319
Amendment Bills. As these recommendations were intended to raise only some Rs. 2,500,000, whereas roughly a further Rs. 4,750,000 would be necessary to balance the Budget as passed in Committee, I replied in the negative. Mr. Peiris then stated that he considered that the further presence of himself and those who thought with him was unnecessary, and that they could take no further part in the proceedings on the Supply Bill, or on the Bills by means of which Government intended to raise additional revenue, and added that he and his colleagues intended to withdraw; thereupon fourteen members left the Chamber, viz.: eleven territorially elected members, two communally elected and the nominated Indian member. The unofficials who remained were the two nominated Kandyan Sinhalese members. Sir P. Ramanathan, nominated Tamil member, and the nominated Mohammedan member, all of whom had voted against the Government, and the three elected European members, Dr. H. M. Fernando, nominated Sinhalese member, and H. A. Loos, nominated Burgher member.
21. The Council then resumed its business, and the Supply Bill was passed. The Railway Amendment Ordinance and the Customs Amendment Ordinance were next taken up and passed in due course, provision being made to raise additional revenue to the extent of Rs. 2,500,000 by the former Ordinance, and Rs. 5,000,000 by the latter. I shall address you separately on the fiscal effect of these measures; in this despatch I wish to confine myself more particularly to the political aspect of the situation.
22. In the absence of the official report of the proceedings, which cannot be ready for some time, I enclose, with all due reservation, the newspaper report of the proceedings on 28th and 29th September, which appeared in The Times of Ceylon, having eliminated so far as possible anything in the nature of newspaper
comment.
23. The intentions of the members who left the Chamber are at prevent unknown to me. I have, at the request of Mr. James Peiris, who is regarded na the leader of the Elected Ceylonese members, telegraphed to you the following message:-
"Government passed last night, against wishes of Ceylonese members, the Salaries Scheme, rejecting unexpectedly the report of Finance Committee. Government carried same by majority of one, using the votes of officials whose interest were opposed to duty and against parliamentary practice, and also against the dictum of Secretary Lyttleton, who warned Governor Blake against the use of votes of officials to increase their salaries. Scheme involves unfair discrimination Europeans and Ceylonese; these features were pressed upon Government, but no opportunity was given of examining merits and details of scheme. All elected members, save the three Europeans and one nominated member were obliged to leave Council Chamber, because they felt that their proposals in Finance Committee, adopted by seventeen votes to eight were unexpectedly rejected; their proposals included housing and rent scheme, retained temporary increases passage allowances, conceded taxation Ra. 2,500,000. Government has with official votes raised this taxation to 7,000,000; our protest follows: beg no decision be made until all phases are considered and people's wishes."
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to point out the inaccuracies in the message as these will be apparent to you on a perusal of this despatch and its annexures.
24. I have caused this despatch to be addressed to you at the earliest possible moment, in order that you may be in possession of the facts and of an explanation of my own actions in the matter.
I have, &c..
W. H. MANNING,
* Enclosure 9 (not printed here).
Governor.
52626
51
No. 24.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Sent 12.35 p.m., 1st November, 1922.) TELEGRAM.
YOUR telegram of 30th September.* Inform Peiris that salaries proposals had received my predecessor's approval, being, in his opinion, urgently necessary in view of existence of widespread discontent in all grades of Government Service. I agree and I concur in his approval of your action as regards official vote. interpretation of Lyttelton's remarks cannot be accepted. I am not prepared to Peiris agree to reconsideration of question. As regards taxation proposals, my predecessor was satisfied that increased taxation is obviously necessary and proposals moderate. I see no reason to differ.-Devonshire.
52517
No. 25.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE ACTING GOVERNOR. (Confidential.)
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir W. Manning's Con-
Downing Street, 24th November, 1922. fidential despatch of the 3rd of October,† reporting the circumstances of the debate in the Legislative Council on the Salaries Scheme.
2. I do not propose to discuss in detail the proposals for the improvement of the position of the Government service in Ceylon. Those proposals were based on the report of the Salaries Commission, were carefully revised by the Governor, and received my predecessor's approval. Any details still requiring adjustment can be dealt with by the small committee which it is proposed to appoint, while I notice further that Sir William Manning has announced that the scheme will be reconsidered at the end of five years.
3. I have no doubt that the salaries paid to the Government service in Ceylon as a whole were inadequate, and that the discontent general in all classes of the Service was proving very prejudicial to efficiency. The information which my predecessor had gathered both from the Governor and from other sources had led him to the opinion that an early improvement in the conditions of service was essential. The increases of salary proposed in Ceylon were by no means so large as have been already granted in other Colonies, and in view of the general rise in the cost of living, I cannot regard the proposals as otherwise than moderate..
4. The scheme has been bitterly attacked in the Press and elsewhere, on the ground that it showed discrimination in favour of a small number of European officials. I can find no basis whatever for this accusation. It is clear that the
great bulk of the money provided will be paid to Ceylonese officers, and that the increases granted to the lower paid officers are proportionately on a higher scale than those granted to high officials. It is also clear that officers who have obtained overseas qualifications and experience, which it is still impossible to obtain in Ceylon, must for some time continue to be employed if the efficiency of the adminis- tration is to be maintained. Local officers possessing similar qualifications are, of course, paid on the same scale as European officers; but it is clear that the latter may, in addition, legitimately claim the provision from Government funds of the cost of passages, essential for the maintenance of their health and efficiency in & tropical climate. So far from the scheme showing any discrimination in favour of Europeans, they may. I think, fairly claim to be prejudiced by the omission of the provision for a privileged rate of exchange on remittances, which my pre- decessor was compelled to cut out from the scheme, not on the ground that it showed any unfair discrimination, but solely because the particular method proposed was contrary to precedent in other Colonies.
* No. 20.
+ No. 28.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ה!
Reference :-
LICO. 882/10
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON