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CUBLIC PECORD OFFICE

Reference -

1111C.O.882/12

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC -. | COLCRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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requests His Excellency to obtain the services of a suitable person from elsewhere as Chairman of the Commission.

This motion was rejected by the Council by 25 votes to 20, one member declining to

appear

that they votê, but in the course of the debate upon it the Council made it might agree to the appointment of a public servant as Chairman. I, however, caused the Board to be informed that in view of paragraph a (i) of the terms of reference it appeared to me extremely unlikely that any member of the Public Service would wish to serve on the Commission, and further that 1 felt unable without your prior approval The Board thereupon dropped the proposal to call upon any such officer to serve.

to appoint a public servant and submitted to me from the limited field open to them a list of names of persons whom they regarded as the most suitable for appointment, pressing strongly at the same time for the appointment of Mr. R. L. Pereira as Chairman.

4. As to the appointment of Mr. Pereira I must confess that it was with some misgiving that I agreed to the recommendation of the Board having regard to repre- sentations which had been made to me by my advisers that apart from the fact that he had no special qualifications for the appointment he had shown marked hostility to the Public Services both in the Finance Committee of the late Legislative Council and in the Council itself during the short period in 1931 when he was a member of these bodies. On the other hand, Mr. Pereira, who is a leading barrister and has recently acted for a short period as Commissioner of Assize, is unquestionably the most able person amongst those available for appointment, and after the fullest discussion with the Board of Ministers and with my advisers I came to the conclusion that the Board's recommendation should be accepted. As to the other members of the Com- mission both Mr. Tambimuttu and Colonel Jayewardene were members of the Retrench- ment Committee appointed in 1921 (Sessional Paper No. 3 of 1923), and the former was for some years a prominent elected member of the late Legislative Council.

5. In considering the personnel of the Commission the Board made every endeavour to obtain the services of a European unofficial resident in Ceylon, and it is a matter for regret that they were unable to find anyone hoth suitable and willing to serve. In view of the large number of Europeans in the Public Service and the special consideration which their case requires the inclusion of a European on the Commission would undoubtedly have been of considerable value.

6. The Commission's task is one of considerable magnitude and complexity, and while all possible official assistance will be given to them I am doubtful whether, in the absence of any member specially qualified by experience to undertake such an inquiry, the Commission will be able to treat the matter with that breadth of view which is so essential to an inquiry of this nature. I sincerely trust, however, that my fears will prove to be unfounded. I would mention here that I am asking the Commission to deal firstly with that part of the terms of reference which relates to future entrants and to submit to me an interim report with their recommendations thereon.

7. In conclusion I might add that the State Council on the recommendation of the Board of Ministers has approved a supplementary vote of Rs. 45,000/- to meet the expenses of the Commission. Included in this sum is provision for an honorarium to the Chairman at the rate of Rs. 2.250/- per mensem for a period of six months and an honorarium to each of the members at the rate of Rs. 1,125/- per mensem for the same period. The Board of Ministers felt, and I agreed with them, that as the Commissioners would be obliged to devote their entire time to the work for several months they could hardly be expected to do so without some pecuniary compensation.

I have, &c..

GRAEME THOMSON,

Governor.

C. 93049/32 [No. 6].

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No. 17.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 22nd August, 1932.) [Answered by Nos. 18 and 19.]

(Confidential (2).)

SIR,

Ceylon, 3rd August, 1932. I HAVE the honour to refer to my despatch No. 152 of the 22nd March, 1932,* in which I informed you that I had, at the request of the State Council, appointed a Commission consisting of Mr. R. L. Pereira, K.Ü., Mr. E. R. Tambimuttu, and Colonel T. G. Jayewardene, V.D., with terms of reference recommended by the Council, namely

To investigate and make recommendations forthwith in regard to-

(a) the salaries, allowances, and general conditions of service of—

(i) existing members of the Public Service, and

(ii) future entrants;

(b) the cadre of Departments;

with a view to reduction of the expenditure of the Island, and with a view to the fixing

of salaries on a rupee basis and in accordance with the Ceylon standard.

2. In paragraph 6 of that despatch I mentioned that I was asking the Commission

to deal first with that part of their terms of reference which related to future entrants to the Public Service. The Commissioners have now forwarded an interim report, which deals not only with that part of their subject but puts forward several general recommendations which affect existing members of the services as well as future entrants I transmit six copies of their report† with this despatch. It is unnecessary at this stage to send you a copy of the Appendix to the Report which contains the evidence recorded by the Commissioners. This evidence is voluminous, extending to 1,448 pages of typescript, and it has not yet been decided whether it should be printed. I annex, however, a list‡ containing the names of the witnesses and where possible some indication of their status.

as

3. You will observe that in their address to me at the commencement of their report the Commissioners quote my request for an interim report. To avoid the possi- bility of any misunderstanding, I should explain that in stating that I regarded a settlement of the question of the salaries and conditions of service of future entrants "of special urgency," I was not actuated by the belief that existing salaries were, either on general grounds or in particular instances, too high and ought therefore to be reduced for future entrants. What I considered, and still consider, to be a matter of urgency is that the salaries and conditions of service of future entrants should, if possible, be fixed at some adequate scale which will meet with the approval of the State Council and can at the same time be commended to you for sanction. Until this is achieved, the salaries and conditions of service of public officers are likely to continue to be a political issue of the first magnitude, a state of affairs which must inevitably have a deplorable effect on the administration of the country and on the morale and efficiency of the services themselves.

4.

I have at the request of the Unofficial Members of the Board of Ministers authorized immediate publication of this report but I propose to make no pronounce- ment with regard to it until I have learnt your views on certain general questions arising out of the recommendations it contains. Those recommendations are far-reaching; they affect the pay, allowances, and prospects not only of future entrants to the Public Services but also, and very materially, those of officers now in the Services. In addition to proposing a completely new and much reduced series of salary scales covering every department of Government and applicable to all future entrants and in a sense, as I shall explain, to all officers now in the service, the report puts forward a series of proposals in the nature of emergency measures to meet the admittedly serious financial situation, all of which affect officers now in the service. Before any motion arising out of these emergency proposals can be introduced in the State Council, my sanction under Article 87 (1) of the Order in Council will have to be sought. I felt that it would be most unwise- for me to make any pronouncement or initiate or permit any action on the Commissioners' report until I had ascertained how you would view the main pro- posal it contains, namely, to effect a wholesale reduction in emoluments throughout the public service, and, if your view was that a general reduction was justifiable, whether you would consider the new scales proposed by the Commissioners adequate, and how you would regard the proposal that the new scales should be made applicable

‡ Not printed.

* No. 16.

† Not reprinted.