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20. The Committee use the words of this letter in their finding on page 22 that "before the enlargement of the unofficial element in the Council the t'ommittee worked smoothly and well, its relations with Heads of Departments were invariably pleasant and mutually responsive, and business was despatched in a friendly and courteous manner.' My information on the contrary is to the effect that from the year 1910 onwards the antagonism was quite as marked as it has been under the present Constitution. Such sobering effect as may have resulted from the minority in numbers and lack of authority in the days of Crown Colony Government was offset by a fiercer racial animosity bred of a conviction on the part of the unofficial members that Ceylonese were deliber ately kept back in the Public Service in order to reserve the higher posts for Europeans 21. The Commissioners depict an habitual behaviour on the part of the Ceylonese members of the Finance Committee which is in striking contrast to Sir Hugh Clifford' - description of them as being as sound, as moderate, and as reasonable a set of men as this Island can at present produce. I think that Sir Hugh Clifford's is the juster apprecia- tion. It is true that certain menubers do use forensic methods which are in deplorable It's not exactly taste. It is often a question of manner rather than of words used:

I have listened to a member making a what he says, but the nasty way he says it. colourless arithmetical calculation in a tone of extraordinary offence, but the Chair can harly direct a speaker not to goggle his eyes or mouth his periods, especially if the sense of the Committee is not behind him. There has also been a practice. peculiarly exasperating to the hearer, whereby it is implied that the good intentions of the Governor and the Colonial Secretary are thwarted by departmental mismanagement. It must be remembered that the Finance Committee is largely composed of lawyers, practised in the somewhat florid declamation of the local Courts. The style of oratory in Committee differs in no way from that employed in open Council, but there is all the difference in the world between apostrophising the Government in the abstract and addressing an individual officer in person. In my opinion racial antipathy is at the hottom of the trouble. The political changes have taken from the European officer his former high estate, the fact that he is a servant of the public is pointed out to him with unnecessary emphasis, and, where before he might agree to listen, he now cannot choose but hear. A criticism which would be tolerated in a fellow-countryman. sounds very different in an oriental mouth.

22 As present Chairman of the Committee I can but express my regret at any failure on the part of the Chair to afford adequate protection. I have perhaps become too seasoned by public life to be able to appreciate sufficiently the more sensitive feelings of those who have not lived so directly in the public eye. There runs undoubtedly through average political oratory in this country' a quality—or rather an intonation— which gives offence to the European ear, and I have heard unofficial members honestly express their inability to understand how it is that officers have taken objection.to language which they have used merely for rhetorical effect, without a thought of giving pain. It seems to me that the Commissioners have viewed the matter too exclusively from the European standpoint, and I have reason to know that they have given very real pain to many Ceylonese who have not the advantage of that angle of vision.

23. On page 23 the Commissioners write: "With a Government less disinclined to bring matters to an issue, some reasonable modus rirendi might have been reached; once embarked, however, on a definite policy of conciliation, the Government were The Commissioners here ignore the fact that powerless to control the Committee." ite Government could only control the Committee within the limits of the Constitution. His Majesty's Government had purposely placed the power of the purse in the un- fettered hands of the unofficial majority, save only as regards matters which were The Commissioners capable of being certified to be of paramount importance. apparently think that the Government should have brought matters to a definite issue, that is that they should have treated as of paramount importance any matter in which they found themselves at variance with the unofficial members. Such action would have been highly unconstitutional, and would have amounted to an attempt on the part of the Colonial Government to set at nought the powers which His Majesty's Government had of set purpose conferred upon the unofficial members. I am unable to recall any action by the unofficial majority, either in Council or in Finance Committee, dissent from which could have been certified to be of paramount importance within the meaning of the Order in Council. The certification of matter as being within this category, which could not clearly be shown to belong to it, must at once expose the Colonial Government to ridicule and place the Secretary of State in the highly embarassing dilemma of dis- owning the Governor or approving his certificate upon a contention of doubtful validity. 24. The Commissioners write further on page 23 that there was only one way to ensure that the decisions of the Finance Committee should not run counter to those

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of the Executive Council, namely, that before arriving at any final decision in the Executive Council the Government should consult the Finance Committee and ascertain whether the action contemplated would meet with the Committee's concurrence. This It seems to me that there is course the Government considered it necessary to adopt."

