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and accordingly in 1889 recommended to the Home Government the appointment which was duly sanctioned of a Kandyan member."

The arguments urged by the Reform Party both before your lordship and at the Congress, especially in regard to

(1) The natural ability of the people to perform the duties of high office, (2) Their close association with methods of local self-government,

(3) The applicability of the terms of the Convention to Ceylon in general, apply only and directly to the Kandyan community and make their case for special treatment so strong as to be incontestable.

The first Deputation that waited on your lordship, through its advocate Mr. H. J. C. Pereira, pressed upon your lordship the fact that the people whom they represented were entitled to reform on the grounds foregoing. Your lordship will see that those arguments apply solely to the Kandyans.

With regard to the first point the quotation is from Knox, whose experience was altogether confined to the Kandyan Provinces and spoke of the Kandyans only and more-particularly the people of Yatinuwara, and I make a reference to No. 176 Census Report, 1911.

For four centuries the Maritime Sinhalese had parted with their self-governing institutions and were under the tutelage of their foreign rulers. The free institutions which were referred to under the second point only existed in the Kandyan Provinces. The third point becomes clear when the Convention is referred to. Its terms are too plain to be interpreted otherwise.

In 1919 Mr. A. F. Molamure was elected President of the Kandyan Association. We were then unaware that he was a member of the Reform Association.

A Committee had by this time been appointed to draft a Memorial to His Excellency the Governor stating the views of the Association in regard to reforms. This draft Memorial was fully discussed by the Association at a meeting at which Mr. A. F. Molamure, the President, was present. He took part in the discussion and carried an amendment which committed the community to the Elective principle as the only one applicable in the matter of representation; although there was a strong and influential minority in favour of the retention of the principle of nomin- ation in the case of groups which were not qualified by education and progress to exercise the vote.

To our dismay we found that at the last Ceylon National Congress held in Colombo, Mr. Molamure wandered beyond the terms of the Memorial and made statements in his speech which the Kandyans generally or the Kandyan Association in particular could not possibly accept. He was summoned to a special meeting of this body on the 14th February and after some mutual explanations his resignation was accepted and the meeting immediately proceeded to elect a President for the unexpired term.

Mr. G. E. Madawela, who now accompanies me, was elected, and is the President of the Association. Mr. Molamure will in the future in any speech or statement that he makes express his views only and not those of either the Association or the general Kandyan community.

So far as we can understand, the Reform Party proposes to divide the Island into territorial areas, and then form one General Electorate which will return all the members to the Reformed Legislative Council. This proposal necessarily brings into existence four minorities, viz. (1) the European, (2) the Burgher, (3) the Mohammedan, and (4) the Kandyan.

We find that it has been suggested for these minorities that four seats be ear. marked, and the members returned to fill each seat will be elected by the General Electorate.

We hold no brief for the first three communities already mentioned, but I believe that it is competent to us to say that it will be a great injustice to these minorities that a General Electorate composed of all the discordant and diverse elements in the country should elect for them the members who should represent them in Council. If the truth were spoken, the Europeans, although insignificant in point of numbers, control a very large share of the capital invested in the Island.

The Burgher community, as possessing a high standard of literacy, was granted the manhood suffrage and has always succeeded in electing a desirable representative. We Kandyans cannot, in view of our position as a distinct entity bound together in an indissoluble bond of nationality sharing the same customs, manners and laws, tolerate the idea of our member being elected by a General Electorate such as has already been described.

Such a member, if a Kandyan, will be a Kandyan only in name, and absolutely useless in representing the views of the general body of Kandyans.

The system of nomination will be a distinct blessing as compared with this vicious scheme, which embodies the boldest bid for power which has been made since the unholy ambitions of the Kaiser were frustrated by the combined efforts of the victorious Allies.

We, however, wish to come into line with other communities and adopt the Elective principle.

The relief we most earnestly aspire to is that, if and when the Elective principle is granted to the Kandyans, the members should be elected by the Kandyans them- selves through their own Electorates.

Our great fear is that if the claims of the Ceylon National Congress were granted in their entirety we as a community will stand to lose all that we valued in the past, and we shall be swamped by the other communities which have been specially favoured by & variety of circumstances which have never yet come in the way of the Kandyans. Not only so, but also any acceptance by the British Government of the scheme I have referred to, in such a manner as to extinguish the status of the Kandyans as a distinct entity, will to our minds amount to a definite breach of the plain terms of the Kandyan Convention and directly contradictory of our conception of British justice and fair play among the subject races of the Empire. We as a people are unique in possessing a charter of our liberties in the Kandyan Convention, and it is our earnest prayer that the rights, immunities and privileges therein reserved for us through the foresight of our ancestors be preserved to us intact both in spirit and in letter. We have no doubt that in course of time, when general education has fulfilled its purposes, the walls of partition between one community and another will fall.

The Kandyans have never had a chance of acquiring knowledge in the various departments which would equip them for open competition with others. When proper facilities have been conceded, we have no doubt that in one generation our people will not be found second to any other community in the island.

A glance at our past history will convince the world at large that we as a people are not inherently deficient in those qualities which make for efficiency and achieve- ment.

We adhere to the terms of the Memorial addressed to His Excellency the Governor by the Kandyan Association in March, 1919.

The most important reform which has long been overdue we venture to suggest is the introduction of unofficial members into the Executive Council.

Whilst admitting that the members of the Ceylon Civil Service are imbued by the best and highest motives, we still feel that the common touch as between the Ceylon Government and the people has long since disappeared, for the reason that the Civil Servant of to-day who rises to a seat in the Executive Council has little time to investigate the real condition of the people personally. The duties of a Government Agent are so onerous and numerous that he is compelled to confine bis work to his office.

There will, we think, be no difficulty in the way of His Excellency the Governor nominating to the Executive Council members who are in direct touch with the people, and are intimately acquainted with their hopes and aspirations.

Our approach to your lordship is constitutional. Before the community decided to send a Deputation to wait on your lordship, we first of all consulted His Excellency the Governor.

We produce before your lordship papers signed by our people, both exalted and humble, authorising us to put their case before your lordship.

Not only are we sure of their faithful support, but we also have met our chiefa

as the natural leaders of our people, who have loyally aided us in our efforts to approach your lordship.

The present Kandyan member has also expressed himself as being in entire sympathy with the movement, and has often encouraged us in our endeavour to place the case for the Kandyans before your lordship.

So far as a constructive scheme is concerned, we adhere to the general requests made in the prayer of the Memorial of the Kandyan Association to His Excellency the Governor in March, 1919,

My lord, allow me now to thank your lordship for the kind attention your lordship has given us.

We rely on the inherent merit of our case, rather than on the forensic ability, to press it home to your lordship. We may differ in our methods of thought,

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

CO. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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