Edible Products. 



228 



[September, 1911, 



Sir West Ridgeioay (1900) arranged for 

 the expenditure ot five millions of rupees 

 within a limited number of years, and 

 created a separate Irrigation Depart- 

 ment to carry out (what he himself 

 called) "an ambitious programme" of 

 large works. He also increased the 

 maximum irrigation rate to Rs. 2 per 

 acre, and the maintenance rate from 10 

 to 50 cents per acre. 



The History of Paddy Cultivation 



in Ceylon 

 may, I think, be appropriately divided 

 and conveniently dealt with in five 

 periods as follows :— 



(1) From the arrival of the British in 

 1796 to 1830-2, when Rajakariya was 

 abolished, and a new system of collecting 

 the Government share was introduced. 



(2) From 1830 to 1850, when the Colo- 

 nial Legislature passed the first Irri- 

 gation Ordinance, which has had such 

 an important bearing on the industry, 

 and the first irrigation works of modern 

 times were initiated. 



(3) From 1856 to 1869, when there was 

 a further advance in the irrigation 

 policy of Government, and a correspond- 

 ingly larger outlay on works. 



(4) From 1870 to 1892, when the share 

 of produce due to Government as rent 

 was remitted altogether. 



(5) From 1893 onwards, during which 

 there has been a still further outlay on 

 works, both from the general revenue 

 and a loan specially raised for the 

 purpose, during the enlightened ad- 

 ministration of Sir West Ridgeway, 



Fortunately the Sessional paper No. 

 XVII of 1890 contains a mass of most 

 useful but ill-digested information re- 

 garding the first three periods, and from 

 it I have culled the facts and figures I 

 will now present in, I trust, a more 

 intelligible and interesting form. 



First Period, 1796-1830. . 

 Under the administration already 

 noticed in the earliest days of the 

 British occupation, the cultivation of 

 paddy declined very considerably. At 

 Batticaloa, Captain Kingstone (an early 

 Collector) records the Government 

 share of one district in 1798 was 2,000 

 avonams equal to 15,000 bushels, and not 

 so much in any year since the capture 

 by the British, while the average 

 ot years preceding that was 5,000 

 avonams (37,500 bushels) to the Dutch, 

 In the Wanny Manual, Mr. Lewis gives 

 figures, which show that in the portion 

 now included in the Vavoniya and 

 Mulletivu districts, the cultivation, 

 which in Wannian's time had been about 

 11,000 acres, had increased under the 



Dutch to 11,700, but had declined in 1807 

 to 3,400 under the British. 



A Committee which sat in the early 

 days of the occupation enquired into the 

 matter, and Government in 1800 deputed 

 Capt. Schneider, their chief Scientific 

 Officer, to inspect the maritime districts 

 and report fully on their capabilities 

 for grain production and to advise how 

 best to improve this industry. This 

 officer in 1808 made a very exhaustive 

 report, a portion only of which has been 

 published in the Literary Register for 

 1856. 



According to the Dutch records at the 

 time of the British occupation the ex- 

 tent of paddy land in the Colombo 

 Division (which included the Colombo, 

 Kalutara and Negombo districts) was 

 10,347 amunams, say 26.0C0 acres. 



In 1798 Ceylon was declared a Crown 

 Colony, and the Hon. Mr, North appoint- 

 ed Governor, but it was not transferred 

 to the superintendence of the Colonial 

 Department until 1802. It is said " His 

 administration partook more of a tem- 

 porary military occupation thau of any 

 settled plan of civil policy." 



In 1805 Sir Thomas Maitland, g.c.b., 

 succeeded ; though his " Government 

 was not distinguished by any political 

 event of importance," a suspension of 

 hostilities with the Kandyans enabled 

 him to devote his attention to develop- 

 ing the resources ot the British terri- 

 tory ; and the decadence of paddy 

 cultivation received his marked atten- 

 tion. 



On the 8th December, 1808, a code of 

 general instructions to heads of depart- 

 ments was passed and subsequently 

 published, signed by Mr. R. Plasket, 

 Secretary of the Council, who after- 

 wards became as Sir R. Plasket, Civil 

 Auditor-General, and retired on pension 

 in August, 1814. 



These were incorporated in an old 

 volume of minutes, a copy of which 

 forms one of my ■' relics," from which 

 I cull some interesting particulars. The 

 first Chief Secretary was Mr. Robert 

 Arbuthnot, doubtless one of the Madras 

 civilians, and who scon left and was 

 succeeded by the Hon. John Rodney 

 from 1809 till June, 1832. The Revenue 

 Commissioner, Sir .4. Wood, who ranked 

 next to the Chief Secretary, was the 

 officer charged with the supervision of 



the interests 1 am discussing 



He was in 1811 succeeded by Mr. R. Boyd 

 who held the office until his retirement 

 in 1836. 



In an excellent code of instructions 

 issued in 1808 to Collectors of Districts, 

 they were assured " the most ample 

 means would be furnished to every Col- 



