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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Colombo was not present, but sent a sympathetic letter to the Chairman. A few Roman Catholic priests were at the meeting, which The chair was taken by Mr. James was also attended by about twenty Salvationists. Peiris, and he was supported by Mr. Arthur Alvis, who recently unsuccessfully contested the Burgher seat in the Legislative Council, by Mr. Francis Beven, à frequent and voluminous correspondent on public questions to the local newspapers, and by a few other well-known native gentlemen. On the other hand, numerous native gentlemen of greater weight and standing than those named were not present, and, apart from the clergy, the general European community was practically unre- presented

3 The police report on the meeting states that there were about 1.000 people present, and adds : The majority who have interest with the arrack renters were prominent." This fact is instructive, and incidentally throws an interesting side- light on the statement contained in paragraph 4 of the Memorial," that no murmur has been heard from the renters that any vested rights were being interfered with, or that they were being prejudicially affected "a statement to which I shall have occasion more particularly to refer in a later paragraph of this despatch. It can hardly be contended that those connected with the arrack rents have a strong desire to promote temperance. That they attended this meeting in force shows, therefore, that their dislike is directed against the reforms of Government, and especially the separation of arrack from toddy, not against the increased consumption of alcohol, to prevent which was the object of the sincere promoters of this gathering

4 In paragraph 3 of the Memorial it is stated that public meetings of a similar I enclose copies of the character were held in many of the larger towns of Ceylon. reports furnished to Government on such of these meetings as were considered to be of sufficient importance to warrant such reports being called for.

5. It will be noted that in the first resolution passed by the meeting held in Colombo it is alleged that the Government is sanctioning "increased facilities for the consumption of alcohol by the establishment of separate toddy taverns."

In view of what I have already written in my despatch, No. 333, of June 13 last,* forward- ing the new Excise Ordinance for approval, it is perhaps hardly necessary for me to point out that this statement begs the whole question at issue.

6. The Memorialists do not attempt to analyse the existing facilities for obtain- ing toddy, but content themselves with the assertion that the establishment of separate Apparently toddy taverns will afford increased facilities for its consumption. those who are opposed to the measures introduced by Government find it convenient to ignore the fact that toddy has hitherto been on sale at numerous arrack taverns, and the further fact that toddy has hitherto been bought and sold illicitly at many other places. They make no deductions, therefore, on account of the number of places where toddy has hitherto been legally obtainable, and no additions on account of places where an illicit sale has hitherto been carried on, but, instead, represent each place licensed under the new system for the sale of toddy as an entirely "new tavern, at which, for the first time, toddy will be obtainable.

new taverns To take a concrete instance. It is represented that 50 are to be opened in the Chilaw District. In the past, however, toddy has been sold in 46 out of the 71 arrack taverns in that district, and there is reason to believe The that illicit sale has also been carried on to some extent outside these taverns. effect of the new system in this instance, therefore, will be to bring into existence four places where in future toddy can be legally obtained in excess of the number of places where in the past toddy has always been legally obtainable, and simul- taneously to subject illicit sales to the scrutiny of a preventive staff such as has never existed in the past. It must also be remembered that at the licensed toddy shop a comparatively mild fermented liquor will be offered for sale, without the purchaser being exposed to the temptation of buying an ardent spirit in its stead, as is now the case, when toddy can only be legally obtained at a tavern where arrack is also sold. It is difficult to appreciate the attitude of mind which leads people to believe that this is inimical to the cause of temperance, and which cheats men into the fallacy that increased facilities" for the consumption of alcohol are being afforded by action such as this.

8. I have taken the case of Chilaw because the agitation against the new system has there been carried to considerable lengths, an active attempt having been made by those opposed to it to prevent the sale of toddy licences. It can only be supposed

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that those who adopted this action either failed to understand the facts governing the case, or, in common with the renting interest, had reasons, other than a desire

to promote temperance, for disliking the separation of arrack from toddy.

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In other parts of the country the same factors in the calculation are per- sistently ignored by those who oppose the new system, and in speaking loosely of increased facilities," no account whatsoever is taken of existing legal and illicit facilities for obtaining a supply of toddy. Every care has been taken by the Govern- ment Agents to exclude from the operation of toddy licences all areas where a con- sumption of toddy is not known already to exist. Each year will supply the Govern- ment with more exact figures indicating the consumption of toddy in each area; and since the control, not the stimulation, of toddy consumption is the object of the measures now being taken, this knowledge will be used to reduce the legal facilities for obtaining the liquor, where and when it is demonstrated that this can be done without substituting an illicit for a properly supervised and regulated supply.

10.

In paragraph 4 of the Memorial the following statements are made:- (i.) That no case has been made out for the separation of arrack from toddy; (ii) That there has been no complaint from any part of the country that toddy

was not available in the taverns;

(iii) That the separation of arrack from toddy is something which in practice

the Government will find it impossible to effect; and

(iv.) That no murmur has been raised by the renters against the separation, the said renters having secured" the majority" of the toddy taverns by means of secret agents.

11. With regard to the first of these statements, the Memorialists once more attempt to beg the whole question. In the opinion of Government, the separation of arrack from toddy is the first essential step in the direction of reform of the traffic in country liquor. The experience of Madras shows clearly to any impartial student of the question that the manufacture, sale, and consumption of toddy cannot be efficiently supervised and regulated so long as the manufacture and sale are left under the control of the manufactures and purveyors of arrack. In the past the sale of arrack and toddy in Ceylon has been left in the hands of a single renter. The result has been that arrack has been pushed at the expense of the less harmful liquor; that illicit manufacture and sale of toddy have been rife in many parts of the Colony; and that no serious or efficient attempt to regulate them has been made by the renters, who in many instances have contented themselves with levying dues from illicit traders in consideration of the latter being granted an immunity from prose- cution.

12. Under the new system eventual control of both arrack and toddy becomes, for the first time, a possibility. A renter is brought into existence who will have a His own supply direct interest in assisting the Government to prevent illicit sales. will be regulated and supervised, and the actual consumption in his area carefully watched. The man who desires to buy toddy will not, as in the past, be precluded from obtaining it legally except in a tavern where ardent spirits are also offered for sale. Accounts relating to all the renters' transactions will be kept, and will be closely scrutinized. In a comparatively short time the Government will be in possession of figures showing the legitimate demand and consumption of toddy in any given area, and will be placed in a position, for the first time in the history of this Colony, of being able to regulate and control the consumption.

13. I differ from the Memorialists in their contention that no case has been made out for the separation of arrack from toddy; and I must add that no contri- bution to the discussion which has been made by them, or by those who think with them, has shaken my conviction that, if this measure be abandoned, the whole attempt to reform the present pernicious system, which all are agreed to condemn, must be similarly abandoned.

14. With regard to the second statement contained in paragraph 4 of the Memorial, with reference to the absence of complaints that toddy is not sold in the arrack taverns, it is difficult to believe that this is put forward as an argument calculated to prove anything material by gentlemen who profess to have seriously studied local conditions. The explanation is to be sought in the fact that, with or without the connivance of the arrack renters, the illicit sale of toddy has been widely prevalent in many areas over which these renters have held exclusive rights to purvey arrack and toddy. The illicit manufacture and sale of toddy in many parts of

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