53
432
52
the new Council meets. I do not know whether I may be there in the new Council, but I throw out the suggestion which the country might consider and the Government might consider, that a Select Committee of the new Council may be appointed to look into the whole question of salaries and take such evidence as they think neces- sary, and also go into the whole question of the incidence of taxation. When that Committee makes a report--and I feel sure such a Committee would be appointed- they would draw up such a report as will do no injustice to the public servants of the country, be they Ceylonese or Europeans, and will make such an adjustment as will not entail oppressive taxation. We were all-all those who had resigned-returned unopposed, and we got a clear cut straight mandate as to what our action should be with regard to the salaries. Then we were summoned to attend this Council by the Officer Administering the Government, and we communicated through him that we felt that till a decision of the Secretary of State was given defending our position with regard to the finances which involved the question of salaries, we did not feel justified in attending the Council. Then came the publication of the despatches on Reforms. We had all along appealed to His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies that an opportunity should be given to this house to discuss the Reform proposals and the recommendations of the local Government before they became law. In those proposals the question was settled that there could be no further question as to our rights with regard to finance, because the Council itself will have a majority of elected members; and the possibility of a Council over-riding the decision of a Finance Committee consisting of a majority of unofficial members, will not arise in the future.
Enclosure 4 in No. 39.
Colombo, 27th August, 1923.
Sm,
I HAVE the honour to forward for transmission to His Excellency the Governor a Memorandum on the position of the Public Services of Ceylon in regard to the security of their emoluments in the future, signed by myself and by the Heads of certain Departments.
2. Time has not permitted the circulation of the Memorandum as yet to the Heads of all the Departments of Government. It will, however, be circulated and the final copy with further signatures will in due course be submitted.
S. It is the desire of the Public Services that you should request His Excellency to represent the facts therein contained to the Secretary of State together with an expression of his support to our representations. We are emboldened to make this request by the sympathetic consideration which His Excellency has always shown towards the Public Services, who are most grateful to him for what he has done for them in the past and most anxious that they shall not be deprived of the results of his action on their behalf.
The Honourable
The Colonial Secretary,
Colombo.
I am, &c.,
E. ALEXANDER, Chairman, Civil Service Association
¡
MEMORANDUM ON THE POSITION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES OF CEYLON IN REGARD TO THE SECURITY OF THEIR EMOLUMENTS IN THE FUTURE.
1. THE course taken by the recent debate on the annual Budget in the Legis- lative Council has brought home to the Public Services of Ceylon a realization of the unexpected insecurity of their emoluments, including salaries, allowances, and the privilege of free passages.
2. It is unnecessary to recapitulate in detail the events leading up to the pre- paration of the Salaries Scheme of 1921, its approval by the Legislative Council in 1922, and its final sanction by the Secretary of State in 1923. The Public Services
lad hoped that their past anxieties in this respect were for some time to come dis- pelled, and that no further alteration in their emoluments would take place for a period of at least five years. They noted with relief and appreciation the words of the Secretary of State in his despatch No. 280 of 9th May, 1923, approving the "final
revision." "I trust that with the adoption of the proposals of the Committee, the task of improving the position of Government Servants in Ceylon, which was an urgent necessity, has now been brought to a satisfactory conclusion."
3. However, during the passage of the Budget for 1923-24 in the Legislative Council, certain of the unofficial members re-opened the question, and under the present constitution they have the power to do so. Although the attempt to reduce emoluments failed this year, the intention was openly expressed in Council that it would be renewed next year, when the Council will be re-constituted with a much larger unofficial majority; and it is, therefore, a matter of urgent necessity for the Public Services of Ceylon to take stock of their position.
4. Judging from the recent debates in Council on the Budget, the constitutional position, apart from the exercise of any higher veto, would appear to be as follows: During the consideration of the Budget, any member of Council may move for a reduction of emoluments, and such a motion, if carried, would be decisive. words, the authorized scale of our emoluments will have annually to run the gauntlet In other in an assembly which from next year will have a substantial majority of elected members.
5. The realization of this new uncertainty in their position is bound to cause the gravest anxiety to the existing members of the Public Service, and the altered conditions will render it increasingly difficult to obtain desirable recruits for that service in future.
6. We have full confidence that the Secretary of State and His Excellency the Governor realize the importance of security of pay and prospects in order that the efficiency of the Public Services should not be impaired, and that by all means in their power they will do their utmost to prevent any capricious interference with our emoluments. When we come to examine the constitutional machinery by which this end could at present be attained, we find that a Governor could, under Section 52 of the Order in Council of 18th August, 1920, intervene to secure the emoluments of the Public Service from any reduction which might be threatened by motion in Council. But we also find that he would probably be placed in a position of the greatest difficulty in taking action thereunder. The power would have to be exer- cised, before the taking of the vote, by the Governor's declaration that the matter was of paramount importance. Thereupon only the votes of the ex-officio and nominated official members would be recorded. It would obviously be impossible, save in the very gravest crises, to pass the Budget as a whole by such means. The power would, therefore, have to be repeatedly exercised during the Committee stage before each head of the Budget containing any item of Personal Emoluments, Allowances, and Provision for Passages, was put to the vote. procedure would undoubtedly produce acute tension in the Legislative Council.
The continued application of such a
7. Any Governor might well, therefore, hesitate to use this procedure unless he were very certain that the votes would be adverse. On the other hand, as no member of Council would be forced to show his intentions in advance, there would be no sure indication from which it would be possible to forecast with accuracy the result of a division on any one head of the Estimates.
8. But yet again as his constitutional powers appear to be shaped towards the securing of a favourable vote, and not to the counteraction of the ill effects of an adverse vote, any chance adverse vote would be irremediable by him. therefore, appear that in practice there would be grave difficulties in the exercise of It would. these powers in a Budget debate.
9. The Public Services of the Colony accordingly feel that not only their interests but the interests of the Colony should be protected by the introduction of a safeguard more explicit and direct in application. The scales of their emoluments should be placed in such a position that they should not be exposed annually to the fortunes of a chance vote in Council. We do not feel competent to make definite recommendations as to the specific manner in which such a safeguard should be enacted, but would suggest for consideration various means by which the emoluments of Public Services have been stabilized :-
(a) Colonial Regulation No. 247 states that the Governor of a Colony is not authorized to alter the appropriation of the established salaries of any Public Department without the previous sanction of the Secretary of State. This provision has not been amended to deal with Colonies in which the Governor has not a majority in the Legislature.
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