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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

156

allegation of breach of faith. Preliminary Order will follow draft enclosed in your despatch subject to examination by legal advisers and to modifications indicated in my open telegram. Text of such modifications and date of signature, &c., will be telegraphed. Telegraph when you propose to publish my open telegram.-PASSFIELD.

C. 73230/30 [No. 54].

No. 107.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 1.1 p.m., 11th June, 1930.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 108.]

11TH JUNE. No. 68. Confidential. Your telegram 10th June, No. 51.* Will publish your telegram No. 50† on Saturday, 14th June, but should be glad to indicate at the same time probable date of publication of preliminary Order in Council. Can you let me know this?

C. 73230/30 (No. 55].

No. 108.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.

(Sent 1.15 p.m., 13th June, 1930.) TELEGRAM.

No. 53. Your telegram of 11th June.‡

Preliminary Order in Council will, if possible, be submitted to His Majesty at a Council meeting towards the end of June; exact date cannot be specified at present.

I have informed Secretary of State for India that I have no objection to publica- tion in India of my telegram No. 50† on 14th June.-PASSFIELD.

C. 73230/30 [No. 58].

No. 109.

COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE.

Downing Street, 18th June, 1930. SIR,

WITH reference to the letter from this Department of the 1st May,§ on the subject of the proposals for the franchise under the new Constitution of Ceylon, I am directed by Lord Passfield to transmit to you, to be laid before the Secretary of State for India, a copy of a telegramt addressed to the Officer Administering the Govern- ment of Ceylon in the matter.

This telegram embodies the conclusions reached after verbal discussions between Lord Passfield and Mr. Wedgwood Benn.

I am, &c.,

H. R. COWELL.

157

any

3. As regards the minor points raised in your letter, Lord Passfield has been in consultation with Sir Herbert Stanley, and he understands that the proposal to charge a fee in respect of the issue of a certificate of permanent settlement has been addition dropped. As regards the literacy test, Lord Passfield sees no ground for to the languages (English, Singalese, and Tamil) officially recognized. I am to point out that under the new Constitution literacy will be only an alternative qualification. Lord Passfield considers that voters who desire to obtain the vote under this qualification should be literate in one of the languages common in Ceylon.

4. As regards the final paragraph of your letter, Lord Passfield cannot admit that under the new Constitution Indians resident in Ceylon will be placed in any position of inferiority. He directs me further to point out that the Governor will have special powers for the protection of any minority community.

C. 73230/10/30 [No. 32].

(No. 740.)

MY LORD,

No. 111.

I am, &c..

J. H. EMMENS

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 29th September, 1930.)

Queen's House, Colombo,

10th September, 1930. I HAVE the honour to transmit a copy of a memorial addressed to Your Lordship by Mohamed Hossain Khan, an Afghan merchant resident in Colombo, who requests Your Lordship to advise me to nominate a representative of the Afghan community in Ceylon to the State Council when the new Constitution is introduced.

2. The question of Afghan representation in Ceylon does not appear to have been previously considered, owing no doubt to the very small size of the local Afghan community. There were 466 Afghans in Ceylon at the census of 1911, and 304 (or 470 including natives of Baluchistan) at the census of 1921. There is no indication that the number has materially increased since 1921 and it is probably still in the neigh- bourhood of 500, though I am not in a position to deny that the writer's estimate of approximately 600 may be correct.

3. The Order in Council introducing the new Constitution, as at present drafted, provides for the nomination of eight members. The recommendation in the Report of the Special Commission on the Constitution* (pages 100-101) is that these nominations should be made after a general election, the intention being that they should be used "to make the State Council more generally representative of the national interests,” and not necessarily to provide for the representation of minority communities. It is clearly impossible to foresee what national interests are likely to require more adequate representation, and what nominations are likely to be made, until the result of the general election is known, and in any case it seems extremely unlikely that it will he found possible, or even considered at all necessary, to provide for representation of the Afghan community.

4. I suggest that the memorialist should be informed that the selection of nominated members of the State Council must await the result of the elections, and that in the meantime Your Lordship is not prepared to make any promise or express any opinion in that behalf.

I have, &c..

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

C. 73230/10/30 '[No. 17].

SIR,

No. 110.

COLONIAL OFFICE to MR. I. X. PEREIRA.

Downing Street, 18th June, 1930.

I AM directed by Lord Passfield to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd June, on the subject of the qualifications for the franchise under the proposed lew Constitution of Ceylon.

2. I am to state that on the general question of the Indian franchise, Lord assfield is in communication with the Officer Administering the Government, and that he hopes that a statement will be issued shortly.

* No. 106.

† No. 105.

↑ No. 107.

§ No. 100.

| No. 104.

Enclosure in No. 111.

H. J. STANLEY,

Governor.

THE HUMBLE MEMORIAL OF MOHAMED HOSSAIN KHAN. AFGHAN MERCHANT, or No. 50, CHURCH STREET, SLAVE ISLAND, COLOMBO, IN THE ISLAND OF CEYLON.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,

Tux undersigned begs to submit this humble memorial on behalf of himself and

his fellow-countrymen domiciled in the loyal Island of Ceylon.

The Afghans in this country are British-born subjects hailing from Pishin-Quetta. in British Baluchistan, where we act as a buffer between Afghanistan and British India.

* Cmd. 3131.