Edible Products. 



506 



[December, 1911. 



of paddy for commutation purposes was 

 taken in Uva from Rs. 1-33 to P50 cents 

 in the outlying divisions, " where there 

 was no market for the produce." He 

 adds, " The Assistant Agent of Badulla 

 protested against the great increase of 

 the rates," but apparently he was not 

 supported in his objection by Mr. Philip 

 Braybrooke, who was at the time the 

 head of the Province, and had himself 

 served for some years in Uva and was a 

 considerate, level-headed administrator. 

 The whole matter was no doubt as usual 

 considered in Executive Council, and as 

 Mr. Fisher adds, " Government saw no 

 reason to reduce, the rates." 



The point urged by Messrs. Christie, 

 Fisher and Le Mesurier many years 

 after that — because the paddy locally 

 grown was consumed as food by the 

 growers, and consequently did not find 

 its way into the market— it should not be 

 appraised by comparison with the mar- 

 ket price of imported grain was probably 

 not overlooked. But whether it was or 

 not, the increase in the tax was the deli- 

 berate and well-considered action of 

 Government, and in accordance with 

 precedent and practice elsewhere, and 

 justified by the prevailing prosperity of 

 the people, who though they did not 

 perhaps sell very much of their paddy, 

 got a good market for their straw, the 

 sale of which recouped a substantial 

 portion of the outlay in the production 

 of the crop.* 



In Badulla there was undoubtedly 

 revived activity in native agriculture 

 under the influence of Bailey, who was 

 Agent from 1854 to 1858, and doubtless 

 anticipated the provisions of the first 

 Irrigation Ordinance, as testified by Dr, 

 Ondaatjie in "Notes on Badulla" pub- 

 lished in the Asiatic Society's Journal (C. 

 B.) for 1859 as follows :— " The extension 

 of irrigation and the facilities provided 

 for bringing waste land under cultiv- 

 ation and for the extensive production 

 of paddy were due to the unremitting 

 zeal of the last Assistant Agent." To 

 the influence of the new Ordinance and 

 favourable climatic conditions may, I 

 think, be ascribed the excellent crops 

 through the Central Province which 

 average 1J millions of bushels of paddy 

 during the five years 1862-6. 



With the inci ease in the rates of course 

 there was a considerable advance all 

 round in the collections. In Nuwara 

 Eliya the demand went up in eight years 

 from Rs. 6,200 to Rs. 24,000, and the ad- 

 vance in Matale was still greacer, viz., 



* In parts of the Westsrn Province the sale 

 of the straw has met all the expenses of cultiv- 

 ation for at.least the last fifty years, 



Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 29,706. The Kandy dis- 

 trict got off a little better, as it was only 

 about trebled, viz., from Rs. 20,000 to 

 Rs. 66,600. 



In Uva the annual liability under the 

 head Paddy commuted rose from Rs. 

 22,000 to Rs. 72,000 in round numbers, 

 but the assessed area was increased by 

 1,000 ammunams (say 1,500 acres), and 

 the estimate of gross produce by 60,000 

 bushels which accounts for 10 p. c. of 

 the increase. 



According to Mr. Le Mesurier "The 

 general prosperity of the people at the 

 time, the success of Coffee superadded 

 to the fear of the renting system, made 

 the people indifferent to these high rates, 

 together with the idea that had got 

 into their minds that the Commutation 

 registers were registers of title." 



So the tax continued to be commuted, 

 and even where owners of fields had not 

 done so, they paid it at the fixed com- 

 mutation rates, by which they were 

 probably gainers in view of the great 

 increase of price of the grain which 

 took place at this time. 



In December, 1863, Sir Charles Macar thy 

 was compelled to leave the Island owing 

 to ill-health, and died at Spa in Sep- 

 tember of the following year. General 

 O'Brien, Commander of the Forces, be- 

 came ex-officio (as usual at that time) 

 the Officer Administering the Govern- 

 ment. He was an outspoken old soldier, 

 and after a tour in parts of the island, 

 spoke and wrote very plainly of the ill- 

 conditions of the roads, etc. owing to 

 the insufficiency of the vote for main- 

 tenance. The revenue had increased 

 from £476,000 in 1855 to £953,000 in 1863 ; 

 while the expenditure, which had risen 

 to £705,000 in 1866, fell to £627,000 in 1862, 

 and thus a surplus of £464,000 accumul- 

 ated during 1861-2 and 3. Notwithstand- 

 ing the flourishing state of the finances 

 of the Island, all irrigation works were 

 stopped, the reads badly required in the 

 paddy districts, especially in Batticaloa 

 were not provided, though the commut- 

 ation assessments in the Central Pro- 

 vince were trebled. 



Eventually much of the results of this 

 over-careful increasing of the finances 

 by the strong man of the Government 

 had to go to meet the natural demand of 

 the Home Authorities for a larger contri- 

 bution to the military expenditure in 

 the island, viz., £100,000 as against the 

 £24,000 hitherto paid into the "Queen's 

 Chest." This led to a crisis in the Colo- 

 nial Legislature and the resignation of 

 the unofficial members (November, 1864). 