In the two and a half years of my

Administra no justification whatsoever for this. statement. experience the Exécutive Council has functioned in the normal manner. tion is everywhere interconnected with finance, and decisions of the Executive Council involving expenditure have necessarily been subject to the condition that As regards all supplementary the Legislative Council will vote the necessary funds. supply, the Legislative Council exercises its power over the purse through the Finance which came up for consideration by Committee, and I know of no

reason other than that it was dependent That body, which did so upon expenditure which the Committee was required to sanction. The Commissioners have not cited any instance in which reference to the Finance Committee was gratuitous. The practice of taking action without the knowledge of the unofficial members, on matters which would subsequently call for their sanction of expenditure, had been resorted to on certain occasions prior to Sir Hugh Clifford's assumption of the Govern- ment. There had been thereby engendered a justifiable feeling of distrust when, as inevitably happened, the discovery was made that such action had been taken, and Sir Hugh Clifford from the moment of his arrival set his face against the practice. The Government has continued to observe the constitutional procedure as regards finance which dates from the first days of the British Administration, and, although the Legis- lative Council has now been given power-with the intention presumably that it should use it in its discretion—to reject the Executive Government's proposals, that power is hardly ever exercised.

25. The Commissioners, on pages 27 and 28. have only partly apprehended the Government's motives in referring inatters for consideration by Committees. They have stated on page 19 that the unofficial members were as anxious as the official members to promote the good government of the country," but the Ceylonese and the Govern- ment conceptions of what action would, and what action would not, promote the good government of the country were widely divergent. The unofficials came to the new Council with a red-hot enthusiasm to set everything immediately right. They were now in a position to insist upon innumerable proposals of a highly complicated and vital description being simultaneously considered. The-from their point of view-fortunate accident of an overflowing Treasury enabled them to demand more staff, and ever more staff to carry out their projects. They had no knowledge of affairs, no practical experi- ence of administration, and they were not in a position to appreciate the fact that a Government such as that of Ceylon cannot in the nature of things deal with a multitude of difficult questions at one and the same time with any prospect of bringing them to successful conclusion. It was a realisation of this truth, and not a feeble desire to take the line of least resistance, which led the Government to slow matters up by referring question after question to a Select Committee. I cannot agree with the Commissioners on page 28 that "the inevitable result has been stagnation and delay in public business, and a sacrifice of efficiency altogether disproportionate to the advantages gained." T hold on the contrary that the Committee policy has compelled the unofficial members to take breath and consider; it has saved the Government from being overwhelmed by a flood of immature and undigested projects; and it has enabled the Administration to prosecute all necessary public business with reasonable efficiency and expedition.

26. The passage regarding the Treasurer, on page 69, gives in my opinion an incorrect impression regarding the practice observed, which is that of ordinary Crown Colony procedure, I have heard Sir Hugh Clifford say that more matters are referred to the Treasurer in Ceylon than in any other Colony of which he has had experience, and I am myself in a position to state that in Ceylon the Treasurer is far more frequently consulted, and on a far wider range of subjects, than was the case in Hong Kong.

