Miscellaneous. 



270 



[September, 1908. 



A Suggestion. 



H. E. the Governor: — As the Colonial 

 Secretary has raised a point of order, I think 

 it right to say that he is perfectly correct. 

 In the same way as in the Legislative Council 

 Unofficial Members cannot propose a money 

 vote, neither is it in the province of the Agri- 

 cultural Society to propose a definite ex- 

 penditure to the Government. I may say in 

 connection with the three heads which have 

 been read out by the Director of the Botanic 

 Gardens, it will be a matter of consideration 

 for the Society before such a recommendation 

 is made to the Government to say whether 

 such expenditure can be defrayed out of the 

 annual vote already given by Government. 

 (H. E. Avas understood to say that this might 

 be clone by a re-distribution of the amounts. 

 Continuing, H. E. said: Having answered the 

 point of order, I would like to hear any other 

 remarks. As regards the Report itself I have 

 not seen it at all, but have only just heard it 

 read. I am not, therefore, proposing to make 

 any remarks upon it, as I think the generally 

 broad interests of agricultural education in 

 this Colony have already been enunciated from 

 this chair, and need not, therefore, be 

 duplicated. I can only say, when the Report 

 is submitted to me, it shall receive every 

 attention and show how far it goes in the 

 direction which I hope agricultural instruc- 

 tion in this Colony will take. 



The Committee's Impression. 



The Hon. Mr. Obeyesekere : — The Com- 

 mittee, I think, Sir, were under the impression 

 that it was quite legitimate for them to make 

 any suggestion to promote agriculture. I 

 think it was with that view that they did it. 

 I am of the opinion that the annual vote 

 is Rs. 30,000, and in the same way an addi- 

 tional amount may be voted for purposes 

 which they feel necessary. It is under that 

 impression that the Committee have made 

 the suggestion— merely a suggestion and 

 nothing more ; Government may act upon it 

 or not. I am of the opinion that they think 

 and firmly believe that Government ought 

 to come to the rescue of this Association 

 in a matter where they feel their funds are 

 not sufficient to meet a particular course of 

 action. 



H. E. the Governor : — I am obliged to the 

 Hon. Mr. Obeyesekere for stating that it is 

 only a suggestion. At the same time the 

 suggestion shoidd have taken the form, 

 possibly, whether Government could not give 

 some additional help instead of specifying 

 sums of money for definite objects. I repeat 

 still again it will be for the Society to see 

 whether the Rs. 3,000 cannot be met by the 

 ordinary vote which Government gives to 

 them. 



T The Hon. Mr. Obeyesekere pointed out 

 that the Committee, to save time, made a 

 proposal. 



H. E. the Governor : — I have given my 

 decision on the subject. 



A paper by Mr. A. Dissanaike, Mudaliyar 

 and retired President V. T., entitled 



The Village Cultivator and Paddy 

 Cultivation 



was read by the Secretary. ( Vide page, 128.) 



At the conclusion of the paper, 



The Hon. Mr. Obeyesekere said: — The 

 suggestion of this paper appears to me, if 

 carried out, to revive the paddy tax that has 

 been abolished. No doubt it can be put to 

 very effective use as pointed out by the 

 writer, but the question is whether we would 

 be justified in re-imposing a tax which has 

 after due deliberation been abolished. 



The Hon. the Colonial Secretary:— In this 

 connection, Sir, I may perhaps be telling mem- 

 bers of the Society what they already know. 

 But it has been brought to my knowledge on 

 several occasions that one of the most un- 

 popular acts of this Government was the 

 abolition of the paddy tax. It was deeply 

 felt and believed that the payment of that 

 tax was something which had become sacred 

 from antiquity; and it was only the other 

 day that I was reading a remark in the 

 journal of a Government Agent to the effect 

 that villagers have complained to him that 

 they have never had any good crops since 

 that tax was abolished (laughter), and I 

 believe that this is not a solitary instance. 



The Secretary here read an extract from 

 a letter from a gentleman on the subject, 

 who cordd not attend that day's meeting, and 

 did not wish that his name should be known. 



The Governor's Remarks. 



H. E. the Governor: — The paper, which 

 has just been read, is a very interesting one, 

 coming as it does from a distinguished Sinha- 

 lease. It deals with one of the matters 

 which I have lately been discussing in Durbar, 

 both with the upcountry Chiefs and the 

 lowcountry Chiefs, and it provides in itself 

 a text for rather lengthy remarks with 

 which I am not now going to trouble you. 

 I shovdd like, however, just to point out 

 that the Mudaliyar has made use of one or 

 two excellent ideas. One is that part where 

 he talks about lands being acquired for 

 tankage, in which he says that the labour 

 must be supplied by the field owner's or 

 cultivators. He then goes on to say that it 

 should be the care of the people, with the 

 help of the Government, to devise the best 

 means to remedy the evils arising from these 

 caiises. (Hear, hear.) Members of this Society 

 know that personally one has a very strong 

 feeling that Government should assist those 

 who assist themselves (hear, hear,) and I feel 

 sure in this matter of irrigation and of village 

 tanks — and I speak especially of the latter as 

 against the large monuments of which we 

 have a few throughout the country. I 

 speak especially of village tanks : that any 



