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man on the spot." The memorialists are, therefore, convinced that the welfare of the Island demands that the people should have an effective share in the administra- tion and government of the Island.
2. The memorialists also view with concern the demands, made by the Self- governing Dominions and supported by the new Imperialist School and by the Empire Resources Development Committee, to have a share in the government of the Crown Colonies and to control their inhabitants and resources. This policy has been pro- vided with an effective machinery in the Imperial Conference, in which Ceylon has no voice. It has created new masters for her in the Dominions, whose Premiers are to take part along with the Home Government in determining her fate. The memorialists feel that the only safeguard against this policy, as well as the only security for efficient administration, for the welfare and progress of the people and the stability of British rule, is the obtaining of responsible government as early as possible and, meanwhile, a substantial and progressive advance towards that goal.
3. The Legislative Council of Ceylon was established, on the recommendation of a Royal Commission, in the year 1833, when the population was about one-fourth of what it is now, and the country was undeveloped and its trade inappreciable. "Such a Council," the Commissioners admitted, is not proposed as an institution calculated in itself to provide effectually for the legislation of the Island at a more advanced stage of its progress.
It would eventually constitute an essential part of any colonial legislature for which the Island may be prepared." They added: "The peculiar circumstances of Ceylon, both physical and moral, seem to point it out to the British Government as the fittest spot in our Eastern dominions in which to plant the germ of European civilization, whence we may not unreasonably hope that it will hereafter spread over the whole of these vast territories" (Report of the Royal Commissioners, 1832). It was not till 1861 that Legislative Councils were first established in India.
4. It will be observed from the figures hereafter given that Ceylon has, even under its present constitution, made progress in many directions during the last eighty-four years, in trade, education, wealth, and in institutions, private and public, that mark the advancement of a people. Whether the volume of trade
per head of popu- lation, the stability of the public finances, the expansion of the general revenue, or the progressive wealth and consequence of the people, be taken as the standard of comparison, Ceylon is in advance of the neighbouring continent. Tried by the important test of education, the position of Ceylon is far superior. According to the census of 1911, she has nearly four times the proportion of male and ten times that of female literates which India has. (Indian literates 106 per 1,000 males, 10 per 1,000 females: Ceylon 404 per 1,000 males, 106 per 1,000 females.)
5. Ceylon, through no fault of her people, has been permitted to lag so far behind that she does not possess even the Constitution which India is about to abandon as inadequate. Indian Legislative Councils have a large number of elected members, and all except the Viceroy's Council have substantial unofficial majorities, while no Executive Council, nor the Council of the Secretary of State for India, is complete without Indian members. These reformed councils have worked for a decade with success. While India and Egypt, despite unrest and political upheavals, have steadily received liberal concessions, and while India is to receive a still more generous measure of representative government, the claims of loyal Ceylon alone have been ignored and her hopes delayed and disappointed.
6. British rule stands pledged to extend to the people the widest measure of political influence which they are by education and other claims qualified to exercise. A glance at the tabular statement given below will show that Colonies far behind her in size, population, and wealth, such as Jamaica and Mauritius, enjoy privileges of election and representation to an extent denied to Ceylon.
Area, square miles
Population
Revenue
Trade
Members
Legislative Council :
Total Members
Elected
Executive Council:
Officials
Unofficials
Jamaica.
Mauritius.
720 380,000
£800,000
£6,500,000
4,450
890,000
£1,318,000
£4,500,000
30
27
14
10
5
4
4
Ceylon.
25,000 4,450,000
£3,500,000 £29,000,000
22
4
8
ཟླ* མ།
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7. In respect of the Legislative Council the reforms sought by the memorialists are the abolition of the official majority, of racial representation, and of the nomi- nation of unofficial members by the Governor, and, in their stead, a large increase in the number of the elected members on a territorial basis. The existing division of the Island into provinces lends itself to this departure from the racial basis without abruptness. The Western, Southern, and North-Western Provinces are mainly inhabited by the low-country Sinhalese; the Central, Sabaragamuwa. Uva, and North Central Provinces by the Kandyan Sinhalese; the Northern and Eastern by indigenous Tamils, while the bulk of the Indian Tamil population is to be found in the Kandyan provinces.
8. Ceylon is not unused to representative institutions. Her historical records, among the most ancient and authentic in the world, testify that under her own native kings for two thousand years the Island enjoyed a popular constitution resting on a representative basis. Every village (gama) had its own council (gansabhawa), which has persisted through all the vicissitudes of foreign dominion and remains a part of the modern constitution. The Village Councils in a district (rata) returned delegates to the District Council (ratasabhawa), which lingered in the Island till 1830. Above these stood the Supreme Council of the Ministers of the State, and the King, who was considered the elected supreme magistrate. In the year 1809 Sir Alexander Johnstone, Chief Justice and First Minister of His Majesty's Council in Ceylon, after a personal investigation at the request of the Governor into the history and conditions of the people, recommended to the Secretary of State, inter alia, the creation of a Legislative Assembly on the lines of the British Parliament, including representatives elected by each province. Sir Alexander Johnstone's
note, published in the Ceylon Literary Register, Vol. I., page 283, shows that his recommendations were accepted by the Secretary of State, and would have been wholly given effect to but for a change of Government in England. At the present time there are representative institutions in the Island with elected members, such as municipal councils, local boards, district road committees, village councils, etc.. which are veated with important functions, including the expenditure of money. The capacity to assimilate Western culture, methods and institutions has been a striking feature of the people of this Island, and has frequently been the subject of notice in books on Ceylon.
9. The present constitution of the Legislative Council remains, with slight modification, what it was in 1833. The elective element is practically non-existent. It is true that there are now two elected members to represent Europeans, one for the Burghers and one for the Ceylonese educated on Western lines. But there remains a vast population of over four millions without a single representative chosen by the people. The helplessness of unofficial members, in a council with a majority of officials, to give effect to the people's views was emphasized in Parliament by the Secretary of State for India, and has been frequently illustrated in Ceylon. On the other hand, nominated members have often served to give a semblance of popular assent to unpopular Government measures and to defeat the vigilance of Downing Street.
10. The memorialists submit for your favourable consideration the following scheme for the constitution of the Ceylon Legislative Council. The population of Ceylon at the last census (1911) was 4.106,350, of which (in round numbers) 1,717,000 were low-country Sinhalese and nearly a million Kandyans; a little over a million were Tamils, about equally distributed between indigenous and Indian; and 280,000 Mohammedans, of whom twelve per cent. Indian. The Europeans numbered 7,600. of whom ninety per cent. were British; and the Purghers 27,000. The Europeans, Burghers, and Mohammedans together number 314,000. They will under the scheme keep their distinctive representation, as they might feel aggrieved if what they consider their vested interests were taken Burghers will accordingly retain their special electorates and members; the
away abruptly.
The Europeans and Mohammedans their special representative, but elected and not nominated. remainder of the population, numbering 3,800,000, racial representation will be For the replaced by territorial, and on the basis of a single electorate. It is hoped that the three minorities will, in time, consent to join this electorate.
11. The elected members, it is suggested, should be as follows. The electorate for the provinces (except in the city of Colombo) would exclude Europeans, Burghers, and Mohammedans; and the qualification would be literacy in English, Sinhalese, or Tamil, with a small property qualification varying according to the conditions of each province.