།། ༄། །
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
سلنلسستانيليا
Reference :-
C.O. 882
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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all the above named on Sunday afternoon in broad daylight came from the Railway Station and unlawfully entered her house, where two helpless and destitute families were staying, and insulted them in indecent language, committed a cowardly assault in pans on the men, women, and children, hurled stones at them, broke the pots and their compound, and ran away. The accused were alleged to be hopelessly drunk on toddy at the time when they are said to have committed this dastardly act. The mischief makers ran away before the neighbours came to the rescue of the injured. The matter was at once reported at the Police Station, and a constable repaired to the spot and made inquiries. Summonses have been allowed against all the accused for the 9th instant.
FROM THE CEYLON" MORNING LEADER," 25TH NOVEMBER, 1912.
Chilaw.
(1) Murder in Mauingala, 14th October, 1912.
(2) Murder in Rajakadaluwa, 3rd November, 1912.
(3) Murder in Chilaw Town, 8th November, 1912.
(4) Murder in Wennappuwa, 8th November, 1912.
(5) Murder in Lunuvila, 14th November, 1912.
In this last case the victim's deposition has been taken, but I am not certain if she has expired yet. These five murders mean ten lives ultimately lost. Apart from the sin and the shame and the pain involved in these murders and their sequels, who can guage the depth of the misery and the moral, physical, and financial ruin of the children and other near relatives of these victims of the Government excise policy? C. E. Victor Corea.
FROM THE CEYLON " MORNING LEADER," 28TH NOVEMBER, 1912
A Man Stabs Two School Boys.
A serious brawl took place on Sunday in Panadure, when a man, who had partaken too treely of the "harmless beverage," stabbed two school boys who were resident at a boarding house. The man, who is the boarding master's uncle, called at the house on the day in question and abused his nephew, and the boarders had a little fun at his expense. This nettled the man, who, drawing a knife, challenged the lot, and finally stabbed two boys. One of them received three or four wounds, and is now in the Panadura Hospital.
FROM THE CEYLON "MORNING LEADER, 26TH NOVEMBER, 1912. Toddy Taverns in Badulla.
At a meeting of the Badulla Planters' Association, held on Saturday, the 23rd instant, in the Badulla Town Hall, Mr. A. T. Rettie, the veteran planter, is reported to have remarked that his experience in Ceylon, covering a period of 40 years, did not convince him that illicit sale could be prevented by the establishment of numerous toddy taverns. Illicit sale, he repeated, would continue anyhow, whereas toddy taverns, established as they were, most of them, by the roadside would increase drunkenness and offer temptations to wayfarers and coolies. He mentioned that down his estate on the roadside, without any request from anybody, a tavern had been opened. Nobody was consulted as to the site, nor were they aware of its being opened. He was apprised of the fact by mere chance two days previous to its being opened, when he complained to the Government of its position, and the shop was removed a few yards below. His coolies, he noticed, were regular visitors to that tavern, and some of them helped themselves to this commodity during the working hours, so that, as the day wore on, they were found unfit for work. Estate tools were being sold by the coolies to the renter, who, he was told, accepted them gladly and trans- ferred them to a neighbouring smithy, where they were converted into different implements. That was not all. The coolies who were sent to Badulla to obtain provisions for the planters and also to bring " tappal " drank at the wayside toddy shops, and it was no exaggeration to say that some of them-sometimes about ten of them were found lying on the road and in the drains, helplessly drunk, while the provisions were thrown all over the road. That was the sad state of affairs. He finally contended that illicit sales could be stopped only by the Courts of Justice, and not by introducing new toddy taverns.
A
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CEYLON GOVERNMENT EXCISE ORDINANCE.
Views of a Matale Proprietor.
To the Editor, The Friend."
Dear Friend,--Almost all Friends are interested in temperance work, many, too, are trying to prevent the ruin of native races by the liquor traffic; and as the new Ceylon Government Ordinance is having that effect, I would seek to enlist their sympathies in the matter through your paper.
1 he Ordinance practically establishes a toddy shop in every village, and the right to carry this on is sold by the Government to the highest bidder. Toddy is the fer- mented juice of the kitul, or the coco-nut palm, drawn from the flower stalk, and is intoxicating. Before the passing of the Ordinance the natives were allowed to tap their trees to get sweet toddy, from which they make jaggery, but the making and the sale of fermented toddy were prohibited. There was some illicit making and sale; more or less, as the village headmen were efficient or otherwise; in this district it amounted to very little.
I believe I am saying less than the fact when I say that drinking has increased here twenty-fold since the toddy tavern was opened. Sunday used to be a quiet day here; every Sunday since I last returned there has been a serious drunken row. One day, forty or fifty men were involved, and a woman was so badly beaten that her body was covered with bruises; on a week-day this week, one of our kanganies (the leading man in a gang of coolies) was attacked by a number of his own coolies with sticks and guns. On inquiry afterwards, they said they had nothing against him, and I know him to be a quiet man; the only excuse they pleaded was that they had been drinking toddy. Similar occurrences have been very rare in the past; now they happen frequently.
The Ceylon Government has usually been willing to be influenced by public opinion in the country; in this instance, however, they have gone directly in oppo- sition to the most united public opinion I have known during my sixteen years' con- nection with the Island. All classes joined in opposing the Ordinance; Europeans, Burghers, Sinhalese. Tamils, and Mohammedans did so. Buddhist priests and Christian missionaries were to be seen on the same deputations and platforms; but the Government persisted in carrying it through the Legislative Council.
It needs no words of mine to convince Friends that the principle of setting up
a large number of drink shops all over the Island, where none existed before, is utterly had the immediate results have been deplorable, and the future results are likely to I earnestly entreat all who have the smallest Parliamentary interest be still more so. to continue the agitation against the Ordinance until the Colonial Office orders its withdrawal. Your friend, sincerely,
JOSEPH MALCOMSON.
Clodagh Estate. Matale, Ceylon, 5, xi., 1912. -Freind, Nov. 29.
APPENDIX 5.
THE EXCISE Ordinance.
ADVISORY BOARDS IN CONNECTION WITH ISSUE OF TAVERN LICENCES.
Government Agents Circularised.
The following circular from the Colonial Secretary's Office, dated Colombo, December 9th, 1912, to the Government Agents of the various Provinces, was laid on the Press table at the Secretariat yesterday :-
SIR, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to inform you that, in accordance with the decision arrived at in correspondence with the Secretary of State, it is proposed to constitute (under the Section 31, sub-section (2), Clause (a) of the Excise Ordinance, No. 8 of 1912) Advisory Boards to advise the Licensing Authori- ties in respect of questions concerning the issue of tavern licences.
2. The constitution of these Boards will in due course be settled by rules framed under the Section of the Ordinance above quoted, but in view of the facts that such rules have to be confirmed by the Legislative Council and that, even after the rules have been made, the actual selection of the members of the Boards must necessarily occupy a considerable time, it is clear that the Boards cannot be constituted in suf-