( 119 ) 
the powerful scoundrel has now a chance, which 
he had not before, of oppressing the weak man 
by litif^ious suits, which it is impossible that 'a 
single man like the Collector, who has also the 
responsibility of the revenue, can examine into and 
decide upon. In a word the inhabitant of this 
country has retrograded in the path of civilizatioft 
and dependence on society which may have 
deplorable results and develope the true character 
of the Singhalese. 
It is evident from this stale of things that the 
changes which liave taken place in the adminis- 
tration of the interior, hive been greatly disadvan- 
tageous to tiie Government as far as the revenue 
is concerned, and also to all t!ie agricultural and 
other inhabitants with the single exception of 
the proprietors of gardens and coconut trees— who 
have been more or less enriched, as the tax on 
land does not reach their possessions. 
The liberation of the castes subject to the 
Carvee-service and the withdrawal of the lands 
which from the most remote times were given 
as an accommodation to the inhabitants who were 
liable to various services and to the native chiefs 
are two operations, one of the Collector General, the 
other of the King's Government at Ceylon on which 
we propose hereafter to give an opinion. 
It must not be inferred fiom the preceding 
remarks that the author is of opinion that the 
Island of Ci^ylon is nob able to give the revenue 
now derived from it— the contrary of this is the 
truth— he thinks that the revenue may be sensibly 
increased if success is attained, by gradually 
supporting cultivation of every kind, in receiving 
the land tax on an equal fooung throughout the 
whole Island, and if personal services being equally 
divided among all the inhabitants be redeemed 
or commuted by them at an equal rate. This 
might be done with justice in consideration of 
the old services to which land was liable, and 
which the inhabitants were bound to perform under 
the native princes. 
Lastly let the taxes, contracts and imposts, 
which constitute the indirect- taxation be just and 
weigh alike on all. 
To explain this subject, we must here make a 
digression, and we shall afterwards give a plan 
which we look upon as likely to effect the restor- 
ation of the country and to render it flourishing 
if the Government follow it up with the requisite 
perse Iterance for it alone is able to oblige subordinate 
functionaries to follow up any plan which has 
once being decided upon ; — 
1. From the most reaiote periods it has been re- 
cognised as principre at Ceylon. 
"That all lande;l possessions belong to the lord 
of the country, and is liab e to some service for 
that lord." 
These two principles are imprinted on the mind 
of every inhabitant and the Portuguese and Dntcli, 
at the tima of their respective conquests, tacitly 
adopted these principles in their Government, 
wisely regulating themselves by the customs which 
they found prevalent. 
They only diverged from (he former of these 
principles to assign the feudal and perpetual 
property of some lands under different tenures 
to individuals who solicited for them. These 
grants for full possession differ essentially from 
those made by the former masters of the Island 
who conferred "on an individual " any particular 
land, to enjoy the same in consecjuence of any 
employment which he posi?essed, or on a caste, 
in consequence of any service to which it , was 
liable towards the prince. 
The former of these grants was for life, and 
was ended by the death or forfeiture of the 
incumbent, the second had the same term as the 
service for which it was granted, which, however, 
was at the prince's i)leasure. 
The chief authority must necessarily have had 
at that time coercive means at his disposal at 
present unknown, as that means of forcing thj 
cultivation of the lands seems insufficient to have 
rendered the country so flourishing as it is apparene 
it was, notwilh>tandiug the grants " in perpetus " 
made by tbe Europeans on condition of the pay. 
menis of a tenth of the produce, and notwith- 
standing that the Portuguese and Dutch continued 
the ancient tenure of the lands in accommodecena 
and Parvenies, it is apparent that cultivation 
has not improved, which shews how much the 
Abbe Raynal was deceived, and that in Ceylon 
land was not wanting to the inhabitants but the 
inhabitants to lands. 
{To he Continued.) 
WAYSIDE JOTTINGS, N.-W,P. 
THE PLUMBAGO INDUSTRY IN THE KUEUNEGALA 
DISTRICT— MR. WILLIAM SHEDLOCK, J. P.— A 
NEW AMBALAM AT GOKARELLA— A MUNI 
FICENT GIFT TO POOR TRAVELLERS BY MR 
JACOB DE MEL. 
Gokarella is a thriving village in the Kurunegala 
district, 12 miles from the town of Kurunegala, on 
the road to Dambulla, en route to the chief 
plumbago mines, which are receiving additional 
attention and in which more than ordinary interest 
is at present centred fi'oni the fact that European 
supervision is being exercised in connection with 
one of the mines, and is likely to encourage an 
important industry by the introduction of new and 
modern methods in mining operations, hitherto 
carried on according to primitive and crude modes 
and styles. To the impetus thus given to the 
mining of the only mineral of present commercial 
value and importance in the island, and it is due 
to Mr. William Shed lock, whose vintiring energy 
and indefatigable efforts to place the working of 
these pits according to " wise saws and modern 
instances," cannot be over-rated. His good work 
and unostentatious labours have already received 
recognition at the hands of the authorities 
for that gentleman, a noble type of the true 
Britisher and deserving of the name in every sense 
of the term, has been dubbed a Justice of the Peace 
— an office to which he has proved himself emi- 
nently entitled, and an Unofficial Police Magistrate 
— the functions of which he will, we hope as much 
as lie desires, have seldom occasion to perform, for 
they are inconsistent with tl.'e tranquillity he has 
heen so successful in establishing among a popu- 
lation in the plumbago pits, that is more inclined 
to be criminal than otlienvise ! Long may William 
Shedlock, the squire of Hetahaya Korale, live 
to enjoy the blushing honours of his office, and to 
interest himself in the supply of a mineral " so 
useful in the industries and elegancies of life, the 
appliances of peace and war, and the pursuits of 
the artist and the literary man, not only to coun 
tries in the Eastern Hemisphere, but to the regions 
of tho far Western world !" 
