CO882-(1-2) — Page 179

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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VII. A Shop-Tur (p. 39) was recommended by a native chief, Perera Modliar.

It will be seen that nearly all the taxes which are now ascribed to the inexperience and rashness of the officers newly appointed from home were in reality identical with those suggested by Mr. Anstruther's Committee.

And Sir Colin Campbell in 1846 informed me that he himself in 1842 had proposed some of them to the Secretary of State; and in his own despatch, 1846, forwarding my report, he adhered to his opinion of their propriety.

Road Ordinance.

The ordnance for constructing roads by an ap- propriation of the labour of the district commutable for money arose out of a suggestion from the Secretary of State.

It was recommended by Lord Stanley in 1839, and again by Lord Aberdeen in 1835.

With the exception that they proposed a direct assessment in money to be commuted for labour, our object was rather to obtain labour than money, as less burdensome to the people; besides, that working in their own districts they would more readily perceive that they themselves were the direct gainers by their own toil.

This ordinance was distasteful to the chiefs, whom it invested with no authority, and did not exempt from the universal obligation (an inclusion which they thought derogatory to their personal import- ace); and it has been sought to be rendered un- popular amongst the people, by misrepresenting it as a return to the old system of compulsory labour.

As it applied to the whole island, its unpopularity threatened to become embarrassing, and I made extensive journeys throughout the interior in July, August, and September, 1848, to disabuse the minds of the natives of the false representations which had been made to them by the chiefs and others.

The ordinance is much more popular than it was, as the people came to perceive its real provisions and to appreciate its advantages to their own localities. But it is unquestionably unpopular still; not merely ez natura res, but because labour in Crylon is regarded as degrading.

is

We sought to elevate it by showing that the highest Europeans in the island were equally pre- pared to submit to the obligation with the natives. The chiefs, however, smarted at their own inclusion with us, and hence their repugnance.

The latest accounts from Ceylons how the ordin- ance to have been successfully introduced; works under it commenced on the 1st January last. The people have come in to labour or to commute their labour for the legal tax most cheerfully, and the whole scheme was in perfectly successful operation.

Tar on Fire-Arms and Dogs.

These taxes were proposed by Mr. Anstruther's Committee in 1842, adopted by the Legislative Council, but discouraged by Lord Stanley, who was apprehensive of difficulty in enforcing it. (Despatch

The Committee of 1842, however, to Secretary of State No. 99, 21st October, 1841;

had, on the contrary, reported Lord Stanley, No. 43, 4th January, 1842; Sir

their opinion that it would be very easily collected (p. 9.)

C. Campbell, No. 51, April 11, 1842.)

The tax upon fire-arms was approved of by Mr. Wodehouse in a minute for the Executive Council, 4th September, 1847, and calculated by him to yield annually 7,5001.

The dog-tax, especially, was favourably received by all parties within the island as a check to an almost intolerable nuisance.

It was especially urged on the Government in 1841 by the Legislative Council, who passed a resolution, Mr. Wodehouse voting for it, that such

A tax was highly desirable. [Leg. Com. 16 Oc. 1841.]

But it and the tax on fire-arms were chiefly recommended as precautions of police; the latter from the greatly-increasing importation of arms.

The Government both of the Dutch and the English have at all times been jealous of the unrestricted possession of arms by the natives.

I see that one gentleman examined by the Com- mittee (Mr. H. Layard) expresses doubts as to the correctness of a statement made by me at Kandy, that there existed a law in the colony to impose corporal punishment as a penalty for the possession of unlicensed fire-arms. 1

The following are the Regulations and Ordi- nances under which the matter has been heretofore regulated :