Aug.  I,  1H95.J 
THIi:  TROPICAL  AGRlCUl/PURIS  P. 
103 
of  m.axiuinm  diaries  were  eiiaetetl,  tlie  cardinal 
•\uesition  would  still  remain  open,  what  may  the 
public  demand  in  return  for  tlie  statutory  rates  '1 
Mere  conveyance  from  iioint  to  point?  If 
more — how  much  more  V t'onveyaiice  is  oidy  one 
of  the  services  rendered  by  a railway  (’ompaiiy. 
Handliiif,'  and  safe  custmly  of  ”oods  at  stations 
and  in  transit ; sjiecial  ))ro\  ision  for  fragile  and 
]>erishahle  merchandise  : collection  and  delivery 
of  goods  ; passenger  i',ou\eniences  in  all  their 
variety;  )iolice  safeguards — such  are  a few  of  I In; 
appliances,  citeil  by  way  of  reminder,  whiidi  il 
is  the  multiform  Imsiness  of  railw.ay  adminis- 
tration to  prov  ide  : are  all  of  them  covered  by 
the  statutory  rates  ? If  not,  which  may  he  charged 
for  separately,  and  on  what  scale  ? How  inellec- 
tual  against  rack-rating  and  undue  [(reference 
are  the  |)0[mlar  expedients  of  statutory  tariH's  and 
classifications  (the  two  necessarily  go  together)  is 
exemplilied  in  the  ease  of  the  Mansion  House 
Association  r.  L.  and  S.  \V.  Kailvvay  Company, 
and  in  greater  detail  in  the  1892  l{o[)ort  of  the 
Special  Parliamentary  Committee  on  Kailway 
Hdtes  (England).  Mor  are  the  ex[)edients  merely 
ineffectual  ; they  are  themselves  evils  inasmuch 
as  they  contliet  with  the  pliabilty  which 
is  indispensable  if  tariffs  are  to  be  kept  adjusted 
the  ever-varying  needs  and  contingencies  of 
tr.ade. 
Attempts  to  provide  in  advance  and  once  for 
all  against  the  innumerable  points  and  varieties 
of  contliet  of  interest  stand  now  discredited.  The 
best  o[)inions  are  in  favour  of  the  reserv-ation  to 
Government  of  a right  of  control  for  s|)ecilied 
[uirposes  : which  [(ower  shall  be  exercised  as  and 
wiien  circumstances  re([uire  by  a tribunal  similar 
in  status  and  powers  to  the  Kailway  and  Canal 
Commission  of  England  or,  [(erhaps  better,  the 
American  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission, 
and  from  whose  l uling  both  [(arties  have  a right 
of  appeal  to  the  Su[)reme  Court.  Kc  it  noted, 
that  such  a tribuna',  with  such  powers  is  ev  ery 
l>it  as  necessary  wliere  the  railways  are  in  the 
hands  of  a Government  De[>artment  as  it  is  where 
the  railways  are  in  the  hands  of  a Hoard 
of  Directors.  It  is  indeed  more  necessary, 
for  the  red-tape  of  ytnir  [mblic  ollicial 
is  a deal  less  open  to  reason  than  the 
rapacity  of  your  private  capitalist. 
Turning  now  to  another  matter,  let  us  begin 
with  Mr.  Parkes’  fourth  maxim.  In  stigmati- 
sing 
K.UT.w.vv  i:.vn-;s  .vs  a r.w 
levied  on  disability,  he  had  in  mind,  we  may 
presume  the  first  of  the  four  jnincijiles  of  taxation 
enunciated  by  Adam  Smith  in  the  concluding 
section  of  his  “ Wealth  of  Nations,”  tlie  prin 
cijde  that  the  .subjects  of  a State  shonhl  be 
lanl  under  contribution  for  (he  purposes  of  ( luv  erii- 
ment  ‘as  nearly  a.s  po.s.siblo  in  proportion  to  their 
respective  abilities.’  That  remoteness  from  market 
as  a disability  is  obvious,  and  the  ine([iiitable- 
ness  of  taxing  a [iroducer  pro  rata  on  his  re- 
moteness is  obvious  too  ; what  perhajis  is  not 
so  obvious  is  the  appropriateness  of  the  word 
“ tiix  ” to  such  payments,  and  it  may  freely  be 
admitted  that  whereas  in  England  rail- 
ways are  private  pro[)erty,  Mr.  Parkos's 
descrijition  of  railway  rates  might  nut  be 
allowed  to  [>ass  unchallenged.  Where,  however, 
railways  are  an  appurtenance  of  Government,  and 
are  worked  as  a source  of  general  revenue  as  in 
Ceylon,  the  ap|)ro])riateness  of  the  descri})tion  is  be- 
yond reach  of  challenge.  Consider  the  following 
.statements  of  facts  abstracted  from  the  otliicial 
returns  for  189.3: — (]).  That  after  providing  for 
■\Vyrkinj  Expenses,  interest  uo  Capital,  up-keep. 
and  new  works,  the  Ceylon  Government  Kail  way 
contributes  Kl  ,n!t(i,Ob.‘)  to  general  revenue,  or 
in  other  words  sustains  nearly  8 [ler  cent  of 
the  cost  of  the  other  Hepartments.  (2).  That 
this  item  of  general  revenue  is  drawn  for  the 
most  [lart  Irom  the  'Tea  industry  which  con- 
tributes npvvanls  of  lo  jier  (^uit  of  the  gross  re- 
ceeipts  ol_  the  Ceylon  Government  Kailway. 
