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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILLICO. 882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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being considered a select Committee of the Council, Government, acting under the old Ordinance, authorised the establishment of 1,300 new toddy taverns, and pro- ceeded with the utmost rapidity to sell the right to vend toddy therein.

This action, pending the confirmation or disallowance of the new Ordinance, has aroused a strong feeling of indignation throughout the country, since it is not only certain to lead to largely extended consumption of intoxicants, and consequent in- temperance, but also to prejudice impartial consideration of the whole question on its merits, and render any subsequent concessions with regard to local option entirely valueless.

The

6 The plea that the establishment of the additional taverns is necessary to the suppression of the illicit traffic in arrack and toddy cannot be substantiated.

Government, however, made no attempt to existence of this traffic is not denied. cope with the evil by the appointment of a preventive staff, but left the responsibility for suppressing illicit sales in the hands of the renters, the very persons who, it is As the monopoly to admitted, are largely responsible for the illicit sales of arrack. vend arrack and toddy was sold yearly, renters could not be expected to undertake the expenditure required for organising a staff to deal with the illicit traffic. The Government are now establishing a preventive staff, and the Memorialists would submit that, until reasonable and adequate trial has been given to this method of suppressing illicit traffic, the adoption of a remedy which is only too likely to aggra- vate the disease by providing increased temptation to indulge in intoxicating liquor should have been postponed.

In this connection, the Memorialists would point out that the Government do not seem to be very strongly impressed with the necessity for additional taverns, or the inadequacy of ordinary preventive measures for the suppression of the illicit traffic; for their scheme includes neither any appreciable increase in the number of arrack taverns, although illicit traffic in arrack is considerable, and undoubtedly much more extensive than the illicit traffic in toddy, nor any additional toddy taverns on the sea- board between Panadure and Hikkaduwa (a distance of over 40 miles), the area within which the bulk of the arrack used in Ceylon is distilled, and toddy trees are tapped for that purpose, and where it is admitted that there is very extensive illicit traffic.

7 The following statement was made by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary in moving the Second Reading of the Excise Bill" There is one point that we have got to recognise, and that is, that it is quite impossible to repress or to suppress the con- sumption of toddy in Ceylon. It is impossible because the consumption of that liquor is an ingrained habit which the people have been addicted to for generations." (Hansard, 1912, p. 72). This statement finds no support in facts. Not only do the religious creeds of ninety per cent, of the inhabitants of Ceylon forbid the use of intoxicating liquor of any description, but the habit of drinking fermented toddy is regarded as degrading, and is prevalent only in certain parts of the Northern Pro- vince, and in a few limited areas elsewhere, amongst the lower classes of the people. It is true that a very large number of trees,--coconut, palmyra, and kitul-are tapped in different parts of the country; but to assume that any considerable part of the toddy so procured is consumed in the form of fermented toddy is entirely to overlook the very extensive jaggery industry, to which so large a proportion of the toddy is applied.

४. The question of Local Option, the Memorialists submit, is of more than ordinary importance in view of the action of Government in establishing 1,300 new licensed houses. The justification pleaded for the trebling of licensed houses by the establishment of toddy taverns is the prevalence of illicit shops for the sale of toddy. Government having, through the Colonial Secretary, declared in the Legislative Council that toddy taverns would be established only where there was a proved con- sumption of illicit toddy, the duty devolves on them of stating the number of illicit shops discovered in each area in which new taverns are to be established, the number of trees tapped in that area, and the quantity of gallons consumed therein. Govern- ment, while publishing no statistical information, have determined on the number and location of taverns without consulting the residents at all. They have further, by putting up to public auction the right to retail toddy in these taverns, taken the surest means of encouraging increased consumption-the retailer having a direct In the Chilaw district, for example, toddy pecuniary interest in such increase. rents were sold in the teeth of the representation of the trustees of the Anglican Church that there is no illicit sale of toddy in the district. This denial was supported

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by the speakers at a mass meeting, over which the Roman Catholic priest presided, and at which the Hindu High Priest of the historic Munniseram Temple declared that there was no illicit sale of toddy anywhere in the neighbourhood of the Temple, and that, when thousands of pilgrims assembled at the festival he took care, in the interests of his people, that there was no illicit sale of either arrack or toddy to tempt them to wrong doing. The Chilaw Association, at its protest meeting, confirmed the absence of any demand for toddy beyond that which the existing arrack and toddy taverns supplied; and it was publicly stated by Mr. Corea, an Advocate of the honour- able the Supreme Court, that the Mudaliyar (or chief Sinhalese Assistant of the Assistant Government Agent), when asked at the sale, confirmed the statement that there was no illicit sale of toddy in the district. It is to be noted that this violation of official promise and disregard of local feeling were exhibited after the Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the Excise Bill, over which the Hon. the Colonial Secretary himself presided, had unanimously recommended Local Option. The Memorialists have reason to believe that the case of the Chilaw District is not singular.

The recommendations of the Excise Commissioners, and the very strong inclina- tion which the officers of Government have shown to ignore local opinion, have caused widespread apprehension and dissatisfaction. The recommendations of the Select Committee of the Legislative Council have not allayed these feelings, or inspired in the people any hope that the rules which may be framed in pursuance of those recom- mendations will be sufficient, either for the ascertainment of local opinion, or for giving such opinion due effect. And the Memorialists would earnestly protest against the disregard of widely expressed public opinion in Ceylon that Local Option should form an express part of any law that may be passed affecting the sale of intoxicants. Moreover, the importance of the matter, and the necessity for a fixed practice, require that provision in this respect should be included in the Ordinance. Apart from the unanimous recommendation of the Select Committee, the consulting of local opinion is not unknown in the Island in other branches of administration. The Memorialists ask no more than has been conceded in India, where, according to the India Office List, the wishes of residents are allowed full weight when a licence for a new tavern is proposed, or the transfer of an old tavern is intended." In Ceylon the number of taverns has been doubled or trebled after the admission of the Govern- ment of their failure to control the sale of intoxicants in existing taverns or to check the illicit sale connected therewith.

9. The Excise Commissioners, in their report, made the following recommenda- tion:-

"On the whole, then, it seems most advantageous that the Government, having a clear field to work in, should erect the distilleries, instal the-plant, and lease them to the contract suppliers."

This recommendation has been embodied in Clause 15 of the Excise Ordinance, which reads as follows:-

(1) The Excise Commissioner may—

(a) Establish or authorise the establishment of distilleries ena breweries in which liquor may be manufactured under a licence granted under Section 14 on such conditions as the Governor deems fit to impose;

(b) Establish or authorise the establishment of warehouses wherein any excisable article may be deposited and kept without payment of duty; and

(c) Subject to the provisions of Sections 26 and 27, discontinue any distillery, brewery, or warehouse.

(2) No distillery, brewery, or warehouse as aforesaid shall be established or worked except by, or under the authority of, the Excise Commissioner. This indicates a possible intention on the part of Government to establish or own distilleries, and themselves to be responsible for the production of arrack.

The only three objections which the Excise Commissioners recognise against their recommendations are: first, the preliminary expenditure, which they admit will be great, to which their rejoinder is that the Government will receive a return on such expenditure; second, interference with private enterprise, which they say is unlikely to come into existence in the Island; third, that they make Government an interested