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Tamils, but also for the Mohammedans, the Burghers, and the English. I would go further, and say that, I certainly am opposed to communal representation. think it is one of the most harmful things out in the East. You simply accentuate racial antagonisms; you perpetuate racial feuds, and you help to widen the cleavage, if any there be, between race and race. That has been in my experience, the direct result of racial representation in Ceylon. Every time a seat became vacant in that Council and an appointment had to be made to it, the cleavage between the members of a particular race and between race and race was simply widened more and inore, and that has always been the tendency in Ceylon. I have no doubt that the same tendency prevails in India. I do not know how it is that some Indian repre sentatives have spoken favourably with regard to communal representation. believe the Aga Khan the other day strongly supported the idea of communal representation. It may be that conditions are different in India, but in Ceylon I do submit to your lordship the conditions are such that communal representation would he meaningless. it would be simply forced into a country which does not require it, but I can well understand this one fact. There are certain important races in Ceylon, like, for instance, the ruling race, the English, the Mohammedans, who are a tair number, and the Burghers, the descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese settlers, who have been represented in the Council racially all this time,, and would naturally wish to be represented in future. Well, my lord, as regards that, may I suggest to your lordship a way out of the difficulty, and it is that of the members to be elected by the one electorate there should be a provision that with regard to certain towns and those races are mostly confined to certain towns, the Burghers, for instance, of Colombo, and the English of Colombo and Kandy Districts-one or two of the elected members should be either English or Burgher or Mohammedan, as the case may be. But let the electorate be one, and just as much as the English and Burghers, and the Mohammendans will join in electing a Sinhalese or a Tamil representative, similarly the Tamils and the Sinhalese and the other races will join in electing a member of any other race. It does not follow that because a district in Ceylon is composed rostly of a particular race any member of that race would naturally be elected. I have known cases in municipal elections where there have been vigorous contests, and successful contests, on the part of Englishmen who have contested seats in native wards with influential Sinhalese and influential Tamils, and where they have succeeded on the Sinhalese and Tamil votes. Your lordship will see that the Sinhalese and Tamils, the natives of the island, are liberal minded in that way; they wish to elect the best man, and if representative Government is given to Ceylon and the Sinhalese and Tamils are given the franchise they ask for, I shall not be at all surprised if they elect as their members, if they cannot find fit representatives among their own race, Englishmen and Burghers to represent them in many of the Provinces for which there may be elections.

So much as regards the franchise, the details of which I do not want to go into. VISCOUNT MILNER : No.

MR. PEREIRA: It is impossible to do so in a limited time; they are things that will have to be worked out; it is only the principle that I want to submit to your lordship on behalf of this deputation, and with regard to the details I venture to submit to your lordship that really it would be essential, before the Constitution of the country is changed after so many years, that some real evidence should be taken on the spot, or here, as your lordship pleases, to find out what should really be the means adopted to secure the ends desired. Once the principle is settled I do not think there will be much difficulty if a Commission is appointed. I certainly would prefer, and am certain that everyone in Ceylon would prefer, a Commission straight from here-a Commission which would be wholly unprejudiced, and which would report to your lordship on the state of things in the country, and which would be able to help your lordship as to the details which would have to be worked out later on if any measure of self-government were granted to us.

Finally, may I draw your lordship's attention to the memorial of the European Association in Ceylon. We have been furnished with a copy of it, or, rather, with the report of the European Association, upon which the memorial is based. The terms are very similar. It is a curious fact, my lord, that the European popula- tion of Ceylon have realized that a change is necessary in the Constitution. In the third paragraph of the report they begin: "Is any change desirable? Euro- peans will naturally ask themselves, in the first place whether they, as a com- munity, admit the necessity for any alteration of the Constitution. There can be

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no doubt that we have, from time to time, reason to be dissatisfied with the adminis- tration of the Colony, and the causes of dissatisfaction may be classified under three main headings: (a) official mismanagement of Government enterprises; (b) official apathy to the needs of the public; (c) official indifference to the point of view of the public, and neglect to inquire how new proposals will be received." Now, my lord, that is from the European population itself, and they further make this significant admission: "Now an increase in the responsibility of the Government and its servante means an increase in their responsibility to the public at large. We must recognize it as an axiom that, whatever enhancement in the power of the public may be effected, it will involve a diminution rather than an increase in the power of Europeans." Now, my lord, that is a very selfish view to take of the situation, and really they put the question to themselves: "Bearing this fact in mind, and regarding the matter for the moment entirely from the point of view of our own interests, can we say that a change of the Constitution, directed towards an increase in the control of the Government by the people, is likely to benefit us? To the question in this simple form many will return a negative

answer.

All I need say is this, that in this memorial your lordship will see that the views put forward by the European section of the population are more or less in accordance with our own, but their conclusions differ because of this fear. They admit the necessity for the change; they admit that we are more or less entitled to share in the administration of the Government, but there is this difficulty in their minds and this fear.

One word more as regards the Executive Council. As regards the Execute a Council, we are anxious that there should be a change in that too. Why we should have such a large Executive Council in Ceylon we do not know. There are eight official members of that Council. In Bengal there are only four, in Bombay four, and so it is in Madras, with vastly greater populations.

this large number here we do not know, and we submit that the number is incon- Why there should be veniently large, and we also submit that, whereas in the Executive Council of India Indians have been freely received and recognized, we have been studiously debarred from the very inception of these Executive Councils from taking any part in them.

Now, my lord, the Executive Council cannot legislate, as we know, that is the Executive Council as it exists now, and we wish them to continue to exist in its present form. We would rather that the Executive Council conducted its function as it does now, that is as a mere advisory body to the Governor. The Governor

is the responsible person, and we would rather that the Governor should remain the sole responsible person to you. The Executive Council being, as I say, merely an advisory body, it does seem strange that the Governor should initiate legislation and proceed to carry legislation in the Legislative Council, without inviting the advice of the people of the country. Sir West Ridgeway, as your lordship may remember, strongly recommended the addition of two unofficial Ceylonese on the Executive Council. He was a Governor of great experience, and one who was really, I was going to say, greatly, appreciated by the people. He certainly was strongly in favour of the addition of two Ceylonese members at least to the Executive Council. Well, my lord, we suggest that the Council should have an equal number of official and unofficial members; we suggest that there should be two

VISCOUNT MILNER: This is the Executive Council!

MR. PEREIRA: Yes, we suggest that there should be at the most four officials, and we ask that in that case there should be four unofficial members also, who would be able to advise the Governor on matters of legislation, so that the Governor might have the best advice that he can have in the country. It is a moot point on these memorials whether these men should be elected or nominated by the Governor. Personally, I prefer the idea of nomination, but I do not want to bind my Asso ciations to my own views. from the elected members of the Council. Well, as I was explaining to my friends The Associations wish that they should be selected here, that would mean the exclusion of a certain class of men, who would make excellent members of the Executive Council in Ceylon, who would not in the ordinary course of things be members of the Legislative Council; men, I mean, who have retired from active service and have neither the time nor the energy, nor the will to engage in debates in the Council or to go in for active political life, but men

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