لسلاسل
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIB,
(No. 1648.)
56
Enclosure 3 in No. 6.
Government Agent's Office, Kandy, November 21, 1882.
Ar a meeting of the Legislative Council, held on the 15th instant, the repre- sentative of the Sinhalese community, acting on a circular issued to the unofficial members of Council by a native agricultural society, included his complaint of the working of the new Grain Ordinance an indictment against the revenue officers charged with the administration of the Nuwara Eliya district on account of certain alleged sales of padi fields under the revenue laws in force where the Grain Ordinance has not yet been brought into operation.
2. No notice was given that a question of this nature would be introduced into a discussion on certain special provisions of the new Grain Ordinance, and I was only able to state generally that the law was enforced with the utmost care, with full publicity and with every consideration for the interests of the small landowners, and that such pressure as it had been found necessary to put upon the people was due mainly to the ignorance on the part of a former Assistant Agent of the district of the principles of revenue administration and to his ill-judged kindness to the people, by which the collection of the revenue was practically brought to a deadlock.
3. I have thought it desirable, for the satisfaction of Government, to refer to my Assistant the statement on which the Sinhalese member of Council based his remarks, and I now have the honour to forward, for the Governor's information, copy of my Assistant's report, No. 957, of 20th instant.
4. The gist of the complaint is that fields worth Rs. 3,150 were sold for Rs. 100 on account of arrears of tax amounting only to some Rs. 40.
5. The actual value, as compared with the valuation making up Rs. 3,150, is shown below:-
Valuation by Native
Society.
1. Rs. 200
4.
5.
2.
400
""
3.
"
600
250
19
300
21
6.
150
19
7.
"
300
8.
>>
400
9.
350
"
10.
11.
100 100
"
Actual Valuation, as returned by
N. Eliya Kachcheri.
Not sold.
-
Rs. 61.
50.
"
"
40.
35.
-}}
"
7.
11
40.
Not sold.
Rs. 25 to 30.
18.
Not sold.
6. The necessity for allowing headmen to bid for fields sold in default of payment of tax is shown in paragraph 12 of my Assistant's letter. The circumstance mentioned at the end of that paragraph led me to make a special circuit at the end of last September through the Nuwara Eliya District, to afford the people an opportunity of making any coruplaints, and of satisfying myself that while the rights of the Crown were duly enforced, and any attempt at combination (such as leads inevitably to open resistance to lawful authority) was promptly overcome, every reasonable precaution was taken to guard against any harshness or injustice. I was so satisfied, and I found no ground for complaint.
The Hon, the Colonial Secretary.
(No. 957.)
SIR,
57
3. Of the remaining eight fields, four are situated in the Maturata district, and four in Walapane.
4. Of the fields in Maturata, three were in default for four years' tax, viz., 1878 to 1881 inclusive, a strong indication that the fields are very poor ones, and were not likely to find bidders, except for very small amounts, while the remaining field, No. 1047, which was in default for two years-1880 and 1881-has been the subject of special report, to which I have referred in the column of remarks.
5. Of the four fields situated in Walapane, three were in default for two years, and one for three years, but all of these fields are very unfertile, and usually yield only four or
five fold.
6. Ample notice was given of the sales. It was decided at the middle of April that the arrears, which (not taking into account the tax for 1882, though it hud then become due) amounted to 94 per cent. of one year's tax, should be recovered in the usual manner; and the headmen were informed accordingly, and were crdered to make the fact known among the people.
7. Legal steps, however, were not immediately taken to enforce payment, but three months were allowed to clapse before seizure of property was resorted to.
8. By that time the arrears of 1881 and former years had been only slightly reduced, and still amounted to 74 per cent. on one year's tax..
9. The first sales were held on the 14th and 15th July, special notice having been everywhere published of the fact, and the sales were held by me in the most public manner at Maturata.
10. As regard the sales in Walapane, still longer time was allowed, the sales being specially postponed once at the request of the people. They took place finally in September.
11. I have no hesitation in saying that the fullest possible notice of the sales was given, and that every consideration was shown to the people, as I have indicated in several of my reports on petitions on the subject.
12. I found it absolutely necessary, if it was intended that any sales should be effected, to allow the headmen to bid, as no purchasers whatever came forward from among the villagers, or, if they did, their appearance was the signal for an uproarious demonstration, as occurred in Oyapalate when a villager made a bid.
13. It is not necessary that the headinen who bid should remain owners of the fields; they were reluctant to bid for them, and in the case of fields in Walapane have in vain endeavoured to get the defaulters to pay the tax and take back the lands. This includes the two fields purchased for the head clerk of the Kachcheri.
14. The value set on the fields, in the return referred to in Council, is fictitiously exaggerated, and the instances selected for complaint are all exceptional ones.
15. The person, K. P. Bandar of Maturata, who has furnished the return, is not known. The valuations would be high even for good fields in good districts in prosperous times.
The fields selected are unfertile ones, present times are depressed, and the price of everything, including paddy, has greatly fallen, while the people's means have been further reduced by failure of their own coffee crops, and by the absence of employment, which they formerly were able to obtain on the estates.
16. It is not surprising, therefore, that the paddy land should be sold for low prices. The land was in no case sold when any other property was available for seizure and sale.
I am, &c., (Signed) J. A. BAUMGArtner,
The Hon. the Government Agent,
Kandy.
I am, &c. (Signed)
JOHN F. DICKSON,
Government Agent.
2630.
Nuwara Eliya Kachcheri, November 20, 1882.
I HAVE the honour to return herewith the return of fields sold for default of payment of paddy commutation forwarded to me with your semi-official letter of the 15th instant, together with a statement giving particulars as to the tax in arrear, the nuinber of years, and the correct valuation, with other remarks.
2. It will be seen three out of the eleven fields in the list were not sold at all.
No. 7.
W. E. T. SHARPE, Esq., to COLONIAL OFFICE.
THE TITHE QUESTION IN CEYLON.
1
A.G.A.
These papers have been handed me for my remarks on the grain tax question in Ceylon. The expression "grain tax" is a misnomer. Tithe is in no sense a tax, but à rent payable to the Crown under the old common law, alike in the Maritime provinces, the Tumi! provinces, and the old Kandyan kingdom. Being thus a most ancient form of property it is, like other rent, recoverable by the ancient simple process of distress
1 62068.
H