1l2 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 189^ 
The whole of the crops which the planter raises and 
Europe purchases are obtained in profusion without 
nrtificial watering, and the direct interest therefore 
which Englishmen or an English Government can have 
in irrigation is absolutely nil. 
There is but one product that receives irriga- 
tion in Oeylon, and that is rice, a food which 
can be obtained from Bengal and Burmah, where 
the yield is much greater than in Oeylon, 
at a cheaper rate. It is produced and consumed by 
natives only, since the requirements of the small 
white population could he more than satisfied by a 
single shipment in a year. To buy in the cheapest 
market must always mean to buy imported rice. 
According to all principles of political economy ac- 
knowledged in Great Britain, and also according to 
the selfish interests of the ruling class, which are cer- 
tainly as lively in Ceylon as in other parts of the 
globe, any sanction of the growing of rice in the 
island should be forbidden, while the expenditure of 
public money upon works for its encouragement should 
be stigmatised as utterly iudefensible. 
The British Government of this troiric colony, how- 
ever, appears to have set itself the task in this one 
connection of traversing every accepted university 
doctrine. It has fostered the growing of rice both 
by legislative and executive action ; has spent public 
money liberally to encourage and extend the cultivation ; 
and has crowned its edifice of economical heresy by 
the imposition of an import duty with a protective 
incidence upon imported rioe. That nothing might be 
wanting which could add to the enormity of its 
offences and constitute its action the unpardonable 
fiscal sin it has placed this protective duty and a 
smaller excise to boot upon what is and always has 
been the chief food of its people. To seek to benefit 
them by taxing the one grain upon which they live, and 
to procure which they require to devote almost the 
whole of their labour and their small earnings, is 
surely a phenomenon that calls for comment from all 
sorts and conditions of critics. Yet, in the island 
the principles of this policy are cordially approved, 
because they are held to be iuetified by its circum- 
stances and also by results. The policy has not been 
accepted in silence, though the challenge which it 
has provoked relates only to the extent of its ap- 
plication. The challenge fortunately puts us in pos- 
session of the reasons why the is'and has dared to 
strike out for itself a practice suited to its own con- 
ditions and people, notwithstanding its conflict with 
the mathematical axioms of economics, which take 
account of none of these things. 
The first justification offered is truly Oriental. Rice 
always has been taxed, and to replace the existing 
imposts by any other, no matter how equitable, would 
be to create endless discord and disaffection. Hamlet’s 
principle of preferring the ills he had to possibilities 
of which he was uncertain lies at the very root of the 
conduct of public and private affairs in Asia, but 
does not affect the merits of the case. 
The second justification for the Government’s 
interference is that though a large part of the 
revenue derived from taxation is obtained from 
rice, the grower at all events gets his contribution 
returned to him. There is an excise on rioe grown 
on the island, which yields nearly £100,000 a 
year. The argument is that as the natives grow and 
eat the rice whicli is so profitable to the State, they are 
(mtitlod to receive back again a proportion of this profit 
ill the shape of grants. Accordingly, under the law, 
one-fourth of the receipts from excise is set apart each 
year for what may bo termed tlie ordinary oullay upon 
irrigation selieim s. In addition to this, about another 
fourlli is voted annually for special works, so that one 
half the excise is held to bo repaid in this way. The 
propo.sal now before Lord Knutsford provides for a fur- 
ther comiiiutatiou of the cxciso which, if approved, 
■.vill reduce the net receipts of the State by yec a third 
■fourth of tlie pr<Ment receipts, whileitis argued that the 
last fourth, vdiich would bo retained permanently, is 
only fair payment to the Grown for grinoral purposes 
and all tlie indirect expenditure incurred in oonnooliou 
wUh tlib mftuagomgnt b£ tltb irrigating werks. Tho 
weak point in this calculation is that while all rice 
growers are taxed, only those who receive the benefit of 
this Government expenditure have had any return, and 
these are but a small proportion of the whole body, 
most of whom receive their water supply from schemes 
constructed long before the advent of Europeans. In 
the past no balance of this kind has been kept. From 1884 
to 1887 the grain tax yielded £409,000 while the total 
expenditure upon irrigation works and their main- 
tenance was £168,000. 
In reply to such a calculation it isj impossible of 
course, to say that a large portion of the grain receipts 
are rent for land held from the State directly, and not 
a tax ; but this at best is an imperfect adjustment, and 
merely relates to that proportion of the excise raised in 
excess of the sum levied upon pirvate proprietors of 
laud. It would be necessary to prove that it was equiva- 
lent to other Government rents in order to give this 
view much weight. Another contention is, that the 
natives get the benefit of the import duty, which is to 
the excise as 10 per cent is to per cent, and that, 
therefore, they are 2J per cent the gainers. The free 
trader would probably urge that this is unjust to the 
consumers, who are chiefly natives. AYhile a protec- 
tionist would reckon the margin too small to be of any 
permanent value and urge the abolition of the excise 
altogether. 
Tlie fact cannot be disguised that out of less than 
£500,000 of taxation rice alone pays nearly £300,000, 
an excise of £100,000 and an import duty of £200,000. 
As burdens should be distributed in proportion to 
wealth this is too large a share. The planters contend 
that as they are the employers of native labour 
they pay their share of the rice tax in increased 
wages, but it is doubtful if these are appreciably 
affected by either the rise or fall of rice. The 6J per 
cent on general imports and a small export duty to 
cover the expenses of medical supervision of their 
laborers are all their contributions to the State, in 
nil little more than £150,000 a year, which is not an 
excessive amount certainly on a capital of nearly 
£8,000,000. I'igures such as these assuredly strengthen 
the case for a generous outlay upon water supply for 
the use of the natives. 
Furfner justification — and perhaps it would not be 
too much to say the real justification — is to be found 
in the fact that, although the island is exceptionally 
rich in the coconut, bread and other fruits, as well 
as in vegetables and yams, which the Sinhalese use, 
yet rioe is their chief food. It produces, at all events, 
in many parts of the country, the best result for 
the least labor. Its cultivation has been pursued from 
immemorial antiquity, and is better understood than 
any other. The British Ruler has been compelled to 
adapt bis views to the character of his native subjects. 
Rice growing is an honorable pursuit among the 
Sinhalese, and they would probably refuse to attempt 
the raising of any substitute. When they obtain little 
rice they suffer from prarega, a malarious fever 
analagous to that known is Italy ; when they get 
none they sometimes die of starvation, and thus to 
preserve health and life to them rice culture ia 
rendered a necessity. 'When, in addition, it is 
remembered that the Government derives so large 
a revenue from this source there need be no 
urprise if the industry is fostered to the utmost possi- 
ble extent, and that the whole weight of the Admi- 
nistration is cast in its favour. 
Irrigation has been the chief article in the pro- 
grammes of successive Governors, and their provincial 
offioera have pushed it enthusiastically. There are six 
honorary titles in the gift of the Crown which are 
much prized among native notabilities, and by their 
means it is said that irrigation enterprise is rewarded 
and schemes are encouraged. The planters are in- 
clined to complain that the paternal solioitude of the 
State is devoted too much to this one branch of indus- 
try, but taking all things into oonsideration it is hard to 
see how it could be otherwise. Other products might 
be encouraged, it is true, but rice is likely to remain 
first in the needs ami tastes of the people. 
The natural diffioulties in the way of the oultiva- 
, tiou of Aio .miitorally made much of by t)ie 
