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MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Are you satisfied with the present Constitution, or do you want to see it altered, speaking for the Kandyans?
MR. MOON EMALLE: We should like to see it altered as I have stated in my Memorandum.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You would like to see Sinhalese on the Executive Council?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Certainly.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: The Executive Council is rather out of touch with the people, more so than it used to be ?
MR. MOON EMALLE: Formerly, the Governor's Agent used to go in procession right through the heart of the district and was generally six months away from his seat, but the present occupant travels from Kandy to Bondy, a two hours' run by motor-car. What can he see of the country? Formerly he was met by people at every centre, almost every twelve miles, and he spent the whole of his time in the country; but the Governor's Agent to-day has so many duties to perform; every Ordinance brings some fresh duty; if he is at his job from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon, and has had his game of tennis after that, at six o'clock he is done for the day.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Is it a difficult country to get about ?
MR. MOON EMALLE: No. You have very fine roads. We have been travelling a good deal since this matter came up before us. We have been right into the heart of the district. I have been touring all over the Kandyan Province without any difficulty. A car will take you anywhere, the roads are very good.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Have the old local institutions disappeared under British administration? Had you forms of local self-government which have gone! MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes, but the old ideas have been embodied in new Ordinances which have been enacted and we have Village Courts which are working fairly well, I think.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Have you anything like Village Councils ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes. In the matter of irrigation and various other matters in the different communities the people are generally consulted, but the practice has been-
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Theoretically they are all elected?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: These Village Councils are purely Kandyan or Sinhalese anyway?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: They are not nominated members ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: No, they are not nominated members.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE : Have the Village Councils a good deal of work
to do, and a good deal of authority ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes, but there again in practice, of course, an undesirable Chairman might not give the system a chance. He dominates those who are expected to advise him and probably carries out his own ideas, never giving the people a chance. THE SECRETARY OF STATE: The Chairman would be elected by the Council, I suppose !
MR. MOON EMALLE: No, he is generally the chief of the district.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: He would be a Kandyan ?
MR. MOON EMALLE: Yes.
I
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Besides the Village Councils, you have Distriot
Councils and Municipalities ?
MR. MOON EMALLE: Yes, Local Boards.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: These also are elected by the people?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Composed of Sinhalese ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Under a Government Chairman ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes, the Chairman of the Local Board is a Government Agent.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You have Village Councils and District and Municipal Councils ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yos.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Have these been always going, or have they been lately developed ? Have their powers been extended ? Has there been a tendency to increase the Local Boards or diminish them ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: There has been a new Ordinance by which the Government official is entirely eliminated and the choice of Chairman is given to the people of a particular area.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Is that a good thing in your opinion ! MR. MOONEMALLE: I do not think you can get to work the office perfectly from the ideal point of view; you cannot get two men who are in touch with current ideas of life, living, and all that sort of thing.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: It is difficult to get men for these kind of offices? MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Owing to what-lack of education ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: That is it.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: And knowledge of the world?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes. What we want to press upon your lordship at this Deputation is this, that from the time when this new system is inaugurated a larger sum should be spent on general education; that education ought to be compulsory in the first few years.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You would like to see it compulsory? MR. MOONEMALLE: I think so.
There is no help for it, otherwise we shall
all go under, unless the matter is taken in hand at once.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: So far I have been speaking about the Executive Council and the Local Governmental institutions. How about the Legislative Council? Do you desire to see that increased in numbers ↑ At present there are very few unofficials?
MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes, nine.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: How many are elected ?
MR. GOLLAN: One Sinhalese member, one Burgher member, and two European members.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Four, the other five are nominated ? MR. GOLLAN!
Mohammedan.
Six. Two Tamils, one Kandyan, two Sinhalese and one
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Incidentally, where do the Mohammedans live?
Are they scattered all over the country or are they concentrated !
MR. MOONEMALLE: You find them all over the Kandyan Province, and you
find a lot of them in the south, in almost every city. The common name for them
*
is orow," they are so common.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Are many of the Kandyans Christians ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: A good many.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: The general religion would be Buddhism ? MR. MOONEMALLE: Yes.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: That was a diversion. To come back to the Legislative Council, I want to know your views about that. My business to-day
is to get to know your mind. I have a great deal to consider in connection with this matter and I want to know exactly what you desire about it.
MR. MOONEMALLE: The case stands thus: For quite a long time we only knew in very recent times what the National Party was asking for, and then we made up our minds that we should present our case. We say that if the rest of the com- munity is going to be given a liberal number of representatives we should have adequate representation ourselves consistent with the interests of the community, their stake in the country, and so on.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You do not think you would get it if the country was divided into a number of more or less equal constituencies?
MR. MOONEMALLE: No.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You do not think you would get adequate repré- sentation even for your own district ?
MR. MOONEMALLE: No.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Do you favour a continuation of the system of nomination so far as Kandyans are concerned, or would you prefer to have separate constituencies in which the voters would be all Kandyans!
MR. MOONEMALLE: We have committed ourselves to that in the Memorial that was presented in 1919 to His Excellency the Governor.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE: You would like what is known as communal repre- sentation ?
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