(3).  'riio.se  cstalc.s  which  .s(;nd  their  'I'ea  to  ami 
obtain  their  sup[dies  from  the  coast  otherwise  than 
by  mil  cscajie  the  tax  altogether.  'Die  in- 
e(|ua!ity  of  incidence  with  re.s[)ect  to  the  in- 
dustry as  a whole  may  be  gauged  by  the 
fact  that  in  1893  about  2S,UHii  tons  (nett)of 'I'e'a  were 
enrailed  against  37,909  tons  sliip[)ed  ; (-1)  that 
not  only  is  some  tea  taxed  and  .some  (say  25%) 
not,  but  even  upon  the  taxed  .section  of  th°e 
industry  the  incidence  is  most  une([ual,  the 
Haimtale  estates,  for  example,  being  amerced 
more  heavily  than  the  Kamly  estates  in  the  ratio 
of  their  mileage  from  Colombo  ; (5)  and  generally, 
that  in  so  far  as  the  C.G.  K.  is  employed  as  an 
instrument  of  taxation  the  coast  is  relea.sed 
from  the  burden  of  the  cost  of  Government  at 
the  expense  of  the  interior. 
'I’hese  considerations  go  to  show  that  between 
the  yield  of  say,  the  Customs  and  the  .sur[dus 
[laid  into  the  'Preasury  by  the  Kailvvay  Depart- 
ment there  is  no  difference  except  the  inequita- 
blenxiss  of  the  latter  ; and,  further,  how  ill-suited 
are  railways  for  taxational  [mrposcs. 
Under  tile  circumstances  which  obtained  in  some 
of  the  Colonies,  possibly  also  in  Ceylon,  it  may 
be  politic  to  make  the  existing  lines  contributory, 
within  limits,  to  extensions,  but  even  then  the 
contribution  should  he  eijuitably  levied.  Always 
it  should  be  a principal  care  with  a Government 
administering  the  railways  of  a country  to  re- 
dress geographical  disabilities  by  one  or  other  of 
the  tariff  expedients— the  “ zone  system  ” to  name 
only  one,  devised  and  [iractised  by  [irivate  en- 
tciqirise. 
A thii ( I [(eculiaiiby  idaiming  a lai'ge  share  in 
the  shajiing  of  the  Ceylon  railway  tariff— the 
liscal  tariff  too — is  to  be  found  in 
U ll  i . 
Acceiding  31r.  Parkes’s  [(rinciide  of  levyim--  rates 
as  if  they  vveieta.xes,  tiaflic  will  be  clas.siiied  and 
assessed  according  rather  to  ability  than  to 
[prime  cost  of  trans[(urtation,  the  aim  of  the 
maimgcmcnt  being  to  make  a [irolit,  noton  eacli 
transaction,  but  njion  all  of  them  taken  to-ether. 
Now  it  is  clear  tliat  in  ^.a  .silver-iisiii'p’  country 
like  Ceylon,  so  lori-j  as  the  gold-value  of  silver 
continues  lluctuant,  the  ki-ud  of  ability  under 
discussion  will  hinge  largely  on  exchange ; and, 
iurther,  that  of  two  mdnstries  that  industry 
slunild  be  able  to  sustain  the  higher  rate  which 
pays  most  in  .silver  ami  is  paid  most  in  o.jld. 
What  modilications  exactly  would  reiiuire  to  lie 
made  in  the  existing  tarill  if  in  the  cla.ssitication 
and  lating  ol  merchandise  these  considerations 
were  allowed  their  due  share,  we  are  not  preiiared 
to  say.  \Ve  need  first  a schedule  of  industries 
scaled  according  to  the  degree  in  which  their 
incomings  and  outgoings  are  liable  to  be  affected 
by  the  gold-price  ((f  silver;  and  such  a .schedule 
pre.snjiposes  an  investigation  similar  to  that 
institutcil  b_^  the  t/iermaii  Government  prior  to 
the  ad()[ition  of  a gold  standard. 
Corrmi  in  M.vrAxo : Monthi.y  Kkpoiit  for  Arum, 
t he  Mnntil.  who  owns  a cotfee  garden,  near  here, 
applied  to  me  for  ‘2(1  acres  more  land  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  I hope  move  people*  will  soon  take  up 
this  ciiltivation.--A.  T.  Dew.  District  Magiskati 
May  20,— iera/i  Ooitnunoir  GaxvttCi 
