cent.
164
16. The bidders for the rent of 1899, therefore, had to consider the effect on their profits of the change from a maximum of Rs. 4.48 per gallon to a minimum of • Rs. 4.48 per gallon, the real gallon and glass prices at the time being Rs. 4.80 and Rs. 7.40 respectively, and of a reduction in the number of taverns by nearly 50 per The effect of the latter would be either a large diminution in consumption or the conversion of the former glass sale at these taverns into a gallon sale with conse- quent diminution of the renter's profits, for which the permission to increase his There was thus an abso- gallon rates was unlikely to adequately compensate him. Tutely certain loss on glass sales to be faced, ard, if the reduction in the number of taverns was going markedly to affect consumption, then the loss would be very serious indeed.
17. The purchaser's estimate of the loss may be judged from the fact that the rent fetched only Rs. 3,250 less than in 1898, and, after two years' experience of the actual sales, it jumped up in 1901 to Rs. 166,650 and in 1902 to Rs. 181,770, notwithstanding the fact that the renter's loss of profit on the glass sales at the abolished taverns still continued. Can there be any doubt, in face of these facts and figures, that the reduction of the taverns did not diminish consumption, but that consumption went on increasing, only the illicit proportion had increased in a much larger ratio? The renter's profits were diminished by the reduction, but he could afford to give more for the rent because he sold more, though not so much as he would have given had he been allowed to sell himself by the glass at the legitimate tavern instead of by the gallon through the illicit seller.
18. The rest of the memorial covers ground already well trodden, and does not require to be dealt with in detail. With regard to the objection in paragraphs 11 and 13 to Government-owned distilleries I have it on good authority that in Switzerland, generally regarded as a model State in this respect, the distilleries are entirely in Government hands. With regard to paragraph 12, the memorialists ought to know that abounding harvests, famine, plague, and temperance movements are far more powerful factors in determining consumption than any action which a Government can take.
19. Paragraphs 14 to 19 repeat a number of statements which have already been dealt with in reports to you. You are aware of the facts with regard to the alleged interview with Mr. Thurley.
20. As regards the allegations of the drunkenness caused by toddy (paragraphs 20 to 22) every effort has been made to test them, but the only result has been that the Government Analyst informs me, as the result of many examinations, that the toddy as sold to consumers in the taverns is practically unable to produce the alleged effects.
B. HORSBURGH,
Excise Commissioner.
11413
SIR,
No. 10. CEYLON.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE ACTING GOVERNOR. (No. 229.) (Extract.)
Downing Street, 28 April, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 167, of the 21st of March,* transmitting copies of a Memorial from the Low Country Pro- ducts Association on the subject of the new excise system, and to express my thanks for your very full examination of the allegations contained in it. I have to request that the Association may be informed that I am satisfied, after careful consideration, that they are under a misapprehension as to the facts on which their main objections to the policy of the Government are based; that in these circumstances I am unable to accept the suggestion that the Advisory Committees should be given full censing powers, at least, until experience has shown that they do not secure, as atpresent constituted, the due consultation of local feeling; and that, while I am preped to consider the institution of an enquiry into the working of the excise system at a later date, I am of opinion that such an enquiry would lose much of its se if made prematurely, before experience had been gained of the actual
of the law.
opera
• No. 1.
1
د
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:--
CO. 882
9PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
| ALLY WITHOUT PERPESSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED HISTOGRAPHIC- COPYREELY PHOTOGRAPH-NOT ?
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference --
CO. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERPRESSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED BESTOGRAPHIC-|
COPCIMINE PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO