Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:45:22.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832–1878: Problems in the Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Michael W. Roberts
Get access

Extract

Ancient Sinhalese rulers had a right to a share of agricultural income, a right which embraced the produce of the land as well as irrigation rates and was generally paid in kind. In effect, there was a land tax; but the term used (bojika-, bojiya-, or bojaka-pati) was more than mere land tax and connotes a tax on income corresponding to bhaga in Indian law books. By the fourteenth century, if not earlier, there had been a fundamental change. Rather than a tithe from each class of land in the village, the king received the whole of the produce of certain fields, the muttettu, which were cultivated gratis by the villagers who possessed other fields either in return for this service or in recognition of the king's suzreignty. This meant that there were no intermediaries farming (renting) the right to collect the tithe. It also meant that the villager held his paddy fields on an individual and hereditary (paraveny) basis. There was, however, no concept of freehold ownership. Authority was political. One could not distinguish private rights from political allegiance. Landholders combined rights in land with duties to the king. Service was attached to the land and was obligatory to any transferee. In some cases, this service was rendered to the king's chiefs and nominees or to the temples, for the kings distributed largesse in the form of lands and the services attached to them; these were known as nindagam, viharegam or devalegam as distinct from the king's villages, the gabadagam; such recipients were more like feudal overlords than farmers of the revenue. In other cases, villagers of certain castes performed certain specified services for the king, for other castes (usually higher castes) in their village, or for neighboring villages, and in return enjoyed certain fields. It was a system of service tenure that was girded and threaded by the caste system.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , August 1968 , pp. 809 - 834
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 University of Ceylon, History of Ceylon (Ceylon University Press, Colombo, 1960), Vol. 1, 238–39, 741–42Google Scholar. Perera, L. S., “Proprietary and tenurial rights in ancient Ceylon,” The Ceylon Jour, of Hist, & Social Studies, Vol. 2, january 1959, 1–32Google Scholar. The term dakapati referred to the income derived from the distribution of water, but is rather ambiguous. Bojaka-pati was used loosely to extend to this income as well.

2 My own summary and a synthesis from a variety of sources among which the following are the most important: Codrington, H. W., Ancient Land Tenure and Revenue in Ceylon, (Ceylon Govt. Press, Colombo, 1938)Google Scholar; Pieris, Ralph, Sinhalese Social Organization (Ceylon University Press, Colombo, 1956)Google Scholar; Gunasekara, U. A., “Land Tenure in the Kandyan Provinces of Ceylon,” B. Litt. thesis, Social Anthropology, (Oxford, 1959)Google Scholar; A. C. Lawrie mss in the Commonwealth Relations Office, London, Vol. III; Knox, Robert, An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon, Ryan's edition (Glasgow, 1911)Google Scholar; Turner, L. J. B.,. Collected Papers on the History of the Maritime Provinces of Ceylon, 1795–1805 (Times of Ceylon Co. Ltd., Colombo, 1923).Google Scholar

3 Also known as hena or hen. Chena cultivation is a form of shifting cultivation akin to ladang cultivation in Indonesia and taungya in Burma. It describes a rotation of the land instead of the crops, with clearing on the slash and burn method to provide manure. It is limited to nonirrigable land. Those who practice it are (and were), generally, not nomadic but live in settled villages.

4 Codrington, (1938), pp. 7, 43–45Google Scholar; Knox, (1911), p. 77.Google Scholar

5 Codrington, (1938) pp. 44–45Google Scholar. But Ralph Pieris casts a warning: “the classifications of lands in deeds, etc., should not be taken literally and considered either accurate or precise. They were recitals…. Many expressions are tautologous … [and English translations of local terms] were approximations.” Letter from Professor R. Pieris to author, December 18, 1963.

