PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
LC.O. 882
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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lifelong misery, even as a young child takes to nicotine poisoning. He handles a cigarette or cigar, and pulls away in artistic fashion, and he becomes sick, and But this fashionable vice tempts him again he swears that he will not do it again
and again, and he becomes all the worse for the habit of smoking acquired. The masses of people are so ignorant of the laws of hygiene that if they are offered at their very household, so to speak, an opportunity for indulging in the drink habit, what will be the result Every man would go into a tavern and take the liquor which he could not get before except by walking three or four miles for it. 1 say that the remedy for ilheit sales is not the establishment of taverns in the The principle upon which the Government of Ceylon is going place of illicit sale.
that the extent of the illicit sales may be taken as the measure of the legitimate It would not stand analysis for a moment demand is utterly wrong in principle. It is to be condeinned both upon grounds of policy and upon moral principles. The habit of drinking and eating poison every day of our lives, our religion con- demns it the Hindu religion, the Buddhist religion, the Muhammadan religion, and I am sure the Christian religion also. Sir, it is essentially wrong in moral principle if the Government of Ceylon brings within the grasp of villagers oppor- tunities for drinking opportunities for poisoning themselves and vitiating their system altogether. I do hope that the principle insisted upon by many who are devoted to temperance will be adopted by the Government in Ceylon, just as it has It is the opinion of all been adopted in many of the United States of America sound observers that the habit of drink is fast extending, despite what my honour- The Sinhalese and the Tamils are being able friend Mr. van Cuylenburg has said. attracted by that habit in an awful manner, and the revision of the renting system should not be seized upon for giving further opportunities for the practice of a vice which is well known to be spreading. The extent publicly and privately it is going on around us,in cities, and in fact all over Ceylon, is something terrible. Any one who knows how rapidly the constitution is undermined by this habit will not be a willing party to the extension of taverns. So far, Sir, for illicit sales. Now for the remedy. We cannot abolish altogether the income from spirits; We there we cannot ask for the suppression of the trade in intoxicating drinks.
Local option is not fore appeal to you, and ask you at least not to establish new taverns, except where
The Government say, the people of the country want them. possible: it has been tried in many countries, and it will lead to nothing but tyranny by a small minority," and my honourable friend, if I remember rightly, also said I think my honourable friend has made a that the system is not in force in India.
For. Sir. I have ascertained that the Excise Commissioner in India little mistake always, when there is an application for the opening of a liquor shop, consults various bodies. Now, turning to England, we find local option conceded in 32 and 33 Victoria c 27 Section 7 and 33 and 34 Victoria c. 29 Section 4. It is that same principle which we find in India and in England that has been introduced into Ceylon by our own Ordinance No. 12 of 1891, that is, the Licensing Ordinance. The principle is this, that where a man desires to open a liquor shop in Ceylon, he must send in his application to the Government Agent, and he, the Government Agent, is bound to notify the same in various public places, so that the opinion of the parties concerned in the neighbourhood may be ascertained as to whether that application is to he Now, Sir, this is a paraphrase of the popular term "local option," granted or not and it is this" local option "which is current in different countries, such as England, the United States of America, and India, and Ceylon. It cannot be said that this system does not exist in those different countries, or that it develops into petty Nor can it be said that we are not used to such a system. We are quite tyranny used to local option. How is it to be enforced? my honourable friend wants to know. He says that the circumstances of England are different from the circumstances of Ceylon, and that, therefore, the thing is entirely out of place here. I deny this in toto. The people of this country are quite capable of expressing their opinion on such questions. I will give him an instance from the Irrigation Ordinance in our midst. Now, a study of the Irrigation Ordinance will show that a machinery exists for inviting all landholders and cultivators to come and express their opinion as to whether their district should be brought within the operation or not of the Irrigation Ordinance. As a matter of fact, those qualified to speak will tell you that that The Ordinance says two-thirds of the cultivators and land- system works well. owners must agree before the Government Agent can bring into force the Irrigation Ordinance in that particular district. Why not do that here? Every father and mother, every brother and sister, every kinsman is interested in the welfare of his family. Why not give them all-man and woman of marriageable age—an oppor-
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tunity of expressing their opinion regarding the establishment of a tavern in their midst If you destroy the population of the country, there will be no good in possess- ing the country. We may project various schemes for improving the country, but if we destroy the strength of the nation by allowing the people to imbibe freely alcohol poison and nicotine poison, what good can come of measures of public utility? The arguments which have been urged around this table adversely to the introduction of local option have not conduced to show that it is impossible to put it in force here Now, then, Sir, with regard to one other question, and one I was startled to hear. and that is this Mr Thurley I understand to be a man of high character, efficient and facile, and a master of the excise system. He was recommended by the Madras
Government
He has seen a similar system put into force in Burma. He was the man selected at the request of my honourable friend Sir Hugh Clifford; he comes here on an engagement for three years, and he has gathered a large experience of the country, and that period of service expires in August next; and he is going to be sent out of the Colony, without a stain or a disgrace on his character, before the system has been put into operation. I ask I want to know for what reason is he being sent away a man who has had the advantage of co operating with a gentle- man so able as Mr Horsburgh, a man who has been in every nook and corner of the Island, a man who has a good store of local experience and executive ability-why is he being sent away before this far reaching and very complicated measure has been fully inaugurated? Why is he going to be sent out of the country, and why is another man of less experience going to be brought into the Colony? Is it on the score of expense
If it is economy that the Government is trying for, I am sure that the Honourable Members who have voted Rs. 40,000 for the extension of the Government House grounds in Nuwara Eliya, who have voted over 4 millions of money in connec- tion with the lake system, who have done so much in the way of voting away public moneys for schemes which many people say are unnecessary, will be glad. I am sure, to vote any sum of money for inducing Mr. Thurley to stay in Ceylon until the due completion of this most complicated scheme.
That is almost all I need say, in view of many of my objections having been disposed of by the most able, earnest, and clear speech of the Colonial Secretary yesterday. It was a great triumph for him, when storms of all kinds were gathering in Ceylon, and when Unofficial Members of this Council were agreed to present a solid flank of opposition in respect of this scheme; it is a great triumph that by a judicious explanation and concessions my honourable friend should have been able to remove their fears and to take them with him. Notwithstanding the rebuff I have received at his hands and at the hands of His Excellency the Governor, I am now prepared to go into Committee upon this Bill in order to listen more fully to any further explanation which my honourable friend may give in Committee, and I shall help the Government of Ceylon in arriving at a right solution of a subject which has rightly been pronounced to be far-reaching in its consequences.
The Honourable the PRINCIPAL CIVIL Medical OfficeR: Your Excellency, I have been asked as a medical man to make a few remarks on the question of the physiological effects of toddy and arrack on the individual. I find, Sir, that of the two drinks, toddy is less pernicious than arrack. The amount of alcohol contained in toddy is less than in arrack. As to the effects of alcohol on the human being, that is fairly well known; in small quantities it is said to be an aid to digestion; it certainly is an aid to digestion by the mechanical manner in which alcohol dissolves the fats. It is considered that in small quantities, well diluted, it is not harmful; on the other hand, it is extremely harmful when taken in concentrated strength. Toddy as a beverage I understand to be similar to light beers which are used in Europe-a light German heer or the ordinary English household beer that is used by the people in various countries in Europe; and I do not think that anybody can say that the abstemious use of wholesome beer as a beverage does anybody very much harm. Therefore, so far as toddy goes in this country, I believe it to be a very refreshing, nice drink, which has been likened by a high authority as equivalent to lemonade, and there is practically no harm in it. When we come to pure alcohol in the shape of stronger spirits, that is a different matter. In a few words, Sir, we serious find that moderate drinking of alcohol, freely diluted, is not a thing of very influence on the health of the community.
The Honourable the ACTING CONTROLLER OF REVENUE: It has been very grati- fying to me in the course of this debate to hear so many of the Unofficial Members of this Council say that the misgivings in their minds when they came into this
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