May, 1912.J 



405 



Edible Products, 



in the Central Province and Badulla. 

 Further, if instead of comparing single 

 years, periodical averages had been 

 collated, it would have disclosed that 

 there had been substantial progress 

 made in the production of paddy, since 

 the outlay on irrigation instituted by 

 Sir Hercules Robinson, thus : 



Acreage. Production. 

 1862-6 ... 467,000 6 M.B.P. 



1872-6 ... 530,000 7 „ 



1883-7 ... 588,000 8*4 „ 



These figures show an advance in pro- 

 duction of nearly 40 % in twenty -one 

 years, or 2"4 M.B.P. , of which only 720,000 

 was contributed by the districts where 

 the expenditure on irrigation was chiefly 

 incurred, and exclusive of the prior in- 

 crease at Batticaloa, chiefly due to the 

 works constructed in Sir H. Ward's 

 regime. 



It is the more to be regretted that 

 some such figures were not compiled as 

 Mr. O'Brien's assertion of the absence of 

 "reliable figures" was late in the dis- 

 cussion ascribed to " the doubt not as to 

 the approximate truth of the figures, 

 but as to the expense they would give." 

 Mr. Le Mesurier went further and de- 

 clared production " had greatly de- 

 creased in the Central Province and 

 Uva" whereas really there had been 

 in both a considerable increase, subse- 

 quent to the great rise in commutation 

 rates in 1864, as shewn by the following 

 figures taken from the Blue Books :— 



Annual Aveiage 1853-7 in CP. including Uva 1,200,000 B.P 

 „ „ 1858-61 ,. „ „ 1.240,000 „ 



,, „ 1862-6 in CP. 1,052, Uva 406 1,458,0C0 „ 



„ 1883-7 „ 1,184 „ 481 1,611,000 „ 

 „ 1888-92 „ 1,242 „ 610 1,611,000 „ 



Evidently, as coffee failed paddy 

 flourished, but while much was made of 

 the former fact, the latter was over- 

 looked. Nor, as regards the increase in 

 the market value of paddy were any de- 

 finite figuressupplied; nor even attention 

 drawn to the fact that the Customs 

 valuation of imported grain which had 

 been Rs. 1'75 per bushel up to 1857 and 

 Rs. 2 till 1861 was raised in 1862 to Rs. 3 

 and in 1872 to Rs. 3'25per bushel, tinder 

 . the Ord. 11 of 1878 for the purpose of 



annual commutation the average price 

 prevailing in this district " for the pre- 

 vious fourteen years was to be taken as 

 the value per bushel." Mr. O'Brien con- 

 sidered this should be the average selling 

 price throughout the year, but judging 

 from the rates published, none of the 

 Grain Commissioners appear to have 

 acted on this principle, but to have in- 

 clined to accept the selling price at 

 harvest time, as the writer did fixing no 

 less than ten different rates, according 

 to locality, in the Batticaloa district ; 

 where in the fourth quarter of the year 

 the pi ice is often trebled, the supply 

 being limited and transactions few. 



On the other hand Mr. Wall asserted 

 there was an increase in the " price of 

 rice" between 1862 and 1888, and on this 

 ground impugned the advance in the 

 grain revenue (in the Central Province 

 and Uva) to Rs. 154,068 in 1888 as 

 against Rs. 68,190 in 1862, ignoring the 

 fact that the latter sum was collected at 

 the commuted rates fixed some years 

 previously, when paddy was undeniably 

 cheaper, and doubtless unaware the 

 cultivated area had risen from an 

 average of 82,000 acres to 97,000 in the 

 interval.* 



But the arguments in support of 

 abolition, which carried most weight, 

 were the alleged hardships in parts of 

 the Kandyan districts. Encouraged by 

 the change of views at Headquarters, 

 the story of the over assessment and the 

 sale of lands in default ia Walapana 

 were resurrected, though the Committee 

 of inquiry had recorded that they did 

 not enter upon their discussion because 

 the misrepresentations that have been 

 made in respect thereto had already been 

 adequately expressed elsewhere (p. xvi, 

 S. P, XVII of 1890). The hardships of 

 Udukinda were also revived, and the 

 planting member (Mr. Christie) voiced in 

 Council Messrs. Fisher and Le Mesurier's 



* The great advance in the Commutation rates 

 in the Central Province and Uva did not take 

 effect till 1864, prior to which the collections 

 were made on the old commutation of 1839 in 

 Badulla and of 1856 in the rest of the Central 

 Province. 



