PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
FC.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
8
1. An annual tax in the shape of a gun-licence.
2. Tax upon carriages.
3.
boats.
11
4.
J1
"J
hired carriages
"
J5
shops.
dogs, and
"
5. An amendment of the Stamp Acts.
6. The Road Ordinance.
The Executive Council, therefore, took a course
of their own, as in fact they were fully justified in
doing, according to the terms of Lord Grey's despatch already quoted. Of these taxes, two were ultimately repealed, the dog-tax and the shop-tax. Others were modified, as, for instance, the gun-tax, which, from being an annual tax, was commuted into a tax on the registration of arms once for all.
In the course of the inquiry, it was attempted to be shown that these taxes occasioned disturbances, and finally the outbreak in July 1848; and that they were imposed by parties without sufficient knowledge of the habits, usages, and feelings of the people of Ceylon. How far they had anything to do with the insurrection will be pointed out here- after. That they did not proceed from inexpe- rienced parties, the following extract from the evidence shows:
4150. Having enumerated the taxes, will you state when they were first suggested în Ceylon An impression has got abroad that these taxes were first suggested at a very recent period by myself and other members of the Govern- gent who had recently arrived in the island. I am in a position to state most distinctly that such is not the fact. These taxes were recommended in a report on the revenues of the island which I sent home at the close of the year 1846; but almost without exception they are the adop- tion, on my part, of suggestions which had been the subject of discussion in the island for years before I had arrived there, and which came before me sanctioned with the authority and concurrence of some of the oldest and most experienced public servanta in the colony.
4151. Was there not a committes in 1842 of publis servants in the island?—There was; it was a committee of the Legislative Council. The necessity for extending roads in the colony had become so pressing in order to meet the demand for the extended plantation of coffee, that a Committee of the Legislative Council was appointed by the Government in order to consider what funds could
Evidence 1850.
Sir E. Tennent.
4169.
4171.
Anstruther.
Bir E. Tennent.
May 10, 1850.
Sir R. Tonsent.
May 10, 1860.
be raised to provide for additional communication. That Committee consisted of Mr. Anstruther, the Colonial Store- tary; Mr. Wright, the Auditor-General; Mr. Gibson, the Government Agent of the Western Province; and four un- official members of the Legislative Council, one of whom is still a member, Mr. Armitage; the others were Mr. Ritchie, Mr. Urquhart Stmoert, and Mr. Gifming.
4152. What taxes were proposed by that Committee ? -The report of that Committee I now hold in my hand, and the recommendations which they made were, that a land-tax should be imposed to include the land of the natives, "for by working on the roads, all such will have the means of commuting their tax to labour; and if disposed to work for their subsistence, they may easily earn far more than they pay." They recommended the imposition of a fish-bar; this was a tax that had long subsisted in the island, boi was abolished in the year 1838 by orders from home; they recommended its imposition, "as its abolition in 1883 had neither led to the extension of fisheries, nor caused any diminution in the price of fish."
In the third place, they recommended a saw on fire-arms, an a legitimate source of revenus, “in the shape of a gun-licence; one which would be willingly submitted to and easily collected ; and on political grounds a register of arma is highly desirable." In the fourth place, they recommended a tam upon dogs; in the fifth place, a tax upon sarriage and horses; and in the sixth place, « lam upen corte; this was recommended by the native witnesses; and a shop-tax was likewise recommended by one of the chief Modliars who were examined, and the Committee called the attention of the Government to that suggestion. 4153. The kamer you have more named include nearly all those that were proposed by Lord Torrington and his Coumeil ?----I see not one tan proposed by Lord Torrington's Council that was not recommended by that Committes.
4154. Bọ that, in point of fact, Lord Torrington and his Council in some degres acted upon the recommanda- tion of the Committee, of which Mr. Anstruther was a leading member ?—Yes. Some subsequent correspondence took place with the Secretary of State in relation to some of those taxes, especially the gun-tax, which Lord Stanley entertained apprehensions might be attended with diffi- culty in collection; but in reply to that objection Sir Călin Campbell addressed a despatch to Lord Stanley to dienbuse his mind of that impression, and to state that it could be collected' with'esss and facility.
4155. Is the Road Ordinance mentioned in the report of that Committee Yes; they suggested something analogwaz to the Road Ordinance; they suggested a tax upon the land, by which they my, “by working on the rouds all wonk will have the means of commuting their tax to labour and if disposed to work for their subsistance D
10