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3. I shall be glad to learn whether, in your opinion, this failure of moderate Sinhalese opinion to secure the election of even one representative in the Legislative Council is due to transitory or to permanent conditions in the Colony.

If you should consider that there has been any irregularity in the conduct of the elections or that undue influence has been brought to bear against the candidature of men of moderate opinions, you will no doubt consider what steps it is possible to take to secure the adequate representation of any large body of opinion in the Colony.

I have, &c.,

DEVONSHIRE.

40319

No. 23.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 13th August, 1923.)

(No. 492.) MY LORD DUKE,

Ceylon, 24th July, 1923.

I HAVE the honour to transmit a memorial, dated 5th July, 1923, which has been addressed to Your Grace by several members of the Malay community, praying that it may be laid down that one of the three seats allocated to the Mohammedan Community in the Legislative Council under the new scheme of constitutional reform must be filled by nomination, so that it may be open to the Governor to select a member of the Malay community for appointment to a seat in Council.

2. I would observe that the seats allotted to the Mohammedan community are for the purpose of giving representation to those persons of the Mohammedan faith who are residents in this Colony and who are otherwise qualified. There can be consequently, of necessity, no discrimination 28 to the races of which the Mohammedan community in Ceylon is composed. I recommend that the memorialists may be informed accordingly.

I have, &c..

Το

The Right Honourable

Enclosure in No. 23.

His Grace the Duke of Devonshire,

W. H. MANNING,

Governor, &c.

His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.

THE humble Memorial of the Malay Community of Ceylon sheweth as follows:-

1. Your memorialists note with regret your Lordship's decision not to extend the communal principle to the Malays of Ceylon so as to allot a special seat for that community in the Legislative Council.

2. While the memorialists recognize that this decision is final and cannot be reconsidered, they would like to place a further request before your Lordship, the granting of which will in no way interfere with your Lordship's decision.

3. They feel it is a sacred duty which they owe to their community to put every argument and every prayer before your Lordship, because the memorialists realize that if this further request is not favourably considered it means that the Malays of Ceylon will never have a chance of representation in the Legislative Council of Ceylon and that they must for ever afterwards occupy a servile position in the Colony. Your Lordship will appreciate the serious deadening effect which this sense of political inferiority will have on the rapid progress which the com- munity has been and is making in every direction. The memorialists further beg to assure your Lordship that this is the last communication with which your Lordship will be troubled by the memorialists.

4. Your memorialists beg to point out that the reason why the Government has decided to keep the Communal principle alive is because otherwise the minorities in Ceylon will be swamped and will never have a chance of being represented. The memorialists claim that they are in every sense a true minority, and that as the

Burghers numbering 29,000 have been allotted two seats and the Europeans number- ing 8,000 have been given three seats, the claim of the Malays, who number 14,000, to have one seat is a perfectly just claim.

5. Further the memorialists beg to call your Lordship's attention to the fact that the Mohammedan seat has hitherto been filled by nomination, and that therefore a Malay had a chance of being nominated for this seat. Whereas, now if the Moslems are given the right to elect their member, the Moors, who number 240,000 to the 14,000 of the Malays, will always swamp the Malays and get their members in. That this is no idle fear of the Malays is proved by the fact that even under the old system the Government never appointed a Malay to fill the seat, because the Malays as a race did not care to scheme and intrigue. As the Honourable Mr. Tillekeratne pointed out in the debate in the Legislative Council there was a strong rumour current that when a Malay was appointed during the last vacancy the Moors used strong pressure and the appointment was cancelled and-the present Moorish Member appointed.

6. The memorialists therefore humbly beg of your Lordship as a reward for the many acts of bravery and devotion performed by their ancestors in the past and by many Malays of the present generation in the British service, that at least one of the three seats allotted to the Moslems be filled by nomination as before, so that a Malay who is worthy of the position may have a chance of being selected to represent the Malays by the Governor.

7. Your memorialists contend that this is a reasonable request of theirs, and that it in no way interferes with your Lordship's decision already arrived at, because the three seats will still be Moslem, and the Moors will still have a chance of filling all the three seats. The memorialists are confident that this suggestion will be acceptable to the fair-minded men of the Moorish community, but there will always be a small group who will try to fight for all the advantage that it can get for its community, and such a group will even make use of the names of a few Malays who for purposes of their own will be willing to enrol themselves under the Moorish banner. This, your memorialists humbly urge, is only further proof of the intensity of feeling between the two races.

8. Your memorialists beg in this connexion to annex copy of a letter received by the memorialists from the Right Honourable Colonel Wedgwood, M.P.

Wherefore your memorialists pray in all submission and loyalty that their humble prayer be granted.

Colombo, 5th July, 1923.

DEAR SIR,

(Here follow ten signatures.)

House of Commons Library, 6th May, 1923.

I AM in receipt of your letter of 12th April and have forwarded it to the Secretary of State with the suggestion that, in my opinion, these (and other) com- munal seats should be filled by nomination and not by election. Then the Malays could be sure of one of the Mohammedan seats.

To

B. N. Latiff,

Colombo.

40457

No. 24.

I remain, &c.,

JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 18th August, 1923.)

(Confidential.)

MY LORD Duke,

[Answered by Nos. 37 and 49.]

The Queen's House, Colombo, 19th July, 1923.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch (Confidential),

of the 18th June,* relative to certain proposals made by you for associating members of the Legislative Council with the Executive Government of the Colony.

* No. 1.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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