December, 1911.] 



505 



Edible Products, 



dred years previously by the Dutch 

 Administrator Burnand, and besides 

 giving an immediate return as already 

 stated, laid the foundations of the great 

 development of cultivation in the Batti- 

 caloa district, a success which encouraged 

 subsequent rulers to follow suit both 

 there and elsewhere. 



Sir H. Ward's departure from the 

 Island at this juncture was undoubtedly 

 a misfortune. Under his successor's 

 easy rule, influences, which did not 

 approve of his liberal expenditure, 

 became paramount, and initiated a 

 policy of economy which some went 

 so far as to term "parsimonious." 

 Disappointment was expressed at the 

 return at Batticaloa not being as 

 immediate or as large as expected ; 

 works were stopped there, and the 

 "exigencies of the service " required 

 Birch's return to his former appoint- 

 ment as a District Judge ; and when 

 he was entitled to promotion, he was 

 sent to Sabaragamuwa. The officer, who 

 then reverted to the assistant agency, 

 in reporting on results,actually advanced 

 as proof of the unfortunate results to 

 the district, of his locum tenens ' policy, 

 that before the people always had a 

 good store of paddy in their villages ; 

 but now they had got into the habit of 

 selling it all for export to Jaffna, and 

 had to buy rice for their consumption 

 " in the winter," viz., the N.-E. Monsoon, 

 when the port was closed and rice was 

 high priced. But this was too much for 

 Sir Charles MacCarthy, who replied that 

 the Governor had, he feared, "studied 

 political economy in a different school 

 from the Assistant Agent." 



Concurrently the mot d'orde was 

 directed to increasing the collection of 

 revenue* which affected agriculture in 

 this wise. 



When the considerate policy initiated 

 by Turnour had established the success 

 of the Commutation system, settlements 

 were made for long terms, viz., 21 years 

 (1840) in Nuwara Eliya, 25 years (1840) in 

 Badulla, and similar periods in Kandy, 

 Matale, with an allowance of 25 % for 

 prompt payment. These voluntary 

 agreements were based on a moderate 

 pecuniary appraisement of paddy bear- 

 ing a fair proportion to the probable 

 cost of production, in fact a theoretical 

 price, for there was then no buying or 

 selling of paddy jor money in Kandyan 



* Brodie declared about this time that the 

 only proposal of his which met with the 

 approval of the Colonial Secretary was an 

 (ironical) one to sell the waste paper of the 

 office and credit the proceeds to revenue, 

 instead of leaving it as a perquisite of the peons! 



64 



villages. When these agreements ran 

 out in the fifties, the new industry, coffee 

 planting, had necessitated the import- 

 ation of a large foreign labour force, and 

 to feed it rice had to be imported at a 

 cost far exceeding the local cost of pro- 

 duction of the same food of the indi- 

 genous population. The selling piice of 

 the foreign grain consequently fixed 

 the market value of the village paddy, 

 and undoubtedly the growers did sell 

 some of their produce " on the estates " 

 and elsewhere at the enhanced rate or 

 even more. Though strong objection 

 was taken to this many years after, 

 such was the course contemplated by 

 John Bailey, an admirer and follower of 

 Turnout's working in 1858, and who 

 anticipated a considerable advance in 

 the amount of the Uva commutation in 

 consequence of the value of paddy 

 having then risen to 3 shillings " within 

 reach of the estates " on the next 

 revision due in 1860. 



In Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya 

 the old agreements expiied in 1856 when 

 the price of rice in these districts was 

 lower, and consequently the commuta- 

 tion for a bushel of Paddy was fixed at 

 Is. 4d. (say 64 cents) and less for the 

 more outlying divisions). The result of 

 this was a moderate advance fiom 

 Rs.32,000 to Rs.45,000 for the term 1857-63 



Unfortunately for the "paddies " there 

 was a considerable rise in the price of 

 foreign rice about 1860. I see the Customs 

 valuation of the imported paddy was 

 increased from 75 cents per bushel in 

 1855-7 to Re. 1 in 1862, and of rice from 

 2 to 3 rupees. From a statement 

 furnished to Ferguson's Directory fcr 

 1901, p. 142, I further gather rice was 

 exceedingly dear in the Central Province 

 both in the sixties and seventies. 



In Badulla the agreements did not 

 expire till 1860, and there was, it is 

 stated, considerable delay in carrying 

 out a new assessment, though various 

 Assistant Agents pointed out the loss 

 to the revenue by the delay (Mr. Fisher's 

 report, p. 169), and the tax for 1861-2-3 

 was recovered on the old agreements. 

 It was finally determined to have fresh 

 assessments throughout the Province 

 for seven years (1864-70) on the basis of 

 the prices then prevailing ; but in Uva, 

 as the new registers could not be fur- 

 nished till the end of 1865, authority was 

 granted by Government to recover its 

 share for 1864, on the particulars in the 

 expiriug registers as regards area and 

 production, commuted at the new and 

 increased prices for paddy determined on . 



According to Mr. Fisher's report (p. 188, 

 S.P. XVII of 1890) the value of the bushel 