27. At pages 125-127 the Commissioners have drawn a depressing picture of the plight of the Public Service, but their facts are not altogether correct. They cite the strong line taken by Sir William Manning, who got the Salaries Scheme of 1922 through the Council by making it clear that he would use his powers of certification in the event of continued opposition, and they contrast Sir Hugh Clifford's action in appointing Committee " to review the salaries of Government officials and even the caires of the in terms which suggest that this was a concession weakly Government Departments made as a sop to the unofficial majority, and they quote it as an instance of the allegedl conciliation to the utmost limits of Sir Hugh Clifford's administration. In the course of the debate on salaries in 1922, Sir William Manning stated that he understood that, very drastic steps were to be taken by some members, but that would in no way prevent

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his doing what he considered to be his duty to the Public Servants of the Colony: and the influence of that statement upon the unofficial members may be gauged by the fact that the Government's proposals scraped through by a bare majority of one, and the defeated minority, comprising all the Ceylonese elected members, walked in a body out of the House. I can find no evidence that Sir William Manning gave any other indica- tion of any intention to use his powers of certification in this connection: On the other hand, the intense unofficial opposition resulted in a pledge, made in 1922, that oppor- tunity would be given to review the salaries after a period of five years; and it was in fulfilment of that pledge-not from personal wish, nor from weak concession, nor from any desire to placate, but solely because he found himself in honour bound-that Sir Hugh Clifford appointed the Committee of 1926.

28. The Commissioners refer on page 127 to "the precarious nature of the passage concession, which deprives many officers of the certainty of being able to Sir Hugh Clifford in. 1926 appointed a Committee on proceed on leave of absence." passages again solely in honourable fulfilment of a pledge given in 1922 that the passage scheme would be reconsidered after an interval of four years. The Committee recommended a ten per cent, cut for reasons connected with Ceylonese, not European passages, which recommendation was not accepted by the Government, and the matter Passages are being paid in full, and. under consideration by the Salaries Committee

as far as I am aware, the position is not precarious.

29. The Commissioners mention also, on page 127. the alarm occasioned in the minds of the Public Service at the consideration recently shown to the criticisms of the Finance Committee on proposals dealing with pensions and death gratuities. The matter did not at any stage go before the Finance Committee, which has never criticised the Government's proposals. In the summer of 1927, in pursuance of a recominenda- tion made by Sir Hugh Clifford to the Secretary of State. I caused the necessary financial provision to be inserted in the Budget for 1927-28. The Legislative Council referred the matter to the Salaries Committee, which reported in favour of the Govern- ment's recommendations, and the Legislative Council has recently given its approval by a unanimous vote, with retrospective effect from the beginning of this financial year, that is, from the date which the Government had originally proposed.

30. Certain members of the Public Service brought strong pressure to bear upon Sir Hugh Clifford, and later upon myself, to dispense with this customary procedure. They urged that under Ordinance No. 6 of 1905 the Governor had power to allocate the necessary funds, and that he was under no obligation to consult the Legislative Council, and should not do so. Whatever might be the strict legal interpretation of the Governor's powers under the Ordinance, it had been the invariable practice to insert in the budget the vote required for payment of pensions, and Sir Hugh Clifford and I refused to create a new precedent by removing from the budget the pensions provision or any part of it.

31. Misunderstandings have of course been inevitable. The tiovernment cannot proclaim its motives and intentions from the housetops. But I think that the Com- missioners have painted altogether too gloomy a picture of the Public Service's des- pondency. My impression of the Service is that it comprises a very capable and loyal body of men who have shown admirable good temper under trying circumstances, have accepted the new order of things remarkably well, and have worked just as whole- heartedly as they would have done if no changes had taken place. Those members, who have communicated to the Commissioners their fears as to their personal prospects. have surely been crying out before they have been hurt, seeing that since the day of Sir Tugh Clifford's arrival no single one of them is one penny the worse off, and they have gained pension commutation, death gratuity, and a greatly improved vacation leave concession, while it is known that the Salaries Committee is about to recommend an increase in the salaries of a very large number of Public Officers.

