CO882-10 — Page 56

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

882 10

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

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

20. Visiting

inspection to

Kondanga

mawa,

40. Rice questions in

Tuesday, 8th.-Paid a flying visit to Kendangamuwa and warned the Sinhalese Much of the consequences of any further rioting or of molesting the Moors. looting has taken place in Kendangamuwa: over forty boutiques and houses are affected. Excepting, however, to the mosque, no damage has been done to the houses. The damage to the mosque is slight, but, the place having been desecrated, the Moors are much concerned.

The

Had inquiries made in Ratnapura as to the sufficiency of rice in store. Ratnapura quantity is sufficient so long as the traders are able to obtain further supplies from Colombo. I think no anxiety need be felt in the matter of the rice supply.

Wednesday, 9th.-Received instructions from Government as to the method of dealing with the villages that participated in the rioting and the looting. Issued a Proclamation to be published throughout the district.

41. Riot inquiries and procedure.

42 Arrival of more Punjabis

→

41. Reported scarcity of

rice at

Kandanga.

IDUW..

44. Ofice

work and inquiries.

45. The state

district.

To-day twenty-five more Sepoys arrived from Colombo. Receiving a report that a perahera was going to be held at Madampe in spite of martial law, I sent out to Pelmadulla section to make inquiries, and subsequently found that the report was

false.

Thursday, 10th.-Received information from Kendangamuwa that rice was very scarce in the town, and that if not supplied much distress would prevail. Made arrangements with Customs to send out 125 hushels, which I propose to sell to the Sinhalese and to issue free only to Moors who are in actual distress.

Attended Kachcheri and disposed of a large accumulation of papers. Mean- while I have put on my office assistant and the Assistant Superintendent of Police As the to look into the complaints against the prisoners and to work up the cases. number of prisoners was again increasing and becoming difficult to deal with, I issued orders not to arrest the common looter and rioter but only the suspected ringleader.

Ratnapura town, and in fact the entire district, appear to be absolutely quiet. No reports of any trouble have been received since the 4th. The prompt action pure taken by the Assistant Superintendent of Police and my office assistant has suc- ceeded in driving away the rioters from the district, though rumours are frequently heard to the effect that they are only waiting for the Punjabis and planters to go before raiding the town Personally I place little belief in these rumours.

Friday, 11th-Attended Kachcheri.

46. Patrolling the town.

47. Disband- ment of forces.

48. Prelimi nary riot

inquiries and accommoda. tion for prisoners.

49. Prelimi

ments for

The day and nightly patrolling of the town continues. and has a good effect. There has been practically no difficulty in enforcing martial law regulations.

In view of the state of peace that now prevails I have decided to disband the forces at Rakwana and Balangoda, and to reduce the force at Ratnapura to six or ten men. The majority are anxious to go back to the estates, but will come in again if any further trouble arises. Some of the men are also retained to assist the Special Commissioner, as it will be difficult for him alone to make inquiries as well as look after the Punjabis and prisoners.

Saturday, 12th-Received further instructions from Government regarding the method of procedure in dealing with the rioters.

Attended Kachcheri.

Both my office assistant and the Assistant. Superintendent of Police are busy working up cases and bailing out prisoners, as the jail and lock-up do not afford sufficient accommodation. The same trouble exists at Pelmadulla and Balangoda. so I am sending up the Police Magistrate to-morrow to try and dispose of as many cases as possible.

Sunday, 13th.-Attended to Kachcheri papers.

Monday, 14th.--Made arrangements for the work of the Special Commissioner I hear Mr de Glanville is appointed to the Ratnapura district. I have decided to Special Com allot to him the Korales south of the Kaluganga, and to take myself Kuruwiti and

Kukul Korales.

missioner' work.

10. Arrival of Mr. de

Heavy rain; small flood in the town.

Tuesday, 15th. Mr. de Glanville was expected to arrive this morning, but did Glanville, and not come till 7.80 p.m. He had tried to motor, but was compelled to abandon the a conference, road on account of the floods.