6 Pieris, (1956), p. 48.Google Scholar

7 Pieris, Ralph, “Title to Land in Kandyan Law” in the Sir Paul Pieris Felicitation Volume (Colombo Apothecaries Ltd., Colombo, 1956), p. 93Google Scholar. Codrington, (1938), pp. 5, 60Google Scholar. Nuwarakalawiya and other Dry Zone regions on the outskirts of the Kandyan Kingdom were relatively insulated from these forces.

8 Turner, (1923), pp. 190–209.Google Scholar

9 The Maritime Provinces were conquered in 1795–96, the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, though a stable position was not secured in the latter till the Rebellion of 1817–18 was suppressed.

10 The term “grain taxes” in this study refers to the paddy tax and the taxes on dry grain and does not include the import duties on grain. The latter will be referred to as “import duties.” But it should be noted that contemporaries were often referring to these as well when they used the terms “grain taxes,” “food taxes” or “taxes on food.”

11 Wickremeratne, U. C., “British Administration in the Maritime Provinces of Ceylon, 1796–1802,” PhD. thesis, History (London, 1964), p. 71.Google Scholar

12 Mason, Philip, The Birth of a Dilemma (O.U.P., London, 1958), pp. 226–27.Google Scholar

13 Legge, J. D., Britain in Fiji, 1858–1880 (Macmillan, London, 1958), pp. 231–32.Google Scholar

14 Stokes, Eric, English Utilitarians and India (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1959), p. 134.Google Scholar

15 Legge, (1958), pp. 231–32.Google Scholar

16 Wickremeratne, U. C., op. cit., pp. 31–33Google Scholar where he shows that the tax was only collected in Colombo. But also see pp. 79–80. In discussion, Dr. Wickremeratne maintained that the attempt to reduce the powers of the mudaliyars (headmen) was the principal cause of the revolt and that the coconut tax had little to do with it.

17 Ceylon Hansard, 1876–77, december 13, 1876Google Scholar, Alwis, James's speech, p. 213Google Scholar. Sessional Paper III of 1892, Despatches relating to the Proposed Abolition of the Grain Tax, Knutsford-Havelock, No. 45, february 12, 1892, p. 145.Google Scholar

18 Both in regard to the troubles of 1797–98 and North's policies I am deeply indebted to Dr. Upali Wickremeratne for some enlightening discussions and for the loan of his dissertation. He has found that North was far from being the doctrinaire that he has been made out to be. For the traditional view, see Turner, (1923), pp. 190–209Google Scholar and De Silva, Colvin R., Ceylon under the British Occupation 1795–1833, Vol. II (Colombo Apothecaries Ltd., 1942), 340–53, 364–72Google Scholar. It might be noted here that throughout his book Dr. De Silva uses the phrase “land tax” in a loose sense and does not clarify the crops or the land to which it was applied in British times.

19 In discussion Dr. Wickremeratne maintained that the essence of North's reforms was the abolition of service tenures and that Maitland did not reestablish this system. This may be so. But North sought to establish freehold rights and encouraged such practices as alienation and mortgages (Wickremeratne, , op. cit., pp. 104–05Google Scholar) and this was closely linked to the abolition of service tenures. Alienation grew in such proportion in the eighteen hundreds that Maitland promulgated Regulation No. 8 of 1809 which stipulated that service-tenants could not alienate or mortgage their lands. He also reverted to the system of paying headmen with land rather than money; i.e., with accommodessan.

20 Sessional Paper XVI of 1882, Report on the Commutation Settlement of the Sabaragamuwa District by A. R. Dawson, Grain Commissioner, july 4, 1882.Google Scholar

21 1871 Administration Reports, Reports of the Surveyor-General and the Service Tenures Commissioner, pp. 256–57 and 367Google Scholar respectively. There were an estimated 732 ninda (chiefs') villages, of which 298 were in the Central Provinces. The temple lands were surveyed whereas general acreage statistics provided in the annual Blue Book Reports were headmen's calculations lacking any reliability, so acreage comparisons are not attempted.

