363
64
old Council was dissolved in March, 1921. The Tamils, however, under existing circumstances, will be satisfied as a solution of the present difficulty, if the minorities scheme which is in your hands, providing for 6 seats in the Tamil Provinces and 1 Reserved Tamil Seat in the City of Colombo. as against 13 seats in the Singhalese Provinces, including Kandyan Singhalese Seats, be accepted and approved by you. The Memorialists further pray that you will be pleased to grant such other reform in the constitution and function of the Executive Council as are in keeping with the progress of other countries, especially India.
And the Memorialists, as in duty bound, shall Ever Pray.
Jaffna,
6th June, 1922.
Hon. Mr. A. Sapapathy,
Jaffna.
ANNEXURE.
A. SAPAPATHY,
President.
S. R. RASARATUAM. Secretary.
DEAR SIR,
Ponklar, Horton Place, Colombo, 7th December, 1918. REFERRING to your conversation with me of Thursday afternoon, I enclose a letter from Messrs. James Peiris and E. J. Samarawickrame, Presidents of the Ceylon National Association and Ceylon Reform League respectively, giving aaur- ances which should satisfy your Association as to the bona fide desire of the Singhalese leaders to do all that can be done to secure as larger representation as possible to the Tamils, consistent with the principles of the resolutions adopted by the Committee, with the concurrence of delegates from Provincial Associations.
The assurance means that you may have three seats for the Northern Province, and two for the Eastern Province (or more if you can get it), and that there will be one seat reserved for a Tamil Member in the Western Province on the basis of the Territorial Electorate, in addition to the chances of Tamils in other Provinces and in the Colombo Municipality. No doubt also the Government will also nominate a Tamil to represent the Indian Tamils. Our Singhalese friends are also willing to support the claim for a Mohammedan Member in the Western Province on the same footing, should the Mohammedans make such a claim. The Conference is deliber- ately restricted to essential principles only, there being a conflict of opinion among the Singhalese themselves on matters of details; such details should be hereafter submitted to Government by the various interested parties.
I trust that nothing will now stand in the way of a large number of delegates from Jaffna (including yourself and Sir A. Kanagasabai), from attending the Con- ference and making common cause with the rest of the Island. I understand that the Governor is coming to Jaffna on the 15th. You and Sir A. Kanagasabai could return by the evening train on the 14th, or perhaps on the 13th, by which time we hope to pass at least half the resolutions.
44757
Yours very truly,
(Signed) P. ARUNACHALAM.
No. 97.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 7th September, 1922.)
(Confidential.)
[Answered by No. 40.]
The Queen's House, Colombo, 14th August, 1922. IN regard to the Joint Memorandum of the European, Burgher, Tamil, Mohammedan, and Indian members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon on the
SIR
Enslosure in No. 29.
↑ Enclosure in No. 8.
65
reconstitution of that Council, I should like to suggest that it would be inadvisable at this juncture to accept the proposal set out which deals with the composition of the Executive Council, to the effect that "the Governor should not appoint to the Legislative Council a member whom he has selected to serve on the Executive Council." This recommendation would restrict appointment to the Executive Council either to unofficial members not being nominated members of the Legis- lative Council, or to gentlemen who were not members of that body.
2.
I feel myself that such a restriction is unwise at this juncture, since under the new Constitution it might be difficult, if not impossible, to select an unofficial member not being a nominated member of Legislative Council for so responsible an appointment; and in such circumstances I should be compelled to fill all the unofficial seats on the Executive Council with gentlemen having no connexion with Legislative Council, which would be undesirable.
3. hope, therefore, that you will agree, that, at any rate for the present, the existing practice of appointment to the Executive should remain undisturbed. It may later be found that amongst the members of the unofficial side of the Legis- lative Council there are gentlemen, not nominated members, who would be eminently fitted to sit on the Executive Council, and in such case I should gladly recommend their appointment; but I feel it would be wiser not to bind myself until the character of the membership of the new Council reveals itself.
I have, &c.,
44758
No. 38.
W. H. MANNING,
Governor.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 7th September, 1922.) [Answered by No. 3 in Cmd. 1809.]
(Confidential.)
SIR,
WITH reference to your Confidential despatch of the 23rd May, 1922,* on the
Queen's House, Colombo, 14th August, 1922. subject of the Reform of the Constitution of this Colony, I have the honour to forward the proceedings of a Committee of the Legislative Councilt appointed to consider the allocation and distribution of seats in the Territorial Electorates, which Committee was agreed to by the unanimous vote of the Council at a meeting held on 10th December, 1921.
2.
At a meeting of the Legislative Council held on 22nd June, 1922, I pro- ceeded to nominate the members whom I proposed should serve on the Committee, and before doing so I informed the Council that its composition would include six territorially-elected members and five other members of the Council not territorially elected, with a nominated Official member as Chairman; and I further remarked that if the Chairman should find it necessary to vote in any division, I would deduct his vote when examining the division lists. As a matter of fact the Chairman,
Mr. Stockdale, Director of Agriculture, in no case recorded his vote.
3. Upon my requesting each of the following territorially-elected members to
serve, they refused to accept nomination :—
Mr. J. Peiris.
Mr. E. W. Perera.
Mr. W. M. Rajapakse.
Mr. W. E. Botejue.
Mr. S. D. Kristnaratne.
Mr. A. C. G. Wijeyekoon.
Mr. D. H. Kotalawala.
The following territorially-elected members, however, accepted nomination to
the Committee :-
Mr. O. C. Tillekeratne, Member for the Southern Province. Mr. C. E. Corea, Member for the North Western Province. Mr. E. R. Tambimuttu, Member for the Eastern Province. Mr. W. Duraiswamy, Member for the Northern Province.
* No. 14.
+ Not printed here.
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