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12. There is no certainty, nor, in any opinion, any great probability, that it will be possible within a period of five years to carry out the irrigation work of this Island with fewer than 14 European Irrigation Engineers. It is, however, a practical certainty that within a period of five years a number of vacancies will occur in the grade of Irrigation Engineer. On the occurrence of each of those vacancies the position can be reviewed and if either curtailment of work or progress in the training of Assistant Engineers has by then made it possible to carry on with a reduced cadre of European Irrigation Engineers the filling of the At the present time the position is that two vacancy can be dispensed with. vacancies must admittedly be filled and that there is no definite expectation that the posts will become redundant at any date which can now he foreseen. In such: circumstances as these I regard it as entirely against public policy that two European Irrigation Engineers who have already had more than three years' service on a temporary basis should be continued for a further period of five years on the same basis. The expedient of recruiting staff on a temporary basis is a perfectly proper one where the purpose of the recruitment is itself temporary or where a period of probation is necessary because the officer is untried. It is not, however, a proper expedient to adopt where the work for purpose of which recruitment takes place is permanent and the post which the officer is to fill is already a pensionable post, sclely because it is hoped that at some unspecified date in the uncertain future it may be possible either to dispense with the work or to change the character of the personnel which is to perform it.'
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8. It will be seen that His Excellency seems to have been under the misappre- hension that if all the live Temporary Engineers had refused re-engagement for further temporary service they would have been replaced by two new European Engineers I have of untested ability and with no knowledge or experience of local conditions. sought to remove this misapprehension rather unsuccessfully by any reply dated 22nd May, 1933, to him. (Annexure VI to the Governors' despatch.) In paragraph 6 it was pointed out definitely that His Excellency had no good reason to assume, as he did, that the efficiency of the Department would have been affected by acceding to the wishes of my Committee; on the contrary, my Committee would have secured the services of two European Engineers with larger experience of Ceylon conditions, one of whom had actually held high office in the Department of Irrigation itself.
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9. You will further observe that His Excellency is of the opinion that it will not be possible for the next five years to carry out the irrigation work of the Island" with fewer than fourteen European Irrigation Engineers.' It will thus be noticed that although His Excellency has agreed that the decision of my Committee that the irriga- tion work could be carried out with 14 Irrigation Engineers, His Excellency is of the view that all these Engineers should bear the label Europeans" for the next five years at least. My Committee, who are answerable to public opinion in Ceylon, regret they are unable to agree with this view. Among the ranks of Assistant Engineers already in the Department there are highly qualified Ceylonese, who, apart from the question of actual experience in Ceylon, possess academic and professional qualifications obtained in England, as good as, if not superior to, those obtained by any one of the Temporary Engineers. What is there for His Excellency to opine that these Ceylonese Engineers after three years' experience in Ceylon would not be as efficient and as capable then as the two European Engineers whom he desires to place on the permanent pensionable establishment are now? My Committee are unable to find any justification, apart from the ipse dixit of the Director of Irrigation, for His Excellency's observation in paragraph of the despatch that the four locally recruited Ceylonese Assistant Irrigation Engineers could not be expected to replace the discontinued European Engineers adequately and satisfactorily for several years to come." emphasize too strongly that some of the Ceylonese Assistant Engineers, though locally recruited, possess excellent British qualifications, and have more experience of the kind of irrigation work done in Ceylon and the needs of the country than what the Temporary European Engineers possessed when they were first appointed three years ago. The effect of His Excellency's decision would be that unless the superior officers who are already in the Department decide to retire or are dismissed, or die, or are transferred to other Colonies, there would be no post available in the grade of even Irrigation Engineer which can be held by a Ceylonese officer. And when one considers the fact that at the present moment the Head of the Department alone is approaching the
age of 55 years and that all the other Temporary Engineers are under 43 years of age, it is not within the normal expectation of more than one of the Ceylonese Assistant Engineers to rise to the position of even an Irrigation Engineer for the next twelve years and it would normally take nearly a quarter of a century before a Ceylonese
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could even aspire to rise to the position of the Head of the Department. I would submit that it is not quite accurate to state, as His Excellency has stated in his letter to me, that it is however a practical certainty that within a period of five years a number of vacancies will occur in the Grade of Irrigation Engineer." The probability would appear to be that in view of the fact that there are numerous well-qualified British Engineers out of employment in England itself, several vacancies are not likely to occur and the Engineers already in service in Ceylon would be only too anxious, as the Temporary Engineers are anxious, to continue in permanent and pensionable appoint- I am afraid His Excellency the Governor does not seem to appreciate suffi- ciently the political significance of these facts in a country like Ceylon which, it is scarcely necessary to remind you, is geographically so near to India.
