Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/382

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370
CHA—CHA

There has been a corresponding increase in the tonnage of shipping entered and cleared during the same period. The figures are as follows:—


1825 91,685 tons. 1835 145,182 1845 423,370 , 1855 634,482 , 1865 1,150,840 , 1874 2,015,158 ,


With the exception of a duty of one shilling per cwt. on plum bago, which is in lieu of the royalty to which the Crown was entitled on all plumbago as it came from the pits, there are no export duties ; the duty on imports is five per cent, on the declared value, with some few exceptions, such as arms, wines, spirits, and grain, which are liable to special rates ; paddy, or rice in husk, which pays 3d. a bushel ; rice and other grain, 7d. a bushel ; and machinery, paper, and a few other articles, which are free.

Banks.—Two English banking companies and one Indian bank have branches in Ceylon the Oriental Bank Corporation, the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China, and the Bank of Madras. The two chartered banks, the Oriental and the Chartered Mercantile Bank, have the privilege of issuing notes of five rupees and upwards in value. The Government in 1856 gave up this privilege, and left the paper currency of the island entirely in the hands of the banks, who pay to the Government, in lieu of stamp duty, one per cent, per annum on the average amount of notes in circulation, and are required to keep in reserve bullion equal to one-third of their issues. The bank notes are received at all the Government treasuries throughout the island, but the banks are bound to redeem them with specie after a notice of 60 days ; this rule is only enforced when the Government requires a remit tance of specie at some distant treasury. The note circulation has increased with the general improvement in the financial position of Ceylon. In 1854 it amounted to 131,000, of which 70,000 was represented by Government notes ; in 1859 it amounted to 93,334, in 1864 to 259,631, in 1S69 to 270,979, and in 1874 to 386,089. Since 1st January 1872 the rupee has been the sole standard of value in Ceylon, with decimal subdivisions, represented by bronze token pieces, which are taken as equivalent to ^th part of a rupee or 5 cents, T ^ T th part of a rupee or one cent, ^^ih part of a rupee or half a cent, j^th part of a rupee or a quarter of a cent. All accounts are kept in rupees and cents. The Indian silver subsidiary coins are current, the half rupee as 50 cents, the quarter rupee as 25 cents, and the two anna piece (/th of a rupee) as 12 cents. The rupee is the Company s silver rupee of India, of 180 grains weight and ^ths fineness.

Revenue and Expenditure.—The total revenue for 1874 was 1,241,558, the total expenditure 1,110,180. The principal heads of revenue are customs, 268,203; land sales, 67,795; land revenue, 80,822 ; tolls on roads and canals, 41,247 ; licences (under which head is derived the revenue from the Government monopoly of the arrack trade), 173,305 ; stamps (including both general and postage), 105,239, of which about 20,000 is postal revenue ; fines and forfeitures, 8440 ; sale of Government property, 133,323, of which about 70,000 is derived from the monopoly on salt ; reim bursements, 30,000 ; interest on suitors deposits invested iulndian Government securities and on balances in England, 13,600 ; miscel laneous, 44,633 ; pearl fishery, 9524 ; railway receipts, 221,168. Of the customs duties about 150,000 is derived from the import duty on grain, and of the land revenue about 70,000 is derived from the tithe on grain ; it thus appears that about one-fifth of the total revenue of the island is derived from a tax on the daily food of the people. In defence of these burdens on food, it is urged that the importation of rice is rendered necessary, to a large extent, by the employment on the coffee estates of immigrant labourers from the south of India, who come over for the coffee season and return to India with their earnings, out of which they would contribute nothing to the revenue of Ceylon, if it were not for the tax on their imported food ; and as regards the tithe on grain, that this is the reserved rent of the Crown as supreme landlord. The monopoly of the arrack trade yields about 170,000. The very name of monopoly has an odious sound, but in the instances in which it exists in Ceylon it is difficult to see what mode of taxation would be less oppressive, and, as regards the arrack monopoly, there can be no doubt that its possession by the Government renders possible the exercise of an effectual check on the abuse of this intoxi cant. The Government restricts distillation to certain licensed stills, which are left free to sell the spirit wholesale in open market, but the right to retail is granted only to certain persons and certain taverns. This right is- sold by auction from year to year to taverns or groups of taverns, which are bound to retail pure arrack at not more than a certain price named in the conditions, and are subjected to stringent regulations for the prevention of drunkenness and the maintenance of order. In the management of this mono poly, revenue is a secondary consideration, and taverns are only allowed where they are absolutely required, that is, where their place, if they were not allowed, would be supplied by the illicit sale of arrack. The proper management of this monopoly has received much attention from the present governor, Sir W. //. Gregory, and he has been careful to enforce the observance of the principles which have always been supposed to govern this question. The monopoly of salt lias been from time immemorial in the hands of the sovereign, and, as it prevails in Ceylon, is common to every country in the East ; it seems to be the only expedient by which to obtain a minimum of taxation from classes incapable of bearing in any other shape an equitable share of the public burdens. Salt is produced at about 10d. per cwt. and sold at 4s. 8d. per cwt.

