Edible Products. 



316 



[April, 1912. 



correcting of palpable mistakes and 

 misprints to prove their general correct- 

 ness and sufficient accuracy for purposes 

 of comparison, even if under-estimated. 



To test the correctness of the Com- 

 mittee's assertion, 1 hava framed the 

 following compilation :— 



Period. 



Gross 

 Revenue 



Crop. 



Incidence 

 per Bush.* 



Price per 

 Bushel. 





E. 000 



M. B. P. 



Cents. 



Cents. 



1833-9 

 40-6 

 47-52 

 53-7 

 58-61 

 62-64 

 65-67 

 68-73 

 74-78 

 79-83 

 84-8 



330 

 371 

 384 

 490 

 730 

 760 



1-020 

 905 



1-040 

 942 

 954 



6 



5-6 

 5-3 



5- 7 



6- 1 



5- 85f 



6- 2f 



6- lf 



7- 61 



8- 0{ 

 7,-SJ 



5.5 



6- 6 



7- 2 

 8 8 



ii-9 



13- 

 16-4 



14- 8 

 13-7 

 11-8 

 12 



50 

 60 

 67 

 80 



no§ 



130 



160|| 



145 



150|| 



140 



140 



Before proceeding to discuss this return, 

 it will be advisable tc explain how and 

 where I got the information embodied 

 in it. 



Since writing the earlier portions of 

 this compilation, and quite recently I 

 have been fortunate enough to obtain 

 access to the Ceylon Blue Books prior 

 to 1868, which could not be found when 

 I originally applied for them at the 

 Public Records Office, London, to which 

 they had been removed some time before 

 from the Colonial Office Library. 



I have consequently been ab)e to collate 

 the figures relating to paddy cultivation 

 back to 1836, and obtain more accurate 

 results than those previously deduced 

 from the revenue recoveries alone. 



The figures for gross revenue, of course, 

 include the receipts for shares in excess 

 of the ordinary tenth, to which a large 

 area in the Maritime districts was liable, 



* Obtained by dividing revenue by crop. 



f 2") allowed for excess exemptions in Kandyan 



% 4 ] districts. 



§ Great rise in price owing to scarcity in 

 Southern India as shown by increased number 

 of Immigrants arriving in 1858 by 96,000 against 

 50,000 in 1856. 



|| High price due to famine in India, In 1877 

 Immigrants numbered 177,000, and in 1876 

 164,000. 



amounting in 1831 to nearly 150,000 bush- 

 els on a crop of 2 M.B.P. This conti- 

 nued until the lands paying the higher 

 rates were surveyed and sold in the 

 sixties. On the other hand the crop 

 estimates in the Kandyan country 

 include the production from lands, ex- 

 empted from tax, held by temples, head- 

 men, etc., but the amount thereof I find 

 comes to about the same figures as the 

 excess in the Maritime districts.* 



I find further that the Government 

 share was about one-tenth of the gross 

 crop, including exemptions, and in the 

 Maritime districts it was over one-eighth 

 until 1864. Consequently for statistical 

 purposes, the above extras may be taken 

 as eliminating each other, and admitting 

 of comparison being based on the gross 

 figures both for revenue and production. 



This view is supported by an analysis 

 of the other available information. Thus 

 the average revenue (1833-91) Rs.330, 

 divided by the average crop of the period 

 given in the Blue Books as 6 M.B.P. 

 gives the incidence per bushel of the 

 gross crop 5*5 cents. An examination of 

 the details of Tumour's commutation 

 in 1833 discloses that the incidence was 

 5 -22 per bushel exclusive of exemptions ; 

 and the B.B. returns from 1831-2, which 

 are given separately for the Maritime 

 districts, work out at 6 cents, exclusive 

 of the excess above referred to. Allow- 

 ing for the production of the Kandyan 

 district being exclusive of exemptions, 

 nearly 50 % higher than that of the Mari- 

 time districts, these figures give an 

 average of 5"53 cents. In view of the 

 closeness of these results 1 have adopted 

 the simpler course of ascertaining the 

 incidence of the several periods by 

 dividing the gross revenue by the gross 

 crop as stated in the Blue Books down 

 to 1861. 



But by that year, owing to the sale of 

 the Crown fields paying the higher rates, 



* In Tumour's returns the exemptions in the 

 Udarata are given as 63,000 bushels. In Badulla 

 they were 12,000; in Sabaragamuwa 25,000; in 

 Four Korales 26,000, making 126,000 bushels 

 exclusive of the Seven Korales, where the system 

 also prevailed. 



