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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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the picket of Punjabis at the junction at Messenger Street and Armour Street, and, by his timely order to fire, checked the advance of the rioters on the Moorish quarter.

37. I have also the pleasure to bring to your notice the loyalty and devotion to duty of Mr. H. A. Perera, Atapattu Mudaliyar, who rendered me invaluable assistance on the 1st of June in Colombo, and on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of June on circuit.

J. G. FRASER,

Special Commissioner and Government Agent,

Western Province.

The Kachcheri, Colombo,

18th-20th September, 1915.

Public Works Office, Colombo, 3rd September, 1915. Report on Structural Damage to Moorish Buildings caused during the Riots, June, 1915.

SIR,

On the completion of our investigations into the extent of the structural damage to buildings caused by rioters in the Colombo District, Western Province, we have the honour to report as follows:-

1. Extent. The damage was found to be pretty general throughout this district, and was more extensive than at first indicated, as the buildings which suffered most were, as a rule, adjoining minor roads or in secluded villages rather than on the high roads. As a consequence it has often been difficult to gain access to the places affected, and the floods which followed on the heavy rains of June and July further hampered the work of investigation.

The number of buildings of which the structural damage has been assessed is 345, the total cost of the damage being Rs.111,430. This is distributed as follows:--

Name of Korale.

Number of Baiklings.

Cons of repairs to be carried out. Estimate of

Damage. Public Works Department. Owned.

Rs.

Rs.

Rs.

Alut Kuru Korale North

16

2,350

1,550

800

Alut Kuru Korale South

17

6,290

6,200

Hapitigam

20

420

390

30

•

Siyane East

51

7,300

6,505

795

Siyane West

95

28,030

27,600

490

Hewagam

42

23,000

18,600

4,400

Salpiti

104

44,040

49,500

480

Total

345

111,430

104,495

6,985

289

4. Damage. The chief destruction in a building which has not been entirely destroyed is to be found in the joinery work, and the consequent destruction to walls and plaster in the vicinity. Doors and windows have been either ruthlessly amashed or torn off their hinges and removed, their frames being also pulled out or hacked to pieces. In one instance the whole of the woodwork of a large Moorish building was torn out and heaped up in one of the rooms to form the funeral pyre of a Sinhalese who had been killed during the disturbances, with the result that the roof high above caught fire and fell in.

5. Repairs. There has been considerable difficulty in obtaining both the labour and materials to carry out the rebuilding and repairs to rehabilitate the Moormen, especially in those places where no building labour existed, but this has now been entirely overcome, and in a large number of cases the work is well advanced

Honourable Mr. J. G. Fraser, C.M.G.,

Special Commissioner.

49543

SIR,

We have, &c.,

E. G. STEVENS. E. B. BOWEN.

No. 62.

E. W. BARTHOLOMEW.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 27th October, 1915.)

(Confidential (B).)

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 8th October, 1915. IN continuation of my Confidential despatch (A) of the 30th September last,*

I have the honour to forward, for your information, a copy of a report on the riots in the Nuwara Eliya District from Mr. A. W. Seymour, Assistant Government Agent and Special Commissioner.

I have, &c.,

ROBERT CHALMERS,

Governor, &c.

3

Reference :-

C.O. 882/10

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

The most extensive damage suffered by any one place was at Welikada. This is accounted for by the fact that in this district several tanneries are situated in which large quantities of leather were stored, which, when set on fire, burnt so fiercely that whole warehouses were gutted.

2. Buildings affected.-Practically nowhere have the rioters damaged any but Moorish-owned buildings. The careful discrimination that has been evinced by the perpetrators in cases where a Sinhalese-owned boutique has been leased to a Moor is most marked, the structure being left undamaged, although the contents owned by The only exception to this was the Moor have been recklessly smashed and looted.

that of a house belonging to a Sinhalese headman (police vidane, Welikada), which was wrecked on account of his attempts to protect the Moors. Mosques have, as a rule, suffered severely, and there is evidence that in a large number of cases an explosive, such as dynamite, has been used.

There was only one instance in which a public work was interfered with, and that was the removal of planks forming the platform of the Idalawella Bridge, on the Minuwangoda-Henaratgoda road. This was presumably done in order to out off communication between Heneratgoda and Negombo, but was rendered abortive by the alacrity with which arrangements were made by the District Engineer. Negombo, for the resumption of traffic.

3. Methods adopted.-Besides the use of dynamite already referred to, another very useful method of causing destruction has been the felling of coco-nut or other tall trees in the proximity of a building in such a way as to fall across the roof. In fact, so generally has this novel method been adopted that it would indicate pre- arranged action.

SIR,

Enclosure in No. 62.

THE anti-Moslem disturbances affected my district much less than the adjoin. ing districts of Kandy and Ratnapura. The lower parts of Kotmalie and Udahe- waheta appear to have been influenced by outside agitators from Pussellawa and Kandy; but the upper portions of these divisions, and the whole of the divisions of Walapane and the Gravets of Nuwara Eliya (excepting the town), appear to have had no dealings and little sympathy with this propaganda.

It is an unfortunate circumstance that the headquarters of this, district, Nuwara Eliya, has no direct road or rail communication with the division of Udahewabeta, and in consequence it was less easy to maintain order in this division than elsewhere in the absence of loyal support from the Ratemahatmaya. whom I have recommended for dismissal. Hanguranketa, Rikiligaskada, and Padiyapelella are not even in telephonic or telegraphic communication with Nuwara Eliya or Kandy.

Rioting took place in the villages of Morape on 2nd June, Katukitula, Kara- gastalawa, Sangilipalama, and Niyangandora on 1st June, Kumbaloluwa on 1st and 3rd June, Hanguranketa on 30th May, Padiyapelella on 31st May, Udagama and Rahatungoda in Udahewaheta on 1st June. There was one small disturbance in the Nuwara Eliya new bazaar on 2nd June, in which a constable was killed; and some persons, at present unknown, succeeded in firing the bazaar at Talawakele on 4th June.

Altogether four boutiques were wrecked and looted, and twenty-two other boutiques were looted only, but only one person, the police constable Velupillai, was killed in this district. The damage to property, movable and immovable, has been assessed by Mr. Hodson, Special Commissioner, and me, at Rs.80,616.14 (Udahowa- heta Rs.19,234.01, Kotmale Rs.18,680.13, and Talawakele Rs.42,702).

*No. 81.

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