Edible Products. 



226 



[September, 1911, 



placed in stores and thence issued ; but 

 this gradually gave place to the farming 

 and renting system which had become 

 general in the low-country districts 

 by 1829. 



In the policy and system followed 

 (to adopt Sir Edward Barnes' words) 

 " the prominent feature was that of 

 paying certain fixed proportions of the 

 produce so that tbe more the agricul- 

 turist cultivated, the more he paid to 

 Government. It had much to recommend 

 it ; it was simple, appeared equitable 

 and was easy of comprehension to the 

 natives." 



This mode of collection by farming 

 had never been f ollowed in the Kandyan 

 Provinces, where Mr, Tumour by agree- 

 ment with the cultivators converted the 

 Government share (one-tenth) into a 

 payment of a fixed amount of grain per 

 holding, and afterwards into a money 

 payment. It was readily accepted 

 by the Kandyans and immediately 

 augmented the revenue. 



In 1831 the Board of Revenue proposed 

 the extension of this system to the 

 Maritime Provinces, both Sinhalese and 

 Tamil. This commutation was voluntary 

 and was effected by means of written 

 agreements between the Government 

 Collectors and the land-owners. The 

 only means of enforcing payment was 

 by action in the Civil Courts, and in 

 result large arrears accumulated, and 

 the system broke down and was aban- 

 doned at different dates between 1841-53 

 in the Western and Southern Provinces, 

 but reintroduced into Sabatagamuwa 

 and Kegalle after the Ordinance of 1886 

 had rendered the collection of commuted 

 revenue more practicable. 



In 1835, at the suggestion of Sir W. 

 Colebrooke, permission was granted to 

 the land-owners in the Central Province 

 to redeem the charge on their fields by 

 a payment of ten years of* the commuted 

 tax, and this privilege was afterwards 

 extended to the other Provinces, but it 

 was not largely accepted, and the privi- 

 lege was subsequently withdrawn. 



In 1841 Ordinance No. 14 was passed 

 regulating the collection of the Paddy 

 rent,* and laying down the procedure 

 to be followed by both renters and 

 cultivators. Under this law until 

 1878 the tax was collected either by 

 the system of voluntary commutation 

 already explained ; and when this could 

 not be arrived at, by selling the Govern- 

 ment share generally by public auction 



* In this Ordinance the alternative term of 

 "tax "was applied to the Government share 

 of the crop, though this was ordinarily 

 and generally known as the "paddy rents" 



to the highest bidder, who " on payment 

 of the amount of his bid became the 

 renter of a village or a group of villages." 

 The rent consisted of the right to re- 

 cover from the land-holders the share of 

 grain due to Government for the fields 

 in the rented area. Undoubtedly under 

 this system there was a great check on 

 false assessments and estimation by the 

 headmen, but on the other hand the 

 renter was bound to get something more 

 than he paid, to cover the expenses of 

 collection and realisation. In some 

 districts the relations between renters 

 and cultivators were fairly satisfactory, 

 but in others complaints were made of 

 extortion on the part of renters, of in- 

 convenience to the cultivators involved 

 by this mode of collecting the tax, while 

 the renters alleged evasion and delay on 

 the part of their debtors. 



As the only compulsory mode of 

 settling such disputes was by prosecu- 

 tion in the Police Courts, such cases 

 mounted to thousands, and were nearly 

 all settled by the day fixed for 

 hearing, only a very small number 

 requiring adjudication. Finally an 

 outcry was raised against the system 

 as savouring too much of Turkish modes 

 ot administration and ill-suited to the 

 British Standard, and though any 

 change to a less elastic method was 

 deprecated by many experienced civi- 

 lians, the Grain Committee, which 

 enquired into matters in 1877, recom- 

 mended renting should be abolished in 

 favour of compulsory commutation. In 

 compliance with this view an Ordinance 

 was passed in 1878, it was said, " in the 

 interest of the holders of paddy lands 

 with the view of relieving them of the 

 exactions of the renters," and " affording 

 encouragement in other ways to the 

 cultivation of paddy." 



Under this Ordinance Government was 

 empowered to gradually introduce a 

 system of compulsory commutation ;and 

 Grain Commissioners were appointed to 

 investigate the circumstances of each 

 separate holding and fix a money value 

 for the Government share. This was 

 carried out in the Western, Southern 

 and Eastern Provinces and created great 

 discontent, chiefly because a fixed sum 

 had to be paid whether the crop was 

 good or bad ; a principle utterly opposed 

 to the native idea of a sliding rate, pro- 

 portionate to the capacity to pay — 

 much when there was much in good 

 years, and little when there was little 

 in years of scarcity.* 



* The alternative of Crop Commutation pay- 

 able only when a parcel was cultivated afforded 

 no practical relief. 



