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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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amount this afternoon of your time to this Deputation. I will, therefore, only take I am sure there is no need for me to one or two moments in introducing it to you. explain to you that this Deputation is one of a representative character and of con- siderable weight. It represents in the first place the Native Races and the Liquor Traffic United Committee, and there are here representatives of those who have personal knowledge of the conditions prevailing in Ceylon, and who will give you first hand evidence as to the overwhelming feeling in the Island with reference to the Bill which we have come here to consider, the Ceylon Excise Bill.

I will only in one sentence state the main grounds of the objections of the Depu- tation to this Bill. In the first place they object to it because of the large increase in the number of liquor shops-hot created under the Bill, because they have been created before the Bill first came into operation--but which the Bill sanctions; in the second place, the conditions under which liquor is to be manufactured under the Bill, and the conditions under which licences are to be granted, and, thirdly, the manner in which the new system has been established. The new licences, as you are aware, have been sanctioned under the old Ordinance of 1844, which is itself repealed by the Bill.

I would only desire to emphasise one point before I sit down, and it is in rela- tion to the somewhat exceptional knowledge that I have of the excise system in India, with regard to which, as you know, I have taken for some years a great interest. It is stated that this Bill is largely founded upon the report of the Commissioner who inquired into the Indian system, particularly the Madras system, of excise some What I wish to point out to you is that one of the special features- years ago. improvements in the present excise system in India is the establishment of a very large number of Advisory Committees for the purpose of advising the authorities as to the number and location of liquor shops before they are granted. Take Madras as an illustration; there are in Madras 62 of these Advisory Committees, and last year out of a total number of 387 liquor licences recommended for extinction no fewer than 277 disappeared under the advice of the Advisory Committees.

Sir, I fully realise the great importance of the Government view in regard to the setting up of the excise system and especially from a revenue standpoint, but there is the other side there is the public side-and the Deputation would submit to you to-day that, whilst following where it is desirable the Government model in Madras on its revenue side, we do think that it ought to follow also as far as possible the Madras system in respect to the machinery set up there for consulting local public opinion upon the question.

In conclusion, I have only to assure you that those of us who have come here to-day feel very strongly upon this question, and the only object which we have before us is to prevent a system being carried into effect which will hinder and not help the cause of sobriety in Ceylon. We feel quite sure that what is said before you to-day by speakers who know the subject will receive from you a careful and a sympathetic consideration.

I now have much pleasure in at once calling upon the Secretary of the Church of England Temperance Society, the Reverend Gerald A. Thompson, to read to you a statement which expresses the opinion of the Committee upon the subject.

Reverend GERALD A. THOMPSON: I may explain, Sir, that I read this as a It is the statement of the Native Races member of the Native Races Committee.

The and the Liquor Traffic United Committee concerning the Ceylon Excise Bill :

Points of agreement between the Committee and the Ceylon Government. Committee is in general accord with the Ceylon Government as to the nature of the problems confronting the Government, owing to the existing extremely loose system of conducting the liquor traffic in the Island of Ceylon.

There is a great lack of adequate control on the part of the authorities, and it is necessary for the good government of the Island that control should be more efficient. It is agreed that gross evils have grown up, that illicit sales are common, and that much drunkenness exists, which often interferes most seriously with the coolie labour on the plantations. Some planters report that as much as 70 per cent. of their labourers sometimes fail to turn up on Monday morning owing to the week. end debauch.

It is agreed, further, that the first step to reform is the abolition of the arrack renter monopolist, and all schools of reformers in the Island seem to be in favour of it.

Thus our opposition is not to the whole Bill.

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Further, we desire to express our gratification that the proposal to tax sweet toddy has been dropped.

But our argument, stated in general terms, is that the methods proposed are not calculated to achieve the ends aimed at, or that they can be reached in other and better ways, without creating new attendant evils.

2. A disclaimer. We desire to make it quite clear that this Committee and its friends in the Island are not in the least influenced by the outcry of the arrack renters. The opposition which we represent is not in the smallest degree a financial opposition, but is based solely upon considerations of public policy and popular welfare, guided by our own experience in this country.

Speakers at meetings in the Colony, when denouncing certain features of the Bill, have frequently said they approved of better control by the Government, and of the abolition of the arrack renter. Planters, traders, missionaries, and the Press are well represented in the opposition, and these are interests quite independent of the arrack renters.

Neither can this opposition be explained away as due to prejudice or misunder- standing. Large masses of people cannot easily be moved to indignation and public protest without adequate cause, and we think that we can show that the inhabitants of Ceylon have ample justification for protesting against several features of this Bill.

3. Our objections. (1) We challenge the fundamental proposition on which this scheme is based, viz., that it is necessary, in order to secure efficient control, that the sale of arrack should be separated from that of toddy. This plan means the institution of a new class of licences, and has already meant, as we shall show later, an enormous increase in the licensed houses of the Island. The more numerous the houses, the more difficult they are to control, increased competition always means increased temptation to sell, and to take grave risks in order to sell. A preventive staff could much more easily control 900 houses than they could watch over 2,000. By increasing the number of licensed premises the Government have enormously increased their difficulties of controlling, instead of making that necessary operation easier.

And, so far, the Government have offered no convincing reason for the change. They appear content to say that it is their scheme that the sales of these two liquors should be conducted in separate houses.

Government ought first to have established an efficient preventive staff, and seen what it could do, before they decided to separate sales and increase facilities to the enormous extent they have done. Home experience points clearly to the con- clusion that you do not promote either an effective control or good conduct among the licence-holders by increasing the facilities for obtaining drink, but quite the contrary.

(2) The establishment of separate toddy licences is calculated to lead to in- creased drinking and drunkenness, as the establishment of beerhouses in this country in 1830 did. That Act was an admitted and disastrous failure, and the houses thus established have, by common consent of the police, been among the worst conducted in the country.

The argument is that these new houses are necessary in order to suppress illicit sales. But it should be remembered that illicit sales are at the worst sporadic, Whereas a tavern supplies a constant, regular, and uncertain, and of brief duration. well-known temptation. You substitute a regular for an irregular supply; a certain for an uncertain one; a practically inexhaustible, for a very limited, supply.

Moreover, there is no guarantee whatever that there will not grow up round these new taverns, as round the old taverns, an illicit sale such as is now justly com- plained of. The old tavern-keepers, by common knowledge, deliberately fostered this illicit traffic, and what guarantee is there that the new men will not do the same? Indeed, the motive will be stronger in their case, because the competition will be keener; there being more of them on the ground.

(3) The procedure of the Ceylon Government regarding these new toddy licences, seems to us inexplicable on any sound principle, and has aroused widespread dismay and indignation in the Island.

The Bill, as introduced, and as it has passed the Legislative Council, repeals several old Ordinances, including that of 1844. Yet, whilst the Bill was under discussion in the Legislative Council, the Government proceeded as we are in- formed, under an old, long-disused, and about-to-be-repealed Ordinance-to put up

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