In 1844 there was again a surplus of 69,4421.,
but in that year the demand of Crown lands produced 28,5341., and cinnamon, owing to the sale of the Government stock to close accounts on finally abandoning its cultivation, produced again the large sum of 79,4171.
It was, therefore, injudicious in Mr. Anstru- ther to rely on these temporary excesses of revenue from such sources, as evidences of steady surplus of 70,0001. a-year,
And if it proved not to be a "surplus" which might with reasonable confidence be looked for- ward to as one of steady recurrence, the argu- ment founded on it must be of little avail.
It is conclusive, as against the views of Mr. Anstruther, that in each of the years subsequent to that which he quotes as a period of financial prosperity, there has been a constant decline in the receipts from these adventitious sources of income, viz. :--
77
VI.—Alleged surplus of a quarter of a million sterling in the cash chest, 1844-6. (Com. 1848-9. 16,715.)
Mr. Anstruther's second statement "That he left in the cash-chest when he came away in 1845; about a quarter of a million," is not strictly correct; there having been an annual deficit for six years from 1837 to 1842, and a surplus of revenue only two, 1843 and 1844;
and the gross surplus of those years was but
1843. 1844
£57,968
69,442
$127,405
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Year. Revenue.
Land Sales.
Cinnamon.
1844 444,318
26,534
79,417
1845 454,146
87,946
26.889
1846 416,404
18,054
20,082
1817 440,619
6,471
22,368
1848 414,765
5,465
9,481
For these reasons, Mr. Anstruther's statements as to the aspect of the colonial income founded on the accidental manifestation of an exceptional surplus to a large amount, afford no legitimate test as to the real condition and capabilities of the ordinary revenue of Ceylon at the period of which he spoke.
And, looking to the subsequent decline of revenue from ordinary and permanent sources, at the very moment which Mr. Anstruther quotes as a favourable period, it is apparent that we were then on the verge of a general reverse, which exhibited itself unequivocally a very few months afterwards.
1844.
But of this sum, the entire surplus of 1848 had already been appropriated and partly ex- pended under the authority of Ordinances pre- pared and carried through the Legislative Council by Mr. Anstruther himself, to apply that surplus partly to the service of 1844; and partly to the construction of roads and public works. And in sending home that Ordinance for the confirmation of the Secretary of State in
No. 129, August 7, ■ despatch, the draft of which is corrected in the handwriting of Mr. Anstruther, he says- "The actual surplus of 1843 amounted to 57,9631. 10s. 4d. There had, however, been a deficit amounting to 21,5957. 10. 11d. on the
two preceding years; and it appeared to me prudent in the first place, to set apart an equiva- lent sum to be reserved in the Treasury, and only to appropriate to public works the balance which remained after making that deduction. I did so because the deficit of the two preceding years had so completely drained the public chest, that it was occasionally very difficult in 1849
to provide funds for the current expenditure."
If the Colonial Chest was 'so completely drained" at the close of 1842, it follows that at the beginning of 1840 the only murplus it could contain must have been the savings of 1843 and 1844, 127,4057.; any further amount, if Mr. Anstruther's statement just quoted be correct, must have been rather apparently than really available.
In purssance of this arrangement, the des-