382
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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30. All the original members of the Association when these Rules shall have been passed and all the elected members after their appointment shall be presumed as having agreed to act in terms of these rules. In the same manner all the members shall be bound by other rules which shall be passed from time to time.
Enactment of Rules.
31. Rules can be cancelled, altered or added to by a majority of three-fourths of votes of members present at a General Meeting, provided, however, a notice signifying the nature of the Rule proposed to be cancelled, altered or added to shall have been sent to the members at least one month earlier.
On Wednesday the 11th February, 1920, at the General Meeting held at Tower Hall, Colombo, these rules were read and passed.
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No. 49.
F. R. SENANAYAKE,
President.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 1st January, 1923.)
(No. 689.)
MY LORD DUKE,
1
Ceylon, 5th December, 1922.
I HAVE the honour to transmit a memorial, dated 25th November, 1922, which has been addressed to Your Grace by the Colombo Tamil Association on the subject of constitutional reform.
To
The Right Honourable
I have, &c.,
C. CLEMENTI, Officer Administering the Government.
Enclosure in No. 49.
The Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Downing Street, London.
The humble Memorial of the Colombo Tamil Association
Most Respectfully SHEWETH,
THE Association begs leave to submit for your favourable consideration the following facts and circumstances in connexion with proposals for a reform of the Ceylon Legislative Council.
2. For this end the Association may begin its representations by confirming the cablegram addressed to you on the 26th August last and signed on behalf of the Association by the President, Dr. E..V. Ratnam. of the cablegram
The following was the text
Colombo Tamil Association, representing all sections, entirely disap- prove scheme in Memorandum forwarded by minorities. Beg inform that elected Council members for Tamil provinces have publicly repudiated minorities memorandum. This Association forwarding memorial.”
We desire in pursuance of the above undertaking more fully to inform you of the reasons which compel the Association to reject the attempt made by certain minorities to obstruct the institution of responsible Government in this country and defeat the labours of those who have striven to broadbase it on the will and consent of the governed.
3. The Association readily admits the principle that, in the case of a com- posite population such as found in Ceylon, there must necessarily be provision for the representation of enlightened and influential minorities which a purely terri- torial system of election may preclude from association with the Legislature and with the control of public affairs. But there are limits within which this principle must be applied, and political traditions on the mainland of India, for example, where conditions are more or less identical with those ruling in Ceylon, have for long years set the bounds for the practical application of that principle, so that it
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18 unnecessary for the Association to point out that, whatever little unfairness to vested interests may follow from the plan of subordinating minorities to the rule of majorities, the unfairness is immeasurably greater and more indefensible where minorities seek to establish their authority over majorities which are neither lacking in political consciousness or capability to govern themselves.
4. The Association, therefore, denounces as utterly unworthy and retrograde in principle the recommendation embodied in the joint memorandum submitted by the minorities in which the official members, the territorially elected members, the communally elected members, and the nominated members of the reformed Legisla- ture are specified as twelve, nineteen, eleven, and three respectively in number, for the reason that, although they provide for an unofficial majority they do not tend to make that majority truly territorial. According to the terms of the scheme under reference the combination of the Singhalese and the Tamils, the principal races of the island, would be ineffective against any opposition by the official, nominated, and communal members. The Association regards this arrangement as a violation of the principles of the popular government and thoroughly reactionary in spirit and effect.
5. The Association is jealous of the rights and privileges of the Tamil popu- lation of the island, but it does not desire that the claims of the Singhalese or other communities to adequate representation should be ignored or combated. The Singhalese form more than half the population of the island, while the Tamils make up more than one-fourth. In India, under the Lucknow compact, the ratio between Hindu and Moslem representation in the Legislature was fixed by mutual agree ment, and the two communities have thus been able to co-operate in political effort without the conflict of interests. and Tamils have practically agreed to the proportion of two to one in representation In Ceylon leaders of thought among the Sinhalese of their respective communities, and the Association submits that the constitution of the Legislative Council should proceed on this basis, with such safeguards for the interest of the minorities as will not radically affect this basic principle. Any plan of distribution of seats which disregards this essential principle is bound to cause disappointment to considerably more than three-fourths of the population of the island, and to make any proposed reform unreal and unsubstantial.
6. By way of indicating the lines along which such a reconstitution of the Legislature, as will satisfy the aspirations of the two most numerous sections of the permanent population, may proceed, the Association begs to subjoin the amended scheme of the Committee of the Ceylon National Congress which has been modified by the addition of one seat each for the Northern and Eastern Provinces respectively and which justly balances the interest of various provinces in respect of numbers, wealth, literacy and general enlightenment. In this annexed scheme, Appendix A, provision is made for thirty-one members elected on a territorial basis, for eleven mernbers representing special and communal interests, and eight official members.
Coming to the principal sections of the population which may be described as minorities, namely, the Europeans, the Burghers, the Indians, the Kandyans, the Mohammedans, the Association suggests that the objectionable distinctions of creed and race be reduced to the smallest limits proceeding upon other lines of classification whereby the object of adequate safeguards for the sections named may be compassed without a direct appeal to communal or religious bias. European community, a representative for the planting interests to be styled the For the Rural European member, one a representative for the general interests of the com- munity other than planting and commerce to be styled the Urban European member may be elected on the communal basis, and the Chamber of Commerce which repre- senta almost exclusively European commercial interests, may be allotted a direct representative, making a total of three members for the community under reference. In view of the fact that the Burghers have not sought any change in the extent of their representation, the Association makes no suggestion in reference to them; but recommend for obvious reasons that the two members now allotted to them may be both elected on a communal basis. tion are a floating population, and it is doubtful whether any practicable method The overwhelming masses of the Indian popula- of enfranchisement can be formulated for them. labour, however, and the equally important interests of Indian commerce which The importance of immigrant comprises the greater portion of the import trade of the island, deserve representa- tion and until representatives for them can be elected, they may be nominated from selections made by accredited communal organizations. munity may be allowed three members, one of whom may well represent the Malays. The Mohammedan com-