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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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should be at a very low rate. It also combats a Evidence, 1850. Tennent, 4191. part of the Report with respect to roads.

With regard to the assessment of districts for the repair and formation of roads, it is true that the view taken in the Report is, that it should in the first instance be limited to cross roads and minor lines of communication: but this suggestion, like the others, was made under the sup- position of an available surplus fund, which would provide means for the introduction of the proposed reforms; and as that does not exist, while all admit the expediency of revising our system of taxation, it appears to me that two considerations might have much weight in inducing Her Majesty's Government to admit of the introduction of the principle at once upon a more extended scale.

I have suggested its general introduction, both as a - means of obtaining an equivalent from the mass of the population, not coffee and cinnamon-growers only, for the abandonment of all the export duties, and always a fair and unobjectionable method, operating equally upon Euro- peans and natives, of relieving the general revenue from the heavy expenditure for roads.

It would appear from the minutes of the Execu- tive Council, that the principal subject of their deliberations was the export duty on cinnamon and it will appear, in the sequel, that on this subject Mr. Wodehouse differed from his colleagues.

September 20, 1847.

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"The discussion on the

question of cinnamon taxation resumed, and post-

poned till next meeting of Council."

September 25, 1847.

"Discussion on the cinna-

mon question resumed and postponed."

October 11, 1847. sumed."

October 22, 1847. resumed.

"Cinnamon question re-

"Discussion on cinnamon

Ordered, that the Acting Queen's Advocate be directed to prepare an ordinance reducing the export duty on cinnamon to 4d. a lb., from 1st September, 1848.”

October 28, 1847. "The Auditor-General lays before Council the proposed alterations in the tariff, on which the Acting Treasurer" (Mr. Wodehouse) "reads the following minute on the subject of export duty."

Minutes of Executive Council. (MS.)

Evidence, 1850. Tennent, 4913.

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THIRD MINUTE.

It has been thought necessary to set out nearly the whole of this minute, in consequence of the im- portance attached to it by the Ceylon Committee.

Our last consultation in the Executive Council on the subject of finance terminated with a resolution, that the export duty on cinnamon should be reduced to 4d. per lb. on the 1st September next, and the Queen's Advocate was directed to prepare the draft of an ordinance accordingly. It was admitted that the retention of even this amount of duty was objectionable, and only justified by the pressure of financial necessity, and that it ought to be abandoned whenever we should find ourselves in a position to do so. The Council was also disposed to decide on the abolition of all the other export duties on the 1st September, if we succeeded by that time in imposing a land-tax upon the coffee plantations. As the draft ordinance above referred to is to be considered to-day, I am anxious to recur briefly to the process by which our deliberations have arrived at this result; and also to venture once more to suggest a further modification. I am aware that a renewal of the discussion at this late stage may be regarded as somewhat unreasonable; but our deliberations upon these questions have been carried on with such freedom for the expression of individual opinions, that I am tempted to make one more effort to bring about the ent re abolition of the ex- port duty on cinnamon. I fully admit that the strongest necessity exists for a cautious line of conduct in our pre- sent condition, and that I ought to be able to satisfy the Governor and Council that the proposition I am. about to make is a safe one, or otherwise that it ought not to be entertained. Both at the commencement and throughout these discussious, we have never doubted the expediency of the entire abolition of the export duties, including that upon cinnamon, and all our efforts have had for their object the provision of an equivalent amount of revenue from other sources. The Committee of the Colonial Office expressed their opinion, that all export duties should cease as soon as we could impose a land-tax upon cinnamon and coffee lands. We were at first disposed to believe that this could be done without difficulty or delay; and we differed only as to the rate of tax which cinnamon lands were capable of bearing; as the discussions proceeded, it was not only found that that rate had been greatly over-estimated in some quarters, but also that there would be great difficulty in imposing a land-tax upon cinnamon at all, except as forming part of the whole of the cultivated lands, the ulti- mate taxation of which after a survey was in contemplation. This discovery led to the development of different views; some looked to postponement of the abolition of the ordi- nary export duties, and reduction only of that upon cinna- mon; while another proposition was to adhere to the original scheme of abolishing them, and look for an equi- valent from other quarters than the tax upon cinnamon lands. The Governor and Council have in`a great degree