PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
TILIC.O. 882
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9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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Council were removed by the lucid and able speech of the Honourable the Colonial Secretary yesterday It is at once a demonstration of the ability of that speech and of their own reasonableness In spite of that gratifying admission that misgivings had been removed. I seem to see it some few of the speeches made a suspicion that the Government cannot get rid of the idea that it wants more revenue, and that for the sake of that want it may not be so strict in suppressing the drink habit as it might possibly be I cannot say ton emphatically that the Government considers the There is no doubt that it considers that revenue part of it a minor consideration the new system will give the Government its legitimate revenue, but the Government has shown its readiness already to forgo revenue for the sake of introducing a better system, if necessary, because it has already sold some of the arrack rents for the next financial year at a loss I would just like to notice a few of the opinions and It has been rather difficult to remem- criticisms which have been offered by Members.
of
ber exactly all that was said, and if I misquote any member I hope he will correct me. I understand that the First Low country Sinhalese Member has a fear lest the con- sumption per head should increase, and he would like a guarantee from the Govern Now, I submit that it is quite impossible to give any ment that that shall not occur such
guarantee with the very best will in the world on the part of the Government,
power that the rate of consumption per head should not increase, it is beyond the Government to give a definite guarantee that it never shall increase, because there are many reasons for it, for instance, the increased prosperity of the "eople who already consume We all know that the standard of living throughout Ceylon is going up
Things that were luxuries a few years ago are now the necessities of life, and along with them, it is to be feared, drink with some people may be numbered. But it is, however, to be hoped that as education spreads amongst those people who, owing to their poverty, could not drink before, they may learn to drink, if they drink at all, in moderation. It therefore does not necessarily follow that an increase of consumption per head may mean a more reckless consumption of spirits. There is another point. You must remember that our Western influences are breaking down the barriers of caste and prejudice which led people formerly not to drink. cannot be helped. I am afraid that in some cases the evil consequences of civilisation are apt to assimilate more quickly than the good parts; but we must trust to the good ones to prevail in the long run.
It
The Honourable the FIRST LOW COUNTRY SINHALESE MEMBER: If I am in order in asking a question, what has caste to do with arrack? I never referred to caste.
The Honourable the ACTING CONTROLLER OF REVENUE: I was stating a reason why we might possibly find ourselves faced, though I hope it will not prove so in practice, with an increased consumption per head because of the removal of ancient prejudices which necessarily follows the march of Western civilisation. The First Low-country Sinhalese Member also feared that regular taverns were a temptation to drink, and that has been stated by other members; but it is necessary to point out that illicit taverns are also an ever-present temptation to drink, and not only a temptation to drink-as any tavern may be said to be they are a temptation of the worst kind, they are injurious in another way people who resort to them know they are doing an illegal thing. When they go to them, they do not know what sort of adulterated stuff they may get. The Honourable the Ceylonese Member said that I do not know whether he meant that the illicit sales are encouraged by taverus.
If so, I cannot agree with more taverns there are, the more the illicit sales will be. that proposition. But I should like to quote, besides the numerous documents that have already been quoted in the course of this discussion, a memorandum attached to Sessional Paper XXXII of 1904, that is to say, the report of the Sub-Committee on Arrack, of which Mr. Crawford, Mr. John Ferguson, Mr. Francis Beven, and Mr. J. W. Charles de Soysa were the members; there is a memorandum attached to that report by Mr Beven, in which he said that--
said
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The consumers of arrack are not likely to quarrel about a change which will in no way interfere with their liberty. They want the spirit, and they shall have it, only under conditions which shall safeguard quality and ensure to them a correct measure."
That is what we are proposing to do.
t
In that same memorandum Mr. Beven
An increase in the number of taverns would be better than having an equal number of illicit shops."
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However, as you heard yesterday from the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, the Government is striving to work the new system with the fewest number of taverns possible. I am perfectly certain that that will be the constant endeavour of the Government.
HIS EXCELLency the GOVERNOR Hear, hear!
The Honourable the COLONIAL SECRETARY Hear, hear!
The Honourable the ACTING CONTROLLER OF REVENUE: Several questions have been asked about the details of this system which is about to be introduced, about the distilleries, and about the staff; all those I had better leave the Colonial Secre- tary to reply to, though I might say I think the staff must grow up gradually; we cannot suddenly create a staff to deal with this system all over the Island, and that is one of the reasons why this system is going to be introduced gradually. There is only one other point which I think I need notice, and that is local option. Now, there seems to be some confusion of mind on the part of those members who have advocated local option. It seemed to me that they were not quite clear what local option meant. I take it that it means that the residents of a given locality take a vote, and the majority decides whether a public house or tavern should be established in that locality or not. What has been suggested, so far as I can see in Council, is that local opinion should be consulted, which is a very different thing. Now, the Government always endeavours to find out in a matter of this sort what the local opinion is, and I am sure that it will continue to do so; in fact, the Excise Commis- sioner has already stated in his report that local opinion should be consulted. But that is quite a different thing from leaving the decision with the local community only, just in the same way as the applicant for a liquor licence must affix a notice stating his intention to apply for a licence, but if there is an objection, it is decided by the proper authority, not by the objector, whether he shall have the licence or not. Therefore, local option proper can only be said to be the vote of the majority of a local area, and the decision would rest with them as to whether there should be a tavern or not. I do not see how that can possibly work in Ceylon. There is no such thing as real public opinion in Ceylon; and supposing we introduce this local option, what will you find? You will find the busy-bodies in the villages persuading people how they want the vote to go. Then those people who consider themselves to be reputable people--and it is true that a great many who pose as reputable people object to going to a tavern, and it may be that such people will vote against a tavern. All those people want the drink all the same; and the effect will be that we shall have illicit places again; and, again, we shall have the well-meaning people and the illicit seller on the same side; and, as Mr. Ellis said, the illicit seller would be the person to take the correct view. Then, again, supposing you have local option in any locality, what will happen in the planting districts? Will every cooly on an estate vote, and will the vote of the majority of the coolies on an estate decide whether there is to be a tavern or not? Is the superintendent to count for nothing? It seems to me that merely to state that is to reduce it to an absurdity. Are all the riffraff in the Pettah to say how many taverns they are to have? I think the answer will be to say-- certainly not. There is one more point. Even supposing we did have local option, and that a group of villages voted and said they wanted a tavern-very well, then the question would arise where that tavern should be. Now, every village would want not to have a tavern within its own limits, and therefore each village would attempt to shove the tavern on to its next-door neighbour. I think the result would be an impossible state of things. We know very well that local option is a measure of quite doubtful expediency in Western countries; and in a country like Ceylon we may say that it is quite impossible. At the same time, I think, speaking for myself, and I am perfectly certain that what I say represents the sense of all Government officers, they would always be ready to give every possible due consideration to local opinion, and would take every means to satisfy themselves that they were not acting contrary to the great body of that local opinion.
The Honourable the COLONIAL SECRETARY: Sir, I rise to wind up the debate upon this very important matter, and in doing so I should like to express my very deep gratitude to all the Unofficial Members present, not only for the attention which they were kind enough to extend to me during a speech of unprecedented length yesterday afternoon, but also for the thought and consideration which they have since given, as their speeches this afternoon have shown, to the matters I then placed before
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