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representative, an opportunity of expressing their conclusions on the subject. The result of this Commission would be either to rivet more securely and so as to last for a long period, the fetters with which agriculture in this island was at present encumbered, and so to perpetuate dear food; or, to remove these fetters, and so encourage the production of food more cheaply and in greater abundance. The occasion was one of much importance, and one in which the responsibility incurred by the planters as a body was very great. It was not without a high sense of that responsibility that he had brought forward the subject on the present occasion. There were many debateable points connected with this question, but there were some which did not admit of any difference of opinion. He had so framed his resolution as to avoid the debateable points, and deal only with those on which their views could not differ. His resolution set out by enunciating a principle which was admitted and acted upon by all statesmen, a prin- ciple, moreover, which those in authority in no part of Her Majesty's dominions had ever dared to dispute. His resolution then proceeded to condemn the infamous plan of farming the taxes. Some time ago, when it suited certain persons to bring forward all that could be possibly adduced to show the iniquity of the Turkish rule, it was said,—— "They farm their taxes.' The word "farming taxes" had come to be a common proverb of abuse. Still the practice continued in Ceylon, and it would be his duty to ask them to join with him to-day in unmitigated and unqualified condemnation of that practice. In the letter addressed to the Grain Commission by the Government, it was proposed that if the abolition of the food taxes should be determined upon, it should then be considered whether a land or other tax should be substituted. The question relating to the nature of the tax to be substituted for the grain tax, should it be abolished, was one which he thought might safely, and should properly, be left to Government and the Grain Commission. It was not a point which, he thought, should be brought before the Planters' Association for discussion or decision. He trusted they would agree with him that the Planters' Association itself did not feel that this was a point on which it was It was for that reason that he had strongly avoided in competent for it to give a vote. bis motion any suggestion as to what form the new tax, should such be required, might take-whether a land tax, or some other. It was enough for him that they should condemn the paddy tax, and that "vicious system," as Sir Emerson Tennent had called it, "of farming the taxes, and thus placing the people in the hands, and at the mercy of (Applause.) men whose powers of oppression were only bounded by their own will.'

Such were the words of a writer well acquainted with the island, and with the evils of this tax and its mode of collection. The matter of the import duty on rice was one which vitally concerned planters, and on which they were well qualified and entitled to speak. The matter of food for the coolies was a vital one; and they all knew how In former days, and up to some important an element it was in all their calculations.

time ago, they used to consider 118. a coolie as the sun paid per annum in the shape of these taxes on food. But then, it might be, there were circumstances existing which no longer remained, and now 78. a head per annum was taken as the figure by which these taxes were represented, calculating that the coolie had his bushel of rice a month. The approximation had been made, and he believed it was_ncar enough to the mark to serve this purpose, that estates employed a man an acre. Then they could take it that they paid an annual rate of 78. an acre on their estates. So that they were really paying this amount now, probably without knowing it; but still the money came out of the pockets of the planters. They all knew how the planters were affected when the price of rice rose above its normal rate.

The real expenditure in wages depended materially on the price of rice; the fact that the money paid to the coolies was not constantly raised and lowered was a mere arrange- ment for the convenience of both parties, and was no doubt a more wise plan than the alternative of continually changing the amount of wages. So that, one way or the other, planters would always have this money to pay. Not only was there the general prin- ciple that food taxes were bad and objectionable, a principle recognised and acted upon in every country in a state of civilisation; but in Ceylon there were special objections to them. Take the land owner in Ceylon, be he who he may, be might keep his land idle and suffer no punishment for that; he might plant his land with coffee, chinchona, cardamons, cinnamon, or anything else, and still not be interfered with. But let him touch paddy, the food of the people, and he immediately received the attentions of Government officials-attentions in no way delicate, and not at all agreeable. He may not sow, he may not reap, he may not cut, he may not thrash, he may not carry; he requires for each and every one of these acts a special commission! Even if the grain is lying on the ground rotting he may not gather it in, and must not touch it. If he reaps without permission, the renter then has the whole matter within his own hands.

