PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
The Roman
Catholic clergy now rent out the tax, as the
Government formerly did.
Objections to
the renting
system.
Proposal to introduce a system of compulsory
commatation.
For exemption.
Against exemption.
$
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hands by the Mohandrams of the fisher caste, they state that the tax is now as regularly farmed by the Roman Catholic clergy as it was formerly by the Government; that the privilege of its collection from the fishermen is sold yearly at the respective churches by public auction, and the purchaser of the rent binds himself to the priest of each church, with due security for the payment and should any of the, fishers refuse to give to the renter the proportion required from him in behalf of the church, he is excommunicated by the priest, and no intercourse is allowed to be kept between him and the rest of the congregation.""
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We are aware that exception was taken to part of this passage by the Committee of the House of Commons which reported on it, but the argument of the Committee was successfully refuted by Sir E. Tennent (see Ceylon, Vol. II. p. 149.)
V. We now come to the consideration of the most important question with which we have to deal, namely, the mode of the collection of the taxes on home-grown grain. Though the people willingly pay to the Government a share of their produce as a rent for their land they do not willingly submit to the system under which the Government sells to a middleman the right to collect the Government share. Notwithstanding every precaution and the care with which the law has been framed to prevent abuse, and, while securing the due collection of the revenue, to give all possible protection to the cultivator, the evidence before us compels us to the conclusion that the present mode of collecting the tithe on home-grown grain by the renting system is susceptible of abuse, and has, in some parts of Ceylon, been abused to the disadvantage of the cultivator. We are therefore of opinion that it ought to be superseded by some other system. Moreover, the payment in kind of any share of the produce of land necessarily involves restrictions delays which are calculated to interfere with the proper harvesting of the crops, and to expose them to risk and damage. The cultivator, if he is to obtain the full reward of his labour, must be left free to reap and thresh when he pleases; on his discretion in these matters there should be no restriction. We recommend, in order that the renting system may be abolished in the case of paddy lands, that a law should be passed laying down the mode in which the money value of the Government tithe on paddy should be assessed and making the money value of the tithe so assessed payable as an annual commutation in lieu of the payment of the tithe in kind. The commutation should be made on a careful field-to-field assessment and should be based on the average annual which
crop the land is capable of yielding, regard being had to its soil, water supply, facilities for obtaining manure, its liability to any special damage, and all circumstances which affect its cultivation beneficially or otherwise. The Government share of the average annual vield should be valued at the market rate of paddy for the district on an average of twenty years. The first compulsory assessment should be subjected to revision at the expiration of seven years. It would, in our opinion, be necessary to exempt from compul- sory commutation any fields which from want of water or other natural cause had not been cultivated for the last seven years, and power should be given to the revenue officers to fix the assessment for such fields from time to time when cultivated. In the same way power should be given to fix from time to time the assessment on paddy grown on owiti and hen and elsewhere than on wet land. The renters' profit is estimated at 25 to 30 per cent. and we are of opinion that if proper care be exercised in making the assessment and due precautions be taken against under-estimation of the extent of the fields, not only will there be no present loss to the revenue but the commutation may be carried out on terms which will be acceptable to the people and recognised by them as just, and yet secure to the Government some share of the renter's profits to compensate for the sacrifice of a prospective increase of revenue during the term for which the commuta- tion is fixed.
A majority of the Commission is of opinion that fine grain which is not taxed in the Kandyan Provinces should be exempted from tax throughout the island, and in support of their view they point the small amount of revenue, about 7,000l. a year, derived from this source. They also support their view by the statement of the Government Agent of the Northern Province that commutation of the fine grain tax is not practicable. It appears to a minority of the Commission that it is not desirable to abandon any of the Crown rights over the land and that this tax should not be given up unless a substitute for it can be found. The greater part of it is paid by the cultivators of the Northern province, and forms a considerable part of its revenue. That province even now does not pay the whole of the cost of its administration, and it is not expedient still further to increase the deficit. The minority consider that if this tax were now abolished its abolition would materially increase the difficulties in imposing a land tax if such a measure were hereafter adopted.
