503
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference:
PERHC.O. 882/11
mimimmi
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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16. For the reasons given in the preceding paragraphs of this despatch I feel compelled to advise you to reject both of the requests which have been made by the Board of Ministers. As the first reading of the Budget may possibly take place on 8th September, I hope that it may be possible to favour me with an early reply by telegram. I should be glad if that reply could contain a fairly full expression of Your Lordship's views, as I feel that an authoritative and public expression of the Secretary of State's opinion, particularly upon the passage question, is long overdue.
17. I propose, subject to your consent, to communicate the contents of this despatch and of your reply to the Board of Ministers, and to authorize the Leader of the State Council to lay the correspondence upon the table, should he be requested to do so, or should the Board of Ministers consider it desirable that this should be done.
SIR,
I have, &c.,
GRAEME THOMSON,
Governor.
Enclosure in No. 34.
The Council Chamber,
Colombo, 20th August, 1931. I HAVE the honour to inform Your Excellency that the Board of Ministers at the meeting held on 19th August, 1931, passed the following resolution :—
The Board of Ministers are of opinion:-
(1) that passages to officers, their families, &c., domiciled outside Ceylon should be granted once in respect of each period of five years instead of four years as at present; and
(2) that the number of Railway Warrants issued to Ceylonese officers, their families, &c., should be reduced from three double journeys or six single journeys per annum to one double journey or two single journeys per
annum;
and request His Excellency the Governor to obtain the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to make provision accordingly in the Budget for 1931-32."
2. In submitting this resolution for Your Excellency's consideration and trans- mission to the Secretary of State in order to secure his sanction to the proposed modification of the present regulations relating to overseas passages and free holiday warrants on the railway, the Board of Ministers desire to state briefly the reasons which urge them to make these proposals.
(4) Overseas Passages.
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3. A historical review of the Passage scheme is set forth in Chapter II of Sessional Paper I of 1930. The concession is rooted in the circumstances arising from war conditions and the high prices immediately after the war. The present practice as a measure of temporary of allowing one passage in every four years was adopted relief" for a period of four years from 1st October, 1922, on the recommendation of the Salaries Commission of 1921-vide paragraph 51 of Sessional Paper XIX of 1921-subject to continuation, modification, or withdrawal as circumstances may require at the end of that period. Pending the Report of the Salaries Committee which was appointed in October, 1926, to review the scheme of salaries and allowances introduced in 1922, the present practice was continued from year to year after the four-year period expired in 1926.
4. The decision of the Salaries Committee on the subject is stated in paragraph 18 of Sessional Paper I of 1930, and is as follows:-
"18. Having regard to the fact that the present scheme of leave passages has already been in force for some years, and that the concession is one which is in force in almost all the other tropical Colonies, we recommend that it be continued, subject to the modification noted below, until such time at least as the whole basis of the remuneration of services manned by both imported and The modification we propose is that local officers is brought under review.
passages should be granted once in respect of each period of five years of service instead of four years, as at present. We consider that it is not unreasonable to expect an officer to remain five years in the Colony between each period of absence on leave."
5. After the Salaries Committee had reached the above decision, but before its Report could be presented to the Government, the Select Committee of the Legislative
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Council sought to abolish the concession of free passages in connexion with the Supply Bill for the year 1929-30. The Government resisted the proposal on the grounds that the Salaries Committee had not presented its Report, though its decision on the point was generally known, and that the public officers concerned had not received adequate notice of the modification or withdrawal. In the following year, however, the Legislative Council by a vote of 22 to 16 reduced the provision for free passages in the Supply Bill for 1930-31 adopting the five-year principle recommended by the Salaries Committee. But the Government paid no attention to the reduction and continued to grant passages at the prevailing rate of one in four years with the intention, which was disclosed by the Honourable the Colonial Secretary after the debate, of resorting to Supplementary Provision after the sanctioned amount has been exhausted. No application for a Supplementary Vote was, however, brought up in the Legislative Council before its dissolution. It became, therefore, incumbent on the Board of Ministers to approve the proposal for Supplementary Provision, which had already been authorized by a Special Warrant, in order to meet the liability incurred in this respect by the previous Government, although two of the members had, as members of the Legislative Council voted for the reduction in the provision for free passages. The motion introduced into the State Council with the approval of the Board was defeated by a very large majority.
6. There is not the slightest doubt that there is almost a unanimous feeling
in the country that a concession granted as a measure of temporary relief" at a time of very high prices of commodities and steamship fares should be curtailed, if not withdrawn altogether, at the present time when cost of living has fallen con- siderably and passages are comparatively cheaper than in 1922, especially in view of the severe financial depression the country is passing through, which has neces- sitated cutting down of expenditure even on essential services to a minimum.
7. The public officers are, on the other hand, aware that the Passage scheme is a temporary measure--vide General Order 1399—and all letters of appointment since the scheme was started, we understand, have included a warning that the concession might be amended or withdrawn at any time. Moreover, the trend of opinion of the country and the Legislature has, we presume, been followed by the public officers, so that the modification now proposed cannot be altogether unexpected by them, nor can it be called a breach of the conditions of their service.
(B) Free Holiday Warrants.
8. The history of free Holiday Warrants on the Railway starts with the Slater- Stevenson Scheme of 1912. The concession was at first allowed to officers of the subordinate services only, and was limited to one double journey pass a year. following extract from Sessional Paper XXXV of 1912 states the reasons for the recom- mendation of this concession:-
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The
51. An item of expense that passes heavily on the subordinate officers in the Ceylon Government Service is the cost of the annual journey to see their relations, or of the periodical change of air necessary for health-recruiting pur- poses. The large majority of Government servants are under obligation to serve in any part of the Island. Most of them are in this way necessarily severed from their nearest relations, while all at some time or other feel the need of a tem- porary change of climate both for themselves and their families. Family ties are strong in Ceylon, and the annual visit is looked upon as a duty which should be fulfilled even at the risk of debt. Health preservation is of smaller account, and though short spells of absence from office are taken with embarrassing frequency, the clerks are often deterred by considerations of expense from taking the holiday they really need.
52. We believe, therefore, that if Government would allow each of its subordinate servants one free double-journey pass a year, the concession would be appreciated as a boon out of all proportion to the trifling loss of revenue entailed. This concession is already enjoyed by all Railway servants in a much more liberal degree than that which we here propose, and we advocate its restricted extension to all Government servants as an act of policy, which would conduce in no small degree to the health and contentment of the service generally."
9. During a debate on 31st March, 1920, on certain proposals made by a Committee appointed by the Governor to inquire into the increased cost of living arising from conditions immediately after the war, the Government accepted a sugges tion of the Ceylonese member that officers drawing Rs. 4,500/- and under, be granted