Late in the evening we had a conference, and he explained the system of inquiry in force in the Western Province. To obtain a rough idea as to the amount of damage done we decided to pay flying visits to each locality and then confer again on Sunday next as to our proposed method of assessment and the levy of contributions

Lion of

*kses ment

Wednesday, 16th.-Motored to Kendangamuwa and made a house-to-house 1. In-pec inspection for the purpose of assessing damages. There is a very large number of affected houses looted in this locality, which comprises three wasamas and is the biggest localities for Moorish quarters in the district. The claims put forward by the Moors are in all of damages. cases grossly exaggerated. A favourite claim is for gems and cash, but when one comes to question closely the time they heard of the possibility of looting and the time when it actually took place, and their almost invariable freedom from personal molestation, it is obvious they had ample time to remove their valuables, which in all cases could be put in their waist-cloth.

Also inspected the Moragolla houses, a village on the main road, and some two 52. Inspec miles from Kendangamuwa.

Returned to Ratnapura late at night.

f'on of Morogalia village.

tion of villages

Thursday, 17th.-Motored down the Nambapana road and inspected damages 53. Imper at Dewalegawa, Kahangama, Dodampe, Kiriella, and Dumbara. cross the river and visit the interior villages, which were four to six miles inland pana road.

Had no time to along Namba- and widely separated.

Returned to Ratnapura.

tion ofvillages

Friday, 18th.-Continued inspection of damages along the Avisawella road, 54. Inspec including Gonapitiya, near Kuruwita, Pussella. Parakaduwa, Beville, Talawitiya. on Avimwella Minnana, and Walawita. and managed to finish before 6.30 p.m., when I returned to road. Ratnapura by car

tion of Kukul

Saturday, 19th.-Finished the inspections in Kukul Korale, which involved 56. Iospec- walking eight miles and riding four and a river journey of about four miles. were only six houses to inspect, but it took the whole day to complete and was villages. There Korale exhausting work.

Returned late in the evening to Ratnapura.

ence with

Sunday, 20th.-Discussed the future modus operandi with Mr. de Glanville. 56. Confer- and, as in both areas the scene of disturbances was clearly defined, it was decided to Mr. de levy contributions only from those wasamas where disturbances took place or where it was known the villagers participated

Glanville.

Late in the evening, on receipt of an important message from Colombo, decided Re to call in ten planters for duty; letters were written the same night and sent off by of Volunteers special messengers.

My office assistant is away at Balangoda holding the monthly Police Court Sessions.

mobilization

for duty.

inquiries at

Monday to Saturday, 21st to 26th.--Established my headquarters at Kendan- 5 Riot gunuwa with a force of six Sepoys, and during this week met the villagers of the Kendanga various wasamas in the neighbourhood and explained to them the terms of settle- ment With a few exceptions, the important men of the villages readily agreed to pay the indemnity which I fixed, but they haggled considerably regarding the time of payment. In all cases I insisted upon a preliminary payment, and made them understand that unless it was substantial the punitive measures would be enforced. The leading men have money, but do not want to part with it; if they are given too long a time to pay or too easy terms the difficulties of collecting it would increase. Generally speaking, I think there is not much money in this part of the district, as the ordinary villagers make their profits from gemming, which has entirely ceased since the war broke out.

The same time I made inquiries into the riots and tried

In

a number of cases which it was not necessary to send before the court martial. the Kendangamuwa riots the Moors charged no less than four Arachchies, but so far the evidence is extremely unsatisfactory, and, as the names of these Arachchies were never mentioned to the authorities within a few days after the riots when the Magis- trate visited the town and heard complaints, it is very doubtful if the evidence now led is reliable. Further searching inquiries are being made, as it will be a mistake to put up a weak case before the court martial. On the 26th I returned to Ratnapura.

Sunday, 27th-Attended to riot reports and cases, and also to a large accumu- lation of Kachcheri papers.

cases.

inquiries and

Monday, 28th-Returned to Kendangamuwa and continued inquiries into the 59. Rist has elected not to pay the indemnity.

The villagers are paying in the contributions. So far not a single wasama the levy of

Later proceeded to Walawita to receive contributions. The people agreed to pay another contribution, and want to give security for the balance.

# 2

contributions.