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The Government Agent of the northern province writes:-"It is utterly impossible "to introduce a system of commutation with regard to this tax [he excepts the tax on varagu] as the lands sown for one crop are not in many instances sown for another crop of dry grain for some time." This is the only reason he assigns for not adopting a system of commutation. In Madras no difficulty is found in assessing every kind of land, both wet and dry, and the minority of the Commission are of opinion that with the admirable records which are kept in the northern province of all rent sales and of all of transactions affecting land, it would be possible, by taking a sufficiently long average years and by liberal principles of assessment, to arrive at a rate which would be fair and without any material sacrifice of revenue enable the Government to impose a compulsory commutation and to abolish entirely the renting system, and thus relieve the Jaffna cultivators of the hardships which that demoralising system now entails on them.
VI.-Lastly, we have failed to devise any means, otherwise than by compulsory com- Landowners as mutation, by which landowners may become farmers of their own tithe.
farmers of their
own tithe. Lightness of
Ceylon.
In considering the subject generally we have been instructed that the lightness of the taxation of Ceylon should be borne in mind, and as the result of the inquiries we have taxation in made we find that in Ceylon the cultivator pays, as a rule, one-tenth of the gross produce of his field. In India on the opposite coast within twelve hours' sail of Ceylon, he pays one-half of the net-produce, which is equivalent to 25 or 30 per cent. of the gross produce. It is one-tenth in Ceylou as against one-fourth or more in Madras. The local Governments in India have furnished the Commission with very full and valuable information respecting their land settlements, which vary with the tenures and circum- stances of the different parts of India, and, as might be expected from the geographical position of Ceylon, the identity in race of the people of southern India and north Ceylon, and the early history of the fiscal administration of Ceylon, which, when first acquired by Great Britain, was governed as a dependency of Madras, the system which is the best for the purpose of this comparison that now being worked out in the neighbouring Presidency of Madras, and the district of Tinnevelly has been selected as the example to take, on account of its proximity to Ceylon, and as the latest improvements in settlement have been worked out in that district. The system is thus explained by Mr. R. K. Puckle, the Revenue Settlement Commissioner :-
"The villages were formed into groups with reference to their several advantages of irrigation, climate, soil, situation, &c., and a series of experiments was made to ascertain the yield of the staple grain. When this was determined a table was framed showing the yield of each class of soil, and this yield was converted into money by an average struck on twenty years' market prices with some abatement for trader's profits and for the distance that the grain usually had to be carried. From the value of the gross produce, thus determined, the cost of cultivation was deducted, and the remainder or net value of the produce was then divided, and one-half taken as the Government demand on the The result is an average rate of assessment on wet lands of 178. 74d. per acre, and a range from 21. to 6s. an acre on wet lands, and from 78. to 6d. an acre on dry lands. No The unhusked rise has less than 7 per cent. of the wet lands has been assessed at 21. been valued at ls. 5d. a bushel. Turning now to Ceylon we have an assessment on wet lands ranging from 148, 5d. to 11d. an acre, with an average varying in the several provinces from 6s. 3d. to ls. 11d. based on an average price of a bushel of unbusked rice also varying in the several provinces from 28. 8d. to 10d. There is no assessment in Ceylon on dry lands. The range of production appears to be the same in Tinnevelly as in Ceylon, varying from a rare minimum of six fold to a full crop maximum of twenty-one fold, with a few highly favoured lands capable of producing still heavier crops. mean ratio of produce may be fairly taken in both cases at twelve fold. Taking the incidence of taxation on population it has been calculated that the land revenue in Ceylon is equal to 10d. per head against 28. in Bengal, 38. 3d. in Madras, and 48. 5d. in Bombay. The ordinary revenue derived from taxation has been shown above to be 865,0007., which gives for a probable population of 3,000,000 a rate per head of 58. 6d., and if the local revenue amounting to 189,000/. be added, the rate is 7. a head.
land."
The
TEVOBUS:
We have already expressed our concurrence in the view that it is necessary to maintain Necessary to the revenue so as to carry on the administration and material improvement of the island, maintain the and we also fully recognise the necessity of providing for the interest on loans which have been raised or may soon have to be raised for the more rapid development of the resources of the Colony.
We have also been reminded that in any changes we might suggest no check should and to impose be imposed on the progress and elasticity of the revenue. We would point out that no obeck ou
A. 694.
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the progress