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earned for him a high reputation. Although he had made himself to some extent unpopular with other unofficial members by his unwavering support of the Government when he agreed with them, at the same time he had never shown any hesitation in strongly opposing the Government view when he disagreed with it. Unfortunately, the senior partner of Mr. Wille's firm of Solicitors, or, to use the local name, proctors, has within the last few weeks exposed himself to very serious charges of embezzle- I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. Wille had no share whatever in his partner's defalcations and will be able satisfactorily to clear his own name. at the same time there is a general opinion that Mr. Wille, however scrupulously honest, was guilty to a certain degree of negligence, and it is possible that the firm may have to go through the Insolvency Court. While my opinion that Mr. Wille would have been able to do valuable service in the State Council remains unshaken 1 came with great reluctance to the conclusion that it would be improper of me to nominate him while his firm is under such a heavy shadow, and while it is still possible that there may be further unfortunate developments in connexion with his partner's misdeeds. I was confirmed in my opinion by leading members of the Burgher com- munity, personal friends and admirers of Mr. Wille, who nevertheless hold the opinion that in the circumstances his nomination to the State Council would be improper, Sir Stewart Schneider, K.C., is an ex-Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, a man of sound judgment and highly respected in the Burgher community, and I have no doubt that he will be a valuable member of the Council. Dr. V. R. S. Schokman was at one time in the service of the Government as Port Surgeon. He left that He is a service in order to take up private practice among the firms in the Fort. man of undoubted ability and very prominent among the younger members of the Burgher community. I am assured that had there been elected communal seats Dr. Schokman would have stood for a Burgher seat and would certainly have been elected.
7. In the Legislative Council which has just ceased to exist there were three elected Muslim members. Only one Muslim, Mr. Macan Markar, was elected to a territorial seat in the State Council. Strong representations were made to me that the Muslims should have at least as many members in the State Council as they had in the Legislative Council. I should have been disposed to give considerable weight to those representations had I been able to find in the whole of the Muslim community two gentlemen whom I could consider equipped to do good service in the State Council. Unfortunately, the record of the Muslim members in the Legislative Council is a very poor one. With the exception of Mr. Macan Markar who, though he seldom took part in a debate, displayed sound common sense and business ability when he did so, the Muslim members of the Legislative Council were conspicuous for their silence and for the futility of their infrequent utterances. Strong representations were made to me to appoint to the nominated seats Mr. T B. Jayah and Mr. Abdul Cader, both ex-members of the Legislative Council. Mr. T. B. Jayah is a rabid opponent of the new Constitution and for that reason alone 1 should not have felt it possible to appoint him to a nominated seat. Apart from this, however, I do not consider that his ability and general character are such as would have justified me in appointing him. Mr. Abdul Cader is an elderly gentleman of mediocre attainments who has sat in the Legislative Council for many years and who has. as a Legislative Councillor, been singularly useless and ineffective. Apart from this he has been recently involved in certain transactions in connexion with his trusteeship of a mosque which have caused considerable scandal in the Muslim community and are at present under discussion in appeal before the Supreme Court. In these circumstances I considered it impossible to yield to the request that he should receive a nomination. Mr. M. K. Saldin whom I have selected for nomination is new to politics. He is a merchant of good repute Mr. in mercantile circles and is the President of the Ceylon Malay Association. Macan Markar, the territorially-elected member, being a Moor I was anxious to secure representation in the State Council for the Malay community, and Mr. Saldin appeared to me to be more suitable than any other Malay candidate.
