June, 1912.] 



509 



Edible Products. 



for completion to his successors an 

 "ambitious programme" including a 

 large immediate outlay and an inevit- 

 able long wait for a return, conditions 

 justified by the " unparalleled financial 

 condition of the Colony," 



Of the ultimate realisation of these 

 hopes personally I have no doubt, judg- 

 ing by a careful consideration and ex- 

 perience of the past, but in view of 

 unfortunate incredulity in such matters 

 so generally prevalent it is not surprising 

 that in 1905 it was announced that " the 

 policy of the present day is to push for- 

 ward the completion and full develop- 

 ment of existing works and to refrain 

 from the initiation of new schemes of 

 any magnitude until greater advantage 

 is taken of the facilities for paddy cultiv- 

 ation that have already been supplied" 

 (Keane's report XLV, 1905). 



This policy was accompanied by fresh 

 legislation (16 of 1906). I have not seen 

 the text of the ordinance but understand 

 its provisions are " far reaching " ; and 

 that two of the principal changes were 

 the abolition of the Central Irrigation 

 Board, and the limit of the water rate. 



Chapter XI. General Summary. 



For the purposes of this investigation 

 I have compiled very fully details of the 

 cultivation and production of paddy in 

 the island going back to 1832, when the 

 new system of voluntary commutation 

 in the Kandyan districts was started. 

 As these are too voluminous to publish, 

 I have embodied a summary of the 

 detailed figures in the two statements I 

 will now proceed to discuss. 



The first is an abstract in quinquennial 

 periods designed to show at a glance the 

 development which has taken place — as 

 follows :— 



Period. 



Area 

 cultd. in 

 000 Acres. 



Range of production in 

 M. B, P. 



Average 

 Rainfall. 



Average. 



Max : 



Min : 



Inches. 



183341 







6 



7-2 



4-2 





1842-6 



1 





5-6 



6-7 



5 2 





1847-51 



1- 

 1 



* - 



5-37 



61 



4*2 





1852-6 





5-7 



6-6 



5*1 



73 



1857-61 



J 





604 



6-8 



5'5 



78 



1862-6 





456 



6-07 



6-9 



5-1 



70 



1867-71 





480 



6'4 



7-3 



5-3 



* 



1872-6 





515 



7 05 



8 



6 



79 



1878-82 





581 



8-6 



10 



7-3 



99 



1883-87 





588 



8-36 



9-2 



7-6 



92 



1888-92 





574 



9-2 



10 



81 



97 



1893-7 





589 



10-7 



11-8 



9-3 



85 



1898-1903 







11- 



13-8 



10 



85 



1903-07 





687 



123 



12'7 



10 



80 



, * Returns incomplete. 



In the foregoing, the figures prior to 

 1862 are based on the returns as they 

 appear in the Government Blue Books 

 uncollated, or corrected, but these are 

 incomplete as regards the areas culti- 

 vated, and give estimates for produc- 

 tion, which lcnk exaggerated when 

 compared with the later more reliable 

 figures, especially as regards the crops 

 of the North- Western Province 9 which 



are put at over a million Bushels in nine 

 years between 1845-61 as against six 

 times between 1862-77. The figures how- 

 ever bear out the statement already 

 made of a decline in production in the 

 forties subsequent to the abolition of 

 Rajakaria, but indicate some improve- 

 ment in the first half of the fifties and a 

 further advance in the five years, 

 subsequent to the passing of the Iriiga» 



