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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
C.O. 882/10
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO
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deciding the principles to be followed, and have also outlined the present constitu- tion of the Government of the Colony, although by so doing we may have touched upon matters of common knowledge. We have directed our attention chiefly to the devising of a constructive scheme, in order to provide a basis for any action which the Association may at any time consider necessary. No complete review of the situation, however, can ignore the proposals put forward by others, and notably those contained in a memorial dated the 15th December, 1917, sent by the Ceylon Reform League and the Ceylon National Association to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. We have subjected these proposals to a careful scrutiny unaffected by the extravagance of language or argument with which they are from time to time supported.
2. The present system of Government.—Colonial affairs have always been under the supervision of the Sovereign, who still retains, in most cases, the power of legislating directly by Orders in Council. Since 1854 they have been in the sole charge of a principal Secretary of State, who, in accordance with constitutional practice, relinquishes his office on the resignation of the Government of which he forms a part. To the Colonial Office are assigned one Parliamentary Under-Secre- tary, one Permanent Under-Secretary, three Assistant Under-Secretaries, a chief clerk, a legal adviser, and a clerical staff. This Office has to supervize the affairs of all the Colonies. It is divided into three departments :-The Dominions Depart- ment, the Crown Colonies Department, and the General Department, which deals with the legal and general routine business of the office, with all personal questions arising in the Crown Colonies, and with such matters common to all as currency, banking, the post and telegraph services, education, medical and sanitary questions, pensions, patronage, &c. Each department is under the immediate control of an Assistant Under-Secretary The Crown Colonies Department, entrusted with all the administrative and political business of the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, divides its work according to groups of Colonies, of which there are several, Ceylon. Mauritius, Seychelles, Hong Kong, Weihaiwei, Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, and the Protected States of Sarawak and North Borneo forming one group, in the immediate charge of one principal clerk, one first-class clerk, and two second-class clerks. It will be seen, therefore, that, so far as concerns the per- manent officials, who alone can have a detailed and continuous knowledge in matters administrative and political, the group of which this Colony forms a part has a fractional share of the attention of an Assistant Under-Secretary and the whole attention of four clerks. There is no provision for the presence of any person who has a direct personal knowledge of the Island or any other colony. The authority of the Crown, exercised through the Secretary of State is (subject to the right of Parliament to legislate) absolute. A large part of the control of all the Colony's affairs is, in fact, kept in the hands of the Secretary of State. The Governor is strictly bound by the directions formulated in the letters patent of his appointment and the instructions issued to him. In the administration of local affairs the Governor is assisted by an Executive Council, composed of five ex officio members and such other persons as he may appoint on instruction from the Crown.* He alone is entitled to submit questions to the Executive Council. He is not bound to follow its advice, although when he acts in opposition to the Council he must state his reasons for so doing.
The Legislative Council, as now constituted, consists of the Governor, who presides, seven ex officio members, four official members nominated by the Crown, six unofficial members nominated by the Governor, and four elected unofficial members. There is, therefore, a permanent official majority. The Governor has no power to make laws except with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council. The Crown may veto any ordinance passed by the Legislative Council, and ordinances affecting certain matters may not take effect until the assent of His Majesty is signified. Such matters include the increase or diminution in the number, salary, or allowances of public officers: the currency or issue of bank notes,~ ard the imposition of differential duties. Only the Governor may propose, or
* The members so appointed are at the present time the Government Agents of the Western and Southern Provinces.
↑ Ona Mohammedan, two Tamils, one Kandyan Sinhalese, and two Low Country Sinhalese. ↑ One European urban member, one European rural member, ons Burgher member, and one Ceylonese member.
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permit the proposal, of any ordinance, vote, resolution, or question, the object or effect of which may be to dispose of or charge any of the revenue.
It will be seen that any similarities between the respective functions of the Governor, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council and those of the King, the Cabinet and Parliament, are superficial. There is no real analogy between the Ceylon Constitution and that of Great Britair. The unofficial members of the Legislative Council can only advise: being in a minority they have no power in competition with the officials, whose vote is at the command of His Excellency. The Executive Council is not responsible to the legislative body, nor can it resign. The Governor is not bound to follow the advice of the Executive Council, nor is he (if his position be regarded as analogous to that of the Prime Minister) responsible to the Legislative Council. He is responsible immediately to the Secretary of State, who, in turn, is responsible to Parliament, which is controlled by the British electors. Ultimately, therefore, the administrative Government in Ceylon is con- trolled by the British electorate and not by the inhabitants of the Colony.
The method of conducting the affairs of the Colony, as above described, is the typical and usual form of Crown Colony Government. In some of the older Colonies, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Bermuda, there still exist legislatures com- posed of two houses, the lower of which consists wholly of elected members This form of Government, resembling more closely the British Constitution, appears to have been set up originally in several other Colonies, such as Jamaica, British Honduras, Grenada, and St. Vincent, in all of which it was apparently so unsatis- factory that the local legislatures abolished themselves and requested the Crown to frame new Constitutions on such lines as should seem to it most desirable. As indicative of the position of Ceylon, in comparison with other Crown Colonies, it may be noted that, with the exception of the large African Colonies, Nigeria, Uganda, Nyasaland Protectorate, and the East Africa Protectorate, no other Colony has a population amounting to one million, as against a population of over four millions in Ceylon.
3. Is any change desirable?—Europeans will naturally ask themselves, in the first place, whether they, as a community, admit the necessity for any alteration of the Constitution. There can be no doubt that we have, from time to time, reason to be dissatisfied with the administration of the Colony and the causes of dissatis- faction may be classified under three main headings :—
Official mismanagement of Government enterprises.
Official apathy to the needs of the public.
Official indifference to the point of view of the public and neglect to
inquire how new proposals will be received.
Many of the subjects of complaint arise from the attitude of this or that official.
In so far as the system may be to blame, the defects noted above probably have their origin in the lack of responsibility to the public on the part of permanent officials who cannot be controlled by any adverse vote or censure, and are ordinarily supported in their acts by the Colonial Office, which has no first-hand knowledge of the Island
Now an increase in the responsibility of the Government, and its servants means an increase in their responsibility to the public at large. We must recog- nize it as an axiom that whatever enhancement in the power of the public may be effected, it will involve a diminution rather than an increase in the power of Europeans. Bearing this fact in mind, and regarding the matter for the moment entirely from the point of view of our own interests, can we say that a change of the Constitution, directed towards an increase in the control of the Government by the people, is likely to benefit us? To the question in this simple form many will return a negative answer. There is, however, a wider point of view. We have encouraged the education of the Ceylonese on western lines. Year by year numbers of the young men go to England and acquire western habits of thought and political ideas. On their return to the Island they find few openings for their activities outside the professions of law and medicine, which are already crowded. It is inevitable that some should turn to politics and should realize the defects in the administration which are patent to us. That realization has led to a desire to have a share in the government of the Island, and the desire, once conceived, has spread to a considerable portion of the thinking classes, has been encouraged by the Government, and has drawn a stimulus from the wave of democratic feeling which has passed over the world during the War. The desire to take part in the adminis- tration of the affairs of their own country is a natural one, and, even should the