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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

TIL! Co. 88210

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

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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9. Ten wasamas have been so visited up to date. In each case I have asked for payment of the compensation in cash, the longest time given for payment being seven days.

10. Of the ten wasamas so dealt with six have already paid up in full and the remainder in part, and I foresee no difficulty in recovering the compensation in the same way from the remaining wasamas in the district allotted to me.

11. The amounts at which the various wasamas are assessed vary between Rs.2,500 and Rs.7,000.

The Honourable the Colonial Secretary.

35832

36843/8

SIR,

No. 30.

I am, &c.,

B. G. DE GLANVILLE,

Special Commissioner.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 10.10 a.m., 3rd August, 1915.)

TELEGRAM.

[Published as No. 11 in [Cd. 8167], January, 1916.]

No. 31.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 4th August, 1915.)

[Copy to India Office and War Office, 17th August, 1915. Secret. L.F.F.] (Confidential.)

•

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 16th July, 1915. IN continuation of my Confidential despatch of the 8th July," I have the honour to forward, for your information :-

(1) An extract from the diary of the Honourable Mr. J. G. Fraser, C.M.G., Government Agent, Western Province, for the month of May, 1915, in which he refers to the beginning of the trouble in Colombo which led up to the recent disturbances, and

(2) An extract from the diary of Mr. B. Horsburgh, Government Agent, Northern Province, for the month of June, 1915, showing that no danger of any outbreak was anticipated in that Province.

2. I also attach copies of reports received from Messrs. G. S. Wodeman, M. Stevenson, and R. A. G. Festing, Special Commissioners, with regard to the riots, the progress made in recovering compensation, etc.

3. In continuation of the last paragraph of my Confidential despatch of 8th July, I have to inform you that 219 prisoners of war, viz. :--12 women, 9 children, and 198 men left Ceylon for Australia by the transport "Star of England" on the 14th instant under a guard of fifty men of the Devonshire Regiment sent by the The women Viceroy of India, and of such convalescents as the transport contained. decided to go to Australia in preference to proceeding elsewhere from Ceylon. The remaining prisoners will be sent away in due course.

4. I also attach copy of a further report from the Deputy Assistant Adjutant- General, in continuation of his report of 7th July referred to in paragraph 1 of my Confidential despatch of 8th July last.

I have, &c.,

* No. 28.

ROBERT CHALMERS,

Governor, &c.

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Enclosure 1 in No. 31.

railway fitters

MAY 31ST.-I held meetings of the Provincial Road Committee, District Road Committee, Sanitary Board, and School Board. Just as I was opening the last of these (the Sanitary Board), I was told that Mr. Daniels, Superintendent of Police, wished to see me. This was about 4 p.m. Mr. Daniels told me that the Inspector- General of Police was away and that it devolved on me as Government Agent to call out the military; there had been trouble with the railway fitters and the Moors Trouble with opposite the entrance to the yard in the forenoon, and he anticipated trouble when and Moors. they came out at 4.45. He wanted the military called out, but as the only reason suggested for this was the possibility of a fight between the fitters and the Moors, and as the regulations require the Government Agent to take this step only after exhausting all other means, and as I was confident could prevent a collision in the vicinity of the yard, I did not do so. Instead I went to the yard, taking with me Messrs. Batuwantudawa and Emmanuel Jayawardena, and the Sinhalese Member of the Municipal Council. These gentlemen spoke to the workmen and, although the latter were rather truculent, they dispersed without any trouble. I did not, however, like the appearance of the people in the streets, and began to connect the incident in Colombo with the events in Kandy So as soon as I got home I warned the military to be in readiness. This was about 6 p.m. At 6.30 a telephone message came that there was rioting in the Pettah. I called out the military and proceeded with Messrs. Wait and Brayne to the spot and found the report exaggerated. I went on to police headquarters, and as there were big crowds on the street police patrols were sent out, and I went in my car all round the vicinity of Maradana and Borella. At Borella I saw the first looting. The police were worse than useless.

Ultimately the military arrived and order was to some extent restored. But as the Mayor (who had also turned out) and I (with Messrs. Wait and Brayne) motored round several bricks were thrown at us. Towards midnight things became quieter. We stayed on at police headquarters, making occasional rounds, till 2 a.m.,

when we went home.

J. G. FRASER,

Government Agent, Western Province.

Enclosure 2 in No. 31.

2ND, WEDNESDAY.—I took advantage of the presence of some of the leading met of Jaffna to inquire as to the prospects of anti-Moorish riots here, such as have riots. been occurring in the Sinhalese parts of the Island.

I was assured that there was no possibility of anything similar happening here. No possibility I arranged with them and with the Jaffna and Tenmaradchi Maniagars, who Arrange- were present, that early information of any chance of disturbance should be conveyed mente for to me. The police have also had their instructions.

So far as I can judge myself there is no danger of any outbreak in the Northern Province.

SIR,

Enclosure 3 in No. 31.

No. 1, Kandy Kachcheri, 8th July, 1915. WITH reference to your confidential letter, of 7th instant, I have the honour to report that the district allocated to me comprises the revenue divisions of Uda Dunbara and Pata Dumbara of Kandy District, Central Province.

2. In Uda Dumbara riots occurred in eleven different villages, amounting approximately to Rs.60,000.

...

The local prime mover of all these disturbances appears to have been Henry de Abrew Rajapakse, a notary public practising at Urugala and Nudetenne. He organized a society, of which he was president, which met at his house, at Mangoda Temple, Namadagala, and other centres in the district, and appears to have plotted to drive out the Moors. There is direct evidence that a number of minor headmen and at least one korala took leading parts in the disturbances. The Moorish boutiques have been completely looted, a number of Moor houses partially looted, and the three mosques at Urugala, Moragahamulla, and Udispattu destroyed.

3. In Pata Dumbara there were riots in seventeen centres, and the damage amounts, roughly, to Rs.200,000. Here, also, one korala (Pallispattu West) and

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information.