March t, 1895.] 
THE TROPIC \L AGRICULTURIST. 
623 
To (he Editor. 
COCONUTS IN CEYLON:— ,! THE UNTAXED 
PRODUCT. ' 
Feb. 23. 
Deak Sir,— Will you allow me space to con- 
trovert certain statements contained in Mr. Sholto 
Skrine's speech, which I have just read, on the 
Kerosene oil duty, bearing on the coconut industry ? 
Similar statements have been made before now — 
representing the products of the coconut palm as 
goiug untaxed ; but they have remained uncontra- 
dicted, I suppose because the proprietors of coconut 
estates believed a contradiction of so manifestly un- 
tenable a position as superfluous. In the present 
instance, the alleged exemption of coconuts from 
taxation was in a manner sought to be proved ; and 
certain specific statements having been made in 
support of his contention by Mr. Skrine, I conceive 
it to be a duty to expose their hollowness, lest our 
silence be misconstrued, and allegations touching the 
coconut industry come to be accepted because of their 
frequent repetition. 
Mr. Skrine's "extravagance" is not wholly respon- 
sible for the engrafting of coconuts on kerosene. 
He claimed to have the authority of a speaker at the 
previous meeting for the statement, that the coconut 
industry was " directly benefited by the imposition of 
the Kerosene Oil Tax " I don't know who the speaker 
was, or what the arguments, if any, were by which 
he sought to support the statement ; but Mr. Skrine 
was evidently glad to take it at second hand, with- 
out any verification, as it was one against an in- 
dustry in which he did not feel any special interest. 
As the non-nasal Mr. Gibbon would say, he has a 
nose for that kind of thing ! The only way I can 
think of by which this benefit could be attained, 
would he by the creation of a demand for coconut 
oil as an illuminant through the enhanced price de- 
manded for kerosene, in view of the increased tax. 
Now, can Mr. Skrine or his authority produce any 
figures to prove the increased consumption of coco- 
nut oil locally since the kerosene tax was raised ? Can 
they name any considerable number of persons, even 
one. who have given up using kerosene oil because 
of the tax and betaken themeselves to coconut oil 
for their lamps? 1 am myself a coconut grower; 
but I have nut been able to see any pecuniary ad- 
vantage in using coconut oil which costs K2 25 a 
gallon rather than kerosene, the highest market rate 
of which is Rl'60 per gallon (I am quoting recent 
Colombo prices), and so my kerosene lamps are still 
in use 1 The difference in price in the two illumi- 
nants should be a sufficient refutation of the absurd 
statement ; but another is to be found in the fact that 
the exportation of coconut oil last year — the first in 
which the enhanced duty appreciably affected the price 
of kerosene — was nearly liXUKX) cwt., or more than 
20 per cent, in excess of the quantity exported in 
lS9;j, and was indeed the largest on record, if 1S'J2 
be excepted when large quantities were rushed into 
America owing to a scarcity of tallow there. Only 
ignorance can excuse unfounded statements ; but 
ignorance can be excused only when it is unavoid- 
able, or corn et information is difficult to obtain. I 
heartily sympathize with Mr. Skrine's resolution; and 
even if the produce of my estate had increased some- 
what in value through the enhanced duty I trust I 
should have had public spun enough to support him. 
His is a righteous cause ; but if the Governor uses a 
weapon lie has h.ul put into his hands by Mr. Skrine, and 
represents to the Secretary of State that a community 
which had wholly used till very recently the more 
78 
expensive coconut oil cannot be seriously incon- 
venienced by a Duty on Kerosene which cannot bring 
its price to anything approaching the price of coco- 
nut oil, the fault will not be mine ! 
Mr. Skrine's second statement that "the coconut 
industry is largely owned by those fortunate in- 
dividuals who were directly benefited by the abolition 
of the Paddy Tax," is as misleading as his first. 
Paddy lands are scattered over every nook and corner 
in the island; coconuts chiefly flourish on the sea- 
border and are unknown in many parts of the country.! 
The vast majority of rice-growers own small patches 
of mud-land averaging from .V an acre to 2 acres, 
which rarely yield sufficient for their personal wants, 
and leave nothing for sale or barter; the great majo- 
rity of owners of coconut trees similarly own from 
1-24 h of a tree to about two or three dozen trees, 
which may or may not give them nuts enough for 
home use. But assuming that any considerable 
number of diminutive paddy-field owners own a few 
coconut trees as well, the whole imaginary advantage 
which the enhanced Dut}- on Kerosene has conferred 
on their coconuts can hardly add to the enviable- 
ness of their lot in being able to retain for their 
personal use one-tenth of the gross yield of the 
patch of field which they alone of all cultivators of 
the soil in the island had to yield to the state. Of 
course, there are some large land owners — certainty 
not running in number into more than three figures 
— whose fields are now exempt from an immemo- 
rial direct tax to which they alone were subjected, 
i and who also own coconut land ; but the supreme 
happiness of their lot postulates (1) a direct benefit 
to them from the enhanced Duty on Kerosene, which 
I have already disproved, and (2) the correctness of 
the third clause of Mr. Skrine's indictment against 
them which I shall next deal with. 
Mr. Skrine's words are, the " coconut industry prac- 
tically pays nothing in the shape of taxation towards 
the general revenue." He advances no reasons what- 
ever for this statement. He is of course as well aware 
as I am that neither tea nor coconuts pay any direct 
tax. The medical cess is a diminutive levy which 
was started for the special purpose of providing 
medical aid for labourers and others whom the 
opening up of land at a distance from the ancient 
townhips and villages, took away from the central 
Hospitals which the Government had established and 
even beyond the reach of the Vederala. The income 
derived from this cess is not nearly sufficient to pay 
for the cost of the Medical Aid thus supplied, 
and the general revenue contributes between a half and 
two-thirds of the total cost annually. Coconut gar- 
dens and estates are chiefly situated in proxmity 
to the inhabited parts of the country, and their 
labourers are within reach of Vederalas, and of the 
central Hospitals in which the}- are treated on 
payment, as are the labourers from more distant 
estates. I for one should not object to a cess on 
coconut exports in return for cheap medical atten- 
dance and Hospitals for the special benefit of labourers 
on out-of-the-way cocount estates. Mr. Skrine evidently 
does not refer to direct taxation; but to indirect; 
but let me tell him that the coconut industry is not 
exempted from tax or duty on any goods which it 
requires, and on which tea pays tax or duty. 
Whether it be metal, wrought or unwrought necessary 
in cultivation and manufactures, *or food stuffs of 
which employes and employers alike partake — they 
are taxed, irresp ctive of their destination, whether 
tbey are to find their way to coc'inut estates or 
to tei esta es. If 'he c m^uinption of these is 
larger on the latter than on th- former, it is so, 
not from any des re to lighten tlio burdens of th i 
former, but from the nece siti s of the case. I am 
not a stranger to the co' tention that the j lanter 
pays the Import Dutv on grain in enhanced wig 9. 
Bo it so! The coconut planter p>ys th* duty 
q'lite as much a9 the tea pla tor. I am not 80 
miles from Colombo, and I pay ra» labourers :ll 
cents a dav, which is the rat • paid in the Kandy 
District and beyond. In what s use am I exempt 
from the duty paid by my brother at Mutalo or 
at Haputale '! It is sheer nonsense to bay 'hat the 
labourers ou coconut estates live on rice which pay 