8. There remained for consideration four nominated seats and I deliberated as to whether all of these should be filled by Europeans or whether I should only nominate three Europeans and fill the remaining seat either by a Jaffna Tamil or by a non- communal representative. Several Jaffna Tamils who were strongly opposed to the hoycott movement asked for nomination. Two considerations, however, prevented me from granting their request. In the first place had the four Jaffna seats been filled I should certainly not have felt called upon to nominate an additional Tamil member. If, therefore, I had, in the present situation, nominated such a member and the four territorial seats were subsequently filled, the boycott would eventually have resulted in the Jaffna Tamils securing more representatives than they would have
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secured had there been no boycott. In the second place, although I fully sympathise with those of the Jaffna Tamils who desire representation in the State Council and who have been deprived to a large extent of such representation by the ill-judged action of the boycotters, I felt that to nominate a Tamil would be to play into the hands of the boycott party and probably to strengthen the boycott movement. As Your Lordship will observe two Europeans have, contrary to the expectations of the Donoughmore Commissioners, been elected to territorial seats. One of these, Mr. Freeman, a retired Civil Servant, cannot in any sense be taken as representing Euro- pean interests. Mr. Freeman, who was an elected member of the Legislative Council, made himself conspicuous as the champion of the poverty-stricken villagers of the North Central Province, and his main interests in Council has always been the protec- tion of the interests of those villagers. Mr. Freeman, who studiously refrained from all electioneering, secured over 8,000 votes while his opponent secured under 900, the election of a European by such an overwhelming majority in a Sinhalese con- stituency is a triumph of personality, and is a striking testimonial of the extent to which Mr. Freeman has won the confidence and esteem of the residents of the North Central Province, but he has never identified himself with the larger European interests in the Island and cannot be taken as in any sense representing them. Mr. Fellowes- Gordon is a planter in the Haputale district who has done a great deal for the Ceylonese villagers in his district and is deservedly popular among them He will certainly uphold European planting interests but he is not a man of any great ability and his influence in the Council will probably not be very considerable.
The European interests in the Island are so great and the safeguarding of those interests is so vital to the financial stability of the Island that I consider it of the highest importance that the European community should be able to have a voice in the deliberations of as many as possible of the Executive Committees. With the disappearance of the official vote it becomes of greater importance than ever that European unofficial repre- sentation in the Legislature should be of considerable strength, and I therefore came to the conclusion that the four remaining nominated seats should all be given to Europeans.
9. My predecessor had promised the various European Associations that, should the selection of nominated members to represent them be in his hands, he would give due consideration to any representations that those Associations might make in this regard. The Associations themselves realized that I could not consider myself bound by this promise, but I should in any case have considered it necessary to consult the various European Associations and to accept their suggestions unless I had strong reasons for not doing so. I accordingly gave an interview to the representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, the Planters' Association, the Ceylon Estates Proprietors' Association, and the European Association, and they put forward the names of four Europeans mentioned in the first paragraph of this despatch. Mr. Cary is the Chair- man of the Chamber of Commerce and was the Commercial Member in the Legislative Council. He is no longer actively engaged in Commerce and his duties as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce give him ample time to devote to the work of the Legislature. In the Legislative Council he was active both in debate and on com- mittees, on a large number of which he rendered very useful service. Mr. E. C. Villiers is an ex-Chairman of the Planters' Association. He is a man of considerable ability who is held in high esteem by his own community. He has a tactful disposition and will, I believe, get on very well with the Ceylonese members of the State Council. Mr. T. L. Villiers was the European Urban member of the Legislative Council. He is a man of considerable financial ability with a flair for politics and is a convincing speaker. He has retired from active business and will be able to devote full time to the work of the State Council. Mr. Oldfield is a member of my Executive Council, a man of high reputation for the soundness of whose judgment I have great regard, and he will, I consider, make a most useful member of the State Council. Unfortu- nately, Mr. Oldfield is still actively engaged in business, and it is impossible for him to spare very much time for public duties. He was in fact reluctant to accept nomina- tion, and has only done so on the understanding that he will be replaced by some one else after three or four months. I have strongly impressed upon the European com- munity, through the medium of the Chairmen of their various Associations. the necessity for obtaining the highest possible qualifications in those who represent them on the State Council. Their difficulties in this regard have been in the past and still are largely financial. I understand, however, that they are in communication with the Ceylon Association in London in this regard, and are endeavouring to raise the necessary funds to enable them to make it worth the while of a really first-class man to take his place as their fourth nominated representative. I have every hope that