345
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :--
TILITI
CO. 882/10
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO,
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Tamils in the Western Province are, for class to class, as bright, businesslike and public spirited as the Burghers. and we think that they should have one communally elected seat, for their own sake and for the purpose of collaborating with the terri- torially elected members of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Even as the Singhalese. Europeans, Burghers, Mohammedans and Indians living throughout Ceylon have always had the advice and guidance of one or more of their own leaders resident in Colombo, the distant Tamils of the North and East ought to have certain facilities for consulting confidentially one of their own people resident in Colombo, charged with public duty, who in the course of his business comes daily into touch with the leaders of other communities in Colombo.
We also unanimously recommend that power should be given to His Excellency the Governor to select and nominate to the Legislative Council not more than three members, either because of their wide experience and ability, or to represent any interest which in his opinion deserves further representation. But under this power the Governor should not appoint to the Legislative Council a member whom he has selected to serve on the Executive Council.
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We now come to the official element in Council. We think that the following members of the Public Service, who are ex officio members of the Executive Council. should be given seats in the Legislative Council, namely, the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Colonial Treasurer and the Controller of Revenue. We further think that the Government Agent, Western Province, the Director of Public Works, the Survevor General, the Principal Col- lector of Customs, the Director of Education, the Principal Civil Medical Officer. and the Director of Agriculture should also be in Council. This would make 12 official members. In lieu of one or two of these officers, the Governor should have power to appoint others, if necessary. Their presence in Council is as desirable in the interests of good Government as the presence of the 30 elected members and 3 nominated members. The set of 33 unofficial members would be all drawn from among the busiest men of the country having little time to go in quest of such infor- mation as those Heads of Government Departments can readily give. An inter- change of ideas between the officials and unofficials, before and after discussions in Council, would greatly conduce to efficiency and economy of time in the transaction of public business.
We are strongly of opinion that the President of the Legislative Council should continue to be the Governor of Ceylon. When the late Sir John Anderson received the memorial dated 20th June, 1917, from the Ceylon Reform League, and the joint memorial of that League and the Ceylon National Association, dated 29th October, 1917. and desired to have the advice of Sir (then Mr.) Ramanathan, the following opinion was submitted to His Excellency:
"It is contended that the President of the Legislative Council should not be the Governor but one elected by the Council, on the ground that the present practice has involved the Governor in the discussions of the Council, and exposed its unofficial members to influences unfavourable to the independent discharge of their legitimate functions.
"Having had personal knowledge of nine successive Governors since the days of Sir William Gregory, I am unable to support the statement of the Memorialists that the wisdom of not allowing the Governor to preside at the meetings of the Legislative Council has been proved in the history of the Council. For I know of only one Governor (out of the nine) who was generally supposed to have tried to overawe members, but he admitted in Council that non-official members were entitled 'to criticize the acts and policy of the Government with the same freedom that a member of the House of Commons is entitled to criticize the acts and the policy of the Imperial Government.' (Legislative Council Debates, 31st May, 1912.) There is, therefore, no ground whatever to fear that the presence of the Governor as the Chairman of the Council will diminish independence of action on the part of the non-official members.
"Indeed, it is most important that members should be afforded the opportunity of expressing their views on public questions in the hearing of the Governor in Council.
"If this not to be, their opinions expressed in Council would have to be reported to the Governor either by official members or by the press, which is altogether undesirable.
یا
"Free intercourse between the Governor and the official and unofficial members was considered by His Excellency Sir Arthur Gordon and the then Colonial Secretary (Sir Clementi Smith) to be so necessary for the promotion of mutual understanding
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that it was decided in 1885 that, immediately after the adjournment of the Council, they should all meet at tea in a room adjoining the Council Chamber. Since then every Governor has invariably attended this function during the last 32 years, and made it possible for members to work harmoniously with each other. It is not advisable now to create a gulf between the Governor and the other members of the Legislative Council. His presence at every meeting conduces to good administra- tion. The official members are in their best behaviour when he presides, and the unofficial members have every reason to expect just treatment at his hands."
We entirely agree with these views, and think that the Governor of Ceylon should be the President of the Legislative Council, until time proves that it is necessary to change its present constitution to one that calls for full time work on the part of its Chairman.
As five out of the six communities are now agreed on the question of allotment and distribution of the elected, nominated and official seats, it would be waste of time and energy to wrangle once again with persons who will not be convinced, and whose aim is to subject to their own will the will of all the other communities. We do not want a Committee of the Council to decide a matter about which we have now very clear views.
We respectfully submit them to the Government. The fol- lowing table shows our solution of this very complicated question, arrived at unanimously, after many days of discussion and earnest consideration :-
Official members
Elected Members, as follows:
Territorially elected-
Western Province
Southern Province
Central Province
North-Western
North-Central
Sabaragamuwa
Uva
1
Northern Province Eastern Province
4
2
-19
Communally elected—
Europeans
Mohammedans Burghers
Indians
Tamils in Western Province
Total elected members
Nominated members
Total of official and unofficial members
3
3
05 4 2 2 1
12
-11
--30
9
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It remains to add that the terms of Sir Ramanathan's motion submitted to the Legislative Council on the 9th of December last should not be understood as contain- ing his proper view of the reconstitution needed for the country. It was put for- ward then and there on the principle of give and take, in the hope that the bitter and long continued controversy between the different communities occupying the Island would end on that very day. The Singhalese members did not appear to care for it. He withdrew his motion, believing that, if a Committee of the House were appointed he would place before it his untrammelled opinion. When the representatives of the five communities, six weeks afterwards, realized the necessity of coming to a mutual understanding among themselves and letting the Singhalese go their own way, the scheme set forth in this memorandum was unanimously accepted as the only safe solution of the problem.
J. GRAEME Sinclair. -
J. T. BROOM.
R. S. PHILPOTT.
ALLAN DRIEBERG.
ARTHUR ALVIS.
P. RAMANATHAN.
N. H. M. Abdul Cader.
In signing the Memorandum, it is my duty to state that, in my opinion, my con- stituents will not be satisfied unless at least 3 seats are allotted to them.
E. G. ADAMALY.