A transformation of revolutionary proportions
The Colonial Economy on Track: Roads and Railways in Sri Lanka, 1800-1905,
Colombo Social Scientists Association, 2002.
Indrani Munasinghe
Book Review: By way of critical examination of important British period developments in the spheres of socio-economic activity, political, social and economic historians have already written a great deal. What is of relevance here is note that scholarly studies into the development of systems of road and rail transport in Sri Lanka during this period are relatively scarce, relatively to the number of studies into developments of socio-economic and political significance in other spheres of activity. The publication by the Social Scientists Association of Professor Indrani Munasinghe’s PhD thesis on the history of transport systems in colonial Sri Lanka is, therefore, a welcome addition to the available published literature on Sri Lanka’s modern history.
May be due to lack of relevant historical studies, otherwise comprehensive economic and social histories of Sri Lanka during the British period give scant treatment to the role of transport systems in the economic transformation of the country during that period.
A good example for this would be Snodgrass’ Ceylon; An Export Economy in Transition (1966). It covers economic development and change in Sri Lanka from the mid-1850s to the 1960s. Everything he says about the role of transport systems in this development process can be incorporated in a paragraph of about ten lines. Road and rail transport is referred to in just four pages in a book of over 400 pages.
Professor Munasinghe’s study of the development of road and rail transport in Sri Lanka during 1800-1905 begins with a history of road construction in the nineteenth century. In a book consisting of 10 chapters, the first half is on road construction. Motives for the development of the transport network were political and military at the beginning, but gradually, economic and commercial objectives had taken precedence over the political and military. Munasinghe also suggests that the motive of encouragement of peasant agriculture and domestic industry that the motive of encouragement of peasant agriculture and domestic industry too gradually acquired some significance in transport development policies of the colonial government at later stages.
Development of railways acquired priority in government policy, as well as in the demands of powerful interest groups in the country during the second half of the period covered in the book. As much as half of the book is occupied by the history of road transport, but the reader is likely to find the history of railways in the other half of the book more interesting to read. The vivid description of interest group politics behind the decision to undertake construction of the historic Colombo-Kandy railroad and various controversies surrounding the subject is interesting to read not only as an historical piece but also as a treatise in policy analysis, which could be of even present day relevance. Chapter five examines in detail the arguments presented by the lobby groups, particularly the planting interests, in favour of a railroad and how the decision was eventually made, after some vacillation in favour of its construction. The reader learns that the controversy regarding railroad construction had covered several issues.
* Reasons for improving transport facilities in general, and rail transport, in particular, in the contemporary contexts. One learns how coffee interests were predominant in this argumentation. The likely loss of jobs in other forms of transport used at the time also came in for review.
* Question of how to raise the required money to cover the cost of construction and how the burden of contribution to these revenues be shared among different social groups with the ability to pay. Problems of financing a governmental project through funds raised from debentures were also discussed.
* Organisational issue of whether the construction should be undertaken by a private company or by the State. Work on the Colombo-Kandy railroad, started in April 1863, was finished in August 1867. Since that year, there has been a continuous expansion of railways in Sri Lanka during the period covered in this book. Seven more lines of railroad were completed in addition to the main line from Colombo to Kandy: Uva Railway to Bandarawela; Matale railway; Southern Railway to Matara; Northern Railway to Kankesanthurai; Kelani Valley railway; Uda-Pussellawa Railway from Nanuoya to Ragala; and breakwater and wharf branch. During the period 1867-1905, the colonial government completed construction of 488 mile of railway. Considered against the post-Independence record of Sri Lanka in railroad construction this colonial expansion of the rail network in the country should indeed provide useful lessons for today’s policy makers. According to Prof. Munasinghe, the achievements of the colonial period in respect of transport development – “a sizeable network of roads and railways” – nevertheless represented only “a modest success story”.
She considers so because even in 1905 there were large areas of the country, which suffered from the lack of improved transport facilities. In spite of expert opinion in favour of greater utilisation of railways to meet various transport needs, transport policy in Sri Lanka during the half century after independence has clearly neglected both modernisation of the available rail network and its further expansion to serve new geographical areas. Although the road network has improved since independence, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, the performance of post-independence governments of Sri Lanka in terms of the rail network has been dismal. Due to various reasons, which include also the conflict in the North and the East, the length of railway lines available today is even less than what it was in 1948.
There is indeed a lot that can be learnt from Munasinghe’s history about what railways can do to encourage overall progress in the country as well as about financing programme of railway expansion. This history can also teach policy makers today about what should be avoided in management of railways if the commercial efficiency of the service is to be maintained (see Chapters 8 and 9 in particular on the last point). The last chapter (10) of the book on “Socio-economics of Transport Development” should be of particular interest to even those social scientists and policy makers who are least concerned about history. A major post-independence problem concerning the management of the railway network was about costs of operations vis-a-vis revenues. Under the management of a government department, during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth, the railway operation was a large revenue earner, contributing in 1906 as much as 29 per cent of gross government revenue.
As Munasinghe argues “High profitability of the railway from its inception was a definite benefit to the government, enabling large sums to be spent on public utility and welfare measures such as irrigation, education and health and sanitation” (p. 257). The following quotation from a speech of the Colonial Secretary to Legislative Council (1886) indicates how the colonial government viewed the potential of an efficiency run railway system. “Railway profits have been spent in enabling the hungry to feed themselves, in diminishing the ignorance, in mitigating the disease and in alleviating the pain of hundreds of thousands of the poorer countrymen.” (Cited on p.257 in the book under review).
Many other effects of transport development on the society and economy are discussed in the book. These discussions will be of use to variety of readers with interests going beyond history.
* Convergence of price levels in various localities in the country, thus contributing to the development of an integrated domestic market.
* Increased employment associated (both directly and indirectly) with the development of the transport sector.
* Facilitation of transport of workers for estates, once they were brought to the island from the large reserve market in South India. Plantation economy was thus prevented from facing the problems of labour shortage, rising wages and increasing costs of production.
* Increased internal mobility of people in the country and facilitation of transfer of labour from surplus areas to deficit areas for various economic activities.
* Promotion of consumption of imported goods in the interior of the country.
* Stimulation of processing industries (e.g. coconut processing) and industries like furniture and propagation of new industrial skills. Munasinghe however, shows that the effects of railways were rather lopsided, as many areas of the country were left unaffected by the transport facilities provided. The benefits, which peasant agriculture could have derived from railways, did not materialise because the food requirements of the growing estate population continued to be supplied through imports. Although a few industrial development impulses from the expansion of the transport network have been noted above, there is no evidence of significant and widespread stimulation of manufacturing industry through increased transport facilities. The negative effects of unrestrained competition from imports on manufacturing would have been stronger than the positive from the development of transport facilities.
Munasinghe’s well-researched history of Sri Lanka’s transport system during 1800-1905 fills a significant gap in the historical literature covering the country’s modern social and economic processes. There are themes in this important subject area, which have not come into her study in adequate detail and depth. The publication of her book, even after more than two decades since it was written, would stimulate others to focus on areas left out by her so that the interested readership will soon have a comprehensive history into the development of transport systems in Sri Lanka.
This book was launched yesterday at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Auditorium.
By Professor W. D. Lakshman
Source: Daily News
Tags: british raj, colonial economy, economic development, economic transformation, export economy, government department, legislative council, modernisation, performance, rail transport, railway lines, railway network, railway system, railways, transport facilities
