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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

I k I k k L

16.

I preface my remarks by setting out the present composition of the Executive Council and the reasons for it-and likewise the probable future composition of that Council in present conditions.

The Unofficial Members of the Executive Council are at present :-

Sir H. M. Fernando (Sinhalese).

Sir Ambalavanar Kanagasabai (Tamil).

Mr. James Lochore (European),

and this composition is in accordance with the understanding that there should ordinarily be one representative of the English, Sinhalese and Tamil communities upon the Executive Council, thus representing on the Executive Council the three most important communities.

Since I do not consider it advisable to appoint an Elected Member of the Legislative Council to the Executive Council, I have appointed hitherto such nominated Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council as were available.

In the Legislative Council at the present time, there are three nominated Unofficial Members :-

1 Burgher. Mr. H. A. Loos.

Tamil. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan.

1 Sinhalese. Sir H. M. Fernando.

There being no European nominated Unofficial Member in the Legislative Council, I have nominated hitherto a European from outside as a member of the Executive Council.

For other reasons, and mainly because I have felt that Sir Ramanathan (the nominated Unofficial Tamil Member of the Legislative Council) would find the duties of an Executive Council Member an excessive strain on him in addition to his Legislative Council and numerous other duties on public bodies, I chose Sir A. Kanagasabai, who is outside the Legislative Council, as a member of the Executive Council.

I have nominated Sir H. M. Fernando to the Executive Council as a nominated Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council; thus the only nominated Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council on the Executive Council is the Sinhalese Member (Sir H. M. Fernando).

If I understand rightly, your despatch would seem to propose that the numbers of members of the Executive Council should be increased. But I have endeavoured to show how strongly I urge that no Elected Member of the Legislative Council should be appointed as a member of the Executive Council at this juncture; hence my choice of nomination to the Executive Council is limited to the three nominated Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council.

I consider it would be impolitic to nominate a European to the Legislative Council, even if one could be found willing to accept nomination, which I doubt.

My choice must, therefore, lie outside the Legislative Council for the European Member of the Executive Council.

I do not propose to appoint another Tamil to be an Unofficial Nominated Member, since they will have full representation in the Legislative Council.

My choice must, therefore, lie outside the Legislative Council for the Tamil Member of the Executive Council.

I shall, in all probability, select a Sinhalese to be a Nominated Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council, who could be an Unofficial Member of the Executive Council.

In the new Council, it is possible that I may find it necessary to nominate at least one Kandyan to an unofficial seat, should this community fail at the elections to obtain a sufficient number of the seats allotted to Kandyan Provinces, which is more than likely.

I doubt if the Kandyan Nominated Unofficial Member would be suitable for the Executive Council-the probabilities are against it.

The Nominated Unofficial Members of the Executive Council, consequently. would probably be composed of

1 European, not a Member of the Legislative Council.

1 Tamil, not a Member of the Legislative Council.

1 Sinhalese, a nominated Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council.

In these circumstances, there would only be one Member of the Executive Council

who would be likewise a Member of the Legislative Council, as is the case now.

17

I cannot help thinking that the fact has not been fully realized that only one Member of the Executive Council is likely to be a Member of the Legislative Council, unless Elected Members are to be admitted to the Executive Council, which I have already deprecated.

But before stating at length my views as to your proposals, it may be as well for me to set down what I conceive to be their essential elements.

The Governor is to remain nominally in as full executive control of the various Departments of the Government as he is at present, but, subject to the powers conferred upon him by Article 52 of the Order in Council of 1920, in matters of paramount importance, he is to shape his policy in general accordance with the views of the Legislative Council. To assist him in this task, he is, subject to the provisions of the existing Royal Instructions, to exercise full power to select as Members of the Executive Council any persons, whether they are Elected or Nominated Members of the Legislative Council, or are merely prominent members of the community outside that Assembly, whose advice he may consider valuable, and on whose general support of a policy adopted after full discussion he can rely. Without altering the fundamental relations which at present exist between the Governor, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, it is further proposed that the Executive Council should divide itself into sub-committees, on each of which one or more Unofficial Members and an Official Member should sit. Each such committee would be charged' with the preliminary investigation of business arising from one or more branches of the public business dealing with internal affairs, and would report its recommendations to the full Council, and the decision of the Governor in Executive Council would be conclusive without any dérogation from existing Powers. Unofficial Members of the Executive Council would not be at liberty to oppose any policy of Government which had been decided upon in full Council without the permission of the Governor; if they wished to oppose any item of Government policy without the permission of the Governor, they would be required to resign their seats in the Executive Council, for, as Members of the Executive Council, they would be responsible to the Governor and not to the Legis- lative Council.

The difficulties which surround any attempt to vary, pending the grant of some form of self-government, the relations at present existing between the Governor, the Executive Council and the Legislative Council may now be better appreciated, but I am not quite so clear as to the adequacy of that appreciation. should care to commit myself to, would be that this difficulty is recognized to the All that I extent that the Hon. Mr. de Mel practically acknowledges that he and his friends are unable to formulate any workable scheme. At first, the demand for a share in the administration of public business by territorially Elected Members of the Legislative Council was made categorically, though in very general terms. An undertaking was given by the Hon. Mr. James Peiris in the course of debate in December 1921, to formulate in detail a workable scheme, but the longer the discussion continued, the vaguer the scheme became.

It is quite possible that, in the end, any scheme for the reform of the Executive Council will have to be framed by Government, but it is well to remember that experience has proved that nothing except responsible Government will satisfy the Sinhalese leaders, and that any shortcomings in this respect in Your Grace's proposals will be at once fastened upon, and the attention of the public will be solely directed to their alleged defects, without any regard being paid to the liberal concessions contained in them. There is, a settled conviction in the minds of all local communities that the Ceylonese are politically much in advance of Indians, and that the former are at least entitled to as extensive Reforms as have been bestowed on the latter. I am satisfied that, if published, Your Grace's proposals would be received with a loud chorus of disapproval from the native Press and from all the more vocal members of the community. These would iterate and reiterate the statement that their claims as compared with India had been almost completely ignored, and the concessions suggested would only add fuel to the agitation for full administrative control of the business of Government by the territorially Elected Members of the Legislative Council.

In former communications, I have dealt with the difficulty in which any territorially Elected Members of the Legislative Council who were appointed to the Executive Council would be placed. As Your Grace has pointed out, such Members

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Reference :-

C.O. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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