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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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TLC.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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in dealing with a matter of this description a matter which has been made one of a very contentious character it is at least refreshing to begin by discovering one point of. I think, universal agreement Sir, all are, I think, convinced that the present system is bad and pernicious. As early as the year 15 Mr Ravenscroft Teund that the system was bad, and gave, amongst other reasons, the following: because Government is kept in ignorance of the amount of arrack manufactured and consumed, of the strength of the spirit, and of other details necessary for restraining and regulating consumption, because combination among renters is a matter of little difficulty and frequent occurrence, and because the system leads to speculation, which results sometimes in loss to the renter and sometimes to Govern rewrit Mr. Ellis, writing twelve years later, in 1897, also condemned the systein wholesale He said that the systein was injurious to the revenue and demoralising to the people. I should, Sir, like to reverse that statement. It is primarily objec- fromable because it is demoralising to the people. He found also that a minst powerful inducement is offered to illicit sale, and that a most powerful inducement is offered to purchase by the gallon instead of by the glass. From the point of view et the present Administration, the strongest objections to this system are: that intoxicants are manufactured, distributed, and consumed in circumstances which release them from any adequate Government supervision or control: that the manu- facture, distribution, and sale of intoxicants are in the wholly unfettered hands of people who have a direct pecuniary interest in disposing of the largest possible quantities, that adulteration is practically unchecked; and that the large illicit sales of intoxicants which are known to go on in this Colony cannot, under the existing system, be controlled or supervised Now, these constitute, I submit, a sufficient indictment against the system as it is; and the system, being admitted to be per- nicious and radically unsound and bad, it follows as a logical corollary that reform is needed. And I go further I say that reform is demanded by every disinterested thinking man by every disinterested person capable of thought who has devoted any study to the question which is before the Council to-day. Now, from the point of view of the revenue officer, the system must be admitted to have certain undeniable advantages. It is, to begin with, quite a satisfactory revenue-producer. It entails upon the revenue officer and upon the Administration generally a minimum of trouble and a minimum of responsibility. Any change in it, on the other hand, must be effected by increased expenditure; by active interference with a number of matters which are at present allowed to go unregulated or to regulate themselves; and during the initial stages we have got to recognise, Sir, that we are running a certain risk of immediate loss of revenue. Apart from that, change is bound to be unpopular. It is bound to be unpopular so long as human nature remains what it is, so long as a number of persons derive from a continuation of this system a substantial pecuniary profit: but I am inclined to think, Sir, that change is likely also to be unpopular, even with those who, in common with the Government, desire most earnestly to check the undue consumption of intoxicants in the Colony, because the regulation of the manufacture, the sale, the distribution, and the consumption of intoxicants in the Colony must, in the first instance, reveal an enormous consumption, which hitherto has been comfortably ignored. Improved methods of supervision will reveal, for the first time, the real extent of the evil and the actual, not the estimated, con- sumption. This, for the first time made manifest, will by the superficial possibly be regarded not as what it really is, an exposure of a state of things hitherto hidden, but as actually a positive increase in consumption. So long as that can be ignored, persons who are interested in the question can point to misleading statistics without in the least being aware of how misleading they are; but when once Govern- ment obtains control of intoxicants in this Colony, there will be no juggling with figures, and it will be impossible to fail to recognise the magnitude of the evil with which we propose by this Bill to grapple. Now, the system being bad, and that being admitted, and reform being necessary, it follows that reform can only be effected by abandoning the present easy, happy-go-lucky system, which has pre- vailed for so many years; by tackling a difficult and, I may add, an extremely ticklish question; and by endeavouring to solve a problem which past Administra tions, for a variety of reasons, including apprehensions of an immediate loss of revenue, have so far suffered to remain without solution. Also, Government was prepared to meet an immense amount of opposition, sincere and insincere, especially from those whose pockets were inevitably affected; and, in fact, Government had to find itself in the position generally of taking the difficult in preference to the easy course; of acting, not merely talking; of grasping the nettle firmly, instead of

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Continuing weakly to deplore its power to sting. Now, Your Excellency and Your Excellency's advisers were fully aware, ere even they set about the beginning of the difficult task of reforming the present system, that they would incur a great deal of odium, a great deal of abuse, and that they would excite a great deal of opposi- tion Opposition has not been slow to show itself. There is one curious fact, how- ever, that I should like to recall to the memory of Honourable Members. It is a matter of common knowledge that a certain number of people in this Colony are making a substantial profit by the sale of intoxicants, but with hardly an exception you may search throughout the whole literature of this controversy without dis- Covering any allusion to this salient and most important fact. P'ersonally, I can see no reason why the fact should have been concealed. Under the present system the gentlemen who are making money out of renting are making money in a perfectly legitimate manner, according to their lights and principles, and with the sanction of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. There is no reason why they should conceal it and yet for some curious reason that fact has been very persistently ignored. Now, I am not, of course, referring in any way to the opposition which has come from another quarter, namely, from the sincere and convinced advocates of tem- perance and total abstinence. I wish to speak of their opposition with the very greatest respect. I am as convinced as any man can be that in every instance that opposition has been as honest as it is possible for any opposition to be (applause); but I think and I hope presently to be able to convince some of them that my thought is correct that they have failed to grasp some of the main facts of the problem before us; and I think also, no doubt inadvertently, persons whose motives do not bear quite such close scrutiny as their own have either wilfully or unknowingly misled them on many important points. Now, Sir, Government having arrived at the conclusion that the system is bad, and that reform is necessary, instead of wringing its hands and continuing to deplore a state of things which had been deplored for many generations, though fully recognising the extreme difficulty of what it was about to attempt, set about slowly and cautiously to frame measures of reform. The first step was the deputation of Mr. Crawford to Madras in 1908, the object of his mission being to inquire into the system which is working so well in the Presidency where it originated, that it has since been adopted throughout the length and breadth of British India. Since that time a great deal of contempt and abuse has been poured by local critics upon the Madras system, often, as a study of their criticisms will show, without clearly understanding what that system is, and often upon lines which will not bear the test of close scrutiny or close examination. But one fact, Sir, is undeniable, a fact that cannot be gainsaid, that let its imperfections be what they are the Madras system gives the Govern- ment a very complete control over the manufacture, over the distribution, over the sale, and, eventually, over the consumption of all intoxicants in that Presidency; and no less must you accept the fact that the present system, unreformed, can never secure that in this Colony of Ceylon. Now, on April 7, 1909, the following resolution was introduced into this Council, and was adopted by the unanimous vote of its members :-

That in the opinion of this Council it is expedient to alter the existing system of arrack and toddy renting, and to take measures for the introduc- tion of a system of excise on the lines of that which has been adopted in Madras, or on lines which will be an adaptation of that system suited to local conditions; that Government should secure a more complete control of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor than it at present possesses; and that this Council approves such expenditure as may be necessary, in the first instance, on account of such expert advice from British India or elsewhere, as may be needed before any change of policy can be definitely proposed."

My honourable friend, Mr. Kanagasabai, the Tamil Member, in speaking to that motion said :-

"In fact, I may say that there is a general consensus of opinion that the present renting system should be displaced by some other system than the one now in force. The excise system by which it is sought to be replaced seems to me to be admirably good, and adapted to the conditions of Ceylon." The General European Member, Mr. J. N. Campbell, whose works of philan thropy are known to all of us, and whose interest in and love of Ceylon are no less

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