22 These figures are for 1881 [Census of Ceylon, 1881, p. viii]. The figures for the Kandyan Provinces are difficult to compute and are an overestimate because Kurunegala and Anuradhapura Districts, which include Low-country villages, have been taken as wholly Kandyan. The term “gama” or “village” is very nebulous in any event and sometimes includes hamlets, sometimes does not.

23 Hence the contemporary titles in Ceylon: “The Grain Tax Question” or “The Paddy Tax Question” rather than “The Land Revenue Question.”

24 As in India so in Ceylon, pragmatism and numerous other factors did not allow laissez-faire and free trade ideas to gain complete dominance. For an excellent discussion of this aspect see Bhattacharya, S., “Laissez Faire in India,” The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, january 1965.Google Scholar

25 An article entitled “Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832–1878: Theories, Prejudices and Controversies” has been completed and awaits publication.

26 Mendis, G. C. (ed.), The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers, Vol. 11 (O.U.P., London, 1956)Google Scholar, Sir Edward Barnes' Answers to the Commission of Enquiry, September 10, 1830, p. 38. No reasons were specified.

27 Sessional Paper XVI of 1877, Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Taxes on Home-Crown Grain and the Customs Duties on Imported Grain, October 30, 1877, Resume of Answers, p. 15 and Appendix; No. 46, Replies from S. Jayetilleke, Mudaliyar of the Kurunegala [kachcheri], n.d., p. lxxvii. This valuable report is abbreviated hereafter to Grain Tax Comm. 1877.

28 CO 54/345, Ward-Newcastle, No. 46, August 29, 1859, Encl. in Encl. 5, Memoranda on the Settlement of the Chena Question by J. Bailey, A.G.A., Badulla, November 12, 1857, pp. 339–40.

29 Idem. Under commutation the Agents would seem to have visited the fields themselves so one cannot see why this should have been so.

30 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Resume of Answers, Question 10, p. 16Google Scholar; and Appendix, pp. iv, lix, lxi. Ibid., Appendix No. 22, Replies from F. B. Templer, G.A., Southern Province, April 16, 1877, p, xl; and Nos. 41 and 46 from J. A. De Silva and S. Jayatilleke (two headmen), pp. lxxii, lxxviii. Bertolacci, A., A View of the Agricultural, Commercial and Financial Interests of Ceylon (Black, Parbury & Allen, London, 1817), pp. 304–07.Google Scholar

31 1869 Administration Reports, Galle District and Southern Province, F. B. Templer, G.A., n.d., p. 61. Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 59, F. R. Saunders, Jr. Acting G.A., North-Western Province, n.d., p. lxvi.

32 Mendis, G. C. (ed.), The Colebrooke Cameron Papers, Vol. 11 (O.U.P., 1956)Google Scholar, Sir Edward Barnes' Answers to the Commission of Inquiry, September 10, 1830, p. 38. He mentioned the commutation system being tried out for the first time in the Kandyan Provinces but clearly did not equate this with permanent settlements. His comments were at a time when the revenues were collected in kind and he obviously underestimated the speed with which the “market society” cast its fingers into the island.

33 Infra, pp. 818–19.

34 CO 54/182, Mackenzie-Russell, No. 185, December 9, 1840; and Enclosures, G. Tumour [Acting Col. Sec.]—Chief Sec., Fort St. George [Madras], June 3, 1840 and Dyke—Col. Sec., No. 85, March 19, 1838. Also see Minute by Hugh Stark, February 15, 1841.

35 Ibid., Minute by Stephen, February 12, 1841.

36 CO 54/182, Mackenzie-Russell, No. 185, December 9, 1840, Minutes by Stark and Russell, February 15 and 16, respectively.

37 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 54b, Encl., Pennycuick [Police Magistrate, Jaffna]—Queen's Advocate, April 1, 1871, p. lxxxvii.

