Skptemher, 1911.] 



225 



Edible Products. 



PADDY CULTIVATION IN CEYLON 

 DURING THE XIXTH CENTURY. 



By E. Elliott. 



Introduction, 



Memories of absentees die out so 

 rapidly in the tropics, it is possibly 

 advisable, the more especially as now 

 reivjns a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, 

 that I should start by setting out my 

 qualifications for venturing to undertake 

 tue task placed at the head of this paper, 

 and explain that during my forty-three 

 years' residence in the Island I had 

 special opportunities of studying the 

 subject in the successive offices I 

 held as Assistant Agent, first at Matara 

 (for seven years), and then Mannar, 

 and subsequently Grain Commissioner 

 and Government Agent in three different 

 Provinces. Further, after my retire- 

 ment from the Civil Service, as a 

 practical cultivator, 1 brought under 

 paddy over 600 acres ; consequently I 

 have, so to speak, seen both sides of the 

 shield, and am therefore the more 

 qualified to express an all-round opinion. 



Before leaving Ceylon I partly com- 

 piled a history of Irrigation to assist 

 Mr. White in the Manuals he was bring- 

 ing out. I have only recently met with 

 a copy of this work, and while admiring 

 the able manuer and theexteusive sound 

 information it contains, and Mr. White's 

 industry and ability in the compilation, 

 I was disappointed that it contained no 

 notice of the development of paddy 

 cultivation in the island. It was said by 

 the natives that, with the abolition of 

 the so-called grain tax, Government 

 would lose all interest in the cultivation 

 of paddy. Absit omen I but it is rather 

 significant that even the word paddy 

 dnes not find a place in the index of the 

 official manual.* 



I had at one time intended to follow 

 up my contribution on irrigation with a 

 similar review of the allied branch of 

 agriculture; circumstances, however, 

 prevented my doiug so before leaving 

 Ceylon. But, as I found a more recent 

 edition of the Manual is equally devoid 

 of any reference to the subject, I think 

 it may not be inopportune if I venture 

 to obtrude my views on the notice of 

 the present authorities and public, 

 especially as they, I fear, differ from 

 those of some other agricultural author- 

 ities of the island, 



Of course I undertake this task under 

 considerable disadvantages, as I am 

 unable to refer to various authorities 



* Under Rice the reference is to the imports 

 and market price. 



29 



and get original information from 

 sources which would be open to me if in 

 Ceylon ; but I find 1 have considerable 

 materials which will enable me, I think, 

 to give a fair account|of the subject ; and 

 during visits to London I have been 

 able to obtain further information and 

 verify figures from the records of the 

 Colonial Office Library. 



As applicable to the task I have 

 undertaken, I borrow from an American 

 author as follows: "In performing a 

 study of this kind one feels the need of 

 limiting the scope by reducing the 

 denominator, as Arthur Help remarked : 

 'Even so limited, the subject is not 

 without difficulties.' The forces to be 

 studied do not lie on the surface, and 

 some of them are not described in any 

 document or found in any treatise. The 

 effect of the various forces at work must 

 be a matter of opinion in which well- 

 informed people may differ, and the 

 writer has to draw the picture as it 

 appears to him." 



It will be first convenient to review 

 The Government Policy and Past 



Legislation 

 in regard to Paddy cultivation. When 

 the British Government got possession 

 of the maritime portion of the island in 

 1796, the Madras civilians first entrusted 

 with its administration endeavoured 

 unsuccessfully to introduce a general 

 land tax such as prevailed in India. 

 When they failed, the Dutch system 

 was permitted to continue in operation, 

 until the proclamations of May, 1800, 

 and September, 1801, abolished the 

 " accomodesans." Government then 

 resumed the lands held ou this tenure, 

 and fixed the land tax as follows : — 



On Paddy lands not held on Service 

 terms and which had paid less than one- 

 fourth, one- tenth in future. 



On those which paid over one-fourth, 

 in future one-fourth. Ou lands held by 

 Service tenure one-fifth of the gross 

 produce. In the Tamil districts the Tax 

 in the Dutch time appears to have been 

 one-tenth, and so it remained under the 

 British. 



Soon after the British Government 

 obtained possession of the Kandyan 

 Provinces in 1818, the reut ou paddy 

 fields was fixed at one-tenth of the 

 produce (with a reduction to one-four- 

 teenth for loyal conduct in certain 

 specific cases). 



An endeavour to commute the tithes 

 in the low-country for a general rent 

 payable in money was made in 1812, but 

 failed. Originally the Government share 

 was accepted in aumani (kiud) and 



