Edible Products. 



318 



[April, 1912. 



growers benefited far more than the 

 Government, we obtain the following 

 results, viz :— 



(a) That the gross revenue increased 

 from Rs. 330,600 to R«. 1,040,000, or from 

 1 to 315. 



(b) That the incidence per bushel of 

 the gross crop rose from 5 "5 to 13 "7 

 cents, or from 1 to 2'5. 



(c) But that the price of paddy went 

 up from 50 cents to 150 cents per bushel, 

 or from 1 to 3. 



(d) And gross production increased 

 from 6 to 7 '6 millions of bushels of paddy, 

 or from 1 to 1-266. 



Summarizing these facts shows that :— 



The price increased 3-fold. ) q.o«c c \a 



The production, a further 0-266-fold j 6 #>0-l?ia 

 The incidence increased 2 - 5 ,, 



Tno Revenue ,, 3.15 ,, 



or in other words, that the advance in 

 price and production would have justi- 

 fied a rise in revenue to Rs. 1 '078,000, but 

 the actual increase was to Rs. 1,040,000. 



After the introduction of compulsory 

 commutation and the considerate assess- 

 ments made thereunder, the revenue 

 from this source fell, though there had 

 been an increase in production and an 

 advance in the money collections in 

 the districts where the renting system 

 was still in force. The comparison is, 

 however, still more favourable, and the 

 "Incidence " fell from 16-4 cents in 1865-7 

 to 11-8 cents in 1879-83, while the com- 

 parison with the thirties was as follows :— 



Increase in price and production 3'13-fold. 



,, ,, incidence 2 - 18 ,, 



,, Revenue 2*85 ,, 



There are no data available for carry- 

 ing investigation further back, as the 

 few figures of the revenue collections 

 prior to 1830 extant are net returns, 

 largely obtained by sale of the balance 

 of paddy collected in Aumani s after 

 paying in kind for its collection, storage 

 and transport, also a commission to 

 headmen, besides the allowance claimed 

 tor wastage, which was apparently very 

 considerable. The change of system in 

 1830 accounts for much of the 65 % of 

 increase secured by Turnout's voluntary 

 commutation in the Kandyan districts. 



In concluding this examination of the 

 available data bearing on the question, 

 I feel the conclusions arrived at amply 

 justify the assertion of the Committee 

 that the rise in the revenue was due 

 to the advance in the price of paddy 

 and increased production, and that the 

 tax as " last settled by the Ordinance 

 of 1878 was lower than at any former 

 time," 



This Committee did not report until 

 April, 1890, and as Sir Arthur Gordon's 

 departure had already been fixed for 

 the following June, time did not permit 

 of his dealing with it, beyond I presume 

 forwarding it to the Secretary of State. 

 No Despatch by him was included in 

 the papers subsequently made public 

 (S. P. IV.., 1892), but it was known he 

 concurred in the views expressed as to 

 the impracticability of abolition and 

 the substitution of a general land tax, 

 specially in view of the still unsatibfied 

 requirements for the extension of irri- 

 gation to increase the production of 

 food and secure the amelioration of the 

 population in backward districts. 



The outlay with this object between 

 1857 and 1883 was (say) 3 millions of 

 Rupees, and during Sir Arthur Gordon's 

 administration there was a further 

 apportionment of about 2'6 million 

 rupees,* making a total of say 6'6 million 

 rupees, or slightly over one-fourch of 

 the revenue from paddy (24 millions 

 rupees) in the same interval. 



(To be continued.) 



THE ASSIMILATION OF NITROGEN 

 BY RICE. 



(Prom the Agricultural News, Vol, X,, 

 No. 250, November 25, 1911.) 

 Attention was given in the Agricul- 

 tural News, Vol. IX., pp. 97 and 328, to 

 recent work that has been done in 

 connexion with the assimilation of nitro- 

 gen by plants. It was pointed out that 

 this bad shown that nitrogen is not only 



* I take these figures from Keane's report S.P. 

 LV., 1905, which is however somewhat in excess 

 of other published accounts probably as they 

 may indicate sums voted, and not actual ex- 

 penditure within each Governor's term, 