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10. His Excellency has also raised the question of the propriety of continuing in further temporary service for five years the officers who have already had more than three years' service. I confess I am unable to appreciate the force of this argument. Three of five Temporary Engineers are having their services discontinued ; the remaining two are given the option either of having their terms of agreement enforced and their services discontinued or of being re-employed if they are agreeable, in further temporary service. My Committee is informed that this course would a perfectly proper one when the purpose of the recruitment is itself temporary This is precisely one of the reasons why my Committee want two oflicers on a tem- porary basis their recruitment is mainly for a temporary purpose. My Committee are anxious that Ceylonese officers should be trained and given the necessary experience. The Head of the Department himself has indicated that more work would be thrown on his Engineers by this task of training. The purpose, therefore, of retaining or recruiting afresh the services of two European Engineers would be served as soon as Ceylonese Assistant Engineers are trained and two are found competent. This expedient of using foreign Engineers for stipulated periods for the specific purpose of training or assisting in the training of local Engineers has been followed and is being followed with great propriety in Japan, Mysore, 'Iraq. Russia, and other countries which have engaged the services of British Engineers for definite terms of years. And yet my Committee are informed that it would not be proper " and "
against public policy" to resort to this expedient in Ceylon! I regret, with due deference to His Excellency's opinion, to have to observe that my Committee see nothing improper at all in their proposal. My Committee are also aware as probably you are, that there are posts in the Public Services of a permanent and pensionable nature for which Ceylonese are being recruited on a temporary non-pensionable basis. question of propriety of such appointments has not been questioned, as far as I am aware, by His Excellency; but when it comes to the question of my Committee seeking to appoint two European Engineers temporarily until such time as British- qualified Ceylonese Engineers gain the necessary experience and are fit enough to replace them, considerations of "fairness," "equity" and
are urged propriety
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as reasons. I do not know what view von would take of these reasons yourself, or what value you would attach to them, but, as far as my Committee and myself are concerned, they appear quite unconvincing.
11. There is one other aspect of this question to which I should merely refer here, namely, the reliance that should be placed on the advice of the present Head of the Irrigation Department in this regard. His Excellency has made a special point of it both in his letter dated 13th May, 1933 (Annexure V to the despatch) and in paragraph 17 et seq. of his despatch. His Excellency was not present when the Director of Irrigation personally submitted to my Committee the document referred to in paragraph 18, answered questions put to him on it, and joined in the discussion. As far as my Committee are concerned there was no room for any misunderstanding at all. Not only did the headings in the document describe accurately its contents, but the statements of the Director of Irrigation made in person in Committee by way of amplification of the contents gave no room for any doubt. It was subsequently when the Director was called upon, if you will pardon the phrase, "to deliver the goods," the plea of " misunderstanding between him and my Committee appears to have been raised. His later representations in this matter and the figures he furnished have convinced my Committee that the plea of " misunderstanding is, as has already been aptly described by the Honourable Mr. D. S. Senanayake, an "afterthought." I would invite your reference to paragraphs 4 and 5 of my letter dated 22nd May, 1933, to His Excellency the Governor (Annexure VI to the Governor's despatch). It may not perhaps be proper to cite here other instances which have made my Committee feel that they should not place too much reliance on the technical advice
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