CO882-(4-5) — Page 233

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

THETIC.O. 882

5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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other than by death. Did our 1,048 overstate the case? The Honourable Mr. Moir would have done better, we think, to leave those figures unchallenged.

Besides the demoralisation and discouragement of the people, the principles of humanity and the prestige of the British name are grievously implicated in the results of the paddy tax policy above specified. Financially, the sales were a blunder which no men of business could possibly have committed. They are a specimen of officialdom in excelsis. To obtain sums too ridiculous to mention, too trifling to pay even the travelling allowances and red tape necessary to realize them, all the machinery of Government was employed. Beside the sacrifice of future tax on the lands, by evicting the only people that would take the trouble to cultivate them, this short-sighted policy involved heavy expenses in supplying relief to save a few of its own victims. This very month the Legislative Council has voted Rs. 5,000 to give relief to the distressed in the Walapane district. A return of the amount realized by ruining the villagers, and of the expenses attendant and consequent upon carrying out the "cardinal rule of revenue administration in the East," would be a most instructive document. Would that some inember of council would ask for it.

We have yet to mention the fact, that, whilst native agriculture has been suffering the terrible discouragements and decline above specified, the local Government has expended several millions of rupees, no one knows exactly how many, in irrigation works. This, too, seems the result of a curious obliquity of vision, for whilst ruining the industry most successfully with with the other, been trying most ineffectually to build it up. The fact is that every one hand, the Government has, village has a certain extent of paddy land belonging to it. This extent cannot be increased, because it depends upon the water supply and the lay of the land. It follows that when the population increases beyond the food supply of that land, the people necessarily come to want. As the villages have all been fully populated for ages, and there are no manufactures, nor anywhere to emigrate, there conies a deadlock. The people used to resort to chena cultivation and fell the forests, but the Government stopped that resource, as the high lands were being thus denuded. It seemed reasonable, under these circumstances, to restore ancient works, in order to make more land irrigable and available for cultivation. Hence, no one grudged a heavy outlay for the purpose, and immense sums have been spent. Hitherto, however, success has been very partial, and the result still more disappointing. A very little land has been really reclaimed, owing to the failure of the works to fulfil the ends designed; and the little land that has been made available is offered to the starving derelicts from the over-populated villages, for sale. The people who could not pay a rupec or two to save their ancestral lands from the fiscal's hammer have the splendid opportunity offered them of buying lands in a distant part of the country, and are expected to settle there, to build buts, and to wait for crops. Their household movables, tools, and cattle have gone to satisfy the tax on the lands they and their ancestors had held for ages; they are now expected to conjure up capital to buy new lands, stock them, and await the coming crops. This is manifestly impossible, and unless the new lands can be offered on terms the people are able to accept, the outlay on restorations is of little avail.

Two of our contemporaries, who are more concerned for the revenue that for what right, propose that the paddy tax should be reduced by half, but we fail to see any extenuating circumstances for mercy to be accorded to a tax that has shown none to its many victims. Beside, the cost of collection would remain the same and would absorb a great part of the yield. We ask therefore in the name of common sense, justice, and Christian principle for a total and unconditional abolition of the tax; and whenever the time arrives that the import duty becomes protective, that is to say, whenever the Ceylon goiya is able to raise more than he can eat, and has any to spare and to sell, we ball attack the import duty. That, according to present appearances, will not be for a long time to come, and in the meantime the revenue cannot well spare it.

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Enclosure 2 in No. 9.

THE DISTRESS in WALAPANE and UDA HEWAHETA from 1882 to 1885. The editor of the "Ceylon Independent "has issued, in the form of a pamphlet, for the information of members of the House of Commons (to every member of which it is said to have been sent) a series of articles reprinted from that newspaper.

These articles are intended to be a reply to the official report made by Mr. Moir, the officer appointed by the Government to investigate the mortality alleged to have taken place between 1882 and 1885 in the district of Nuwara Eliya of the Central Province.

That report, it is generally considered, satisfactorily disposed of these allegations, but the editor of the "Ceylon Independent" thinks otherwise, and is of opinion that the evidence taken by Mr. Moir does not bear out the conclusions Mr. Moir has drawn ; that he omits mention of certain important parts of that evidence, and that the report contains erroneous statements of some facts before him which seriously affect the issues.

And in support of this opinion the editor proceeds to examine the evidence under three heads:-

(1.) The (alleged) deaths by starvation.

(2.) The conditions and resources of the people in the affected districts.

(3.) The policy of the Government in the treatment of the people, and the sales of their property and lands for default of payment of the grain tax.

It will be more convenient to answer the editor's remarks under these heads in different order, thus :-

(1.) The conditions and resources of the people in the affected districts. (2.) The (alleged) deaths by starvation."

(3.) The policy of the Government in the treatment of the people, and sales of their property and lands for default of payment of the grain tax.

The editor, towards the end of his pamphlet, "takes a glance at the results of the "policy as shown by the evidence in the case under review and its application to the

country generally"; and this may be adopted as a fourth head.

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(1.) The Conditions and Resources of the People in the affected Districta.

The "affected districts" are Walapane and Uda Héwaheta, two small divisions of the district of Nuwara Eliya, and the period covered by the accusation is that from 1882 to 1885, both years inclusive.

In order to form a correct idea of the condition of the people at the commencement of this period it is necessary to take a glance at their history in point of health, the health of their cattle, and their resources, during the years immediately preceding 1882.

The earliest record of serious disease amongst their cattle is given in the report of the officer in charge of the district (Mr. Fisher) for 1871, and is as follows:-

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The unfortunate cattle have not, as usual, been so lucky, but the mortality on the whole was not so great as during last year. Subjoined will be found a statement of the number of cattle in each division of the district, and the number of deaths from various causes, but principally from murrain. I gave directions for this return to be carefully compiled, but these figures stagger me, and I fear they cannot be relied on for

"Statement showing the number of cattle, &c. in the Nuwara Eliya District for 1871.

accuracy.

Uda Hówaheta Walopane Kotmalé

Name of Division.

Number of Cattle in ench Division:

Number of deatha during the Year.

2,637

740

3,350

1,589

}

2,088

8,675

1740

3,019

Mr. WHITEFOORD on Mr. MOIR'S REPORT.

The following letter, addressed to the “ for publication:-[See page 42.]

Observer,” bas been sent us by Mr. Whitefoord

Whether this statement covers 1870 as well as 1871, or 1871 alone, is not clear, but in any case there was a loss, within a very short time, of 35 per cent, of the cattle of the district, and in Walapane of over 46 per cent.

For 1872 Mr. Hartshorne reports :-

"The amount of paddy commutation tax, or grain tithe, collected during the past year is much less than the collection of the preceding year. This is chiefly owing to the extreme poverty of the people in many parts of the district, resulting from the losses which they I 4