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SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: Yes. We think that those who are appointed to the Legislative Council should be in touch with the people and should represent their views, should be those who have the confidence of the country, so that the Legislative Council might co-operate with them. Our experience in the past. has been with regard to nominations to the Legislative Council. though I must say they have been very good nominations, they are nominations of men who have not got the confidence of the people. I say it tends to greater co-operation if you select men from the elected members. I do not say it will happen, but it might happen, that the Governor will select a man who has not the confidence of the people, and we shall be very much in the same position that we are in now; there will not be any advance..

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I quite see the importance of having people on the Executive Council who will keep in touch with public feeling. I realise there is always a danger of a bureaucratic administration getting out of touch with public feeling. There I quite agree with you. But I cannot for a moment admit that the test of election is the only test as to whether a man is representative or not. Would you say that Mr. Asquith ceased to be representative of public feeling because he lost his seat at Fife?

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: That is rather an extreme case. We say that is the best test; it may not be the only test, but it is the best test, especially when you come to consider that very often Governors are new to the Colony, and even the high officials change frequently. It is rather difficult for a Governor to choose a man from outside and to be able to say "This man has the confidence of the country," whereas if an elected member is appointed there is the guarantee that he has been chosen by the people. That is how we put it.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: The other point you mentioned was the electorate. Do you want what I may call a flat electorate, territorial divisions, and the fran- chise all over the country? I understand you are opposed to anything like communal representation.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: Yes.

The Secretary OF STATE: I admit it is a very difficult question. There is a great deal to be said on both sides.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: What we object to rather is communal electorates, but we say out of regard for sentiment that the rights of the present minorities should be conserved, and we would rather see that done, if they do not choose to agree to our plan of reserving seats in certain constituencies, through nominations rather than by electorates.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Will you explain that a little more fully? SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: Yes. We say we object to communal electorates. THE SECRETARY OF STATE: In other words you do not want the Kandyans to be a separate constituency?

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM : That is so. With regard to the Kandyans we say there is very little distinction between Kandyans and the low-country Sinhalese, as they are called, the Maritime Sinhalese. Besides that, the Kandyans are in the majority in a large number of districts; they are not in the minority. As regards the minorí- ties we admit that something should be done to conserve their present rights.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: What do you suggest?

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: We say that certain seats should be reserved in the con- stituencies where they are numerically fairly strong; they are not minorities, but still fairly strong. It is a matter for them to say whether they like it or not. We do not ask your Lordship to force it upon them. In that case we say the system of nomination is much better than the creation of electorates.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Quite. How would you regard those people? Would you class them with the elected members or with the official members?

MR. PEIRIS : Official.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: They will occupy an intermediate position practically, as nominated members.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I want the minorities to be represented, and so

do you.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: Yes.

THE SECRETARy of State: I do not want to use the power of nomination in order to load the official side.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: We understand that.

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THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I want it to be really representative, but there is

a difficulty there because if the representatives of minorities are nominated you may say they are official members. How do you get over that?

STB P. ARUNACHALAM: That difficulty will not arise if these minorities agree to seats being reserved.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: But they will not.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: I am afraid they will not.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Take the Burghers. I should think they would never agree.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM; I am afraid not.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I do not suppose the Mohammedans would agree. SIR P. ARUNachalam : No.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Unless you have separate electoral registers for these minorities, and let them elect within their own constituencies.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: At present there are three electorates: the Genera) Electorate, the Rural and Urban European, and the Burgher.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: The Mohammedans are nominated.

MR. PEIRIS: Yes. Why we object to communal electorates is that we hope in the future that everybody will fall into line with Europeans, because there are not many differences between the two.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I am trying to see how the difficulty can be avoided in justice to the minorities.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: May I ask how is it avoided in other colonies? THE SECRETARY of State: In all sorts of different ways, none of them very satisfactory, I think. As a way out you might have a system of proportional representation.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: We should have no objection to that. That could be done.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I am trying to think how to get out of these diffi- culties, and I wanted to get your views.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: Would you like to hear it from the Kandyan members? THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes, I had some Kandyans here yesterday. I sup- pose these gentlemen are the other kind of Kandyan.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: These are the regular authorised Kandyans.

MR. MOLAMURE: We should like all Kandyans to join the general electorate, because in the Kandyan districts, which comprise about seven or eight districts in the Island, Kandyans predominate, even though you collect all the other classes of people on one side and Kandyans on the other. I have looked up the statistics and I find that is so. So that there is absolutely no fear, if the Kandyans themselves want to elect a Kandyan, of a Kandyan not being elected.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: I suppose the real fact of the matter is that the Kandyans are divided.

MR. MOLAMURE: No, they are not. There is a very small section of Kandyans who want to preserve this communal representation. Some want nomination and some want communal representation.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: What would they gain if they are a small section by having communal representation? They would not gain anything.

MR. MOLAMURE: No, they would not, except in certain districts where, perhaps, they are not a minority.

SIR P. ARUNACHALAM: And where they have influence.

MR. PEIRIS: Territorial influence.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes. What would happen would be that the gentle- men I saw yesterday, they or their friends, would get in in certain districts if Kandyans voted separately, but if Kandyans voted with the rest of the people they would not get in anywhere. That is the contention.

MR. PEIRIS: It is not a sound contention.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE: That is their contention. mistaken?

MR. PEIRIS: Yes.

You think they are

MR. MOLAMURE: I think in the Kandyan districts all they are asking for and all that we want is that there should be some representative of Kandyans. In the Kandyan districts, even if the general electorate were to vote, I think Kandyans would be sent in; I am certain that several Kandyans would get in in Kandyan 'districts.