CO882-(3-4) — Page 344

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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inducements can be held out to lead the cultivators to commute, whether the majority of the community should not enforce commutation on the minority, whether the villagers should be compelled to become their own renters, and finally, whether commutation is to be enforced whatever be the objections of the tithe payer.

28. The next objection to the paddy tithe is the fact that it is imposed exclusively on rice, while other cultivation is free. And here I may státe that the great planting interest contributes more to the general revenue and is as heavily taxed acre for acre as the rice cultivator. The paddy tax may be said to average four or five shillings per acre when not commuted, and considerably less when commuted.

29. The customs duties on imported rice come to four or five shillings per acre at least in the case of the coffee plantations.

30. It will perhaps be said that it is the consumer who pays the tax, the labourer and not the planter, but such is not the case. The planter supplies rice to his coolies at a fixed price, and whether the price rises or falls the agreement is maintained. The coolie would be no gainer by cheap rice nor would he be a loser by dear rice. His wages and his food would remain and do remain unchanged. The tithe is rent for land which was never held in fee under the native kings, but by service. This service was commuted by the English into a general tax, which was subsequently reduced to one on paddy for the reasons I have given. The fact that other land is exempted from this rent or tithe is no reason that all land should be so exempted. It is not the case that the paddy grower is unjustly treated, for he receives his share of benefit by the upland which he holds free of tax. To impose a land tax on him on account of his garden would, in the words of Mr. Alwis, be to lay a food tax on a food tax, to tax the curry as well as the rice. We may shift and change our taxation, but if we adopt a land tax as a substitute for the present food taxes, one half of the whole amount raised by it will be quite as much a food tax as any that is imposed at present.

31. An inscription recently deciphered by Dr. Goldschmidt is the proclamation of King Nusanka Mala, who reigned at the end of the thirteenth century. This king in enumerating his good deeds states that he abolished the tax of one half on produce. The small proportion of the gross produce taken by the English Government, being one tenth and in some cases less, contrasts favourably with what was levied by King Nusanka Mala in former days, and with the land tax in India at present. It has been calculated that the land revenue in Ceylon is equal to 10d. per head, against 28. in Bengal, 38. 3d. in Madras, and 48. 5d. in Bombay.

32. I am not, however, prepared to vouch for the accuracy of this calculation. One thing, however, is clear, that the small proportion of produce exacted by the State shows how wide a margin exists in this Colony within the limits of rent proper, and how much that margin might be encroached on without overstepping the boundary and trespassing on that of outlay.

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33. I now come to the import duty on grain, which is objectionable so far as all taxes are, but which has advantages here from the easy manner in which it is collected, and from its pressing but lightly on the consumer. The case of this tax is very forcibly put by the editor of the " Observer," who has recently published some remarkably able and exhaustive articles on this subject, and I cannot do better than to avail myself of his words: "In the meantime, considering the customs duty as a means of raising revenue "from all classes with the least possible inconvenience, the minimum of trouble and expense, and an entire absence of the corruption which more or less affects nearly every direct system of taxation, it is most admirably adapted to an Oriental people. "There can be no extortion on poor ignorant natives through the customs, no quarrel- ling, no false accusations by headmen, police, or tax collectors, no vexatious threats if "bribes or santosums' (gifts) are not freely awarded, even when the taxpayer is quite We are ready to admit that these evils "prepared to meet the full demands of the law. "are to a certain extent connected with the collection of the grain tithe as well as with "the road commutation tax, the house assessment rate, and nearly every other levy "made throughout the country or within the municipalities. The customs duty on "the other hand is never felt, its incidence falls in the most gradual way possible on "each consumer, over every bushel of rice or yard of cloth he requires. The tax is "scarcely realized at all, and if removed there might be grounds for fearing in the face "of native conservatism that the importer and middle man would share all the profit "between them, the price to the consumer remaining much the same as before."

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reduction, however, in another way is gradually proceeding, namely, in the proportion of the duty to the cost prices of the article. When the tax of 7d. per bushel was first imposed the cost of rice was 2s. 6d. per bushel, and the import was equal to Now that rice has risen to 68. 6d. a bushel the tax bears the proportion of 25 per cent. 10 per cent.

35. It must be borne in mind that out of the 177,000l. which the rice tax brings in the planters pay about 65,000, taking the number at 260,000 of coolies employed in connexion with coffee cultivation. The rest is paid by the floating population, chiefly of Indians, who are attracted by the high wages given in Ceylon, who own no land, and who contribute scarcely anything in return for the protection they receive. A large proportion of them look to return to India with their savings, which the wages here, 9d, per diem, as against 43d. in India, enable them to put by. It is but reasonable that they should contribute something towards the revenue, and that their present very light contribution should not be removed from them and thrown on the Sinhalese cultivator.

36. I have, I trust, satisfied your Lordship that the language used by Mr. Potter, at Rochdale, is altogether unjustifiable" that England imposes on Ceylon a system of I have shown that such is farming the revenue which is so outrageous in Turkey."

not the case, that commutation is open to all who choose to avail themselves of it, and that it has been solely in deference to the wishes, and in some respects reasonable wishes, of the people that it has not been forced upon them. Even under the renting system, faulty as it is, the enclosed regulations show that the Government insists on fair dealing with the cultivator being maintained. The regulations contained in the Ordinance of 1840 provide fully against the abuses which attend the farming of the grain taxes in Turkey. The renter is bound to attend at the time named by the cultivator, and if he does not, his share is set apart for him in the presence of the Government headman. All notices must be in writing, and printed forms are issued free to cultivators, on application to the Kachcheri. A specimen of this form is appended. At the back of the notice is an abstract of the Ordinance, of which a translation is attached.

37. So long as the supply of water is precarious, so long will the Sinhalese cultivator I fear in many districts insist on not being bound by the hard-and-fast line of commuta- tion. The Government of the Colony is doing all it can to extend irrigation throughout the island, and thus to render the supply of water more stable than at present. I append herewith a table to show what has hitherto been expended.

IRRIGATION WORKS from 1856 to 1876.

Voted for the year 1856

Do. do. 1857

Do. do. 1858

do. 1859

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Supply and Supplementary.

Rs. 40,000

70,000

218,250

Do.

88,863

Do. do. 1860

49,255

Do. do. 1861

1,300

Do. do. 1862

2,410

Do.

Do. do. Do.

do. 1863 1864

Do.

do.

do. 1865 1866

2,210 2,530 2,630

Do.- do. 1867

2,630 100,000

Do.

do. 1868

·

8,140 8,000

Do.

do. 1869'

Do. do. 1870

210,000

Do.

do. 1871

310,000

Do.

do. 1872

260,000

222,000

Do. do. 1873

1,800

228,500

Do. do. 1874

72,671

Do.

do. 1875

278,500

Do. do. 1876

326,000

A

Total

Rs. 2,566,519

B 2

34. To lower the customs duty on imported rice would be simply to throw away so much revenue. I doubt if a single additional bushel would come in consequence into the Colony, or that the price would be reduced by one cent per bushel to the consumer.

88888888888 ± 888 £ggg

60,630