Note 183 — Chapter XX · TRINCOMALEE TO GALLE

I see that, at the auction of arrack rents for 1890, the successful bidder for the privilege of farming Kandy paid 43,000 rupees; Nuwara Eliya fetched 70,000; while the whole of the Central Province was knocked down for 380,000 rupees. All the provinces of the Isle collectively realised 1,803,625, being an increase of 242,171 rupees since 1888.

But ‘the appetite doth grow with that it feeds upon,’ and when the rents for the Central Province were put up for sale by auction from July 1891, to June 1892, with the strong recommendation of the Government Agent to the renters to put in good bids, and not trouble Government to call for higher tenders, his advice was so well received that 470,000 rupees were offered for the lot, being 90,000 rupees in excess of the previous year.

In further proof of the steady increase of this baneful traffic, I may also quote the sales of arrack rents for the North-Western Province in April 1891. At Kurunegala there was a large gathering of renters from all parts of the island, the Government Agent presiding. There was brisk bidding, with an exciting finish. The result was 112,200 rupees for the district of Seven Korales (i.e. 14,700 more than last year); Yagampattu and Chilaw districts, 102,000 rupees (i.e. 21,800 rupees more than last year); and Puttalam rents were purchased for 35,900 rupees, being an advance of 4,000 on last year.