CO882-(8-9) — Page 641

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 882

9

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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the fermentation in the case of toddy drawn for the purpose of food or the manu- facture od jaggery. Such being the case, 1 would leave the law as at present as As I said, I hope the Government will see its way to regards sweet toddy trees. impose no restrictions at all on the drawing of sweet toddy, which has been described Then, as an article of food, and which is used in the manufacture of jaggery; and I also hope that villagers will not be asked to obtain licences to draw sweet toddy. Sir. I have another objection which has been raised, which has also been very properly dealt with by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary; that objection is with reference to the separation of arrack from toddy. In the Northern Province, Sir, in point of fact, arrack has been always separated from toddy. I believe in the early part of the eighties of the last century Sir William, then Mr., Twynam made it a point to sell these two rents separately. That system was after a few years discontinued; rents were sold to the same renter as in other parts of the Island. In spite of that, toddy is not sold in arrack taverns, and no arrack is These two have beeen kept distinct one from the other, and sold in toddy taverns.

I fail to see any reason at all why there should be any grumbling on the score of the separation of arrack from toddy. In addition to the reasons which have been so ably advanced by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, in a speech worthy of the great occasion, I may say that the separation will facilitate in a manner the The separation of arrack from toddy will enable the Govern- collection of revenue.

ment to have the present system, subject to considerable modification, as stated by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, continued as far as toddy is concerned. In that case the toddy rents will be purchased in the ordinary course by a man in a small area, which will be marked out for one tavern; and that man, with his local influence and knowledge, will be able to prevent illicit traffic in fermented toddy. Such being the case, I would welcome the separation of arrack from toddy.

HIS EXCELLENCY the ĜOVERNOR : Hear, hear!

The Honourable the COLONIAL SECRETARY: Hear, hear!

The Honourable the TAMIL MEMBER: And I would express the fervent hope It was that the taxing of sweet toddy trees will not be dreamt of at any time. Then, there is the other objection based upon the supposed multiplication of taverns. very refreshing to me, and to my honourable colleagues on the unofficial side, to On the other hand, I hope that know that the taverns are not to be increased. they will be decreased, if possible, because I would fain wish to see the realisation of my honourable friend Sir Christoffel Obeyesekere's wishes, if possible. Perhaps it is not possible for us to hope to see the extinction of drink; drink, I am very sorry to say, will continue to exist; but it is possible to reduce the evil to a minimum, and to reduce the curse of drink to the lowest possible minimum.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR: Hear, hear!

The Honourable the TAMIL MEMBER: And I say, Sir, that if this new excise scheme will have that effect, and will tend to the reduction of drink, and thereby to the greater well-being of the people, no greater blessing can be conferred by the British Government on the people of this Island.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR: Hear, hear!

The Honourable the COLONIAL SECRETARY: Hear, hear!

The Honourable the TAMIL MEMBER: Therefore, I would fervently hope that Government, with the consent of this Legislature, will from time to time, as may be necessary, improve this Ordinance so as to bring the consumption of drink to the lowest possible limit, if necessary by the reduction of taverns. Then, when these three main objections have been disposed of, the fourth objection, which is also one of great substance, remains; and that is the objection on the ground that local option is not given by the proposed scheme. Well, this is an important question. The principle of local option has been in a manner recognised by this Legislature in 1891; even previous to that, Sir, the principle, though in a much fainter manner, did exist. Even the Excise Commissioners in their able and comprehensive Report did recognise the principle as regards the selection of sites for taverns to be estab- lished, and they said that the wishes and the sentiments of the people living in the They also say that neighbourhood of the proposed tavern would be considered. the question whether a tavern is necessary to be planted in a certain place will have to be decided by the Government Agent. That is the purport of the 89th clause of the Report. And it is said by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary that the advocates of local option do not devise any machinery for the exercise of local option. It is true, as remarked by the Honourable the European Rural Member, and also yesterday by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, that it is difficult

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to find machinery for the exercise of local option; but, as I said, the principle has been recognised by the Ordinance No. 12 of 1891 as regards licences issued to persons for the sale of liquors other than those manufactured out of the palm produced That is a progressive in this country.

We have now advanced to a certain extent.

To say advance, and I am sure that we have progressed along the right lines. that the principle which was conceded in a manner, though in a faint way, by the Legislature in 1891, should now be taken away is not welcome, to say the least of it. Speaking of the machinery, I think, as has been suggested by my honourable friend the European Rural Member, that the l'lanters' Association, for instance, may be con- sulted whenever a new tavern is to be established in the Central Province, or an old tavern abolished. In other parts also there are associations whose wishes may be consulted. The decision may be left to the Excise Commissioner or the Govern- I would go the length of ment Agent, aided by a few unofficials in each district. proposing, Sir, that if no other machinery can be devised, boards should be con- stituted, which should be presided over by the Government Agent or Assistant Government Agent a board of official and unofficial members to be nominated by the Governor for the purpose of considering objections to the establishment of new taverns. I say that some such machinery can be thought of, or it may be possible for us to hear from Honourable Members who are to speak after me of some system of exercising local option. Well, it would be a pity to wreck this useful piece of legislation on a discussion as to local option. The question, I think, may be dis cussed, and may eventually be disposed of, in Select Committee; and I hope that my honourable friend the Colonial Secretary will find his way to cut the gordian knot and give us some relief in the way of local option. The whole country is clamouring for it.

The Government will see the reasonableness of certain requests made by I would not grumble at the impatient certain associations and various bodies. public, because they had certain causes for apprehension." In one way, I think, we must express our thankfulness to the public for having come forward. The Govern- ment has seen its way to meet certain of the objections, some of which were without authority, and were anticipated by the objectors without much reason.

I

say that

the objection to there being no local option is founded on good reason, and, as I have already stated, we express the hope that Government will find a way to satisfy the public and the Unofficial Members of this Council by finding some way of giving the benefit of local option. It is true that there are difficulties in the way, but these difficulties must be removed in some way or another, and a way must be found. As I said, these are the main objections, and I said that there is only one of substance. the one with regard to local option, to which we have not had a satisfactory reply. There are certain minor objections referred to in the memoranda received by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, one of which is from Jaffna, and I think it will be well to consider those in Select Committee. Then, only one word more, Sir, as regards ganja. My honourable friends are aware that ganja, like opium, is a drug which is used by persons preparing native medicine; and it would be desirable to give native medical practitioners the privilege of possessing certain small quan- tities of ganja for medicinal purposes. That is also an item which might very well be discussed in Select Committee. Those are the objections I have to make, and I do not think I need weary Honourable Members with any further details. But before I sit down I would like to express the fervent hope that this new excise scheme will be worked in such a way as to reduce drink and its concomitant evils. (Applause.)

The Honourable the BURGHER MEMBER: Sir, we were told yesterday by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary that this question which we are now discussing is one of the most important that he has had to deal with since he entered upon his If we look outside, Sir, to the dis- duties as Colonial Secretary of this Island. cussions in the newspapers and the reports and memoranda that have come to hand from local associations all over the Island, there can be no doubt that the public mind has been very greatly agitated on this subject; but I think, Sir, that we have had a great many of these fears completely dispelled. The speech of the Honourable the Colonial Secretary has brushed away most of our fears, and most of the diffi- culties which we apprehended with regard to this Ordinance; and really one comes to-day to take part in this discussion only to find that there is very little to do in the fighting line. (Hear, hear!) There can be no question, Sir, that the system of farming the revenue from arrack has always been looked upon as a most unsatis- factory one; in fact, almost from the days of the British occupation we find that administrator after administrator had simply looked on at a distance at the mischief

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