April, 1912.] 



317 



Edible Products. 



the Government share of the gross crops 

 in the Maritime districts had fallen to 

 about one-ninth. But late in the sixties 

 I found that in the Matara district the 

 Government share was still equal to one- 

 eighth ot the gross produce ; while in the 

 Western Province in 1878, nearly 24,000 

 acres were still liable to a quarter and 

 75,000 to half shares. See S. P. XVII., of 

 1890, p. 171. 



Oq the other hand in the Kandyan dis- 

 tricts, the area cultivated with paddy 

 and liable to pay, had materially in- 

 creased since 1830, so while the amount 

 of the exemptions remained the same, 

 the proportion was reduced.* 



These opposing influences probably 

 preserved the equilibrium which pre- 

 viously existed, but to be on the safe 

 side, so that there should be no grounds 

 to impugn the conclusions drawn from 

 my figures, a considerable reduction, it 

 will be observed, has been made from 

 the gross crops for the years subsequent 

 to 1861. 



As regards the price of paddy I find 

 Tumour's rate for the thirties averaged 

 52 cents, and the separate return of the 

 Maritime districts, already referred to, 

 works out to 48 cents per bushel. I have 

 accordingly adopted 50 cents as the 

 average price for the whole island in the 

 thirties, the figures in the B.B. being 

 from 6 to 42 pence.t 



For the subsequent periods I have 

 purposely taken similar moderate rates 



* In the Kandy home districts the increase 

 was from 7,900 ammunams (say 15,800 acres) in- 

 cluded in Tumour's commutation to 9,845 (say 

 19,690 acres), the extent commuted in 1878. 

 Again, in the Four Korales (Kegalle district) the 

 advance was from 3,300 ammunams (say 8,250 

 acres) to 4,285 ammunams (say 10,456 acres). 

 The exemptions in the Kandy district in 1832 

 were 17,000 against 16,800 acres in 1878 (see S. P. 

 1892, XVII., p. 140). By 1878 the Maritime 

 production was equal to that of the Kandyan 

 districts including exemptions, as against five- 

 sevenths in the thirties. 



t Viz., 6-18 pence in Central Province ; 9-21 

 pence in Northern ; 8-42 pence in Western 

 Province, 



as indicating the probable " threshing 

 floor " price such as would he used for 

 commutating purposes or be ordinarily 

 bid by a renter.* 



As the value of home-grown grain has 

 long— in nearly all, if not all, parts of 

 Ceylon— been regulated by the selling 

 price of imported rice (as Turnour re- 

 cognised was already the case so far 

 back as 1830), I add the Customs valu- 

 ations of the latter at Colombo as 

 indicatory of the ratio of increase; viz., 

 1842-56, Rs. 1-75; 1857-62, Rs. 2; 1862-69, 

 Rs.3 ; 1870-96, Rs. 3 25. In 1850 imported 

 paddy was valued at 75 cents per bushel. 



The figures under the heading " in- 

 cidence " is the proportionate amount of 

 the tax on each bushel of the gross pro- 

 duce. This, it seems to me, is the correct 

 method of comparing the " taxation " of 

 each period and testing if it is dispropor- 

 tionate or not to the advance in pro- 

 duction and price. 



To admit of this being seen at a glance 

 I have recast the details, taking the 

 figures of the thirties as the unit of com- 

 parison, as follows : — 



Period . . 1830-9. 1858-61. 1865-7. 186S 73, 874-8 87W-83. 



Price ••\ i / 2 '2 3'2 3 3 2'8 



Production .../ 1 \ -016 033 '017 ' 266 -33 



Total ... 1 2-21 63-233 3-017 3-266 3-13 



Incidence 1 Si 18 3' 2 - 7 2'5 218 



Revenue .. 1 2 21 3'09 2*74 3-15 2 83 



The price of paddy, it will be observed, 

 rose gradually, till early in the fifties 

 it had reached 75 cents, but the great 

 increase in revenue was in 1858 and 1859, 

 when it jumped up to Rs. 888,620, and 

 the average of this period 1858-61 was 

 Rs. 730,000 against Rs. 490,000 in the 

 previous one and Rs. 330,000 in the 

 thirties. But though the Revenue had 

 increased 2'21-told, the incidence had 

 only risen 2 , 18-fold owing to an advance 

 in the price and production of 2*216 or 

 practically pari passu. 



Comparing the figures of the thirties 

 with those of tiie period of maximum 

 revenue (1874-8,), largely due to causes 

 external to the island by which the 



* Thus in 1858 I put it at 110 cents ; though 

 I find that in the Southern Province the Govern- 

 ment share of the crops estimated at 1.4. M.B.P. 

 fetched Rs, 258, 729 or about 150 cents a bushel, 



