198 



The Supplement to the Triced Agriculturist. 



different sorts of life or existence, and guides 

 certain substances to certain things, such as 

 salts of lime to bone, silica to teeth and claws, 

 phosphates to brain, &c; even the same food is 

 disposed of in different ways in different animals 

 or in plants ; and for this he coins the word 

 'directivity.' It is, therefore, a characteristic 

 of life, but it suggests a will or agency directing 

 or determining the motions or directions. 1 

 have borrowed this illustration to point out that 

 whatever law or institution is made for the well- 

 being of the people it should be adapted to their 

 national characteristics. The word suggests 

 also a will or power to direct things in the 

 proper direction. Although the people may be 

 made to contribute towards the formation of a 

 general fund for supplying their own wants, 

 there should be the agency of a fostering 

 Government to help to carry out the scheme. 



IV. 



April 26th. 



Sm, — The utilisation of rain water collected 

 in tracts of paddy fields as well as the water of 

 some of the streams and rivers that Hows into 

 the sea and is thus wasted (avoiding flood 

 damages as much as possible) is one of the 

 important subjects for consi deration in the im- 

 provement of paddy cultivation. In most of 

 the tracts rain water can be retained by form- 

 ing small tanks or reservoirs at the upper ends 

 of tracts of paddy fields,— land being acquired 

 under the Ordinance, varying from 5 to 10 acres, 

 according to the area to be irrigated by each 

 tank, and bunds being put up on a system of 

 simple construction. This would secure water 

 for several months till the next showers of rain 

 fall and prevent the ground from getting 

 scorched and unfit for tillage. There are 

 besides rivers and streams from which water 

 could be diverted by dams or anicuts being- 

 put up in places where they are found narrow 

 and intersected by ledges of rocks running 

 across the beds ; so that large tracts of fields 

 might be irrigated. Such works can be carried 

 out by means of a fund created for the people. 



I have already pointed out in my previous 

 letters the necessity of having a fund for the 

 people in order to carry out the several works 

 and improvements for the extension of paddy 

 cultivation, and that the only feasible way to 

 create such a fund is by recovering the 1/ftth 

 share of the produce of paddy lands as was done 

 in former days and have it set apart for require- 

 ments in connection with paddy cultivation. 



It may be argued that it is unfair to recover 

 l-10th of the produce of paddy when the tax 

 has been discontinued, but such an objection is 

 easily met by the fact that the tithe is to be re- 

 covered on behalf of the cultivators and is to be 

 used for the purpose of paddy cultivation. The 

 tax, when itwas appropriated by Government, 

 was considered unfair because the methods 

 adopted to recover it were found harassing to the 

 cultivators. When the l-10th share of the paddy 

 crops was rented out by Government,there were 

 many law-suits between the renters and the 

 cultivators and complaints were made to Gov- 

 ernment on this account ; and with the view of 

 effecting an improvement, the commutation 

 system was introduced, which proved still 

 more injurious and objectionable[as Borne of the 



people's lands were sold in default of tax. 

 These things led to the total abolitiou of the 

 tax. From enquirios I have made I find that 

 the cultivators are willing to pay l-10th of the 

 produce, if it be recovered and taken in kind 

 by headmen or collectors as in Japan or in this 

 country in the olden days. 



V. 



Galle, April 27th. 



Dear Sir, — In Japan, " the time of the an- 

 nual payment of the rice at the collectors'' store- 

 houses, where each farmer's rice was submitted 

 to inspection, instead of being an occasion of 

 sorrow and irritation, was more like that of 

 a fair where each vied with the other in pre- 

 senting for official inspection the best return of 

 rice. It was always a source of mortification 

 for any one when this rice was rejected or 

 declared improperly cleaned for market. Prizes 

 were awarded for the best quality and yield 

 which stimulated the farmers in its production. 

 The tax rice was regarded as "a precious thing 

 not to be defiled. '! The payment of one-tenth 

 of the produce has been "a custom in this 

 country from time immemorial. I have con- 

 sulted a great many cultivators and Chiefs, who 

 are paddy land owners, and every one of them 

 seems to be in favour of giving the one-tenth 

 share. I submit, therefore, that an Ordinance 

 might well be passed for the recovery of the 

 tithe after the consent of the majority of tho 

 cultivators is ascertained. 



What I have proposed is that one-half of the 

 paddy thus collected from each division may be 

 paid to its field headman, and the proceeds of sale 

 of the other half may be credited to the field- 

 owners, so as to form a fund in their favour. By 

 spending small sums put of it some of the village 

 works and improvements connected with paddy 

 cultivation might be executed and carried out 

 yearly so as to benefit the generality of the 

 cultivators ; and what remains shall have to be 

 retained to be annually accumulated in favour 

 of the people. 



The main object of the proposed fund is to 

 give small loans to cultivators on easy terms to 

 meet their wsints. If a single cultivator is 

 unable to furnish the necessary security for a 

 loan, several of them can jointly take a loan 

 with better economic results. 



If, however, tho scheme be advocated on the 

 ground that half of the fund goes to establish 

 Agricultural Banks for the people, and the 

 other half to the General Revenue so as to 

 induce Government to take up the sole manage- 

 ment of the fund, the necessity of remunerating 

 the field headmen will have to be kept in view. 

 This will meet the present difficulty of remu- 

 nerating minor headmen who will naturally be 

 the field-headmen. Besides there should be tho 

 moans of defraying expenses for works in im- 

 proving piddy lauds and for putting up tanks 

 or reservoirs which would cost money, other 

 than those works which could be carried out by 

 manual labour supplied by cultivators.— Yours 

 truly, 



A. DISSANAIKE, Mudaliyar. 

 (Retired President, V.T., Salpiti Korale.) 



t Vide 'Dai Nippon' by Henry Dyer, ce 

 m.a., d,sc. page 239. 