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He would ask those present-how would they like such treatment in regard to the gathering of their crops? How would they like a thraldom which would never allow them to plant, or to perform any one agricultural operation on their estates, nor to lift, or store, or carry, the produce of their own lands, without the supervision and inter- ference of Government officials, such as was proved to exist in every part of this island Was it any wander, he asked, that no Europeans in connexion with paddy cultivation ? embarked in this enterprise? Was it any wouder that the cultivation of the food of the A friend people was relegated to far corners of the island, little seen and less known?

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of his, with whom he had talked this matter over some time ago, had told what he had attempted and failed to do in this matter. He, in the largeness of his heart, had set apart a portion of his lands for the cultivation of rice, but he was obliged at length to give any in disgust. And such would always be the effect, under the present rules, of attempt to encourage or improve this important and great enterprise, and vital work to the island. As to the renting system, it had been condemned by the Commission which sat in 1830, a venerable member of which, Mr. Cameron, was still among them, and a member of their community. It was again condemned in 1844 by a second Commission; and in 1846 Sir James Tennent framed his appeal against this vicious system, an appeal which had become a part of the literature of this country. The system was universally condemned. There was only one attempt made to say or suggest anything good for the system, and that was in the letter addressed by Government to those whose views upon the subject were desired; therein it was asked whether the system was not con- That formable to the usages of the people, and whether the people acquiesced in it? question could only be answered in one way. It was in accordance with the usages of the country, and the people acquiesced in it. It was precisely the same with the eels. It was in accordance with the usages of the country that the eels should be skinned, and the eels got used to it--they acquiesced in it. (Laughter, Hear, hear, and “No, No.”) Were this argument for a moment admitted it would be a standing defence for all the abuses and evils that had ever been the curse of any country. Slavery would be per- petuated. Was it not in accordance with the usages of the country, and did not the people acquiesce in it? ("No.") Human sacrifice was certainly conformable with the usage of Abomey, and did not the people acquiesce in it? The self-same argument would apply to cannibalism. (No, No.) He would next refer them to the words of one who they were all proud to remember as the Governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Ward; he said, in regard to these food taxes and the mode of their collection, and the impediments they presented to the extension of agriculture here, that "they were a blot on the escutcheon of England." Sir William Gregory, too, had done much to show what the The natural features of this island made it agriculture of Ceylon might and should be.

a land much better adapted than South India for the cultivation of rice, and yet we imported our rice from India and paid for it double what it cost India to raise. (Applause.) He hoped the intention of Government, now that it had taken up the matter of grain taxes, was to consider earnestly the whole subject of food taxes; and he hoped the Planters' Association would strengthen the hands of Government by passing the reno- lution he now brought forward, which set forth the impolicy of food taxes, and drew attention to the oppression arising under the present mode of collection. He regretted that the interpreters who were always about him, and carefully watching him, ready at any and all times to put a construction, and to suggest to others a construction, which they knew perfectly well his words never could bear, had come forward as his guiding genius again in this matter. He had not proposed a land tax, he was careful that no word of a land tax, or any suggestion of a land tax, should be found in his motion; and for the reason he had already stated, the land tax was a debateable point which he had avoided. But they had been told elsewhere that as a matter of fact he proposed a land tax, and he deeply regretted that a large number of proxies, which he should have to protest against, had been signed, which did not rightly apply to what was really before the meeting, but And before going further he to the misinterpretation of it to which he bad referred. would say this about proxies and district associations. If district associations took upon themselves to give individual votes, and sent bundles of proxies to Kandy embodying their foregone conclusions, the meetings of the Association here would entirely cease to be meetings for the discussion of topics of common interest to them, and would simply be meetings for recording the votes of absentees. And who would stand up to argue any matter in which they were interested; who would care to contend for one side or the other, if he knew the decision was a foregone conclusion? If they were not to impair their usefulness as the Planters' Association of Ceylon, they must do away with such a system of wholesale proxies. He gave them due warning that he would protest against

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