67
216
66
When they have got to this stage they can safely be left to run themselves. The lines on which I look for successful progress are: (1) improvements in educa- tion; especially the university, if it is started on sound lines. If it follows Indian universities it will only do harm; (2) an increase in the number of Ceylonese employed in the higher grades of public service, which will educate the upper classes in matters of government; (3) a development of local government, which will familiarize the people with representative systems. So far the experiments in this direction have not been successful, but I think things are beginning to improve.
2nd July,
35604
1919.
(Secret.)
No. 33.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
R. E. S.
1
Downing Street, 22nd August, 1919.
SIR,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Secret despatch of the 18th May,* regarding the scheme for constitutional reform in Ceylon, put forward in your despatch No. 316, of the 17th of May. I have read your despatch with much attention and interest, and I have taken the opportunity of the presence of Sir R. E. Stubbs in this country to obtain his views in the matter.
3. The proposals which you put forward appear to me to make a personal conference desirable, and, in view of the importance of the subject, I think it advisable to accept your offer to come to this country in order to discuss generally your scheme for reform.
4. I suggest, therefore, that, so soon after Sir Graeme Thomson's arrival as you may consider it possible to leave the administration of the Government in his hands after he has sufficiently familiarized himself with local conditions, yon should come home for the purpose of discussing the matter. Until then I do not propose to make any comments on your scheme.
I have, &o.,
59662
(Confidential.)
No. 34.
MILNER.
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS AT DEPUTATION FROM THE CEYLON REFORM LEAGUE, THE CEYLON NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AND THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CEYLON ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN CEYLON, HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, 15TH OCTOBER, 1919.
Present:
VISCOUNT MILNER, Secretary of State.
{
SIR GEORGE FIDDES, Under-Secretary of State. MR. GRINDLE, Assistant Under-Secretary.
MR. COWELL. of the Eastern Department of the Colonial
Office.
The members of the deputation were :----
MR. H. J. C. Pereira.
MR. D. B. JAYATILAKA,
MR. W. A. DE SILVA.
THE REV. FATHER PERERA. PROFESSOR WIKRAMASINHA. DR. V. GABRIEL.
• No. 81.
No. 80.
party!
VISCOUNT MILNER: Mr. Pereira, are you going to act as spokesman for this
MR. PEREIRA: Yes. VISCOUNT MILNER: Will you do so?
MR. PEREIRA: My lord, perhaps I might begin by saying something with regard to the status and position of my friends who are with me here, just to give your lordship an idea of the members of the deputation,
VISCOUNT MILNER: I should like that.
MR. PEREIRA: My friend on my right, Mr. Jayatilaka, is a Bachelor of Arts of the University of Oxford and also of Calcutta. He is a barrister-at-law by profession, and before he became so he was for many years headmaster of the principal Buddhist School in Ceylon. He was latterly superintendent of all the Buddhist schools on the island, which number about three hundred. He has given up educational work and is now a barrister practising in Ceylon.
VISCOUNT MILNER: Has he come from Ceylon now!
MR. PEREIRA: He has been specially deputed by these Associations. Originally he came in connexion with another matter, but since he came here he has been deputed to represent two of the Associations, the Reform League and the Ceylon National Association. Mr. Jayatilaka besides was a member of the Board of Education of Ceylon, and he served on a Commission which inquired into the question of elementary education in Ceylon on whose report compulsory education was first introduced into the island. These are, shortly, his qualifications.
My friend, next to Mr. Jayatilaka, is Mr. W. A. de Silva, who is a well-known gentleman from Ceylon, one of our largest landed proprietors, if that is a quali- fication. He is the owner of rubber and tea plantations in Ceylon, and he is also a Justice of the Peace. He, too, like Mr. Jayatilaka, is a Buddhist by religion, and he is now the General Manager of all the Buddhist schools, having succeeded Mr. Jayatilaka in that office. He has served on several local Commissions in Ceylon, and he is also Secretary of the Ceylon Reform League.
My friend next to Mr. de Silva is Dr. V. Gabriel. He is the son of a gentle- man who is well known in Ceylon, a native chief.
VISCOUNT MILNER: Is he a Doctor of Medicine?
MR. PEREIRA: Yes; and he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and
a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He is also the Superin- tendent of the Shoreditch Infirmary.
VISCOUNT MILNER: You are resident in this country, Dr. Gabriel!
DR. GABRIEL: For the present.
VISCOUNT MILNER: Have you been here long?
DR. GABRIEL: For nine years now.
VISCOUNT MILNER: Practising in London?
DR. GABRIEL: Yes.
MR. PEREIRA: As I was saying, Dr. Gabriel belongs to a well known Tamil family in Ceylon (the two other gentlemen, whose qualfications I have already given, are Sinhalese), and he is the son of a well known Tamil chief.
My friend next to Dr. Gabriel, is, I believe, well known in this country, Mr. Wikramasinha, a lecturer at Oxford, and an Honorary Master of Arts. He is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, and he has been for a long time in England, but his relations with Ceylon have not been on that account interrupted. He has always had friendly intercourse with the people in Cevlon.
Last of all, I come to my friend on my left, the Rev. Father Perera. He is here working up for the degree of Master of Arts in Education in London. He is a priest of the Catholic Church, and belongs to the Order of Mary Immaculate, an Order which has done much educational work in Cevlon, and he is a Professor of St. Joseph's College, one of the principal colleges of the Order in Colombo.
VISCOUNT MILNER; Are all these gentlemen Sinhalese except Dr. Gabriel? MR. PEREIRA: They are, my lord. My friends Mr. Jayatilaka, Mr. de Silva, Mr. Wikramasinha, and Father Perera are all Sinhalese, and my friend Dr. Gabriel is a Tamil. As regards religion, Mr. Jayatilaka and Mr. de Silva are Buddhists; Dr. Gabriel is a Christian, Mr. Wikramasinha is a Christian, too, Father Perera is, of course, a Roman Catholic, and they are all fairly representative, not only of the races, but of the religions, of the country.
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