38 1871 Administration Reports, Report of the District Judge, Kalutara, A. Y. Adams, june 10, 1872, p. 317Google Scholar. Also see 1872 Administration Reports, Kegalla, A. A. King, A.G.A., Hambantota, june 5, 1873, p. 38Google Scholar. Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Resume of Answers, Q. 15, p. 16.Google Scholar

39 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Resume of Answers, Question 12, p. 16Google Scholar. A Government Agent, F. B. Templer, said that sale by the field was tried out in the Southern Province but not “availed of generally” [Ibid., p. xl].

40 Ibid., Resume of Answers, Question 13, p. 16. See especially the replies from A. A. King, p. xliv, and D. J. Amarasekere, Mudaliyar of Hanwella [which is in the Western Province], p. lv.

41 Ibid., Appendix, No. 23, Replies from A. A. King, A.G.A., Hambantota, p. xliv. 1870 Administration Reports, Hambantota, A. A. King, A.G.A., n.d. [1871], p. 138.Google Scholar

42 Ludovici, L., Rice Cultivation, Its Past History and Present Condition: with suggestions for its improvement (J. Maitland & Co., Colombo, 1867), p. 136Google Scholar. Ludovici's book is a criticism of Government. He was later a newspaper editor. His experience seems to have been largely in Matara and the Southern Province.

43 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 17, Replies from Cameron, H. H., A.G.A., Kalutara, p. xxvii.Google Scholar

44 1864 Blue Book Reports, Robinson-Cardwell, , No. 134, september 16, 1865Google Scholar, Encl. in Encl. 7 [1864 Administration Report, Sabaragamuwa], J. W. W. Birch, March 30, 1865, p. 141.

45 CO 57/22, Executive Council Minutes, May 18, 1855.

46 The Ceylon Times, october 11, 1867Google Scholar. Brodie, A. O. “Statistical Account of the District of Chilaw and Puttalam, North Western Province,” J.R.A.S., Ceylon Branch, Vol. II (1853), 38Google Scholar. CO 54/238, Torrington-Grey, Confidential, August 16, 1847, Encl., Wodehouse [G.A., Western Province]—Col. Sec. [Tennent], Confidential, March 6, 1846.

47 R.F.C. or Reports on the Finance and Commerce of the Island of Ceylon and Correspondence relative thereto (London, 1848)Google Scholar, Tennent's Report, October 22, 1846, passim.

48 An outsider reading Tennent's memorandum would have been misled into assuming that the renting system was the sole method used. He insists with great positiveness that renters extracted half as much more from the cultivators as they paid Government. Other (and more knowledgeable) critics of the renting system never went so far as to state this. It is perhaps of significance that a contemporary from Tennent's time considered him prone to exaggeration [The Ceylon Times, june 2 and 5, 1868Google Scholar, Letters to the editor entitled “Speculum Dissected” by “Englishman” from Kandy, May 30, 1868].

49 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 48, Replies from W. De Saram, Registrar of Lands, Kurunegala, p. lxxx.

50 Arguing back from present-day conditions (for the dominance of mudalalis is still very common). Even in colonization schemes where multipurpose cooperative societies exist, peasants prefer to borrow money (at higher rates of interest) from the mudalalis; the mudalalis represent their grievances to officials and politicians, mediate for them in other ways, lend cars when necessary and so on (Amunugama, Sarath, “Chandrikawewa: A Recent Attempt at Colonization on a Peasant Framework,” The Cey. Jour, of Hist, & Social Studies, Vol. 18, 1965, 149–52)Google Scholar. Also see De Silva, S. B. D., “Investment and Economic Growth in Ceylon,” Ph.D. thesis, Economics (London, 1962), pp. 197–98.Google Scholar

51 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 38, Replies from F. R. Saunders, Jr., Acting G.A., North Western Province, n.d., pp. lxvi–vii.

52 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 24, Replies from Fisher, F. C., A.G.A., Matara, p. xlix.Google Scholar

53 The Ceylon Observer, july 14, 1877Google Scholar, “An unspoken reply to Mr. Wall's speech on The Taxes on Food.”

54 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 15, Replies from J. F. Dickson, G.A., North Central Province, pp. xxiii–iv. Also see replies from D. C. H. Dias Bandaranayaka, p. xi.

