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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

SIR,

280

Enclosure 2 in No. 57.

(Through the Government Agent, Sabaragamuwa.)

Riots.

Jaffna, 22nd August, 1915.

WITH reference to your Confidential letter of 7th July, 1915, I have .ne honour to report as follows—

1. The district assigned to me by the Government Agent, Ratnapura, con- sisted of the Nawadun, Atakalan, Kolonna, Meda, and Kadawat Korles of the Ratnapura District.

2. There was no rioting and no damage done in the Kolonna and Kadawat Korles

3. In the remaining three Korles, after a preliminary inspection, I assessed the damage done roughly at Rs.50,000. Subsequently, on going into the claims indi- vidually, I awarded the sum of Rs.46,438.50 in all, as compensation to Moors.

4. All those villages in which damage was done, or those of which the inhabi- tants were known to have taken part, were called upon to pay an indemnity in pro- portion to the number of Sinhalese poll-tax payers resident in the village.

5. All the villages dealt with paid up the indemnity in cash, the total sum so collected being Rs.99,501.00.

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6. The balance left over after payment of compensation has been left in the hands of Mr. Thaine, Government Agent and Special Commissioner, to go towards the cost of quelling the riots in the Province and the expenses of the Commission.

7. No Moors were murdered in this district. There was one case of rape of a Moor girl, aged 13.

8. I have no definite figures of the number of rioters shot. The rioters were only fired upon in two places in the district, viz., Udawela and Nugawela. At the former place, so far as I could ascertain, no rioters were shot. At the latter, some seven rioters were apparently killed and several wounded, of whom one subse- quently died of his injuries.

9. As regards the origin of the disturbances in the district assigned to me I have but little to say. I was unable to gather any definite or reliable information as to who were the originators or instigators.

I was certain, from what I saw and heard in the course of my investigations, It is clear, that the disturbances did not originate with the ordinary villagers. howeven that their minds had been prepared and the way paved for something of the kind. The bulk of the rioting took place between 2.0 p.m. and midnight on 3rd June. During these ten hours there was systematic rioting from Lellopitiya (six miles from Ratnapura), as far as Hunuwala on the Balangoda road (seventeen miles from Ratnapura), and as far as Nuguwela on the Rakwane road (sixteen miles from Ratnapura), and at Karawita on the Dela road (fourteen miles from Ratnapura). There was further rioting on 4th June on the Balangoda road, and at Karawita, and a few isolated cases on 5th June.

That the bulk of the rioting took place over an extended area within a period of ten hours shows clearly that there must have been considerable preparations made. A further indication of "coaching" of the villagers is the fact that the general ory of the rioters appears to have been "The Eriglish government is over— it is Sinhalese government now."

I had strong reasons to suspect in many cases that the headmen, both village headmen and higher headmen, were prime movers, but there were only two cases of headmen (and these minor headmen) being actually proved to be implicated.

In some of the outlying villages there were indications that the rioting was begun by low-country Sinhalese who came through from Nambapane side.

10. As regards the scope of the disturbances, the number of villages partici- pating in the rioting was not great, the rioting being confined almost entirely to those villages situated on or near the main roads. This may have been due to a great extent to the fact that, except along the main roads, there are practically no Moormen in the district. That the total damage done was not great was evidently due to the fact that the number of Moorish houses and boutiques was very limited, and not to the lack of will on the part of the rioters. In practically every village in which rioting took place the work was very thoroughly done, and all available Moorish property destroyed or removed. Two mosques were destroyed by means of dynamite, and the work of destroying a third was in hand when the rioters were

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dispersed by some European planters who arrived on the spot by motor. case (Nuga wela) the action taken by the Europeans in opening fire upon the rioters was the means of preventing the rioting spreading in that direction. The mob here dispersed at once, and no rioting took place farther up the Rakwana road.

Up the Pelmadulla-Balangoda road there was rioting on 3rd June as far as Hunuwala, and on 4th June as far as Madela. The rioters were fired upon at Uduwela (near Madola), and the mob dispersed. It is doubtful, however, whether there would have been rioting farther up this road. There are no Moor houses or boutiques between Madola and Balangoda, and at and above Balangoda there were no indications of any preparations for rioting.

Within the Local Board limits of Ratnapura no damage was done and there was no rioting. Preventive measures taken in good time proved entirely successful. 11. So far as I could gather, when I left the district at the end of July every- thing was quiet and the villagers in a repentant frame of mind, the measures taken at the time of, and subsequent to, the disturbances having proved a valuable and salutary lesson.

The Honourable

The Colonial Secretary.

I am, &c.,

B. G. DE GLANVILLE,

Special Commissioner.

Enclosure 3 in No. 57.

REPORT.

1. My opportunities for observing the recent disturbances, or forming any opinion upon their origin and scope, in the Colombo District have been as follows:- On the 31st May and the 1st June I was in the thick of the riots in the streets of Colombo, latterly as a Magistrate accompanied by an armed party. On the 3rd I took out a party of soldiers to the relief of the Moor village of Walgama, which, on the 2nd and 3rd, was besieged by hundreds of Sinhalese from the surrounding country. From 4th to 7th June I was scouring the country with a mobile party, with

■ base at Weke, in Siyane Korale East. The trouble in that part of the country, however, was by that time over, and I was unable to come up with any armed gangs. Upon the 9th June I assisted the Special Commissioner, the Honourable Mr. J. G. Fraser, C.M.G., with others, to round up the village of Wanawahala, and we then established a large camp at Dompe, in the heart of Siyane Korale East. Thence we moved to Hewagam Korale, which was dealt with from centres at Hanwella, Kaduwela, and Aturugiriya, the Honourable the Government Agent taking up a portion of the Korale from Hanwella and Padukka. From 22nd July to 7th August the work was taken up in the Colombo Mudaliyar's division from centres at Gango- dawilla and Wellampitiya. The remainder of the time was devoted to Alut Kuru Korale South, from Peliyagoda, close to Colombo, to Jaela.

2. It would, therefore, appear best for me to deal with the origin and scope of the disturbances in the Colombo District generally, as far as my observations and inquiries will carry me, giving more particular attention to the area which I have dealt with in greater detail as Special Commissioner. In this connexion one may observe that one did not get into the immediate neighbourhood of Colombo until 18th July, over seven weeks after the disturbances, or into Alut Korale South until still later. One's opportunities of real investigation in these latter areas were thus much less than in places dealt with within a comparatively short interval of the riots. 3. It may further be observed that the larger part of one's time has been taken up with the assessment of damages, the indemnity bond business, and also with the actual trial of offenders, thus precluding many interesting and profitable lines of inquiry the pursuit of which to any purpose would have required one's whole time and energies.

4. Before one proceeds to deal with the origin and scope of the disturbances in the Colombo District generally a rough sketch may be given of what occurred in the Hewagam Korale, Colombo Mudaliyar's division, and Alut Kuru Korale South from the 31st May to the 3rd June, as far as the information gathered from my inquiries goes, but any such sketch must necessarily be far from complete.