CORRESPONDENCE.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:T
TPETC.O. 882
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
From or to whom.
Despatch Ko.
Date.
1
Governor Sir J. R.
Longden.
65
Feb. 2, 1881 (Rec. Feb. 28).
2
To Governor Sir
90
March 18, 1881
J. R. Longden.
Subject.
Reporting on the working of grain tax ordi- nance, and that the new system of commu- tation has been favourably received.
1
Acknowledging the good services rendered 2
by Grain Tax Commissioners and by Mr. Ď.C. Dias Jayatilakaratus Bandaranayake.
Page.
No. 1.
GOVERNOR SIR J. R. LONGDEN, K.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY. (Received February 28, 1881.)
(Miscellaneous, No. 55.)
MY LORD,
The Pavilion, Kandy, Ceylon, February 2, 1881.
XXXVIII. of
AMONG the Sessional Papers that I have had the honour to forward for 1879 and 1880, there are several reports made by the Grain Tax Commissioners appointed to settle LIT. of 1879. the commutation of the duty on grain under the provisions of the Grain Tax Ordinance, 1880. 1878. These reports show very clearly the mode in which the Commissioners have XXXIX. of carried out the important work intrusted to them, and the difficulties they have had to XL. of 1880.
surmount.
2. The Commissioners have made very considerable progress with their work in the Western Province, and I am glad to be able to report that thus far this thickly popu- lated province has received the change in the law with much satisfaction.
3. Under the Ordinance of 1878, the grain duty which was formerly farmed out by the Government to renters, becomes payable in money, and the amount to be so paid is determined at the option of the landowner (who is generally also the cultivator) in one
1880.
of three ways, either a fixed sun payable annually, or a fixed sum payable in those "Annual com- years only in which the land produces a crop, or a sum varying with the estimated value mutation." of the crop.
4. The first method is termed "annual commutation," and is the one that has been most generally selected by the people. Under this method the grain duty becomes virtually a tax on the land, independent altogether of the yield of the land, and there- fore offering every encouragement to the cultivator to improve his cultivation, knowing that the tax will be the same whether he doubles his produce or not.
* Crop com mutation." "Grain duty."
5. In the reports the Commissionere ample evidence will be found that the com- inutation of the tax is generally acceptable to the people. Thus Mr. Commissioner Dawson writes of the Siyane Korale: "The provisions of the Ordinance were carefully Semional
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(
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1879.
explained to the people and met with their approval. Annual commutation was in per, LXIII., every instance elected in preference to crop commutation, and its amount determined "by agreement between the landowner and the Commissioner." Of the Hewagam Korale, Mr. Dawson writes: "The reform which the Ordinance introduces met with general approval. Landowners preferred annual commutation to crop commutation, only the owners of a small extent of ovita land, in the village Hanwellä, having elected "the latter mode of payment." Of the Salpiti Korale, Mr. Dawson reports:
"The new "mode of paying the tax seemed to be everywhere acceptable, and annual commutation was always taken in preference to crop commutation." In regard to Meda and Adikari Pattus, Mr. Commissioner Bailey writes: "The introduction of the Ordinance was every- "where hailed with satisfaction, and annual commutation was invariably elected in the "mode of payment."
6. The reports of the Government agents of the districts in which the commutation lias been carried out are generally to the same effect.
7. Mr. Green, the assistant Government agent of the Negombo district,'in his season reports, writes as follows :—
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"In Hapitigam Korale the new Grain Tax Ordinance is now almost ready to come "into operation as regards part 2, and I believe there will be no more rent sales there. "The people have agreed very willingly with the Commissioner in every case, and show every disposition to welcome the new arrangements. But it remains to be seen whether they will be punctual in payment." The doubt suggested in the last sentence bappily proved groundless, and Mr. Green subsequently reported: "The grain tax collections for the Hapitigam Korale were duly closed at the end of December, so that I am glad "to say there are no arrears outstanding on this head."
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8. From Kegalla, Mr. Murray, the assistant agent, writes: "The new system of col- lecting (the grain) tax by assessment will be commenced in January instead of this