55 Of the 77, a few were noncommittal, a few did not comment on this point because the renting system was hardly or never used in their districts.

56 Anon., “Historical Sketch of the Vanni,” The Monthly Literary Register, Vol. 1 (1893), 75–76Google Scholar in speaking of the early nineteenth century. This account is obviously based on kachcheri records.

57 The Ceylon Times, november 6, 1866.Google Scholar

58 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 24, Replies from J. F. Dickson, G.A., North Central Province, pp. xxiii–iv.

59 Sessional Paper XXIX of 1878, Papers relating to Grain Taxes, No. 1, Gregory-Carnarvon, No. 15, January 9, 1877. Among other steps he says that the renter was bound to attend at the time named by the cultivator; otherwise the crop would be reaped and the renter's share set aside in the presence of headmen.

60 Infra, p. 824.

61 1869 Administration Reports, Colombo District and Western Province, Layard, C. P., G.A., June 18, 1870, p. 10.Google Scholar

62 Sessional Paper XXIX of 1878, Papers on Grain Taxes, No. 1, Gregory—Earl of Carnarvon, No. 15, january 9, 1877, p. 7.Google Scholar

63 De Silva, Colvin R. (1942), pp. 279–83Google Scholar. Sessional Paper XXX of 1876, Paddy Commutation, pp. 17—25Google Scholar where several letters from the Revenue Commissioner, Kandy (Turnour) to the authorities in Colombo are printed. The sub-districts concerned were Udunuwara, Yatinuwara, Harrispattuwa, Kotmale and Matale Korale. Commutation had been completed in these regions by 1828.

64 Ibid., R. Boyd, Commissioner of Revenue,—the Collectors, Circular, August 18, 1831, p. 5.

65 R.F.C., C. R. Buller [G.A., Central Province]—Col. Sec., No. 577, September 1846, p. 134. The Colombo Observer, september 18, 1856Google Scholar, Letter to the editor, No. V from “Amicus.” Governor's Addresses, Vol. II, Longden, september 11 and december 19, 1878, pp. 31–38.Google Scholar

66 Sessional Paper XXX of 1876, op. cit., Tumour—Deputy Sec. to Govt., july 16, 1829, p. 19.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., Tumour's letter of April 19, 1828, p. 18, and his report of September 7, 1830, pp. 20–22.

68 1867 Administration Reports, Badulla, W. E. T. Sharpe, A.G.A., april 2, 1868, p. 32Google Scholar. Ferguson, A. M., The Ceylon Directory, Calendar and Compendium of Useful Information (Observer Press, Colombo, 1863), p. 87Google Scholar where extracts from several Administration Reports pertaining to the commutation and renting systems are quoted. There were exceptional instances, however, when commutation yielded more [1873 Administration Reports, Kegalla, A. R. Dawson, A.G.A., n.d. (1874), p. 116].Google Scholar

69 Ferguson, A. M. (1863), p. 87.Google Scholar

70 Brodie, A. O., “Topographical and Statistical Account of the District of Nuwarakalawiya,” J.R.A.S. Ceylon Branch, Vol. III (1856–1858), pp. 156–77Google Scholar. Brodie was an A.G.A.

71 Parrah = ¾ bushel, 8 parrahs being 6 bushels.

72 Governor's Addresses, Vol. 1, Reply of Council, july 10, 1855Google Scholar. Sessional Paper IV of 1867, Report upon Irrigation Works and Rice Cultivation, September 18, 1867, Appendix, Part I, Resolution No. 9, p. 209. The rate of commutation was “a moderate pecuniary appraisement of paddy bearing a fair proportion to the probable cost of production, in fact a theoretical price for there was then (in the eighteen eighties) no buying or selling of paddy for money in Kandyan villages” [Elliott, E., “Paddy Cultivation in Ceylon during the nineteenth Century,” Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. 37 (december 1911), p. 505].Google Scholar