32. I have suggested that certain persons have, either of set purpose, or through a nisunderstanding of the course of events, portrayed, a weak Government and a domineering Finance Committee, and I have endeavoured to present another aspect. My apology for this expression of my views is that Sir Hugh Clifford had no oppor- tunity to explain his policy to the Commissioners, who, if they knew him, would not suppose that he could lend himself to weak concessions, or could throw his Public Service to the wolves. It was a fortunate day for Ceylon, and for the British Empire, when Sir Hugh Clifford came back to the Island. He came at a critical moment, to find the Ceylonese flushed with victory and uncertain how to use their new advantage. He took the unofficial members into his confidence. He invited their co-operation, showed

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them all the working of the machinery of Government, taught them to adjust relative values, and made them realise that first of all they must learn to govern themselves. It is my earnest conviction that the course which Sir Hugh Clifford deliberately followed, was the only wise course and the only right course to pursue,

28th August, 1928.

A. G. M. FLETCHER.

Colonial Secretary.

PASSAGES FROM THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION ON THE CONSTITUTION.

the

manner

It remains to examine its working and the difficulties of administration to which it has given rise. We realise that the Constitution was framed to meet the requirements of a transitional stage in the political advancement of Ceylon, and that it was in no sense intended to be a complete and finished structure. That it would need adjustment to accord with changing conditions was thus to be expected, and it was deliberately designed to be capable of such adjustment.

in which the grant to the Much depended therefore on elected representatives of a controlling voice in the Council was interpreted. It was true that it transferred the balance of power from a responsible Executive to an irre- sponsible Legislature, an experiment which could not be without risk; on the other hand the very extent of the power entrusted to them made the elected members in a reai sense co-partners in the Government. It was clear that without their active co-operation the Government would be helpless, but it was equally clear that they were as anxious as the official members to promote the good government of the country and would not be likely to withhold that co-operation. The system thus promised a means of educating the unofficial members in the arts of government and the complexities of public busi- ness, and of providing them with that training which would enable them in future years to assume responsibility for the administration of the Island. In the meantime the closest and the most intimate contact was ensured by the constitution which, by depriv- ing officials and unofficials alike of the power to act independently of each other, was calculated to produce an atmosphere of mutual assistance and goodwill.

It is then no matter for surprise that the launching of continuous and irresponsible attacks on the members of the Government collectively and individually became the distinctive feature of their policy.

In this unenviable situation the Government was faced with alternative courses of action. It could either risk a crisis by standing its ground in the face of an adverse majority, adhering to its considered proposals and throwing on the Council the responsi- bility for rejecting them; or it could give ground when opposed in order to secure the best compromise available. The Government chose the latter course. It may well have felt the danger of a series of crises which would have made more difficult continuity in constitutional advance. It, not unnaturally, was loath to run the risk of forcing a crisis in the early stages of the Constitution and it hoped by the adoption of a concilia- tory policy to convince the unofficial members of the sincerity of its motives and the reasonableness of its intentions, to woo them from an attitude of perpetual opposition and to introduce an atmosphere of cordiality in which genuine co-operation and achieve- ment would be possible. This last object has to some extent been realised, but the Page 22. unofficial members, though perhaps less distrustful of the Government now than as hostile critics. formerly, have shown no signs of abandoning their general position

On the contrary, they were encouraged to redouble their efforts. seeing as they now did the full extent of their power. They had only to maintain the pressure to have the administrative machine completely at their mercy,

These developments, perhaps inevitable, served the best interests neither of the unofficial members nor of the Government. The former were emboldened to travel outside the sphere of legislation and to hamper the machinery of (lovernment in execu- The policy of the Government involved a virtual tive and administrative matters.

surrender of control, and its representatives in the Council could not but lose dignity. The reactions on its supporters and on those who looked to it for support were equally unfortunate, the effect on the moral of the public services disastrous. This aspect of the matter we shall deal with in greater detail at a later stage of the Report: it will suffice to observe here that the direction in which the Constitution was permitted to develop could not fail to handicap officials and unofficials alike in achieving the best results for the government of the country.

* Cmd. 3131.