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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

17006

(No. 81.) SIR,

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No. 8.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 8th April, 1918.)

[Answered by No. 17006.]

Ceylon, 12th February, 1918. WITH reference to my despatch No. 7, of the 5th January, 1918,* with which I transmitted a memorial addressed to you by Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Kt.. and others, suggesting a reform of the Legislative Council of this Colony, I have the honour to enclose a memorial, dated 2nd January, 1918, which has been addressed to you by the Jaffna Association, on the subject of constitutional reform.

2. I propose to reserve my comments on the memorial for the present.

Enclosure in No. 8.

I have, &c.,

JOHN ANDERSON,

Governor, etc.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WALTER H. LONG, M.P., His Majesty's PrincIPAL SECRETARY Of State for THE COLONIES.

The humble Memorial of the Jaffna Association, Jaffna, Ceylon.

RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH,

1. THAT your memorialists, representing the Tamils of the Northern Province, the chief centre of the permanent Tamil population of this island, passed the following resolution at a general meeting of the Jaffna Association held on 2nd January, 1918-

That in the opinion of this Association the scheme of constitutional reform contained in the joint memorial of the Ceylon National Association and the Ceylon Reform League, adopted at the Conference held in Colombo on the 15th December, 1917, is not acceptable to the Tamil community, and that a memorial be forwarded to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, praying, among other administrative reforms, for the reform of the Executive and Legislative Councils of the island on an extended elective basis, whilst maintaining, as far as possible, the existing proportion of Sinhalese and Tamil representation in the Legislative Council.'

2. The feeling is shared by the permanent population of this island that the system of Crown Colony administration which has prevailed in Ceylon for over a century is unsuited to present conditions, and that, for the purpose of securing the efficient administration of the island on lines consistent with the people's present advancement and future progress, a larger association of the people's representatives in the Legislative and Executive Councils, and the provision of more liberal educa- tional and administrative measures have become necessary.

3.

The Ceylon National Association and the Ceylon Reform League have already forwarded for your consideration a joint memorial praying for constitutional reform. That memorial sets forth in detail the arguments which will satisfy you that most of the reforms asked for can no longer be withheld without causing dissatisfaction among the people of Ceylon whose loyalty to the throne and person of the Sovereign is well known.

4. The memorialists beg respect fully to submit that they are in agreement with most of the general principles of the reforms asked for by the National Association and the Reform League. But they cannot agree with some of the details of the scheme put forward in that memorial.

5. The memorialists, while urging the desirability of reducing the present number of members of the Executive Council, and the necessity of introducing into this Council two Unofficial Members, submit that one of these members should be elected by the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, that the other should be

• No. 6.

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nominated by the Governor from among the Ceylonese, and that the nominated member should be of a different race to that of the elected member.

6. The memorialists feel convinced that the Governor should continue to be the President of the Legislative Council, as it would enable the head of the adminis- tration to be in personal touch with the feeling of the Council and of its individual members.

7. The memorialists agree with the Ceylon Reform League and the National Association in asking for increased unofficial representation with an unofficial majority in the Legislative Council. They beg leave to suggest that a large majority of the Unofficial Members should be elected by the people themselves, but it is sub- mitted that the existing Sinhalese and Tamil nominated seats should be retained to represent interests which might have no adequate representation on the territorial basis of election. It is further submitted that the time has come for the conferring of additional privileges on the Unofficial Members, such as the right of initiating proposals involving the expenditure of public money.

8. The memorialists, however, most respectfully submit that the scheme formu- lated in the eleventh paragraph of the memorial of the National Association and the Reform League is not acceptable to this Association, as it is likely to increase the number of Sinhalese members out of all proportion to the existing ratio of communal representation in the Legislative Council. Though the Tamils number a little less than half the Sinhalese population of Ceylon, yet the former, in view of their importance as a community, are now represented in the Legislative Council by two nominated members as against three Sinhalese members. The memoralists beg to submit that, under any system of election, territorial or communal, the existing proportion of Tamil representatives to Sinhalese representatives should, as far as possible, be maintained.

9. The scheme above referred to allots to those Provinces of Ceylon inhabited mainly by the Sinhalese thirteen members, whereas it allots to the Provinces peopled chiefly by the Tamils, namely, the Northern and Eastern Provinces, only four members. Under ordinary circumstances, the thirteen seats in the Sinhalese Districts will be filled by Sinhalese, and the four in the Tamil Districts by Tamils. This scheme not only enhances the proportion of Sinhalese to Tamil representation in the Council as stated above, but it enables the Sinhalese members to outnumber all the other Unofficial Members by giving to the former thirteen seats as against the eight seats allotted to the Europeans, Burghers, Tamils, and Muhammedans. This proportion of Sinhalese to Tamil representation in the Legislative Council is in excess even of the numerical strength of the Sinhalese community.

10.

The memorialists submit that the Tamils of Ceylon have hitherto, in spite of their inferiority in numbers, maintained a position of equality with their Sinhalese brethren, whether in official or unofficial life. Of the Unofficial Members in the present Legislative Council of Ceylon, three are Sinhalese and three Tamile. In almost all departments of Government the number of Sinhalese and Tamil officers is very nearly equal, and this is especially the case in the professions of law and medicine, where the Ceylonese most distinguish themselves. permanent Tamil population of Ceylon maintain a leading position with propor- In literacy, the tionately a larger number of graduates and undergraduates. Another test of the prominent position of the permanent Tamil population of Ceylon is to be found, in the list of their qualified voters for the election of the Ceylonese member under the present franchise, which requires high qualifications, including a knowledge of the English language. Though the Sinhalese (Low-Country and Kandyan) number, according to the latest return of the Registrar-General, 2,892,900, and the Tamils, 1,814,000, yet the Sinhalese voters throughout the island number 1,748, and the Tamil voters 1,346. Almost the whole of the latter belong to the permanent Tamil population, which is nearly half the number of the Tamils in the island.

11. The memorialists, therefore, respectfully submit that in any scheme of Constitutional reform which may be introduced into Ceylon, the Government should not be guided by the numerical strength of the different communities alone. And in support of their position they would instance the fact that the European community in Ceylon, numbering 7,600, are represented by two members.

12. The memorialists submit the following scheme in regard to Sinhalese and Tamil representation in the Legislative Council for your favourable consideration:

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