Edible Products. 



502 



[December, 1911. 



Ceylon under the name of Gansabawa 

 when native rule prevailed. In Southern 

 India the corresponding institution was 

 the Funchayat (Council of Five) 

 which continued to be a recognised 

 minor tribunal under the British rule, 

 and as late as the sixties, if not still, a 

 record of its cases figured in the publish- 

 ed Judicial statistics. Under the Dutch 

 regimein the Western maritime districts 

 of Ceylon the institution disappeared, 

 but Pridham states that f 'in 1781 a 

 species of deliberate Council composed 

 of the Chiefs of the Mookoowas prevail 

 under the auspices of Mr. Burnand at 

 Batticaloa, and that under its fostering 

 care the progress of the province was 

 rapid, its population doubled, and its 

 produce in grain was quadrupled. On 

 the arrival of the British this institution 

 fell gradually into disuse, when the rapid 

 decline in the industry of the province 

 drew the attention of the authorities to 

 the subject, and Sir Alexander Johnston 

 (Chief Justice 1811-20) prevailed on the 

 Governor to re-establish it. The result 

 was soon again visible, but from some 

 cause the boon was discontinued and the 

 province reverted to its primitive state." 



In the Kandyan districts on the other 

 hand " such tribunals for settlement of 

 village disputes" (writes Forbes in his 

 Eleven Years in Ceylon, 1837) "had long 

 existed. They were composed of the 

 head of every family residing within its 

 limits, however low his rank or small 

 his property. From this tribunal there 

 was an appeal to the District Council 

 (Rata saba), but in 1828 District Coun- 

 cils only lingered in the remote province 

 of Nuwarakalawiya, and even there 

 were seldom used." 



But Brodie, who was Itinerating 

 Magistrate and Assistant Agenc of that 

 district (1848-52) in an interesting paper 

 (published in C B. R. A. S. Journal, 1856) 

 gives a detailed account of the agricul- 

 tural customs then prevailing. He des- 

 cribes "how each village is settled by a 

 little colony headed by two or more 

 leaders or elders called Gamerala, who 

 had in virtue of this certain privileges 

 and rights." He then explain^ the mode 

 of working the " Bethma" system, so as 

 with a limited water supply to ensure 

 the cultivation of contiguous lands, 

 irrespective of the actual proprietor- 

 ship, and so lighten the labour of 

 watching, fencing and irrigation, which 

 would become very harrassing if the 

 cultivated portions of a tract did not 

 adjoin. He adds further: "If a man 

 refuses to give his due share of work 

 or money to the repair of a work, he 

 cannot lead water to his field till he 

 has repaid those who have laboured." 



In a letter to his chief (Mr. Dyke) 

 Brodie " largely anticipated the policy 

 ultimately adopted, of a benevolent 

 compulsion of labour for their own good 

 from the cultivators." 



In other outlying districts similar 

 customs existed, though their general 

 observance could not be secured, to 

 the great detriment of the industry ; 

 but there was no second opinion in 

 rural native circles of the necessity of 

 providing machinery for securing their 

 specific performance by all. 



Sir Henry Ward's advent and an early 

 visit to Badulla gave Bailey his chance 

 and no doubt he pressed his views on 

 the new Governor ; whose next stage 

 was Batticaloa, where he met Woodford 

 Birch, equally full of irrigation works 

 and capabilities. It is not surprising 

 that in H. E.'s minute of that trip 

 Irrigation is written very large ; but 

 what was of more importance, he 

 recognised the necessity for some legal 

 measure to enforce the observance of 

 the ancient customs relating to paddy 

 cultivation and the maintenance of 

 village works, as well as the promising 

 field for remunerative outlay on large 

 schemes of irrigation. 



He further recognised the claim of 

 the paddy cultivator as a large tax- 

 payer for fully half a century to the 

 British Government who alone had got 

 very little back for his money. No 

 question of repayment or interest on 

 outlay kept him from immediately sanc- 

 tioning expenditure on works in Batti- 

 caloa, and subsequently in the Southern 

 Province at Kirema and Urubokka. He 

 further made a most important con- 

 cession as to the sale of land suitable 

 for paddy cultivation, allowing it to 

 be paid for in four annual instalments, 

 instead cf within one month of purchase. 

 He also approved of Crown lands being 

 given out for cultivation for a share of 

 the produce, before survey, which 

 enabled many a poor man to take up 

 land, and make money to buy it, even 

 though exposed to the risk of competi- 

 tion at the subsequent sale. By this 

 arrangement Government was no loser, 

 indeed a gainer, as the price eventually 

 secured was as a rule largely in excess 

 of what would have been obtained by 

 immediate payment at waste land rates. 



All this led in 1856 to the Legislature 

 passing the first Paddy Cultivation 

 Ordinance which empowered the Gover- 

 nor to proclaim irrigation districts, 

 within which owners of paddy lands 

 could make rules embodying the ancient 

 customs ; it also provided for the elec- 

 tion of headmen to carry them outi and 



