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of Your Excellency's instructions, an informal discussion took place among us, as a result of which I received the impression that the Committee's proposal to reduce the cadre of the senior staff to nine was agreed to and that the only point upon which a disagreement still existed was the rate of salary of the temporary Head of the Department who, in my view, would be called upon to shoulder less responsibility hut, in the opinion of the others, added responsibility. The names of the particular officers to be retrenched were also discussed and I gathered that we had agreed to the retrenchment of three senior officers of whom two were Europeans, one of whom was regarded as inefficient and the other, it was stated, had expressed his intention to retire.
11. I have since learnt that what I understood to be the agreement has, in my absence, been entirely revised. The Board of Ministers is now approaching the State Council with a Budget proposal to provide for 11 officers (including a Conservator of Forests) instead of 9. The Acting Minister has informed me of the circumstances which led him to accede to this increased provision being made. I think it my duty to approach Your Excellency with a request, before the debate opens at the Second Reading on the Budget in the State Council, to indicate to me, in view of this re- statement of the policy of my Committee, whether Your Excellency is prepared to concede that the original number provided for by my Committee may be restored in the Estimates, and that Mr. A. B. Lushington, whom my Committee proposes to retain as Development Officer, may for the present be left in charge of the Department.
12. I now turn to the reasons which Your Excellency has given for deferring Your your decision on the vital question of the training of a Utilization Officer. Excellency has presumably been impressed by the statement of the Acting Conservator, Mr. A. B. Lushington, that it was essential that two officers more than the nine provided for by the Committee should find provision in the Budget if the work of the Depart- ment were not to be brought to a standstill. How hollow this assertion is, is clear from the Acting Conservator's own scheme, which provides only for a cadre of nine "allowed for casualties and leave." The Com- officers, the extra two being merely
mittee was aware, and the Acting Conservator himself would not gainsay it, that there were trained Foresters available who would be quite competent to fill with satis- faction junior posts on the higher staff in the event of the permanent holders being away on leave or permanently disabled. The Committee was also aware, and I believe the Acting Conservator himself was aware, that there was available, at any time the Department should call upon him to serve, a young man now unfortunately outside the Department who has high professional' qualifications and whose work at the Imperial Forestry Institute received the highest commendation from its Director. With this material available to fill temporary vacancies when and in case they should occur, and with the conviction that in providing for nine officers it was making more provision than was really necessary, the Committee did not feel it reasonable to include in the Estimates financial provision for an additional reserve of two officers on the permanent staff merely on the score of possible casualties. We do not, for instance, provide permanently for an increased staff of Supreme Court Judges, merely because frequent applications for supplementary provision have to be made to meet the cost of acting appointments. In fact, my Committee was convinced that there was a grave danger in making such permanent provision, as experience has shown that a Department, whose cadre has been determined on this basis of provision for a reserve, tends to lose sight of the basis, and distributes its work with it ignored.
13. Moreover, when all is said and done, the fact remains that this Committee, which is empowered under the Constitution to determine the policy of a Department in its charge, has decided for the next year at least upon a standstill policy. That decision, as I hope I have made clear, was not reached without good ground therefor. It was definitely a decision based upon present circumstances, and with the hope of recruiting, if not two well-qualified and experienced officers from abroad to serve rspectively as Head of the Department and as Chief Exploitation Officer, at least one I would recall as soon in the future as funds permit and the men are available. what I wrote to Your Excellency on the 4th of April last.
As I have informed Your Excellency in person, the present staff are not quite competent to handle efficiently or effectively the work of the Department when the depression passes over, the times improve and the country undertakes new works of development both of exploitation and of reafforestation, including impregnation. When such times do come, we must get other officers.
If we
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not only keep the present officers but also give them hopes of better prospects, we will be doing them and the country much harm. The presence of these men in the higher posts of the Department would make it exceedingly difficult for the country to recruit better men when the necessity arises."
I submit that this was a sufficient indication that "the stand-still policy" of my Committee was to be no more than a mere temporary phase. I would take this opportunity to inform Your Excellency that, on my recent visit to England, I set about to make enquiries as to the prospect of our securing two thoroughly competent men, and I have the assurance of Major Furse of the Colonial Office that the chances of getting at least one officer who has specialized in exploitation are none too remote. 14. That Your Excellency should have felt alarıned at what, after all, appears to be no more than a bogey set up by the Acting-Head of the Department. with what object I do not know, and that, in consequence of that alarm, Your Excellency should have deferred your approval of the Acting Minister's recommendation to send an officer of the Department for training as a Utilization Officer is a matter for very great regret. The next course at Prince's Risborough, as Your Excellency is aware, is due to commence in September. It is not too late for Your Excellency to grant the approval you have so long withheld, and cable to the Secretary of State our acceptance of his suggestion.
15. I would draw Your Excellency's attention to the implications involved in the acceptance of the Budget proposals as they stand. It means that Mr. A. B. Lushington, whose post as Deputy Conservator is being suppressed, will become permanent Conservator. Mr. Lushington has no professional qualifications of note, except the higher standard certificate obtained in 1907 of the Imperial Forest College, Dehra Dun. Much progress in the Science of Forestry has been made since then and I have grave doubts as to whether the service he has had in Ceylon has enabled him to keep abreast of that progress. The whole of the existing senior staff will remain, bar one. I have already mentioned what opinion my Committee has formed
of the competence of several of these officers. They are comparatively young men, and unless induced to retire or retrenched, would bar the way of the country recruiting better men for several more years to come. A forward policy as con- templated in the near future will become impossible with this material, and the country will go on wasting its money as before on a Department which has against it a past record not so much of barren as positively mischievous results.
16. In conclusion, I would add that, if Your Excellency has reason to doubt the accuracy of what I visualize to be the gloomy future ahead of us under these circum- stances, I would earnestly appeal to you to see your way to invite a competent expert to report upon and advise you on the reorganization of this Department.
I have, &c.,
His Excellency
The Governor.
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
D. S. SENANAYAKE,
Minister for Agriculture and Lands.
Enclosure 2 in No. 35.
Ministry of Agriculture and Lands,
Colombo, 13th September, 1933. WITH reference to the telegrams exchanged with the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding the arrangement for a course of training for Mr. C. P. Jayawardena as a Utilization Officer, I have the honour to report that Mr. Jayawardena has been duly informed and requested to be ready to proceed to the United Kingdom as soon as possible.
2. I would request Your Excellency to be good enough to obtain for this Govern- ment the assistance of the Colonial Development Advisory Committee to meet the cost of Mr. Jayawardena's passages and to provide in addition a sum (not exceeding £505) necessary to cover the direct expenditure involved in his training, including travelling and subsistence and a moiety of his salary during the period for which he is seconded. Mr. Jayawardena's present salary is £725 per annum and an increment of £25 falls due on 31st July, 1934.
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