432
APLIC
RECORD OF
OFFICE
Reference -
bowfimifi C.O.882/12
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BF REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO]
86
2. The Ministers have carefully considered the suggestions for amendment con- taitied in Your Excellency's letter and desire to express their keen sense of disappoint- ment at the nature and scope of the proposed amendments to the Constitution. Whilst it may be desirable to effect certain minor amendments in order to remove possible anomalies of the Constitution in its present form, the Ministers are unable to agree that Auch minor amendments alone will solve the grave difficulties experienced in the work- ing of the present Constitution. The Ministers are opposed to any attempts at tinker- ing with the Constitution and are firmly of opinion that amendments to the Constitution should be real and directed to remove the main obstacles to responsible government in the country. No amendment which shall fail to achieve this object will satisfy the legitimate aspirations and demands of the State Council or the people.
3. Even before the receipt of Your Excellency's letter, the Ministers have had under their consideration the amendment of the Constitution, but owing to various reasons it has not been possible to submit earlier the scheme outlined in the annexed letter which the Ministers fervently hope will meet with the approval of Your Excellency and the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
I have, &c.,
D. B. JAYATILAKA, Vice-Chairman, Board of Ministers.
14264/33 [No. 13].
No. 40.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
SIR,
(No. 481.)
(Received 4th September, 1933.).
Ceylon, 16th August, 1933. WITH reference to my despatch No. 444 of the 17th July, 1933.† on the subject of the reform of the Constitution of Ceylon, I have the honour to transmit a copy of the memorandum addressed to me by the Board of Ministers on the 21st April, 1933, to which I referred in my despatch No. 390 of the 24th June, 1933, and a copy of their supplementary memorandum dated 29th July, 1933, which I have now received.
2. The situation has changed since the receipt of the first memorandum and my interview with Ministers, in that there is now before the Legislature the Bill entitled "An Ordinance to amend the Ceylon (State Council) Order in Council, 1931," a copy of which was forwarded to you with my despatch of the 17th July. As stated in that despatch the object of this Bill, according to the mover, is to give effect to the resolu- tions passed by the State Council in July, 1932, on which the Minister's proposals are based. This Bill was read a first time on the 21st July, 1933, and the second reading will presumably take place after the passing of the Budget which is now before the Council.
3. You will, I think, agree that it is undesirable to deal with the merits of the Ministers' proposals entirely independently of the views expressed and the action taken in the State Council on the above Bill and I propose therefore to defer my comments on the memoranda until the debate on the Bill is concluded.
I have. &c.,
GRAEME THOMSON.
Governor.
* See Enclosure in No. 40.
† 14264/33 [No. 9]: not printed.
† 14263/99 [No. 19]: not printed.
SIR,
87
Enclosure I in No. 40.
We have the honour to draw Your Excellency's attention to the debates that
Colombo, 21st April, 1933. took place in the State Council.in July, 1932, on the motions introduced by Mr. E. W. Perera, Member for Horana, on the subject of the reform of the Constitution of Ceylon. We have no doubt that Your Excellency carefully followed the course of the debates on this question and formed your own conclusions on the various proposals that were discussed in Council for the amendment of the Constitution. We forward herewith the resolutions passed in Council together with the official report of the proceedings in Council and would ask that Your Excellency will be pleased to forward them to the Secretary of State for his favourable consideration.
2. In connexion with these resolutions we beg to submit a memorandum prepared by us showing the difficulties we have encountered in the working of the Constitution in its present form and we now propose to submit for Your Excellency's consideration a scheme for the reform of the Constitution which we consider vital, and urgently necessary for the purpose of ensuring its successful working.
3. As will be seen from our memorandum, one of the gravest defects of the Constitution is the maintenance of the anomalous position by which Officers of State are permitted to administer large and important departments of Government in a Ministerial capacity without at the same time being responsible to the Legislature. As the Donoughmore Commissioners stated, "In dealing with a legislature, to which control of finance has been accorded and from the action of which no spheres of activity have been scheduled as 'reserved,' it is difficult to imagine a system under which a certain number of Ministers are, and a certain number of Ministers are not responsible to the Legislature. All the evils attendant on the formation of a mixed executive composed partly of officials not responsible to the Legislature and partly of unofficials elected by, and wholly responsible to, the Legislature, which the Donough- more Commissioners actually foresaw, have in fact been experienced in a marked degree in the working of ne Constitution. We venture to think that the Officers of State would themselves be the first to recognize this inherent difficulty in the working of this novel Constitution and that we can count upon their support in our demand for the creation of a homogeneous Ministry wholly responsible to the legislature in order that unity of action might be ensured and the authority of the Board of Ministers maintained. It is hardly necessary to labour this point as we feel sure that Your Excellency would yourself not have failed to note the awkward position in which, owing to this division of responsibility, the Officers of State, on the one hand, and the Ministers, on the other, find themselves in tendering their advice to Your Excellency on matters of administration and in proposing important measures to the State Council. We consider, therefore, that the first step in the scheme of reform contemplated by us should be the removal of the Officers of State and their substitution by Ministers responsible to the Council. should be created an Executive Committee of Finance to deal with subjects and With the disappearance of the Officers of State, there functions now administered by the Financial Secretary and an Executive Committee of Law and Justice to deal with subjects and functions now administered by the Attorney-General, while the subject of Defence would be transferred to the Executive Committee of Home Affairs which is in charge of the Police. The only subject that would remain unallotted would be External Affairs which we consider should for the present be administered by Your Excellency. We would at the same time propose a reduction in the number of the existing Ministries by one by the amalgamation and reallocation of subjects and functions now assigned to them. We accordingly recom- mend that the Constitution be amended so that all subjects and functions of Government exclusive of External Affairs might be administered by the State Council divided into eight Standing Committees.
4. We would now pass on to the administration of the Departments by the Executive Committees. As we have mentioned in the memorandum, it is yet too early for us to give a final opinion on the success or failure of this system; and in view of the resolution passed in the State Council for its retention, until more experience is gained, we do not propose to suggest any drastic amendments on this point, but we consider that by suitable amendment of the relevant provisions of the Order in Council it should be made clear that the Board of Ministers which is invested with ultimate financial responsibility is also invested with the power of carrying out its financial policy. In other words, the Board should have the full responsibility for initiating
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.