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C. 73230/7/30 [No. 9].

No. 126.

(Confidential.)

COLONIAL OFFICE to WAR OFFICE.

[Answered by No. 128.]

SIR.

Downing Street, 30th May, 1930. I AM directed by Lord Passfield to refer to your letter of the 17th April,* relative to the draft Order in Council to provide for the new Constitution in Ceylon and the consequential Letters Patent and Royal Instructions, and to request you to inform the Army Council that the Secretary of State is advised that any action of the Governor of Ceylon or of the local Legislature which purported to amend the Army Act, or which ran counter to its provisions, would be ultra vires.

2. With regard to the third and fourth paragraphs of your letter, the provision and definition in question are taken from existing instruments, and so far as the Secretary of State is aware, have hitherto led to no misunderstanding. As regards the fifth paragraph, I am to say that the position is as stated therein.

C. 73230/7/80 [No. 10].

(Confidential.)

No. 127.

I am, &c.,

H. R. COWELL.

COLONIAL OFFICE to AIR MINISTRY.

SIR,

Downing Street, 30th May, 1930. I AM directed by Lord Passfield to refer to your letter of the 10th May,† regarding the draft Order in Council to provide for the new Constitution of Ceylon and the draft Letters Patent and Royal Instructions consequential thereon, and to request you to inform the Air Council that the Secretary of State is advised that any Ordinance passed in Ceylon which purported to amend the Air Force Act would be ultra vires.

2. With regard to the third paragraph of your letter, I am to say that the Letters Patent have no bearing on the compulsory acquisition of land for Air Force purposes which would be governed by the Land Acquisition Ordinance; Clause IV (10) of the Royal Instructions would prevent the amendment of that Ordinance to the prejudice of Air Force interests. As regards the point raised in the final sentence of that para- graph, I am to say that emergency powers are given by the Order in Council of 7th May, 1928.

3. I am to add that the assumption contained in the fourth paragraph of your letter is correct.

C. 73230/7/30 [No. 11].

(Confidential.)

No. 128.

I am, &c.,

H. R. COWELL.

WAR OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

The War Office,

SIR,

London, S. W.1. 24th June, 1930. In reply to your letter of 30th May, regarding the draft Order in Council to provide for the new Constitution of Ceylon, I am commanded by the Army Council to acquaint you, for the information of Lord Passfield, that in view of the observations contained in your letter, they have no objection to the draft Order in Council and the consequential Letters Patent and Roval Instructions.

I am,

&c.,

A. E. WIDDOWS.

* No. 124.

† No. 125.

↑ No. 126.

C. 73230/7/30 [No. 19].

No. 129.

THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT to

THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 1 55 p.m., 14th July, 1930.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 132.]

No. 85. 14TH JULY. My telegram of 3rd July.* Order in Council. Following resolution passed by Legislative Council on 10th July

--

Begins (i) This House is of the opinion that provision in Order in Council in Section 18, as well as in notes to Form C, prohibiting and penalising those qualified from signing more than one application form of registration as a voter, is entirely unsuited to local conditions and liable to grave abuse and is calculated to defeat intention of Donoughmore Commissioners in framing a constitution based on adult franchise, and request Government to take necessary steps to delete provision above objected to and that this resolution should be cabled to the Secretary of State and Governor (Sir Herbert Stanley) if accepted by House.

(ii) That in order to facilitate registration Government do undertake registra- tration of qualified persons whether such persons apply for registration or not and that this resolution should be cabled to Secretary of State and Governor if accepted by House.-Ends.

Vote on the first part of motion: ayes 25. noes 14. and on second part: ayes 23, noes 16.

Comments follow.

C. 73230/7/30 [No. 21].

No. 130.

THE OFFICER ADMINISTERING THE GOVERNMENT to

THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 4 p.m., 16th July, 1930.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 132.]

No. 90. 16TH JULY. My telegram 14th July, No. 85.† 1 summoned a meeting of non-official members of the Council at Queen's House last morning. Practice here appears to be for all registration to be done in effect by candidates or their agents. They collect forms and impress on applicants that they must vote for the candidate through whom or through whose agent forms are sent in. Real_object of Resolution was to enable subsequent candidates to try and correct this impression by sending in further forms on behalf of the same lot of applicants. Ostensible object was to guard against application of potentially hostile person being suppressed by dishonest candidate. I met this latter object by agreeing that receipt of forms will be acknow- ledged and that any applicant whom receipt does not reach may send in second appli- cation stating that he has received no acknowledgment of the first. I will amend Form C. accordingly. I also promised to notify the public as widely as possible that submission of applications for registration through any particular person does not prejudice their freedom of voting.

As regards the second resolution, I pointed out that compulsory or automatic registration is directly opposed to the recommendation of the Donoughmore Commis. sion specifically accepted in your despatch. I agreed, however, that headmen should be instructed to render all possible assistance to would-be applicants in regard to both filling in and transmission of applications. Discussion was animated but amicable and non-officials appeared well pleased with the result.

* C. 73270/7/30 [No. 16]: not printed.

† No. 129.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference:

MC.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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