62
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882/10
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH---NOT TO
106
damage occurred except where the influence of a notary-one Telesinhs extended, and the Ratemahatmaya, Mr. C. Tennekoon, very speedily stopped it. In Wanni Hat Pattu a good deal of damage was done at Galgamuwa and Yapahuwa, but the Ratemahatmaya, Mr. Madahapola, deserves considerable credit for saving Nika- weretiya bazaar, a place which is full of Moor boutiques, and he appears to have exerted himself energetically in stopping disturbances elsewhere. The people of Wanni Hat Pattu are not easy to deal with, and I do not think that the influence of Hulugala Adigar has made the task of his successor any easier. From Hulugala Adigar no assistance whatever was received. He disappeared from the district altogether on the 2nd June, and although he says he returned the next day and was at Wandurugala, two miles from Kurunegala, until the 13th, when I actually saw him, I sent for him twice, on the 2nd and 4th June, and he could not be found. Palapana, late Ratemahatmaya of Weuda Willi Hat Pattu, on the other hand, came readily and offered his services, and was of use in helping to keep Weuda Willi Hat Pattu quiet. The Ratemahatmaya of Dambadeni Hat Pattu also did good work, as already stated, at Giriulla, which is outside of his division.
28 As regards the work of the Riot Commission, Mr. Codrington dealt with the Chilaw and Puttalam Districts in addition to his ordinary work, and similarly I myself dealt with the Weuda Willi, Hiriyala, and Wanni Hat Pattus and a small portion of Dambadeni Hat Pattu, in addition to my ordinary work. The bulk of the work, as already stated, fell to Mr. Collins, and I desire to draw attention to the very careful and painstaking manner in which it was done.
29. Separate reports by Mr. Collins and Mr. Codrington are attached, as also maps (identical) illustrating this report and that of Mr. Collins.
30. As regards Mr. Abdul Rahiman's remarks, I desire to emphasize the state- ment that no Sinhalese "assessors" have in any way been associated with the Com- missioners in this Province. As regards damage to buildings, the Commissioners have been assisted by European and Burgher engineers, and, as regards damage to other property, they have formed their own conclusions, after hearing witnesses of various nationalities. As to Mr. Abdul Rahiman's suggestion in regard to delays, no such delays have occurred in this district. At the conclusion of each inquiry, on the very same day, orders were given to the claimants for the amount of damages found to be due to them, payable, in regard to buildings, as soon as a portion of the work was done, and, in regard to goods, as soon as these were ordered and the shop was reopened, and there is nothing to prevent such damage as was done to mosques being repaired forthwith, and one mosque at least has already been repaired. cannot see any reason why the cost of such additions as Mr. Abdul Rahiman suggests should be recovered. I invite attention to Mr. Abdul Rahiman's phrase :—
"Ordinarily an attack on a mosque is among Mohammedans deemed sufficient cause for effective retaliation, and my duty should have been to appeal to the Mohammedan world for assistance,"
and suggest that he should be invited to explain his meaning. At a time such as this a threat of an "appeal to the Mohammedan world" seems, to say the least of it, injudicious.
As for the suggestion that the recent disturbances should be commemorated by some visible and abiding mark put upon Buddhist temples, the suggestion appears to me to be simply grotesque.
The Honourable
The Colonial Secretary,
Colombo
(Confidential)
I am, &c.,
C. R. CUMBERLAND, Government Agent, North-Western Province.
Enclosure 5 in No. 44.
REPORT ON THE Recent DISTURBANCES In Katugampola, Dewamedi, and DambADENI HAT PATTUS, NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCE.
THE recent disturbances in the Kurunegala District may be divided into (a) cases in which the rioting was wholly or partly the work of people from the neigh- bouring low-country districts, and (b) cases for which local people are, at least prima facie, responsible. As the former class of cases predominates very largely in the
*Not sent to the Colonial Office.
107
western and southern part of the district, and the latter in the eastern and northern, it was decided on my arrival at Kurunegala that I should work in the west and south, and Mr. Cumberland, Government Agent, in the east and north. This report deals, therefore, only with that portion of the district which fell to me.
