52
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882/10
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
31. Wreckage,
"
19 Maha.
WeWk.
83. illness of Mudallyar.
86
Mudaliyar, Pitigal Korale South, informed me that a white boat with no name and six pieces of sandal wood had been washed ashore at Nainamadama on two different dates.
27th Sunday. A body washed ashore at Amabkandawila. Inquest held : sup- posed to have been dead four or five days. Apparently the body of a lascar.
28th. Left for Mahawewa to recover damages done to the Moors. Met Mr. Collins, Special Commissioner, on his way to Kuliyapitiya. In evening to Marawila.
Mudaliyar, Pitigal Korale Central, has collapsed, suffering from carbuncles on
Pitigatorale shoulder.
Central.
34. Nattan.
diya.
29th. At Nattandiya to recover damages: evening to Marawila. 30th.
At Marawila the same duty.
39834
SIR,
H. W. CODRINGTON,
Assistant Government Agent.
Enclosure 6 in No. 40.
[Published as enclosure 1 in No. 14 in [Cd. 8167], January, 1916.]
Enclosure 7 in No. 40. [Published as enclosure 2 in No. 14 in [Cd. 8167], January, 1916.]
No. 41.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 28th August, 1915.)
(Confidential (B).)
The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 5th August, 1915. In continuation of my Confidential despatch (C), of the 31st July,* I have the honour to forward, for your information, a copy of a report from the Assistant Government Agent, Matara, regarding the riots in that district.
SIR,
(Confidential.)
I have, &c.,
ROBERT CHALMERS,
Enclosure in No. 41.
Governor, &c.
The Kachcheri, Matara, 28th July, 1915. Recent Disturbances.
WITH reference to your letter No. -/11535, of the 7th instant, I have the honour to report as follows on the recent disturbances in the Matara District :—
2. The rioting was the work of Buddhists only and was directed against the Mohammedans. It was not confined to any particular castes. There was nothing in the action or attitude of the rioters at any time to give rise to the suppo- sition that they were against the British Government or against the Europeans. The ordinary people were in many cases induced to take part in the rioting by the statement that the Government had ordered the destruction of the Moors because of the war with Turkey, and the ignorant villagers were easily persuaded that their efforts to comply with such directions would be acceptable to Government. On the worst day of the riots I was travelling about in the district unescorted, and at no time met with anything like opposition or molestation.
3. As regards the origin of the riots, I would distinguish between the motives
of the ordinary villagers and of the agitators and wirepullers behind them.
4. As far as the former are concerned I regard the riots as mainly religious in origin.
It was a case of Buddhists against Mohammedans, not of Sinhalese against Moors. As far as is ascertained no Christian in the district joined in the rioting. The riot at Weligama was started by the rumour that two Buddhist priests
• No. 40.
97
had been killed. The religious feeling had recently been excited by articles in the vernacular press on the Gampola perahera case. The feeling was that the Moors were the only class of people who interfered with Buddhists ceremonies. Proces- sions could be taken past Christian places of worship so long as no service was going on, but at no time past a mosque.
5. Next to the religious origin I would place the economic. The Moor is a sharp man of business, and undersells his Sinhalese competitors. He is also a land gralber. He buys a small share of an undivided land, and by strict legal means soon ejects the other owners. Owing to such methods the Moor has become unpopular.
6. That the origin of the riots was mainly religious and economic is further shown by the fact that the damage to buildings was confined almost entirely to mosques, shops, and citronella distilleries. The small dwelling houses, though
looted, were otherwise left unharmed.
7. Lastly, as a motive actuating the common herd, I would place the love of plunder. The average villager is predatory by nature, and the opportunity of looting offered by the riots was one too good to be lost.
8. While these motives provided good material to work on, they were evidently not sufficient in themselves to have originated the riots. Dislike of the Moors must have been prevalent for many years. It was not till the agitators and wirepullers got to work that the attitude of the Buddhists was guided into one of active hostility against the Moors.
9. It is clear that there has been a movement of anti-Moorish propaganda steadily increasing within the last year or two. Pamphlets and poems, of which I have seen copies, have been published, all stimulating anti-Moorish feeling. The so-called temperance societies and the Nationalist Day movement have been directed to serve this end. It is most significant in this connexion that the riots in this district occurred where the temperance societies have been most prominent, viz., Akuressa, Kamburupitiya, and Weligama. There can be no doubt that these societies and movements were guided by people who had other ends to serve than merely harassing the Moors. I need not discuss what their objects were, as I think their influence was executed from outside the Matara District.
Having carefully prepared their material the leaders of the movement had only to apply the match through their local agents. That the riots were organized and arranged beforehand is shown by the similar methods adopted in places far apart on the same day. As an example all the mosques were destroyed on the same lines. The fronts were blown in by dynamite and the surrounding cooo-nut trees were then felled so as to fall on the roofs. Tins of kerosine oil were tied to the trees and set alight. Anonymous letters were received by headmen and other leading people in Matara to continue the work begun elsewhere, and abusing them
for not having done so.
.
a8 women
10. All these facts go to prove that the rioting was stimulated and organized by agencies outside the district.
11. The damage done to Moorish property has been assessed by me at Rs. 249,334. In making the appraisement I was assisted by two assessors-one European and one Burgher. No Sinhalese was associated with me (ride paragraph 5 of Mr. Abdul Rahiman's report). My interpreter was the Tamil Mudaliyar of the Police Court. I also obtained the assistance of a leading Moorman at each place. It was obvious that, as a rule, the claims were greatly exaggerated. The Mowlana of Weligama himself suggested that all claims should be cut down by about 50 per
cent.
12. Four Moors were murdered by the mob and ten seriously injured at Goda pitiya-the only place where much resistance seems to have been offered. There was one case of grievous hurt at the village of Horagoda. Several women had their earrings torn from their ears, but they do not appear to have been otherwise molested or injured.
13. The number of rioters shot cannot be exactly stated, but it is estimated at ten killed and twenty wounded, all at Kamburupitiya, where the police and troops caught them in the act.
14. Nothing could have been more effective than this shooting in stopping further riots, and it is significant that there was no further rioting; it would undoubtedly have spread to the rest of the district, as well as to Tangalle, had not this severe lesson been administered. The impression had spread that the
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