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TI
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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Amongst the earliest duties of this Council will be the consideration of the Standing Orders of the Council, and I propose with the least possible delay to appoint a Committee of this Council to examine the Standing Orders, and to report and recommend such amendments and additions as may seem desirable.
This Council will have to consider and discuss at a very early date matters of very great importance in connexion with the finances of the Colony. Ceylon, in common with every part of the Empire, and in fact of the whole civilized world, is suffering from the effects of the Great War; and the purchasing power of money is here, as elsewhere, so greatly decreased that a revenue of to-day estimated at Rs. 60,000,000 is in actual monetary value less than two-thirds of its face value. Consequently, if the progress in every direction which has been undertaken is to be maintained in fulf efficiency, then it becomes a necessity that further revenue should be raised.
There will be placed before you in due course a full statement upon this subject, and you will be asked to consider the question of increased taxation; and amongst the proposals in this connexion will be that of an income tax. I should announce that I have already approached the Secretary of State with a view to the deputing to Ceylon of an official versed in the intricacies of this form of taxation. in order that we may be advised early of the methods to be adopted in Ceylon. The decision of the Imperial Parliament that income tax paid in a British Possession outside the United Kingdom shall be deducted from that which is payable in the United Kingdom now removes the anomaly of what was known as double income tax; and the abolition of the excess profits duty has likewise caused this Govern- ment to decide that an income tax in Ceylon should no longer be considered an inappropriate method of raising revenue.
It must be remembered that, in view of the depressed state of some of the industries of the Island, it has been necessary to curtail expenditure already voted to the extent of Rs. 5,000,000, and that there are many works of pressing public importance which have of necessity been postponed, or, when coinmenced, have been brought to a standstill; and, in furtherance of the decision which I announced at the debate on the Budget for the current financial year, that, except where expen- diture is provided out of loan account, or where it is proved to be of urgent public importance, the normal expenditure of the Colony must be met out of actual revenue, it is clear that this Council must decide whether progress must be aban- doned, expenditure in every direction curtailed, or provision made by increased taxation to continue on the lines which. I trust, will make for the advancement and increased prosperity of the Island.
It is unnecessary for me at this juncture to detail those services that demand larger expenditure. and where progress, if not continued, will be the cause of grave dissatisfaction to the community; and I feel confident that the proposals of Government for continuing its programme will meet with your most careful and deliberate consideration.
There will be placed before you a very considerable programme of legislative measures, and the following important Bills, among others, will be introduced into Council:-
(a) An Ordinance to abolish the penal clauses in the existing Labour Ordinance. This is a subject of great consequence, in view of the pro- posed legislation in the Imperial Indian Council in connexion with the emigration of labour from that country-a matter of paramount importance to the industries of Ceylon.
(b) An Ordinance to establish a Public Trustee.
(c) An Ordinance to amend and consolidate the Law relating to Village
Communities.
(d) An Ordinance to amend and consolidate the Law relating to Companies. (e) An Ordinance to amend and consolidate the Law relating to Co-operative
Societies.
You will have observed that, in accordance with the Letters Patent, the Con- stitution of the Executive Council of the Colony has been revised, and that there will sit upon that Council, in addition to its Official Members, one European Unofficial Member and two Ceylonese Unofficial Members. Such a Constitution will. I am sure, enable the Governor to obtain advice upon all matters affecting the community which those who are in close touch with the unofficial side of affairs will be able to afford him.
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In regard to the Unofficial Nominated Members, as well as the Unofficial Members representing communities. in the Legislative Council, it is possibly unnecessary for me to remark that these Members are free and unconstrained in their relation to Government. They will, as in the past, debate and vote according to the dictates of their consciences.
It is, perhaps, proper that in opening the Council I should refer to the desirability that debates in an assembly that is now so considerably enlarged should be conducted with a view to arriving at decisions with as much economy of time as is compatible with free discussion. Members of this Council are busy men, and reasonably must wish that the time they must devote to the discussion of affairs of State may not trench too greatly upon that which they would otherwise give to their own vocations; and in their interest the business-like conduct of debate is a matter of very great importance. Unofficial Members of this Council in under- taking a public duty have to make no small sacrifices, and it should be the aim of Members to lessen the weight of that burden.
I cannot close my remarks without referring to certain projects in which I am much interested, in which I received the unreserved support of the late Council, and which I recommend to this Council, asking the assurance that I may receive the same support :-
The Extension of the Railway to Trincomalee and Batticaloa, a scheme which the more I examine the more I am convinced of its importance to the Colony.
The Ceylon University College, already launched, and which I am most anxious shall develop without undue delay into the University of Ceylon, and for all measures that will tend to improve and advance education, the development of the agricultural industries of the Island. and the strengthening of the Department to enable it to cope with its programme of progress.
In welcoming the Members of Council to-day. I cannot allow the occasion to pass without alluding to the presence of Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan in this Council, and congratulating him upon the honour that His Majesty has been pleased to confer on him, an honour he has so well merited by his constant labours on behalf of the people of Ceylon, and by the value of the services he has rendered to the Colony in the past Legislative Councils and in numerous other directions.
In conclusion, may I ask that I may receive your support in this Council for all measures that may make for the contentment and welfare of the people of this Island, and that you will recognize the great responsibility cast upon you here in tendering such advice to the Government of the Colony as may promote its pros perity and the good and orderly government of its people.
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