I made a careful tour through the country, and made a point of visiting, as far as possible, every looted or damaged building, and of questioning the owners and inmates, both as to the damage done, and as to the persons who did the damage.
These riots have undoubtedly been carefully and even skilfully organized, but I am convinced that there was far less organization in this district than in other parts, the Western Province for instance. It cannot be said of this district that each town and village had its own leaders, who knew exactly what to do and how to do it. The movement here consisted of an organized attack, or series of attacks or invasions, by people of the Negombo and Kegalla Districts, followed by a number of more or less isolated outbreaks, some of which can be definitely traced to influence from the low country, whilst others appear to have been led by local people.
With regard to the kind of damage done, the attacks on the Moors appear to have been milder in this district than in some others. There does not appear to have been any intention on the part of the rioters to cause bodily harm to the Moors, and there were no cases of rape or mutilation. No Moor women were, as far as I was able to ascertain, in any way molested, and only a few men received slight injuries, and there is nothing to show that these were intentionally caused. One man was killed in the riots, but I believed he died of a ruptured spleen, caused by a blow given him while he was sleeping, probably not with the intention of causing death. In some places the intention of the rioters seems to have been to cause as much wilful damage to property as possible, and in these places fragile articles, such as china and glass, and furniture and fittings, were found broken and not removed. In other parts, and this especially applies to places where villagers formed the rioters, the object to be attained seemed to be to remove as much property as possible. There were a good many cases of arson, and these were spread over the district.
I found considerable difficulty in estimating the amount of damage actually done from the fact that the Moors almost invariably grossly exaggerated their losses, and put in claims for huge quantities of goods and money, which it is most unlikely they would have possessed. Petty village traders, owning a tiny boutique of wattle and daub, with thatched roof, would put in a claim for goods sufficient to stock a large shop in the Pettah. Moreover, in a large number of cases, all the valuables were removed from the boutiques and houses to a place of safety before the looting took place, but the claim made would include these things also. In the case of at least one large boutique a beautifully written stook book was produced, according to which stock had been taken about a week before the rioting, but a cursory glance at the book served to convince me that the book had been prepared the previous night for my special benefit. Having, therefore, very little material on which to work, my general practice was to visit the boutique or house in question, consider it in respect of its size and position, question the owner as to where the articles which he claimed to have lost were kept, and make general inquiries from the inmates and neighbours, and so arrive at a valuation. I had Mr. Sproule, District Engineer, Kurunegala, with me for the greater part of the time, and Mr. Powell, Provincial Engineer, North-Western Province, for the remainder. These gentlemen gave me very great assistance in estimating damage done, especially to buildings. I found the total damage done in Katugampola Hat Pattu to be Rs. 35,479.50, and in Dewamedi Hat Pattu Rs. 3,801, and in Dambadeni Hat Pattu Rs. 21,483. The total damage done in these three Hat Pattus, therefore, amounts to Rs. 60,763.50. To this I have added, for Government costs, Rs. 7,136.50. The total amount to be collected is therefore Rs. 67,900. I experienced very little difficulty in getting the people to pay this money; the greater portion has already been paid in in cash, and I expect the balance almost at once. In view of the remarks made by the Honourable Mr. Rahiman, I would observe that no Sinhalese assessors were appointed in this district, and that, though I was invariably accompanied by the Ratemahatmaya, the assess- ment is mine in all cases.
No rioters were shot in this district. The only case of shooting during the whole of the disturbances was on the afternoon of the 2nd June, when the Punjabis on guard at the Giriulla bridge shot at the crowd who were trying to cross from the Western Province, and killed three men and wounded eight, two of whom subse- quently died. The details of this incident are set out below. The reason that there were not more casualties in this district is, I think, that the rioters showed a strong
Page 60Page 61
63
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
FULLTIL
C.O. 882/10
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
108
disinclination to attack any place where any resistance was likely to be met. Thus Kurunegala, Kuliyapitiya, and Narammala escaped.
