CO882-(8-9) — Page 697

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

LITIC.O. 882

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

The district of Kurunegala is prosperity and with an increase of population. one in which both these factors have been in operation with great intensity during A fairer and more trustworthy idea of the result of the period under discussion. the closing of taverns in the Kurunegala District may be obtained by comparing the excise revenue derived from this district with that of a neighbouring district possessing similar general features, where no such wholesale diminution in arrack taverns had taken place. Your Memorialists submit that the figures of the adjoining district, viz., Negombo, may most aptly be compared with those of the Kurunegala District during the same period. Both are Sinhalese districts, wherein great agri- cultural development has taken place in coconut cultivation during the last two decades. Of the two districts, however, greater expansion has occurred in Kurune- gala, as in the latter, besides the increase in coconut cultivation, other products, such as cocoa and rubber, have made great headway. The following figures will indicate the increase in prosperity and development in the two districts and the revenue derived from arrack, as contrasted with one another :-

Population

(Census of Males only.)

1891

Negombo. 69,481

Kurunegala. 124,673

1901

77,463

1911

87,459

137,480 169,097

An increase of 25 per cent.

in the two decades.

Arrack Revenue.

Rs.

Do. of 35 per cent.

Rs.

1899

208,000

140,000

1900

253,100

140,000

1901

253,100

166,650

1902

288,000

181,770

1903

288,000

181,770

9. During the two decades, 1891-1911, the population of Kurunegala increased Yet, whilst the at a higher rate (35 per cent.) than that of Negombo (25 per cent.). arrack revenue yielded between 1899 and 1903 an increase of only 26 per cent. in Kurunegala, the increase in Negombo amounted to 49 per cent. These figures, then, are diametrically opposed to the contention put forward by the local Government, and prove conclusively the fact that the diminution of taverns in 1899 did materially retard the great increase which would have taken place in the consumption of liquor in the district, had it not been for that salutary check.

10. Your Memorialists further submit that the principle involved is not one of academic interest only. It is a principle on which the Government of Ceylon had several decades ago come to a careful and deliberate decision, obviously the correct one, which has constantly guided the Government Agents year after year in their dealings with the arrack renters. From time to time the revenue officers of Ceylon find it expedient to establish new taverns in their districts, or abolish some already in existence. In every case of increase they act on the principle that an increase in the number of taverns means an increase in the quantity consumed, and, therefore, expect and demand a proportionate increase in the rents. A case may be cited by way of illustration from the district of Kurunegala itself, which occurred so late as last year. Under the auspices of the present Excise Commissioner, who was then Acting Government Agent North-West Province in addition to his Excise duties, the renter of the district was granted the privilege of establishing six taverns in 1911; but on the distinct condition that he should pay a pro rată increase in his rent for this concession. So that the principle which the Government have urged with so much emphasis in theory they repudiate in practice. Nor is that the only contradiction which strikes a reader of the Ceylon despatches on the Excise Reform. It would seem that the arrack renters, who, according to the description in the despatch, are so astute as to "have studiously kept in the background" during the prolonged controversy on Excise," who have made a tool of the sincerity of bond hide temperance advocates, and have successfully captured a large mass of unin- if there be a demand, will see structed public opinion in this Colony," and who that it is satisfied, whether a licence is granted or withheld," are, in spite of their astuteness, so foolish or unbusinesslike as to pay a considerable subsidy for a privi- lege that they can well do without. It is this principle, so absurd in theory, and so inconsistent with their own practice, that Government have advanced as the only reason against the granting of licensing powers to the District Committees.

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It has been stated that "in the present state of public ignorance or inability or unwillingness to grasp the real principles underlying the question at issue, I and my advisers see grave reasons to apprehend, &c." The" real principles " underlying the question at issue, as stated by Government, have been shown to be fallacious and unreliable. Your Memorialists therefore pray that you will be pleased to restore to the local Committees the powers of licensing which you originally designed for them in your despatch of the 26th July.

11.

The reasons against Government ownership of distilleries have been pressed on you with considerable force by various public bodies. Your Memorialists, there- fore, note with pleasure and gratitude that you are not satisfied with the Madras scheme of central distilleries, but have pressed on the local Government the wisdom of adopting the system of licensed distilleries, as they exist in England, which pay an excise duty on actual output. In paragraphs 19-21 of the Ceylon despatch, this suggestion is made the subject of adverse criticism. It is attempted to argue that you have not grasped the true significance of the contract supply system. This system will be more effective as a regulator not only of the supply, but of the Consumption than that which is in force in the United Kingdom." Your Memorialists respectfully submit that the above description can only be due to a fundamental misconception. With the adoption of the central distillery system the monopoly of distilling arrack for a particular Province will be given to one individual. This man will have to supply all the spirit required by the licensees of the taverns in the Province in question. The tavern keepers, who purchase their licence for one year at an auction sale, will be interested in pushing their sales as much as possible without any let or hindrance from Government. They have a right to demand and obtain as much spirit as they require from the distiller with whom they are linked. It will be to the advantage of the distiller to supply as much arrack as his customers, the tavern keepers, require, and the greater the quantity he supplies the greater will be his profit. It is obvious, therefore, that such a system can neither control nor regulate the consumption of the spirit in the Province. But this, again, is not merely a matter for theoretical discussion. The results of this system are open for study in minute detail in the annual Reports of the Madras Abkari Revenue. In the report for 1910-11, paragraph 16, the following occurs :-

"There was a gross increase of 72,771 proof gallons in 13 districts— Tanjore (350 per cent.), Bellary (30 3 per cent.), Tinnevelly (192 per cent.), Ramnad (182 per cent.), Salem (181 per cent.), Madura (161), Vizagapatam (104 per cent.), The Nilgherries (92 per cent.), North Kurnool (13), Madras (06), and Arcot (62), Godavery (36),

Arcot the increase is Anantapuro (04). In Tanjore and North ascribed to the poor yield of toddy, in Bellary and Tinnevelly to a good cotton crop and the higher prices obtained for it, and in Ramad and In Salem it was due Madura to the favourable character of the season. largely to prevalence of plague, in Vizagapatam to the extension of the con- The increase tract distillery supply system to the Gunupur taluq, and in the Nilgherries to higher wages paid to workmen and to a better season. in the other districts was small. Eleven districts (Kistna, South Canara, Malabar, Coimbatore, Nellore, Guntur, Cuddappah, Ganjam, Chingleput, Trichinopoly, and South Aroit) showed a total decrease of 45,866 proof gallons. The decrease occurred chiefly in Kistna (13·9), South Canara (124), and Malabar (84), and is ascribed to higher prices of food grains in Kistna and the enhancement of duty from April 1st, 1910, in the other two districts. An additional cause for the decrease in South Canara was a temperance movement among the Roman Catholic Cowdas."

12. A system which is so elastic as to permit an increase in consumption amounting to 35 per cent. in one district, as compared with the consumption in the previous year; under which the volume of liquor sold advances with seasons of abounding harvests; and is even susceptible to such diverse influences as famine, plague, and temperance movements, cannot be described, even by a stretch of the imagination, as exerting any definite effects or permanent control on the consumption of spirits. It is submitted, therefore, that the central distillery system possesses no material advantage over the system in use in England. On the other hand, it has very serious disadvantages for Ceylon.

13. In this Colony such distilleries are not likely to be put up by private individuals unless they are given security of tenure for a number of years. This

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