The principal heads of expenditure are as follows : Salaries and office charges, 354,761; pensions, 41,000; revenue services, 24,000; hospitals, 16,000; education, 14,600; police and jails, 30,700 ; works and buildings, 24,000 ; roads, streets, bridges, and canal?, 185,300 ; military expenditure, 124,687. The returns of revenue and expenditure of the Government, as given above, do not represent the whole of the public revenue and expenditure of the island ; there have to be added the returns from the municipalities and the local boards by which the road tax is collected. These figures are as follows for the year 1874:—


Revenue. Expenditure. Colombo Municipality 38,961 38,708 Galle 7,057 6,100 Kandy ,, 11,766 11,548 Provincial Road Committees Western Province 35,087 28,468 North- Western Province... 9,213 6,130 Southern ,, ... 9,554 8,046 Eastern ,, ... 5,192 4,350 Northern ,, ... 7,117 6,976 Central ,, ... 16,937 9,319 North-Central ... 2,635 1,833 Total, 143,519 124,478


The returns of revenue from 1856 to the present time show a steady and rapid increase, and are a fair indication of the great advance which Ceylon is making. The revenue in 1856 was 504,174; it rose, year by year, till it reached 767, 100 in 1860, and in 1865 it amounted to 978,462; it then fell somewhat owing to the cession by the Government to the municipalities of certain sources of revenue, but it rose in 1870 to 1,091,606, in 1871 to 1,121,679, in 1872 to 1,174,698, and in 1873 to 1,290,918. The revenue for 1874 in reality exceeded that of 1873, though it is only given as 1,241,558, which is the equivalent of rupees 1,32,43,288 at Is. 10^1., at which the rupee is rated in the accounts for 1874, whereas in the previous year it was rated at 2s.

Tennent s Ceylon, 2 vols. 2d ed. 1859 ; Reports to Ceylon Govern ment by Service Tenures Commissioner, 1870-1873 ; Ceylon Govern ment Slice Book, 1874, and Gazette, 1875 ; Childers s Pali Dictionary, 1875 ; Ferguson s Ceylon Directory, 1875

(j. f. d.)




CHABLIS, a town of France, on the Seray or Serein, in the department of Yonne, 10 miles east of Auxerre. It has a church, St Martin, of the 13th century, which is classed among the historical monuments of France ; and it gives its name to a celebrated white wine produced in the neighbouring vineyards, of which the most esteemed are Clos, Valmur, Vaudesir, Bougereau, and Mont de Milieu. Population in 1872, 2270.

CHABRIAS, a celebrated Athenian general, who first

assumed the command about the year 392 B.C. He defeated the Spartans at ^Egina (388), and again at Naxos (376). With Iphicrates and Callistratus he commanded at Corcyra, and repulsed Epaminondas before the walls of Corinth. In 366, together with Callistratus, he was accused of treachery in advising the surrender of Oropus to the The- bans, and was then, it is said, defended by Plato. His unpopularity on account of this charge, and also on ac count of his ostentation and luxuriousness, led him to accept a foreign command under Tachos, king of Egypt, who had revolted from the Persians. On the breaking out of the Social War (357), he, however, joined Chares in the command of the Athenian fleet. At the siege of Chios his ship was disabled, but he refused to flee, and fell fighting

bravely. He was famous for the invention of a manoeuvre,