CO882-(8-9) — Page 680

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

CO. 882

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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The action taken in order to check the illicit traffic in toddy has already been described, and need not here be repeated

With regard to the absence of licensed toddy taverns in the area between l'ana- dure and Hikkaduwa,--it was not considered wise to introduce the new system into this area at the present time, although it is well known that the consumption of toddy is extensive in this locality. It is here that practically all the arrack stills are situated, and the Excise Commissioners were of opinion that, in the beginning, and until the preventive staff has been strengthened, and has acquired more experience, it would not be fair to the distillers to license the sale of toddy within a radius of three miles of any still. This area will be taken later.

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It is purely on the grounds of expediency that the inclusion of it in the general toddy farming scheme has, for the time being, been postponed.

from toddy can logically be drawn from this.

23. In paragraph 7 the Memorialists state that the use of toddy as a beverage is not prevalent in Ceylon, “ except in certain parts of the Northern Province, and in a few limited areas elsewhere amongst the lower classes of the people "; that toddy- producing trees are tapped chiefly for the manufacture of jaggery; that the" religious creeds of ninety per cent of the inhabitants of Ceylon forbid the use of intoxicating liquor of any description," and that "the habit of drinking fermented toddy is regarded as degrading." On these grounds the Memorialists declare the statement made by the Colonial Secretary, when moving the second reading of the Excise Ordi- nance in the Legislative Council-that it is quite impossible to repress or suppress because the consumption of that the consumption of toddy in Ceylon liquor is an ingrained habit to which the people have been addicted for generations " --to find no support in facts.

24. The Memorialists, it will be noted, content themselves once more with a bare assertion of their belief. The Colonial Secretary, on the other hand, spoke on the authority of the Excise Commissioners, Messrs. Horsburgh and Thurley, who supplied him with his information after an exhaustive inquiry conducted in every part of the Island, which nine months were needed to complete.

25. It is true that intoxicants are forbidden by more than one of the creeds professed by a large percentage of the inhabitants of this Colony, as also, for instance, is the use of fish and meat. Yet the fact remains that intoxicants, like fish and meat, are freely used by a large proportion of the population. The ardent spirit-arrack --and the fermented liquor-toddy--are alike forbidden, and alike consumed; but I would point out that the neglect of the religious law, which must always be a matter governed by the conscience of the individual, is likely to receive less stimula- tion through licensed and regulated places of sale, than through unregulated, unsupervised, and therefore more surreptitious methods of supply. Moreover, if, for the sake of the argument, we admit the correctness of the contentions of the Memorialists admit that toddy is not generally consumed; that its consumption is repugnant to the religious feeling of the population; and that its use is rightly regarded as degrading- it follows that the returns kept at the toddy taverns will speedily reveal the fact that, at any rate in certain districts, the consumption is nil, or is so small that it may be regarded as negligible. The moment this is proved, the Government will at once close the toddy tavern, and thereafter take active steps to prevent the tapping of toddy-producing trees in that area, except under strict A step in the direction of suppression regulation for the production of jaggery, &c.

will thus be made; but no such step is possible unless the manufacture and sale of toddy is brought in the first instance under close regulation and supervision. It is curious to find persons whose one anxiety, it would seem, is to see the consumption of alcohol reduced opposing with so much vehemence the only measures which have yet been devised which render such reduction an eventual possibility. For the rest, the Colonial Secretary was, in my opinion, obviously right when he stated that it is impossible to prohibit the use of toddy in Ceylon in existing circumstances. The remark applies with equal force to the use of arrack. Yet both, as pointed out by the Memorialists, are forbidden by the teachings of their religion to the majority of the inhabitants of Ceylon.

26. The second resolution passed by the public meeting in Colombo reads as follows:-

(2) This meeting, while holding that the financial position of the Island at the present time affords a valuable opportunity for introducing a well- considered reform of the system governing the liquor traffic, and while heartily commending those proposals of Government which aim at stricter control and

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closer vigilance, records an emphatic protest against the establishment, with- out consulting local public opinion, of new licensed houses for the sale of intoxicants, and earnestly urges the provision of effective legal machinery whereby the wishes of residents shall be allowed full weight (as in India) when a licence for a new tavern is proposed or the transfer of an old tavern is intended.

27 The question of local option-so-called-was fully dealt with by the Colonial Secretary in his speech on the second reading of the Excise Ordinance- ride" Hansard," pages 76-77-- and was considered by the Select Committee of the Legislative Council appointed to consider the Bill. Their recommendations will be found in paragraph 31 of their Report, of which I enclose a copy,* and those regula tions will be embodied in rules issued under the new Ordinance, which will be presented to the Legislative Council for approval when the Bill has received the Royal sanction. These rules will not, of course, have retrospective effect and I do not consider that any further concession in the direction of granting local option can safely be made. Had the power to determine finally whether a tavern should or should not be established in any locality been transferred from Government to local agitators and enthusiasts, the objections of a small percentage of the inhabitants of Chilaw, for example, would have been able to wreck the present scheme of reform, although those objections were based upon nothing sounder than a prejudice against the proposed separation of arrack from toddy, and against the licensing of 50 as against 46 places where toddy has hitherto been legally sold in that district. This illustration of how local option " would be likely to work in Ceylon in existing circumstances, and of the amount of thought and reasoning which would guide its exercise, must be admitted to be highly instructive.

28. The contention of the Memorialists, in this connection, would appear to be that the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Excise Bill with regard to local option "ought to have retrospective effect. I am unable to admit the justice of this claim. Even now the Ordinance under which the proposed rules are to be framed has not become law. Before the Committee sat to consider the Ordinance, all the arrack rents and a large number of the toddy rents had already been sold for the year 1912-13. To apply rules which were not, and even now are not, in force, to numbers of transactions already completed or nearing completion, was never for a moment contemplated by Government, and would have reduced the renting arrange- ments for the year which has just begun to a chaotic condition.

29. The third resolution passed by the public meeting at Colombo reads as follows:-

(3) This meeting, being of opinion that the only connection which Govern- ment should have with the liquor traffic is that of supervision and regulation, deprecates the possible enlistment of Government among distillers, and the expenditure of public money upon the production of arrack.

30. As you are aware, it is not the intention of Government to undertake the task of distilling liquor. This, under the contract-supply system, will, as at present, be left to private enterprise. This was very clearly stated by the Colonial Secretary when setting forth the policy of the Government in his speech moving the second reading of the Excise Bill-vide "Hansard," page 80-and I am at a loss to under- stand how, after a careful study of the intentions of Government, the promoters of the public meeting, and their representatives, the Memorialists, can be labouring under a genuine misapprehension on this point.

31.

In order to secure to Government complete control over the contract-supplier, however, it is very probable that it will hereafter be found necessary for Govern- ment to erect distilleries of its own on modern lines; but the distilling done in them will be confined to the contract-supplier, who will lease the building and plant from It is not possible at the present time to Government for the term of his contract.

state definitely how many Government distilleries will, in the future, have to be constructed; nor can the scheme, in this connection, be worked out in detail until the experimental distillery has been erected and has been some time in operation. The principal reason which causes me and my advisers to think that the establish- ment of Government distilleries will prove to be necessary is that—since, under the new system the contract-supplier will enjoy his exclusive privilege to distil arrack for a limited period, and as the privilege will from time to time be sold to the highest

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• Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

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