PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
ICO. 882/10
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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popular view. Their attitude generally depends upon the way in which the Governor's right of nomination is exercised. It has often happened that a nomi- nated member has thought it right to support the Government view practically in all matters, even against the strongest expression of public opinion. The experience of India seems to have been the same, and His Majesty's Government have accepted and acted upon the principle that nominated members should be classed with officials rather than with the elected members. That is apparent from the consti- tution of the Indian Councils. It is clear, therefore, that under the proposed Con- stitution the elected representatives of the people will be in a minority. The deputation find it difficult to understand the statement made in Parliament that "it will be definitely laid down by the Secretary of State that nominated unofficial members shall not in any event be required to vote according to the direction of the Governor." The nominated unofficial members have always had the right of voting as they pleased. The deputation beg leave to submit that the Secretary of State's expressed desire to give the people a large measure of control over the Administration can be realized only by a majority of elected members sufficiently large to be independent of the accidents of life and the frailties of human nature such a majority as has been granted to India.
4. One of the main objects which the Ceylon National Congress had in view in asking for a reform of the Constitution was to secure a Legislature which would accord to the moral and material advancement of the masses as much attention at least as to the claims of capital and sectional interests. The effect of intro- ducing representation of special interests, and, indeed, even that of the Indian community, in a Legislative Council so limited in membership as the one proposed, will intensify the character of the Legislature as one which stands for the promo- tion of the interests of classes rather than those of the masses. The deputation have assumed, it is necessary to add, that the proposal to grant special representa- tion to Indians has reference to the small Indian community, mainly commercial, whose representatives waited upon the Governor before his departure for England, and not to the floating population of South Indian labourers, about half a million in number, in whose case it is hardly conceivable that a separate constituency could be formed. The deputation would also observe that the granting of special repre- sentation to the Chamber of Commerce, the Low Country Products Association, and the Indian community mentioned above, will be an injustice to other interests such as those of the Christian community and the Ceylonese merchants, who, in their loyalty to the true principles on which a liberal constitution should be based, did not claim special treatment.
5. The deputation are profoundly disappointed to find that the main under- lying principle of the Government proposals is racial. Even the grant of repre- sentation to special interests is clearly based on racial lines. The Chamber of Commerce is a European mercantile body, and the Low Country Products Associa- tion is a Ceylonese planting body. It is curious that it is neither the entire mercantile interests nor the entire planting interests that secure representation. In this connexion the deputation cannot but feel that the consideration of their case has been prejudiced by the circumstance that the Governor had by public announcements committed himself to the special representation of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kandyan Sinhalese, and the Indian community before the Secretary of State had come to a decision on the question of reforms.
6. Regarding the proposed creation of a separate electorate for the Kandyan Sinhalese, the deputation beg to invite the attention of the Secretary of State to the extraordinary anomaly involved in it. As has already been pointed out in previous communications, the two sections of the Sinhalese people are identical in race; they speak the same language, follow the same religion, and generally observe similar customs and manners. They intermarry freely. On the other hand, the Ceylon Tamils, mainly inhabiting the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and forming a population much smaller than the Kandyans, differ from the Sinhalese in race, in language in religion, and in customs. It is difficult to ascertain the principle upon which it is proposed to separate the Kandyan from the maritime Sinhalese, and to join the Ceylon Tamils with the latter to form the general electorate. Moreover, it is not easy to draw a sharp line of distinction between the Kandyans and the maritime Sinhalese, and the proposal to create a separate Kandyan con- stituency is fraught with serious practical difficulties. Again, the Kandyan Sinhalese cannot in any sense of the term be regarded as a minority. In fact, they are in numbers only second to the maritime Sinhalese, while in several districts
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they form the predominant majority. Above all, the bulk of the Kandyan Sinhalese, as shown by public expressions of opinion in Ceylon, and as can be easily ascer- tained, do not desire to be separated politically from their brothers in the mari- time districts or from the other sections of the community. The proposal can only result in creating an artificial racial cleavage where none exists to-day.
Racial distinctions of the kind involved in the proposed scheme constitute an element of danger, as they tend to disturb the harmonious relations that have existed between the different sections of the people. It is, therefore, most desirable that this feature, instead of being perpetuated and extended, should be eliminated from the Constitution at the earliest possible opportunity,
7. The proposed changes in the Executive Council will not establish any connexion between it and the Legislative Council, and, consequently, the latter body will have no effective means whereby it may exert its influence upon the deliberations of the Executive. The present character of the Executive Council remains unchanged by the inclusion of unofficial members, so long as their selection is effected practically in the same way as that of the official members.
8. In these circumstances the deputation cannot but feel grateful to the Secretary of State for indicating the outlines of the intended reforms, and thus giving those interested an opportunity of expressing their views on the proposals. The deputation would, for their own part. earnestly ask that the following modi- fications may be made in the proposed scheme of reform so that it may be acceptable to the large bulk of the people of Ceylon :-
-40246
SIR,
(1) That the representation of the people be so increased as to ensure
a clear and substantial elected majority.
(2) That provision be made to eliminate racial and communal represen- tation in the near future.
(3) That at least two of the unofficial members of the Executive Council
be chosen from the elected members of the Legislative Council.
(4) That such statutory provision be made as will secure periodical revision of the Constitution.
No. 16.
I have, &c..
D. B. JAYATILAKA.
Secretary.
CEYLON REFORM DEPUTATION to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received 12th August, 1920.)
[Answered by No. 19.]
Westminster Chambers, 1, Victoria Street, S.W.1, 11th August, 1920. THIS deputation beg to forward herewith cables received from Ceylon embodying resolutions passed by the Ceylon National Congress Committee and the Committee of the Ceylon National Association. The proposal to give the Governor the right to stop proceedings of the Council in relation to any matter which he certifies to affect the safety or tranquillity of Ceylon, has been construed as enabling the Governor to stop discussion. The deputation trust that this is a mistaken interpre- tation. If it is intended to give the Governor the right to stop discussion on any subject whatsoever, they would respectfully protest against it as a grave menace to the position, prestige, and freedom of the Council, and a serious encroachment on the political rights of the people. The opinion in Ceylon seems to be that the provisions increasing the Governor's powers outbalance the concessions made to the people.
The Deputation feel that the proposed reforms will be a sore disappointment to the people and will divert their energies from the pursuit of the prosperity and the moral elevation of the country to ceaseless and embittering agitation for political progress. It realizes how undesirable this is, and therefore ventures to ask for a sympathetic consideration for its representations.
I am, etc..
D. B. JAYATILAKA,
་
Secretary.
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