CO882-(4-5) — Page 242

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

5

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

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

86

the Nuwara Eliya district during the years 1882–85 have been, to say the least, very gravely exaggerated.

11. It remains to consider whether, by the strict collection of the arrears of the paddy tithe, any mortality or distress was caused. On this point Mr. Moir's conclusion is that "in some isolated cases death was hastened by reason of the sale of the field," and "that distress was in many cases aggravated by such sales," and in your covering despatch you express your opinion that the proceedings taken to enforce the payment of arrears were very harsh.

12. The view which I have formed is that in a poor district on the borders of the coffee plantations, which suffered at once from the breakdown of the coffee industry, and from the failure in the water supply, caused by the clearance of the forests, the taxes generally were allowed to fall unreasonably and discreditably into arrear; that when Sir F. Dickson took over charge of the Central Province in 1882 he found a large number of outstanding arrears; and that, considering rightly that such a state of things was at once harmful for the revenue, and not only demoralising, but actually unfair to the taxpayers, he took prompt steps to enforce what was due to the Government, countermanding a system of dealing with arrears which had been instituted by the Assistant Goverment Agent of the Nuwara Eliya district, but which was not according to.law.

1

I readily believe that the duty was, as he states, most hateful and distressing to him, and that he spared no pains to assure himself personally, as far as possible, that undue suffering was not being inflicted upon the native cultivators; I am inclined to accept his view, which appears to be endorsed by Mr. Moir, that there were indications that a babit of not paying taxes was being allowed to grow up; I observe that in the case of Uva, as soon as the regular collection of taxes had been again enforced, he himself proposed the restoration of the lands to their original owners, and I note that at that very time, in 1884, you caused to be conveyed to him an expression of your satisfaction at the --success with which he had dealt with the question of the arrears, and your appreciation

of the high credit which his conduct of the matter reflected on his administration.

13. At the same time, I am not satisfied that sufficient allowance was made for the distressed circumstances of the people in the district in question, and I am bound to express my opinion that, judging from the papers before me, there is reason to suppose that the steps taken under the authority of the Governor in Council caused considerable suffering, and in some cases tended to accelerate death.

That this should have been the case in any degree is much to be regretted, but no such result can, of course, have been apprehended either by Sir F. Dickson or by the Colonial Government, who, under very difficult circumstances, were guiding the Colony through its years of trial with great skill and success; and I fail to see that purpose will be served by further investigation of the matter, which has long since come any useful to an end, especially as I am not aware that any further complaints of the kind have been made, and you have stated that "for the last five years the utmost reluctance has

been shown to sell land for default of taxes,'

•

14. I desire to receive, as soon as possible, the return facilitating a comparison of the sales of lands for public and for private debts in the Nuwara Eliya district, to which you refer in paragraph 13 of your Despatch of the 22nd of October,* and an assurance that in no other part of the island there has been of late years any serious complaint with regard to the collection of taxes. I should also wish to know what truth there is in the suggestion that "results, little if at all leas startling than those revealed by the evidence in the case "under review, have, even more recently, been produced by the Government policy in the Province of Uva"; and, lastly, I must call attention to the great delay which, year after year, takes place in issuing the Government publications, and which adds very greatly to the difficulty of dealing with questions of the kind now brought before me.

15. Mr. Whitefoord should be informed that his letter of the 26th of October † has been duly received and carefully considered.

*

Sir A. Gordon,

• No. 4.

I have, &c., (Signed)

KNUTSFORD.

† Enclosure 1 in No. 6.

21,989.

SIR,

87

No. 11.

LORD KNUTSFORD to Si CECIL C. SMITH (Straits SettlEMENTS). (No. 73.)

before

Downing Street, February 28, 1890.

I REQUEST you to be good enough to hand to Sir F. Dickson the enclosed copy of a despatch to the Governor of Ceylon, on the subject of the collection of arrears of taxation in the Nuwara Eliya District in the years 1882–85, and I wish you to assure him that I have read with pleasure his despatch on the subject, dated the 2nd of January,t and while feeling bound to record my opinion that, as far as can be judged from the me, too great rigour was shown in dealing with arrears for the accumula- papers tion of which he was in no way responsible, I feel confident that he acted entirely in the public interest under exceedingly difficult circumstances, and have noted that his efforts met at the time with the warm appreciation of the Colonial Government.

I have, &c., Sir Cecil C. Smith.

(Signed)

5105.

SIB,

No. 12.

SIR J. F. DICKSON to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received March 18, 1890.)

KNUTSFORD.

Singapore, February 18, 1890. As I find that certain papers are being circulated among Members of Parliament by the Cobden Club, in which reference is made to certain occurrences in 1882-3, when I was in charge of the Central Province of Ceylon, I have the honour to forward, for submission to Lord Knutsford, a memorandum on the subject, written from memory, and from such materials as I have here at hand. I regard the statements put forward with the authority of the Cobden Club as to a certain extent an attack on my administration, and I therefore trust that his Lordship will hold me justified in thus addressing you.

2. I have not gone into detail, and have taken no notice of the letter from Mr. Whitefoord, printed at the end of the papers in question; but in case the remarks

of the present Government Agent of Kandy thereon are not before you, I enclose a copy which has been sent to me.

3. As an illustration of some of the many difficulties and misrepresentations with Gor, And to which the revenue officers had to contend, I attach a copy of some papers I have

with me.

Sir Robert Herbert, K.C.B., Under Secretary of State for the Colonies,

&c.

A

paper

&c.

&c.

I bave, &c., (Signed)

J. F. DICKSON.

Enclosure in No. 12. MEMORANDUM.

issued by the Cobden Club under date December 1889 has just reached me.

It is signed C. S. Salmon, and refers to a controversy about the tax raised in Ceylon

C

on native-grown rice, known as the "paddy tax," and gives cover to certain "articles reprinted from the Ceylon Independent' for the information of the Meinbers of the House of Commons on alleged deaths by starvation in the Nuwara Eliya district of Ceylon.

#

As I have some knowledge of the revenue laws of Ceylon, and as I was at the head of the Central Province (of which the Nuwara Eliya district forms a part) during the period March 1882 to September 1885, I would ask leave to offer a few remarks on these two subjects which have been brought together by the Cobden Club paper.

1. What is here called the "paddy tax

"

is in reality the rent payable on the land,

and generally takes the form of a payment of one-tenth of the crop payable on the

• No. 10.

↑ No. 6.

* See enclosure 9 in No. 5, pp. 46 and 47..

Anti Gori

to Govt. A

Govt.

£ 4