73 Ibid., Vol. 38 (April 1912), pp. 316–18. The incidence per bushel was calculated by dividing the revenue by the crop (the crop statistics being carefully revised district by district). On this basis me incidence was found to have increased 2.5 fold against a price increase of 3 fold and a crop increase of 0.266 fold (total 3.266 fold) while the revenue increased 3.15 fold. Doubts arise because Government crop statistics of the day are utterly unreliable. Edward Elliott, whose father was Dr. Christopher Elliott (of The Ceylon Observer), entered the Ceylon Civil Service in 1865 and retired in 1897.

74 Synopsis largely from Sessional Paper XXX of 1876, op. cit., pp. 17–25Google Scholar; The Colombo Journal, december 12, 1832, p. 587Google Scholar; and White, H., Manual of the Province of Uva (Govt. Press, Colombo, 1893)Google Scholar, Appendix M, Account of the Grain Tax in Uva by F. C. Fisher, pp. 151–54.

75 White, (1893), p. 152Google Scholar. Elliott reached a similar conclusion [op. cit., Vol. 37 (October 1911), 307]; and both Fisher and Elliott were among the most peasant-oriented civil servants of the late nineteenth century.

76 White, (1893), pp. 153–54Google Scholar. Brodie, , op. cit. (1856–1858), p. 159.Google Scholar

77 Elliott, , op. cit., Vol. 37 (septermber 1911), 226.Google Scholar

78 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Resume of Answers, Question 21, p. 18Google Scholar; and Appendix VI & VII. 1864 Blue Book Reports, Robinson-Cardwell, No. 134, septermber 16, 1865Google Scholar, Encl. in Encl. 7 [1864 Admin istration Report, Sabaragamuwa], J. W. W. Birch, A.G.A., March 30, 1865, p. 141.

79 Sessional Paper XXX of 1876, op. cit., pp. 35–41Google Scholar including the draft ordinance, replies from C. P. Layard, and W. Forbes (two G.A's) and two from Selby besides an interesting Circular to the G.As dated January 17, 1856, calling for reports on land revenue [p. 29].

80 CO 54/392, O'Brien-Cardwell, No. 200, August 30, 1864, Encl., The Ceylon Times, Extraordinary Supplement, august 22, 1864Google Scholar, reporting on debates in the Legislative Council on August 20th. See the speeches by the Queen's Advocate (Morgan), C. P. Layard and an unofficial, James Alwis. The unofficials seem to have been very much in the dark as to what was happening administratively.

81 For a selection of individual views on the subject see Ferguson, A. M. (1863), p. 87Google Scholar and 1862 & 1864 Blue Book. Reports, p. 176 and pp. 133, 141Google Scholar respectively.

82 Elliott, , op. cit., Vol. 37 (december, 1911), 105–06Google Scholar. 1867 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province, P. Braybrooke, G.A., june 23, 1868, p. 23Google Scholar, Kegalla & Sabaragamuwa were also part of the Central Highlands but had no commutation system at this stage.

83 CO 57/35, Executive Council Minutes, September 26, 1864.

84 1864 Blue Book Reports, Robinson-Cardwell, , No. 134, septermber 16, 1865Google Scholar, Encl. [1864 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province], F. B. Tempter, G.A., August 26, 1865, p. 158.

