318
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question of provision for the Salaries Scheme. It first decided to recommend the adoption of the proposed Rent Allowances, as amended by the Government memo randum of 31st July, 1922,* at an estimoted cost of Rs. 1,000,000, but without the proposed change from 6 per cent. to 10 per cent. of the present scheme of rentals for Government quarters (see the Committee's report on the Salaries proposals enclosedt) and afterwards discussed briefly in a general and desultory manner whether anything more could be done for the Government servants.
10. By the time that this stage of the Committee's deliberations had been reached it had become apparent, in the light of later information, and of decisions reached by the Committee, that the financial situation during the forthcoming financial year
would not be quite so difficult as the Treasurer had anticipated, in the light of information then available, when he prepared his Memorandum of 12th July, and when the Budget was first laid before the Legislative Council. The original Estimate of Revenue for 1922-1923 had been increased by Rs. 500,000, while the Estimate of Expenditure had been reduced by some Rs. 1,400,000, in consequence of the elimination or decrease of certain votes and the transfer of others to Loan Account. Further, whereas in July the Treasurer had anticipated that at the end of the financial year 1921-1922, i.e., on the 1st instant, the accumulated surplus would be Rs. 8,216,351, it had since become evident that it would be con- siderably more, and the Treasurer furnished a revised estimate of Rs. 12,416,351. In view of this more favourable information, I consented to the appropriation of Rs. 3,000,000 out of the surplus to the services of 1922-1923. Thus, the Committee found itself confronted with the task of bridging the gap of approximately Rs. 7,750,000 between Revenue and Expenditure, instead of the gap of Rs. 12,109,206 contemplated in the original Budget proposals.
11 Notwithstanding the fact that the difficulty of the task before the Com- mittee had thus been lessened, the following motion (proposed by Mr. James Peiris, Member of the City of Colombo), was carried by a majority of seventeen votes to eight:
"That this Committee is not prepared to go further in the way of providing for the improvement of the emoluments of Government servants as per the new Salaries Scheme than by way of the Passage Scheme, Rent Allowance Scheme, and temporary increases as agreed to already."
12. Sir James Broom and Mr. Drieberg had both urged the Committee not to come thus hastily to a final decision, but first to examine the proposals for raising more revenue from the Railway and the Customs, and suggested that it might be found possible, without placing an unduly heavy burden upon the public, to raise funds sufficient to carry out, at any rate, some further part of the Salaries Scheme, and that they could then go into the Scheme in detail and see what parts could be accepted. The Colonial Secretary himself had suggested that if the Committee hesitated to commit the Colony to the Scheme for all time it might recommend the adoption of the Scheme for five years on the express understanding that it should be revised (with liability to reduction of salaries if necessary) at the end of that period. Neither this proposal, nor the suggestions of the two members just referred to, received support from the majority of the members, and the Colonial Secretary then withdrew his proposal. Sir P. Ramanathan observed that he could not vote for the Scheme as it stood, as it required further revision. In this connexion it may be noted that Sir Ramanathan had been absent from the meetings on 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th September.
[
13. As the result of the motion the deficit was reduced to some Rs. 2,500,000. and at the next meeting the Committee restricted its efforts to the consideration of the best method of obtaining this amount, which it proposed to do by raising Rs. 500,000 from the Railway and Ra. 2,000,000 from Customs and Port Dues. Details of these proposals will be found in the Select Committee's reports on the Railwaya and Customs Amendment Bills.‡ annexed to this despatch. In amplifica- tion of the Report on the Railway Bill. I would merely add that the effect of these proposals was that no increases should be made to 2nd and 3rd Class Passenger Fares, and only a very slight increase should be allowed on Goods Rates.
* See pages 9 and 10 of enclosure 8 (not printed here). Enclosure 5 (not printed here).
Enclosures 6 and 7 (not printed here).
14.
15.
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The Committee met again on 26th September, and settled the terms of the four reports,* copies of which, as presented to the Legislative Council, are annexed. In view of the attitude of the majority of the Committee towards these all-important subjects, and the insufficient consideration which it was felt had been shown to them, for it must be remembered that the Government was willing, and, indeed, anxious, to discuss the report of the Salaries Commissioners in the Com- mittee, and had reserved for its consideration many small points which had arisen since the publication of Sessional Paper XIII. of 1922, the official members added a brief rider to all the reports stating that they did not commit themselves to the whole of the decisions. These riders were also signed by the following unofficials— Sir J. Thomson Broom, Dr. H. M. Fernando, and Messrs. R. S. Philpott, T. Y. Wright and H. A. Loos. A further rider was added to the Report on the Salaries Com- mission proposals by Sir J. Thomson Broom and Mr. T. Y. Wright, to which I would invite special attention, as, on behalf of the Government, I accepted this rider in Council on 29th September, and agreed, as indeed Government has recognized throughout, that the Scheme must be subjected to a further scrutiny before its proposals are brought into actual practice. This work, which should have been done in Select Committee, now remains to be done by Government, and I propose to appoint a very small Committee to work out the details necessary to bring the Scheme into operation, and in so doing to consider any points of difficulty which may be brought to their notice or be discovered in the course of their work.
16. In the interval which remained before the meeting of Council on 28th September, I gave the most careful consideration to the attitude which Government should take up, and I came to the conclusion that the recommendations of the majority of the Select Committee showing, as it appeared to me, a complete failure to realize the seriousness of the situation, and a fixed determination not to consider the Salaries Scheme on its merits, could not be accepted by Government, and I decided that the inclusion of the amount necessary to carry out the Scheme as from 1st October must be referred to the decision of the whole Council, and that I should be failing in my duty to the Colony as a whole, and to the Government servants in particular, if I did not endeavour to secure its acceptance by the use of the votes of the official minority, aided by such of the unofficials as would support the Government view.
17. Such was the position when the Council met on 28th September last. The Colonial Secretary laid on the table the Report of the Committee on the Salaries Commissioners' Proposals, and in due course brought up the report of the Select Committee on the Supply Bill, and moved the House into Committee to consider the Bill. The Schedule, as usual, was taken first, and on reaching Head 46 (the last item), Mr. James Peiris, in the absence of any motion from the Colonial Secretary. moved the insertion of the figures in the margin, which excluded the provision for the Salaries Scheme, in place of the original figures. A long discussion ensued. extending into the following day, in the course of which the Government position was explained by the Attorney-General, the Colonial Treasurer, the Colonial Secretary and myself. I took the opportunity of announcing that the Scheme, if passed, would be reconsidered at the end of five years.
18. Before the amendment proposed by Mr. Peiris was put to the Council. Mr. E. W. Perera, on a point of order. raised the objection that officials, having a direct pecuniary interest in the matter, could not vote for the increase of their emoluments. I was unable to support the objection, as not only has it been the practice in the past in this Council for officials to vote on such questions, but their right to vote if necessary is directly implied by Mr. Lyttelton in paragraph 4 (IV) of his Confidential despatch of 25th August, 1905,† published on page 64 of Sessional Paper No. 51 of 1905.
19. The amendment was then put, and was lost by nineteen votes to eighteen. The motion to include the original sum was then carried by the same votes. In each case the three elected European members, Dr. H. M. Fernando, the nominated Sinhalese member, who is also a member of Executive Council, and Mr. H. A. Loos, the nominated Burgher member, voted with the fourteen official members.
20. At this stage Mr. Peiris inquired whether Government intended to accept the recommendations of the majority reports as regards the Railway and Customs
† 22200; not printed.
Enclosures 5, 6, 7 and 8 (not printed here).
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