Edible Products, 



314 



[April, 1912. 



now Editor of a local paper, used them 

 as an additional argument for reviving 

 the cry for the abolition of the " Grain 

 Tax," and a violent newspaper contro- 

 versy ensued. Mr. John Ferguson (in the 

 " Observer ") holding " The Ceylon grain 

 tax to be a righteous impost, apart from 

 defects in its levy, which were capable 

 of amelioration."* The Cobden Society 

 in England took up the matter, and a 

 good deal of " inexpert comment, to 

 which Colonial administrators are fre- 

 quently liable," was enunciated at a 

 meeting, and a demand formulated for 

 the abolition both of the grain tax and 

 the Customs duty on imported grain. 



In view of this agitation a Committee 

 of the Legislative Council was appointed 

 in July, 1889, to enquire into the working 

 of the Ordinance of 1878. 



This Committee after very full and 

 independent enquiry reaffirmed the 

 views which had been heretofore held by 

 local administrators and legislation, and 

 acquiesced in by at least three successive 

 Governors, as follows : — 



(a) That paddy lands in Ceylon have 

 always been subject to a levy of a portion 

 of their produce, that in its origin this 

 levy was a rent, not a tax, that it was 

 heaviest under the rule of the native 

 sovereigns, and that it has been con- 

 tinuously reduced during the occupation 

 by the English ; that as last settled by 

 the Ordinance 11 of 1878 it is lighter than 

 at any previous time, and that at present 

 it is the survival in a modified form and 

 more beneficial form of the rent exacted 

 by the ancient kings as Lords paramount 

 "of the soil." 



* See " Taxation in Ceylon with special re- 

 ference to the Grain Tax," Observer Press, 1890, 

 a compilation I have found most useful. Mr. 

 Ferguson "did not at all mind abolition if it 

 stood alone," but held if the Paddy tax went 

 the Customs duty must follow, " and the only 

 possible means of making up the deficiency will 

 be by a general land tax " utterly pnsuited to 

 Ceylon. 



Note 2. — The Committee were Messrs. O'Brien, 

 Saunders, Moir, Williams (officials); Rama- 

 nathan, Seneviratne, Grinlinton and Panabokke 

 (unofficials). 



(h) That the abolition of the grain tax 

 would involve reduction of expenditure 

 on irrigation. 



(c) That if the grain tax were abolished 

 the duties on imported grain would 

 have to be abolished also, as recently 

 demanded by the Cobden Society of 

 England. 



(d) That the substitution of a general 

 land tax, for the grain tax and the im- 

 port duty, was impracticable. 



(e) That the assessments made under 

 the Ordinance were, as a rule, fair and 

 equitable. 



(/) That collection in kind or renting 

 should not be reverted to. 



(g) That the Ordinance was defective 

 in its want of elasticity to meet indivi- 

 dual cases of hardship and in other 

 respects, but that to a certain extent it 

 had attained its object of affording relief 

 to holders of paddy lands encourag- 

 ing cultivation, and that the revenue 

 collected in 1888 without sale was highly 

 satisfactory. 



In view of this generally favourable 

 state of affairs the Committee recom- 

 mended adherence to the system of 

 compulsory commutation, but made 

 various suggestions for remedying the 

 defects, which the practical experience 

 of the ten years' working of the new pro- 

 cedure had disclosed. The chief recom- 

 mendation for granting relief was a 

 graduated reduction in the tax fixed, 

 when a crop was below tenfold and total 

 exemption when under four, on I 

 presume (though it was not specified) 

 the quantity of seed sown in any parcel. 

 This entirely overlooked the fact that 

 the " sowing extent" (that is the quan- 

 tity of seed sown per acre) varies in 

 Ceylon from 3£ bushels (in Batticaloa) to 

 2 bushels (in the Central Province), and 

 even less in other parts of the Island.* 



This proposal was consequently admit- 

 ted to be unsuitable, inequitable and 

 unworkable. While some of the other 



* When the seed is sown in beds and subse- 

 quently transplanted, I believe one bushel or 

 even less is said to suffice for an acre's extent. 



