April t, 1889.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
1*1 
" Sir Eoierson Tennent, who was Oolonial Secretary 
in 1846, said that ' the policy of raisiug an income 
from this source, however it may be repugnant to 
the opinions and habits of those at home, is neither 
opposed to the feelings of the population of. Ceylon 
nor felt to press unduly on their pecuniary means. 
Amongst every eastern people and in many countries 
of Europe a tax upon salt has been a favorite source 
of revenue from time immemorial. It exists among the 
vast population of China ; it was inherited by the East 
India Company from the Muhammadan sovereigns 
of Hindustan, where it universally prevails, and from 
a conviction of its accordance with the habits of an 
oriental people it has been adopted by the Dutch in 
their flourishing colony of Java.' 
" The present consumption of salt is about 400,000 
cwt. annually, which, being issued to a population, say 
of two and half millions, allows 17i lb. for each in- 
habitant in Ceylon. 
" The averag° annual consumption of salt in the 
three Presidencies, viz. Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, 
is about 694,000 tons, on which the duty collected is 
£4,878.665. In Ceylon the averages have been 16,250 
tons and £74,734 (our population being say 2§ millions). 
We have therefore a consumption of nearly 7 tons 
per 1,000 heads ; while India averages only about 
tons per 1,000. We may, therefore, fairly conclude 
that the people of Ceylon are much better off as re- 
gards salt than their neighbours in India. 
" On the 6th January 1857, Sir Henry Ward, the 
ablest Governor that Ceylon ever saw, appointed a 
Committee for inquiry into the various points noticed 
in a Minute drawn by His Excellency, with relative to 
the salt question. The Committee consisted of Messrs. 
George Lee and P. W. Braybrooke, who made strict 
enquiries into all matters concerning the manufac- 
ture, collection, and sale of salt, and stated elabo- 
rately their views generally on the whole question 
of the management of the salt system in Ceylon. 
" They were of opinion that the salt monopoly 
as then constituted did not afford much room for 
practical objection. Salt of good quality was abun- 
dantly supplied by the Government at a moderate fixed 
price ; and they added what is perfectly true, that the 
same amount of revenue could not be raised so 
cheaply and with so little inconvenience to the com- 
munity in any other manner. 
" The manufacturers contract to furnish salt at a 
fixed rate, and the Government dispose of the salt 
also at a fixed price (R2-36 per cwt.) through their 
own agents, to the dealers and others who resort to 
the Government stores for their supplies ; but beyond 
the first sale, the Government do not meddle. The 
manufacturer can only make for Government, and 
the purchaser, in the first instance, must buy from 
Government, but afterwards he may sell his salt 
where, and as be pleases, without further interference. 
" With regard to the question put by the Govern- 
ment of India whether weightment cannot be sub- 
stituted for measurement in the sale of salt I 
may observe that in Ceylon salt is received into 
Government stores by weight, and the sale there- 
from to wholesale dealers is also by weight. But in 
retail sale transactions the measurement by seers 
aud bushels still continues. It is a difficult task to 
induce orientals to give up their long cherished 
customs and predilections." 
So far our correspondent, but there are some 
points in the report of 1857 to which we must 
subsequently advert. Meantime we return to the 
Madras papers. The Board of Revenue truly stated: — 
The salt-tax is justified by State necessity, and in 
many respects has much to recommend it ; by its 
means a very large revenue is collected at a moderate 
cost with the least possible risk of peculation aud 
without any inquisitorial interference with the people : 
it reaches every individual and cannot be evaded if 
preventive measures are efficient ; it is capable of 
immediate adjustment to meet '.State necessity or the 
varying conditions of the people, and it proprely 
worked, it need not be burdensome to the poorest 
in the land, but it behoves Government to take 
such measures as will prevent not only any failure of 
supply, but anything approaching to a scarcity as 
well as any rise in price which is not due to eu- 
hauced taxation. The interest, of the people generally 
for whose benefit the tax is raised require that as 
large a proportion as possible of what is paid for 
the salt consumed should reach the public exchequer, 
and as far as the public are concerned, the intercep- 
tion of any portion of the price by new interme- 
diaries is just as injurious as peculation in the course 
of collection would be. If it were certain that the 
people would eventually benefit by the change, it 
might be desirable to run a certain amount of risk,- 
but even then care should be taken that during the 
transition period no serious consequences would be 
likely to ensue ; so far the outlook is not hopeful, 
and it would appear necessary to take some measures 
for recovering the control which Government have lost. 
As to heavy and light salt, the following is in- 
teresting : — 
Mr. Bliss reverted to the subject again in his letter 
recorded in Board's Proceedings, dated 18th September 
1883, No. 2,819. Meanwhile the Collector of Tanjore 
had pointed out, in connection with the proposal to 
force Vedarniem swamp salt on the market, that such 
a course would be unwise. His remarks may be qu.ited 
as in this passage attention was first drawn to the fact 
that light salt need not necessarily be bad salt and 
that the reason for the preference where it exists may 
be that such salt is better suited to the conditions of 
the trade. 
The fact is that the spontaneous salt is a kind 
not suited to the conditions of the Madras trade. 
That trade does not require a very dense, heavy or 
very perfectly crystallized salt, — at any rate in the 
Southern districts. These qualities in a salt are valu- 
able as enabling it to staud a long aud rough transit, 
breaking of bulk and prolonged storage at depots at 
great distances from the coast ; and where these are 
the conditions of the trade, as in the supply of the 
Central Provinces and Hyderabad from the Northern 
factories, we find that the qualities named are highly 
appreciated by the traders, who are ready to go far 
out of their way to get salt of the right kind. In the 
Southern districts, however, the salt is carried to a 
great extent by rail, the trade goes on all the year 
round, the salt is carried on the average for short 
distances only, and passes through very few hands — 
(See paragraphs 493—496 of the Salt Commission Re- 
port.) Iha trade of this kind, the relative advantages 
of heavy and well-crystallized salt disappear, ani I 
should not quarrel with a salt on the sole ground that 
it is light, provided that it is pure and dry. These 
are almost synonymous terms ; for the presence of 
water in a salt largely depends on the presence of 
magnesium salts. In salts equally free from such 
impurities, it is of no consequence whether the mer- 
chants make their profit on sale by weight by a direct 
addition to the price in the case of a heavy and dense 
salt, or on sale by measures. The prices in both 
cases may be left to adjust themselves ; and Go- 
vernment officers should, it seems to me, make no 
attempts to force the sale of heavy salt as such, but 
should irect their endeavours to the production of 
salt as nearly chemically pure as possible. 
The Government accepted this view aud disposed of 
the reference in the Proceedings above quoted as fol- 
lows :— 
"Here it may be observed that in his remarks re- 
garding quality of salt, Mr. Bliss attaches the chief 
importance to the physical properties, size, and hard- 
ness of crystals, which are obtained by slow crystal- 
lization. These, however, Government regard as of 
minor consequence compared with chemical purity. 
Light may be as pure as heavy salt ; and if the traders 
prefer the former, it is no doubt because it better suits 
the conditions of the trade, especially in the Southern 
districts." 
The following notice of principles to be observed 
in the manufacture of salt is interesting : — 
The causes of the impurities present in Bay salt 
arc known, aud they can be reduced to a minimum by 
the observance of the following precautions, the impor- 
tance of which has already been impressed on all 
offioers of the department : — 
