly served up to support the case for 

 abolition, the more especially as all this 

 trouble and the complaints of over- 

 taxation were apparently confined to 

 Udukinda, about the most favoured 

 portion of the Badulla district. No 

 relief was asked for the other divisions 

 of Uva, where according to Mr. White 

 there was distress in the lowlying 

 Korales from 1878 onwards, but not till 

 1883 was there any in Udukinda " owing 

 to the coffee in the native gardens 

 having totally failed, and the general 

 depression which began in 1878 overtook 

 Uva, which was the last of the coffee 

 districts to succumb to leaf disease." 



Note. — In Udukinda the arable area had in- 

 creased from 7,680 amunams in 1,853 to 8,900 

 in 1878, or at least 1,220 acres or 16 % ; and there 

 had been an increase in the population (between 

 1881 and 1891) both in the villages and on the 

 estates, the chief customers of the villagers for 

 minor products, poultry and especially straw 

 for which the extension of the cart roads creat- 

 ed additional demand. It is true the increase 

 in the village population was only 3"2%, but in 

 the adjoining division of Yatikinda there was 

 a decrease of 6'8 % and 11 % on the estates ; and 

 in Wiyaluwa the loss was 2 7' and 11*5% res- 

 pectively. The commutation rates, I may add, 

 in Yatikinda averaged Rs. 2'60 per amunam 

 against Rs. 3"16 in Udukinda, and were in much 

 the same proportion as in the old 21 years' com- 

 mutation 84 cents and Its. 1 -10 respectively. 



About the same time there was similar 

 trouble in Walapane (Nuwara Eliya dis- 

 trict), and Mr. LeMesurier evolved a 



harassing tale of destitution and mortal- 

 ity, which subsequent inquiry proved 

 contained gross exaggerations and un- 

 justifiable inferences. He succeeded in 

 obtaining from a sympathetic Governor 

 a remission of 60 % and a liberal expen- 

 diture on irrigation works which have 

 proved most disappointing. (One of 

 these was the Bodie Ella, but which it 

 was suggested should be termed the 

 Bogie Ella.) 



But this enhanced revenue demand 

 appears to have had no adverse effect 

 on paddy cultivation in Badulla, where 

 the production rose from an average of 

 366,000 B.P. (1869-72) to 477,000 (1873-6) and 

 513,000 (1878-82), while in the whole Cen- 

 tral Province the area cultivated in- 

 creased from 82,000 (1862-6) to 95,000 (1867- 

 71) and 115,000 (1872-76) acres. 



Such crops naturally lead to the en- 

 quiry if there was not some cause or 

 excuse in the background for the delay 

 to pay which led to the accumulation and 

 compelled extreme measures for recov- 

 ery. I think this may be found in the 

 statement made by Mr. Fisher that much 

 of the hardship in Uva was due to 

 tampering with the registers by some 

 unscrupulous clerk, who struck out 

 rupees entered against his friends and 

 inserted them against inferior lands to 

 keep the balance true. I found a some- 

 what similar procedure had been follow- 

 ed, not surreptitiously but openly by the 

 chief headman of the district who had 

 be6n entrusted with the revision of the 

 Batticaloa registers in 1879 as the most 

 competent and trustworthy man to be 

 found for the work. All the fertile 

 lands were assessed at very low sums 

 and the inferior lands unduly high. 

 Every bit of land that had ever grown 

 paddy was duly assessed and included. 

 Consequently the sum total of this 

 assessment came out most favourably 

 and showed a considerable increase on 

 paper. But the Batticaloa people were 

 more wideawake than the Badulla cul- 

 tivators, and the acceptance being volun- 

 tary, the result was that the favoured 

 lands only were commuted and the 

 others took their chance with the renter. 

 Consequently the collection of couamu- 

 tatiou money fell from Rs. 60,234 in 1878 

 to Rs. 15,000 in 1880, and never got be- 

 yond Rs. 23,810 in 1883, and the average 

 errain revenue was only Rs, 57,449 against 

 Rs. 72,098 during the previous 3eptenuial 

 period, figures which show Government 

 had been undoubtedly cheated to a 

 large extent (see G, A's letter printed on 

 p. 76 of S. P. XVII of 1890). 



In other districts even under the 

 renting system there was favouritism 