85 CO 54/404, Robinson-Cardwell, No. 134, September 16, 1865, Encl. [1864 Administration Reports, Badulla and Matale, Hume, W. W. (may 11, 1865)Google Scholar and Sharpe, W. E. T. (1865)Google Scholar respectively]. 1867 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province, P. Braybrooke, G.A., june 23, 1868, p. 23.Google Scholar

86 Infra, pp. 833–34.

87 Elliott, E., op. cit., Vol. 38 (january 1912), 23Google Scholar. CO 54/416, Robinson-Buckingham, & Chandos, No. 244, october 30, 1866.Google Scholar

88 The Examiner, august 5, 1863Google Scholar. Ibid., September 21, 1867, Report of the Select Committee of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, September 1867. “Speculum” [George Wall], Ceylon: Her Present Condition, Revenues, Taxes and Expenditure described in a series of letters addressed to “The Colombo Observer” (Observer Press, Colombo, 1868), pp. 41–45.Google Scholar

89 The Examiner, january 29, 1868Google Scholar, Letter to the editor from “A Taxpayer” from Kegalla, January 25, 1868.

90 The Colombo Observer, november 5, 1866Google Scholar, Report on debates in the Legislative Council, November 3, 1866 (Gibson's speech). CO 54/434, Robinson-Buckingham & Chandos, No. 114, May 23, 1868, pp. 43–45.

91 1867 Administration Reports, Nuwarakalawiya, Paterson, A.G.A., march 17, 1868, p. 94Google Scholar. 1864 Blue Book Reports, op. cit., Encl. [1864 Administration Report, Jaffna District and Northern Province], Dyke, July 1865, p. 148.

92 The Examiner, january 29, 1868Google Scholar, Letter to the editor from “A Taxpayer” from Kegalla, january 25, 1868.Google Scholar

93 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 72, Replies from W. O'Grady, G.A., Eastern Province, p. cii.

94 Idem.1872 Administration Reports, Sabaragamuwa, E. N. Atherton, Acting A.G.A., march 31, 1873, p. 28Google Scholar, reports 316 evictions with more likely to follow. It is not surprising that the peasantry of this District refused to renew their agreements in 1875.

95 1870 Administration Reports, Nuwara Eliya, F. C. Fisher, A.G.A., july 7, 1871, p. 61.Google Scholar

96 Ibid., Matale, G. S. Williams, A.G.A., June 27, 1871, p. 57.

97 White, (1893), p. 153.Google Scholar

98 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, Observations on some of the Queries by Morris, G.A., North Western Province, pp. cviii–cviii+. Ferguson (1863), p. 87.Google Scholar

99 1869 Administration Reports, Batticaloa, A. Y. Adams, A.G.A., january 22, 1869, pp. 190–91Google Scholar. Note that in 1863 when a Commutation Ordinance was under discussion orders sent to the districts from Colombo stipulated that appraisement must be fair [Dept. of National Archives, Ceylon, Lot. 41/174, Flanderka (A.G.A. Anuradhapura)—G.A., Jaffna, No. 41, September 4, 1863].

100 1862 Blue Book Reports, MacCarthy-Newcastle, No. 141, august 20, 1863Google Scholar, Encl. 7, [1862 Administration Report, Batticaloa] February 20, 1863, Morphew, A.G.A., p. 176.

101 Grain Tax Comm, 1877, Resume of Answers, Question 18, pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

102 1867 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province, P. Braybrookc, G.A., june 23, 1868, p. 23Google Scholar. 1870 Administration Reports, Sabaragamuwa, Saunders, Jr., A.G.A., n.d. [1871], p. 25. Note that there was “an official value” for grain with regard to the whole island. In 1862 that for paddy had been raised from 2s. to 3s. per bushel [1862 Blue Book Reports, MacCarthy-Newcastle, No. 141, august 20, 1839, p. 139].Google Scholar

103 1871 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province, H. S. O. Russell, G.A., march 23, 1872, p. 41.Google Scholar

104 The Examiner, october 12, 1867.Google Scholar

105 Elliott, E., op. cit., Vol. 37 (december 1911), 506Google Scholar. The officials were Le Mesurier and Fisher besides an unofficial member of the Legislative Council named Christie.

106 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 34, R. Massie, A.G.A., Mannar, p. lxi.

