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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TEC.O. 882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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new Constitution. I have also received your despatch No. 444 of the 27th May,* enclosing a memorandum by Sir Robert Johnson on the subject.

2. I approve in principle of your proposal that each Officer of State should have a deputy with the pay and status of a Head of a Department who would relieve the Officer of State of part of his routine duties and also act for him whenever the necessity should arise, subject to the receipt of a further despatch from you in connexion with You will, no doubt, be able the appointment of a deputy to the Attorney-General.

to provide these officers, in the first instance, from the establishment of the Citil Service and you will, I presume, submit in due course proposals for the financial liability involved.

3. I approve of your proposal that the Treasurer should be designated Treasurer and Financial Adviser, and that the designation of Auditor should be changed to Auditor-General. I should be glad to consider in more detail proposals as to the relations between the Auditor-General and the State Council.

0.83230/10/31 [No. 1].

No. 58.

I have, &c.,

PASSFIELD.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 4.21 p.m., 20th April, 1931.) TELEGRAM.

No. 96. SECRET. 20th April. Your despatch of 18th July, 1930, No. 374.† As Deputy Chief Secretary I propose to appoint. Mr. F. G. Tyrrell, who is eminently suited for the post both by seniority and qualifications. This recommendation is made on the assumption that a Governship is not at present available for Mr. Tyrrell as recommended by my predecessor, a recommendation which has my entire support. I should be grateful for very early reply as a number of other appointments depend

on this one.

As Deputy Financial Secretary I propose to appoint Mr. C. W. Bickmore, now Assistant Colonial Treasurer, who acted as Treasurer during Woods' leave last year with marked success.

As regards financial liability I do not, in view of financial situation, propose to ask the State Council to vote special salaries, higher than present Civil Service salaries, for these posts. Tyrrell will draw his present salary, and I propose to ask the State Council to agree that special salary of £1,800 now attached to post of Controller of Revenue (which will disappear) should in future be attached to the post of Deputy Chief Secretary. Bickmore will also draw present pay of Class II upon appointment, but I consider that the Deputy Financial Secretary should be a Class I post, and I propose in connexion with next year's Estimates to ask the State Council to agree to provide for two extra Class I posts, in order that the two posts of Deputy Financial Secretary and Member of the Land Court (about which I will address you separately) may be added to Class I posts. This will not involve addition to total number of Civil Service posts, and will make possible promotion of Bickmore to Class I without passing over any Officer senior to him who is fit for promotion.

* No. 56

+ No. 57.

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(4) Proposals for the Reorganization of the Law Officer's Department.

C. 83235/31 [No. 1.]

MY LORD,

No. 59.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE

(Received 12th January, 1931.).

(No. 989.)

Queen's Cottage, Nuwara Eliya, 24th December, 1930. WITH reference to the concluding paragraph of Mr. Bourdillon's despatch No. 444 of the 27th May, 1930,* I have the honour to inform Your Lordship that the whole question of the staff of the Law Officer's Department under the new Constitution and the organization of that staff has now been fully considered, and I enclose for Your Lordship's information a memorandum by the Attorney-General dated 22nd August, 1930, setting out his views on the matter and submitting detailed proposals.

2. In this memorandum Mr. Jackson after discussing certain difficulties which seem to him to arise from the proposals of the Special Commission, as well as from conditions which have come into being in recent years, submits for consideration two schemes Scheme A, drawn up on the assumption that the Legal Draftsman's Office is to be placed under the Chief Secretary as proposed by the Special Commission, and Scheme B, which provides for a separation of the office of the Legal Officer of State from that of the Attorney-General, and the placing of the Draftsman's Office under the control of the Legal Officer of State. Mr. Jackson, for the very cogent reasons set out in his memorandum, recommends the adoption of Scheme B.

3. I have consulted the Judges of the Supreme Court, who have expressed them- selves in general agreement with Mr. Jackson's views, and it is the unanimous opinion of my Executive Council that they should be adopted. In Your Lordship's telegram No. 111 of 29th August, 1930,† you have suggested that the Legal Draftsman's Oflice should be under the Attorney-General, and not under the Chief Secretary, as proposed by the Donoughmore Commission. For the reasons urged by Mr. Jackson I strongly support this proposal. In fact I consider it of great importance for the proper working of the new Constitution.

4. I am also strongly impressed by Mr. Jackson's arguments in favour of the separation of the Offices of Legal Officer of State and Attorney-General. As was noted by the Donoughmore Commission, the congestion of work in the Attorney-General's Office is serious; and further, the Attorney-General is quite unable to cope with all his statutory duties, many of which are, in actual fact, performed by the Solicitor- General or even by Crown Counsel. The proposed separation of duties will not only enable closer supervision to be exercised over the work of the Courts than is at present possible, but it will also free the Attorney-General to devote more time to his proper duties.

5. The proposed scheme presupposes the appointment of the present Attorney- General to be Legal Officer of State, and the appointment of the present Solicitor- General and Deputy Solicitor-General to be Attorney-General and Solicitor-General respectively. The Order in Council will, of course, have to provide for the post of Legal Officer of State, but I am at present advised that no separate provision for the post of Attorney-General will be necessary. I am causing this question to be examined further, but, if my present impression proves to be correct, I do not propose to bring up the question of the separation of the two posts and the consequent extra financial provision until the State Council comes into being. I hope to be able to convince them of the necessity for the change, but am doubtful of being able to convince the present Legislative Council, and am anxious, if possible, to avoid putting the question before them.

6 Since the receipt of Mr. Jackson's proposals certain minor modifications of Scheme B with regard to staff and scales of salary have been found to be necessary, and I annex a schedule showing the salary scales of the existing and proposed establish- ments of the Legal Departments as finally agreed upon together with a further schedule showing the allocation of staff under the proposed scheme between the Department of the Legal Officer of State and that of the Law Officers. The mean salary cost of the existing scheme is Rs.2,53,067/-, while the mean salary cost of the proposed scheme is Rs.2,95,757/-. Of the additional mean cost of Rs.42,690/-, a sum of

† C. 73230/7/30 (No. 26]; not printed.

* No. 56.

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