Two mosques only in this part of the district were damaged, one at Elabadagama, and the other at Mumanna. The actual amount of damage done was not large in either case, but, as the desecration of a mosque is a serious matter, I have awarded liberal compensation. At Mumanna tiles were stripped from a part of the roof, two doors were broken, and a little damage was done to the interior. The District Engineer estimated the damage at Rs.50. Here I awarded a sum of Rs.250, and arranged with the authorities of the mosque for them to repair the building, receiving a sum of Rs.100 in cash, and the remainder when the work has been completed. At Elabadagama the building was larger, and the damage was assessed at Rs.100. The caretaker of the mosque claimed that a sum of Rs. 2,000 had been removed from the building, and although this appeared doubtful I allowed the sum on the care-. taker taking an oath on the Koran to the effect that the money had actually been there, and had been removed by the rioters. Here, too, I arranged for the work to be done at once.
The history of the disturbances in this part of the district, as far as I have been able to ascertain, is briefly as follows:--
The first indication of any disturbance was on the 31st May, in Polgahawela, when threatening crowds of some considerable size appeared in the streets, but a few additional police were sent from Kurunegala, and no damage was done. On the 1st June, Alawwa was attacked by people from Kegalla, who crossed the Maha Oya by the ford near the village, by people who came along the road from the direction of Polgahawela, some of whom probably came from Kegalla by crossings higher up the river, and, it is stated, by people from Alawwa itself. The attack on this place was undoubtedly organized, as the rioters all assembled about the same time, about 9.0 or 10.0 o'clock in the morning. The looting was systematically carried out, the first buildings to be attacked being those on the south side of the railway line towards Kegalla, and afterwards those on the north of the line. On this occasion a considerable amount of damage was done to fittings and furniture, and quantities of goods were taken by the rioters, but there was no case of arson. On the 2nd
of June Alawwa was quiet, but on the 3rd the row of looted boutiques south of the railway line were burnt down. I was not able to ascertain how this happened, as no one seems to have seen the actual burning. Some of the Moors charged the Peace Officer, his brother, and an ex-Korala, with being the leaders of these disturbances, but after a full inquiry I found that there was nothing against them, and, in fact, they did what they could to stop the disturbances by sending telegrams and other messages for help to Polgahawela and other places.
On the 2nd June the disturbances began farther west, and were far more wide- spread. The boundary between the Kurunegala and Negombo Districts here is the Maha Oya, which is crossed by a bridge at Giriulla and by fords at other places, e.g., Bopitiya, Badabeddamankada, and Nalawalana. At each of these places large crowds, clearly acting in concert, crossed or attempted to cross from the Negombo District into Kurunegala District. The earliest attempt this day was made on Giriulla (or, as it should be called, Malgammana, Giriulla proper being a village of the Western Province across the bridge). People from Negombo District began to assemble in the bazaar from about 8.0 a.m., and matters reached a climax about 11.0. The Ratemahatmaya of Katugampola Hat Pattu, Mr. Nugawela, whose conduct during these disturbances cannot be too highly commended, had warned the Moors on the previous day, and was trying to keep out undesirables from the bazaar. He and the Sub-Inspector of Police wired for help, and about 10.30 a.m. a wire was received from the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kurunegala, ordering the Sub- Inspector to confine his men to barracks. The object of this order, of course, was to ensure that the men should be gathered together at a central place armed and ready for any emergency. Unfortunately, before this manœuvre could be properly carried out the rioters began attacking the boutiques. However, a few minutes before, Mr. Bogahalanda, Ratemahatmaya, Dambadeni Hat Pattu, with Mr. Day and two Pun- iabis, had arrived in Giriulla. These, with Mr. Nugawela, succeeded in driving back he rioters across the bridge, and in making a number of arrests. Things were quiet then for some time in Giriulla, except that one John Appuhamy, who has been arrested and is awaiting trial, came over the bridge, and, it is alleged, tried to stir up the Sinhalese of the bazaar against the Moors. The Assistant Superintendent Police and Mr. Hutt, office assistant, arrived in the bazaar, and placed one Punjabi guard on the bridge, and one in the bazaar. About 2.0 p.m. the rioters
109
again approached the bridge and attempted to pass. The Punjabi warned themi, but they pressed on, and he fired over them. They came on with cries that the shots were blank, and then the Punjabi and the second Punjabi, who had come up from the bazaar, fired at the crowd across the bridge. As a result of this fire three men were killed and eight wounded, two of whom died subsequently. On crossing the bridge it was found that the rioters had armed themselves with sticks and iron bars, and carried quantities of road metal in their cloths. There is no doubt but that they intended to make a determined attack on Giriulla, and had they succeeded they would undoubtedly have carried destruction over a large part of the Kurunegala District. The action of the Punjabis at the bridge saved the situation, and there was no further trouble as far as Giriulla was concerned. All the damage there was done by the rioters who came in the morning.