107 1871 Administration Reports, Kandy District and Central Province, H. S. O. Russell, G.A., march 23, 1872, p. 41.Google Scholar

108 Idem.

109 Supra, p. 824. Nuwarakalawiya (Anuradhapura District) was under commutation till 1872 but it would seem to have been crop commutation in that the tax stipulated was only paid when the field was cultivated.

110 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, No. 2, Replies from J. Crowther Esq., Batticaloa, march 15, 1877, p. ivGoogle Scholar. Also see The Colombo Observer, march 2, 1857Google Scholar, a letter to the editor from Batticaloa, February 24, 1857.

111 1871 Administration Reports, op. cit., p. 41.Google Scholar

112 Dealt with in detail in my article, “Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832–1878: Theories, Prejudices and Controversies.”

113 Grain Tax Comm. 1877, Appendix, Nos. 58 and 61, Replies from Nugawela, M., RatemahatmayaGoogle Scholar of Udunuwara, and Nugawela, Ratemahatmaya of Harrispattuwa, pp. xc and xcii respectively.

114 Ibid., No. 68, Replies from A. E. Paranagama, Acting Police Magistrate, Galagedera, p. xcvii. Also see replies to question 23 from four other Kandyan headmen, pp. xc, xcii, xciii and xcvii. A. E. Paranagama himself was probably a Ratemahatmaya raised to an acting judicial post.

115 Elliott, E., “Paddy Cultivation in Ceylon during the nineteenth century,” Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. 37 (december 1911), 505.Google Scholar

116 Furnivall, J. S., Colonial Policy and Practice A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India (New York University Press, 1956), pp. 33, 51.Google Scholar

117 Legge, (1958), pp. 232. 238–39.Google Scholar

118 Furnivall, (1956), p. 107.Google Scholar

119 Ibid., pp. 114–15, 214. Moon, Penderel, Strangers in India (Faber, London, 1944), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar

120 As amended by an Ordinance of 1872 entitled “An Ordinance to prescribe the order in which the property of public defaulters may, in certain cases, be seized and sold.”

121 Supra, p. 827. 1883 Administration Reports, Badulla, Letter from A. A. King [A.G.A.]-G.A., Central Province, July 18, 1883 quoted in Report, pp. 27A–28A.

122 Idem.Sessional Paper 111 of 1892, Despatches relating to the Proposed Abolition of the Grain Tax, Wall-Havelock, , april 15, 1891, p. 97Google Scholar; and Replies from the G.A., Sabaragamuwa, Herbert Wace, to the Circular Letter of September 1890, September 22, 1890, pp. 36–37.

123 1888 Administration Reports, Uva, F. C. Fisher, G.A., may 29, 1883, p. 228A.Google Scholar

124 1886 Administration Report, Nuwara Eliya, C. J. R. Mesurier, A.G.A. [1887], p. 37AGoogle Scholar. Sessional Paper III of 1892, Despatches relating to the Proposed Abolition of the Grain Tax, Havclock-Knutsford, No. 244, June 22, 1891, and No. 245, June 21, 1891, pp. 113–115. Between the years 1880–88 inclusive 29,899 portions of land were sold by Government (throughout Ceylon) and in 1889–90, 1533 portions were sold. Besides this, in the Central Province from 1881–85 inclusive there were 3,607 sales of parcels of paddy field under ten acres and 6,486 sales of parcels of high land under ten acres in pursuance of decrees of court for the satisfaction of private debts (the years 1881–85 being those in which the pressure of Government demands were the greatest). For more details see Obeyesekere, Gananath, Land Tenure in Village Ceylon A Sociological and Historical Study (C.U.P., 1966), pp. 119–29Google Scholar. There are some errors in his account of the grain taxes before 1878 but that on the period 1878–92 appears to have few, the only one of any consequence being the statement that Ordinance No. 11 of 1878 was implemented in all but die Northern, North-Central and North-Western Provinces within five years (p. 113). The newly created Province of Uva was only brought under the Ordinance in 1887 and Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya in 1888 [Sessional Paper XV of 1883, Grain Tax Commutation].