Ceylon limits opium and bhang retail licences in designated towns

Ceylon’s Ordinance No. 2 of 1893 extended the machinery of municipal opium and bhang licensing beyond Colombo. It combined local decisions about the number of shops with statutory ceilings and a requirement for public notice.

A framework activated town by town

The ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council on 1 November and received assent on 7 November 1893. Proclamations printed in the same gazette explicitly state that it came into operation on 7 November.

Section 2 empowered the Governor, acting with the Executive Council’s advice, to bring a municipality or local board town other than Colombo under the ordinance by proclamation. The Governor could also amend or revoke such proclamations. Assent therefore did not, by itself, place every town under the new arrangement.

The published implementing proclamations identify towns including Kurunegala, Kalutara, Kandy and Negombo and apply the ordinance from 17 November. This distinction between the framework’s commencement and its local application is essential to dating its effect.

Five licences or three

Section 4 left the annual number of retail licences to the municipal council or local board, subject to ceilings. A municipal council could grant no more than five within its limits; a local board could grant no more than three.

The chairman had to publish the number for the coming calendar year by 30 November. Notice was required at least twice in the government gazette and in one or more local newspapers. These were ceilings on licences, not measurements of actual shops, sales or consumption.

Replacing an earlier licensing route

For a town brought under the ordinance, section 3 displaced the retail-licensing and fee provisions of section 7 of the 1878 ordinance. Retail licences in that town were instead to be granted through the new arrangement.

Section 5 extended specified provisions of Colombo’s 1889 ordinance. Section 6 also made a defaulting highest bidder liable for a shortfall if a subsequent resale realized less. The legislation thus addressed the administration and financial enforcement of licensed commerce as well as the number of outlets.

From licensing to prohibition

The ordinance regulated a permitted retail trade in opium and bhang. It should not be described as a general cannabis-possession ban. A Colombo notice from September provides a separate example of actual licensing conditions.

In 1897, a later ordinance removed bhang from key licensing provisions and prohibited possession and sale. The 1893 framework is recorded as unscored historical context for Sri Lanka.^[1]