At Bopitiya, the next crossing, another party of men from the Negombo District crossed early on the 2nd. The Korala of Medapattu West, who had been sent there by the Ratemahatmaya, was able to get them to go away, and no damage was done there. He then left the place in charge of the Korala of Medapattu East, and went to his home. The looters did not desist altogether, for a number passed through going west and joined in the looting of Pannala.
At Pannala, the looting took place at about 11.0 a.m. on the same day (the 2nd June). The rioters here were two gangs from the Negombo District, one gang con- sisting of those who crossed at Bopitiya, and the other of men who crossed at Bada- beddamankada near Pannala. These two groups met in Pannala, as had undoubt- edly been arranged previously. At their head, it is stated, were two brothers, Paulis Perera and Peter Perera, of Velihinda, in Negombo District. These two men are on remand awaiting trial. They read out a proclamation in Pannala, and where- ever they went, the wording of which, as nearly as I have been able to ascertain, is as follows:- "
By order of the Governor of Ceylon (Kottuwe Lankawe Rajjuruwo) to Ambagahalande Bandaranayaka, the Sinhalese people are entitled to all the pro- perty of the Moors, and their lives are forfeited to the Sinhalese." The reference undoubtedly is to F. Dias, Bandaranayaka of Ambagahalanda, in Negombo Dis- trict, who also possesses lands in Kurunegala, near Pannala, and whose men are said to have crossed at Bopitiya, though nothing has come to light in this district to connect him personally with the riots. After the proclamation the village of Pan- nala was looted. The rioters then split up into two bands, one going farther along the main road to Makandura and the other along the Pannala-Kuliyapitiya road to Elabadagama.
The rioters who went to Makandura were few in number compared with those who went to Elabadagama. At Makandura, 'they met another crowd who had crossed the river at Nalawalana, and together they looted the place, and dispersed.
The two Perera brothers led the rioters that went to Elabadagama, which is a Moorish centre of some importance. The Moor boutiques here, together with a few private houses, were looted, and the rioters damaged the mosque and burnt down a straw shed. They then divided again, one party going to Bamanna, where several boutiques were looted, and the remainder to Paragammana. There is evidence that one of the Perera brothers went on from here to Meegahotuwa junction, near Kuli- yapitiya, but the Police Magistrate and the Sub-Inspector of Police had prepared. for an attack on that place, and the rioters made no attempt to enter it.
On the 3rd of June, it does not appear that much rioting took place, except that on this day the looted boutiques at Alawwa were burnt. the interior were also attacked this day. On the 4th June rioting was much more One or two boutiques in general. One group of men, said to have been headed by three brothers, John, Mai Appu, and Mathi Appu, started out from somewhere near the Meegahakotuwa junction, avoided Kuliyapitiya, and looted boutiques at Appoladeniya, Bodimulla. and Munamaldeniya. These three brothers are stated to have acted in much the same way as the brothers Perera had done on the 2nd June, and carried with them a similar proclamation. It seems fairly obvious that they were connected with the Pereras. Another gang, on the same day, started from a spot between Alawwa and Giriulla and attacked Boyawalana, Kepittiwalana, and other places in the neigh- bourhood, and then crossed to Dambadeniya, and looted that, and then passed on to some other villages towards Narammala. Some of the men composing this gang undoubtedly came from Boyawalana estate, and the leader,is said to have been one I. P. Senanayaka, the superintendent of that estate. his arrest, but he has absconded. Another group of men, headed by one Telesinghe, A warrant has been issued for