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SIR,

66

Enclosure in No. 48.

Ceylon Tamil League, Colombo, 11th September, 1923. REFERRING to our letters of the 5th and 8th August, submitting for transmission to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies a cable and a detailed statement respectively, protesting against the proposal of Mr. H. J. C. Pereira to abolish the seat allotted in the Legislative Council to the Tamil inhabitants of Colombo and the Western Province, and to grant in lieu thereof an additional territorial seat in the Northern Province to be held by a Tamil or alternatively a communal Tamil seat for the whole Island by election or by nomination, we have the honour to inform you that a public meeting of the Tamils was held at the Tower Hall, Maradna, on the 9th instant, "to consider the advisability of accepting the suggestion of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State to create a Tamil electorate for the Island exclusive of the Northern and the Eastern Provinces for the purpose of returning a member to represent their

interests.

#

2. This notice was inaccurate because there was no suggestion from the Secretary of State, but only a proposal from Mr. H. J. C. Pereira, which the Secretary of State forwarded to His Excellency the Governor to ascertain if it would be acceptable to the Tamils; and that proposal was not to create a Tamil electorate exclusive of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The meeting was called at the instance of a few Tamil electors who thought that the Tamils would accept some modification of the offer, made by His Excellency the Governor and the Secretary of State, of a Tamil seat to the Tamil electorate of Colombo and the Western Province.

8. The meeting

was largely attended and was presided over by Mr. H. A. P. Sandrasagara. The following resolution was moved: "That the Tamila of Ceylon preferred to accept the extra seat offered for the special representation of Tamils as a seat to represent the Tamils in all the Provinces of the Island except the Northern and Eastern." To this motion, an amendment was proposed which ran as follows: " That the Tamils preferred to accept the extra seat offered for the present representation of Tamils as a seat for the city of Colombo to be voted for by all communities.”

4. After full discussion, both the amendment and the resolution were lost by very large majorities, only four or five voting for either out of many hundreds who were present. The Chairman who had moved the resolution said, at the conclusion of the meeting, that "he was glad that the sense of the house had been thus demonstrated; his object was not to snatch a victory. They had signified their wish, and he took it as certainly the wish of the Tamil Community.

5. There can now be no doubt that the recognized Tamil associations--the Jaffna Association, the Tamil Mahajana Sabha and the Ceylon Tamil League Accurately voiced Tamil opinion, and that the Tamil Community is strongly in favour of the sent allotted to the Tamils of Colombo and the Western Province and against any modification of that proposal. We beg that His Excellency the Governor will be pleased, if he thinks it necessary, to communicate the decision of this meeting to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

6. We beg to forward herewith six copies of a printed paper* containing the cable and detailed statement submitted with our letters of the 5th and 8th August.

We have, &c.."

50445

H. T. RAMACHANDRA, S. RABARATNAM, Hon. Secretaries, Ceylon Tamil League

No. 49.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 55.]

(Confidential.)

SIR,

Downing Street, 31st October, 1923.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch

of the 24th September,† submitting the details of a scheme for the establishment of an Executive Committee in Ceylon.

*No reprinted. + No. 46.

67

2. You will now have received my despatch of the 25th September,* in which I transmitted to you, for your consideration, a somewhat similar scheme for the establishment of an Executive Committee. Before considering the general policy of the adoption of such a scheme, I will deal with the points in which your proposals differ from mine, with which they are, in general, in accord.

8 In the first place, I consider it desirable that the Governor should always preside in the Executive Committee. He is the Head of the Administration, and all Executive power is centred in him, and it appears essential that he should be present at the deliberations of the Committee.

4. In the second place, I consider that the number of unofficial members proposed by you is altogether too large. It would be impossible for the Governor to select so large a number of members on whose support he could, with any confidence, rely even in the most favourable circumstances. would be inconveniently large for the transaction of business. Further, I think it A body so constituted unnecessary and undesirable to provide that the Governor's choice of members should be limited by the necessity of appointing representatives of every community in the Island; while such a provision would seem to tend to perpetuate existing racial differences. In the scheme which I have submitted to you the number of unofficial members proposed must be regarded as a maximum, and I have contemplated that in the initial stages, the Governor would confine himself to appointing two or three members of the Legislative Council to be members of the Executive Committee. In your despatch of the 19th July,† you were under a misapprehension in assuming that I had in mind any large increase in the numbers of the Executive Council; and I see no reason for the Executive Committee to be a large body.

5.

Consideration of these details is, however, beside the point, in view of your opinion that your proposals will be rejected by the majority of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council as inadequate, and may even be stigmatized as insulting. If on mature consideration you adhere to this view, I see no advantage in discussing the proposals further, since I should be extremely reluctant to attempt to put into force a scheme which was so regarded by the Legislative Council. At the same time, I must confess that I have learnt of your opinion with surprise. I had anticipated that a section of the Legislative Council would affect to regard the scheme as inadequate and would continue to press for the appointment of elected members as Ministers. I had hoped, however, that more moderate opinion would regard the proposals as a considerable advance, particularly when it was realized that (having regard to the experience in Barbados), it would be extremely probable that the Executive Committee so constituted would very soon supersede the Executive Council in many of its important functions. the deputation from the Ceylon National Congress, which waited upon I would point out that Mr. Ormsby-Gore, did not press the reform of the Executive Council as a matter of urgency, and that members of that deputation definitely stated that they would be satisfied at present with the appointment of one or two elected members of the Legislative Council to be members of the Executive Council during the Governor's pleasure, the functions of the Council remaining unaltered, and would be prepared to accept an arrangement under which such members would cease to be regarded as elected members of the Legislative Council and would be appointed nominated unofficial members of that Council. Provided that the Governor's choice of such members were quite unfettered, I do not see why one or two such appointments should necessarily be more embarrassing to the Government than the existing situation under which a nominated unofficial member of the Legislative Council happens to be appointed to the Executive Council, and it would have the advantage of associating with the Executive Government men who from the fact of their previous election may be assumed to enjoy popular favour; while if such appointments were made to the Executive Committee, even though the elected members retained their seats in the Legislative Council, the embarrassment to Government would seem to be so much the less, since Confidential matters could be discussed in Executive Council. If, however, it should be unfortunately found that the scheme for an Executive Committee should prove so unpopular as you now anticipate, I think it might become necessary to consider the possibility of an advance in the direction indicated by the deputation; and it is of importance to observe that such a step could be taken at any time without any amendment of the existing constitution of the Executive Council.

* No. 37.

↑ No. 24.

2

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

I, KILEL

Reference :-

CO. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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