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CILITI

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O. 882/10

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

BF

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON,

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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3. For this end memorialists beg leave to submit that practically the whole of the trade in the staple articles of diet is in the hands of Indians; that not only for food and drink, but also for wearing apparel, building materials, manures, and the like, and the usual conveniences and comforts of life, this island is dependent on India, and even before the War drew from its neighbour the most substantial part of its requirements.

As landholders on an extensive scale, and as shipowners, the Indians have a stake in the progress of the country which few communities can claim, and as bankers and financiers they have the casting vote in every sphere of local trade and industry. Memorialists would here ask leave to point out that the whole of the business with the Maldives, even so far as the carrying of His Majesty's mails is concerned, is under Indian control, and that the new businesses shortly to be established in Ceylon in the commercial and banking lines will yet more swell the debt under which Ceylon lies to India by nearly ten crores of Indian capital.

4. Your memorialists humbly submit that not only are Indians the importers to the country of practically all the necessaries of life and the common commodities of commerce, including manures, but that they are also the retailers and distributors of them throughout every part of the island, and their enterprise has in no little way contributed to the opening up of districts which, until the time of their arrival in this Colony, were mostly virgin forests, the undisturbed haunts of wild birds and beasts. The settlement of Indians in large numbers in the important areas of Ceylon has principally contributed to the expansion of the coasting trade and the inter-district trade. Your memorialists submit that interests so vast, so vital, and so stupendously important as those which memorialists represent, imperatively call for some measure of representation in the Legislative Council. The enormous outlay of Indian capital in the food and manure business, for example, and the revenue to this country from the duties levied on imports from the neighbouring land-duties which collect for the Crown something like one-fifth of the total revenue clearly justify the result. There is, also, the interest of the nearly three lakhs of the labouring population whose presence in this Colony contributes to its prosperity, requiring to be protected and freed from the hardships which now hamper and harass it. The memorialists need not enlarge upon this latter aspect of their case, as the example of Fiji, where a representative has been assigned to the Indian immigrant community, is a precedent which can well support their claim for a similar concession in this island.

5 Memorialists respectfully submit that in none of the local self-governing bodies, save in the Municipal Council of Colombo, is there an Indian representa- tive, and even this single Indian, who has been nominated by His Excellency the Governor of Ceylon as meinber of the Metropolitan Council, is only by accident and pet hi any formal admission a representative of the Indian interests. Your memorialists hold the trade of Ceylon in the hollow of their hands, and their position in other departments of life-in education, in the professions, and in the public service-entitles them to equal rights and responsibilities as other com- munities.

8. Memorialists seek this boon upon the ground more particularly of their being permanently resident in the Colony, with interests as widespread and vital and abiding as those which any other section of the population may claim, and they pray that it may please you graciously to recommend to Ifis Majesty's Government the desirability and urgent necessity of appointing two members from among them to represent the mercantile section of the population, for whom there is now no representation in the Legislative Council, and whose claims to representation have heen unfortunately disregarded by those who framed the new proposals of reform. 7. Memorialists humbly venture to state that if the principle of representa- tion finally adopted be territorial, there would be no representation for them any more than there would be for the Burghers or for the Mohammedans, or even for the Tamils. If the scheme of representation were proportional, it would be impossible to ignore the presence of nearly seven hundred thousand Indians in the island, comprising nearly one-sixth of the total population. What is wanted is an electoral system by which it would be possible to guide the authorities in the selection of a suitable adviser. It may be said in this connexion that the Tamils of Ceylon cannot represent the Indian community because the problems of the latter are widely different from those of the indigenous section. But it is useful to record that the insistence by the Tamil community upon an additional member

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to represent the Indians is a recognition of the sentiment which is daily gathering volume and force for the separate representation of the Indian population in Ceylon, comprising as it does the Borahs, the Khojas, the Memons, the Sindhis, the Malayalis, the Telegus, the Parsees, the Marathas, the Bengalis, and the Pathans, who are by race, language, religion, and social settlement as different from the Tamil-speaking Moors, or the Tamils, as either of them are from the Sinhalese or any other section of the local population.

8. It is in these circumstances that memorialists respectfully beseech your intervention in their behalf, so that their interests may not be disregarded in any reconstruction of the political machinery of this island; and, pending upon such reconstitution, memorialists humbly ask that you will graciously recommend to the Imperial Government the sympathetic consideration of their prayer.

And for this indulgence memorialists will be for ever-deeply beholden.

THE CEYLON INDIAN MERCHANTS AND Agents.

Colombo,

12th March, 1918.

30430

SIR,

No. 13.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE ACTING GOVERNOR. (No. 346.)

Downing Street. 22nd July, 1918.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 219, of the 8th May, transmitting a memorial signed by certain members of the Indian mercantile community regarding the appointment of a member to represent Indian mercantile interests in the Legislative Council.

2. I request that you will be so good as to inform the signatories that I have received their memorial, and that, while I find myself unable to accept all their contentions, I will carefully consider the views put forward by them when a more opportune time occurs for an examination of all the varying proposals which have been received for altering the constitution of Ceylon.

I have, &c..

36127

No. 14.

•HOUSE OF COMMONS.

24th July, 1918.

WALTER H. LONG.

MR. MORRELL asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether a memorial has been received from Sir P. Arunachalam and Mr. E.J. Samerawickrame, on behalf of the Ceylon Reform League and the Ceylon National Association, asking for certain reforms with a view to the grant of a measure of responsible government for Ceylon; whether an answer, and, if so, what answer has been returned to the memorialists; and whether the Government will meet the demand for responsible government put forward by the people of Ceylon by extending to Ceylon the same reforms as are now proposed by the Secretary of State and the Governor-General for India!

THE UNDER-SEcretary of STATE FOR THE COLONIES (MR. HEWINS), in reply, said: I duly received the memorial, but only a formal acknowledgment was made pending the receipt of the observations of Sir John Anderson, which he did not. live to complete. I have also received memorials from other sections of opinion in Ceylon supporting different proposals. consideration, but I do not propose to form any conclusions until the time is more I shall give all these views my careful opportune for a full examination of the difficult questions involved, and until I have received the views of the new Governor.

MR. MORRELL: Will the honourable gentleman say whether there is anything which makes a consideration of reforms in Ceylon at the present time any less opportune than the consideration of reforms in India's administration!

MR. HRWINS: I do not think that question is involved in the question on the paper, and I do not propose to answer it.

*No. 12.

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