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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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CEYLON.

12. Prize Court proceedings with reference to six German vessels detained in Colombo are now before the Court. The ships in question are the "Furth,"

Rappenfels," Steinturm,' Trifels," "Reichenfels," and "Moltkefels."

专属

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was approached on the 12th instant by the Viceroy of India with a view to having the detained ships placed at the disposal of the Director of the Indian Marine to be used in connexion with the transport of troops. I replied that I was anxious to co-operate with India by placing the vessels when condemned at the dis- posal of the Director of Marine, and inquired whether he could arrange for navigating and convoying them.

The Director of Marine telegraphed on the 15th instant asking for the names and particulars of cargo of the vessels detained, and inquiring when they would be available. The desired particulars were sent him, and he was informed that it is hoped that the orders of the Prize Court may be made this week. Further action in this matter must await the determination of the proceedings in Court.

18.

I referred in paragraph 5 of my despatch of the 13th instant* to my appointment of a committee of gentlemen representing the interests of the local banks and of the Chamber of Commerce to exercise a controlling influence over the business transactions of the local German firms and to advise those who deal with The them as to the limits within which they might properly trade with them. committee found themselves in some instances hampered by the absence of some official pronouncement on the lines of the instructions which I had given them orally, and desired that some public and official notification might be issued for the guidance both of themselves and of the general public. After conferring with the members of the committee on the evening of the 13th instant, I caused to be issued the notification of which I enclose a copy.t

Yesterday evening the committee came to me again and said that there was some minor friction in carrying out the agreed arrangements, because of a slight disposition on the part of the smaller firms (both British and German) not to carry out the spirit of the notification in both its paragraphs at one and the same time. I told them at once to summon the transgressors and to inform :

(a) the Germans that I would deport them, and (b) the British that

trade.

might be forced to issue to some Germans a licence to

Throughout I have received the heartiest co-operation from the Chamber of Commerce and bankers, who are entirely at one with me in these questions of trading with the enemy, as well as in other matters relating to the economic posi- tion of the island. The committee to which I have referred went away yesterday expressing their belief that difficulties would disappear on the position being ade- I am still awaiting their quately explained by them to the business community.

report, but share their hope that matters may be adjusted with success in the true interests of the island, which can ill-afford to see some eight thousand Singhalese workers thrown out of employment by the stoppage of Messrs. Freudenberg's busi- ness and by the financial panic which would probably ensue among the Chetty community.

I have, &c.,

ROBERT CHALMERS,

52/S

SIR,

No. 28.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 21st September, 1914.)

(Confidential.)

Governor.

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 27th August, 1914.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt, during the past week, of the following telegraphic despatches:-

the

(i) Your telegram of the 19th instant, informing me that it is not for present the intention of the Admiralty to utilize the services of officers of the Royal Naval Reserve employed on merchant vessels abroad;

(ii) Your telegram of the 21st, directing that passports should not

be issued to British subjects of double nationality;

* No. 26.

+ Not reprinted: Government Gazette No. 6648.

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CEYLON.

(iii) Your telegram of the 22nd with regard to the application of Articles 3 to 8 of the Order in Council of 4th August to Austro-Hungarian merchant vessels.

The necessary action has been taken in each case.

I have also received your telegram of the 24th instant, intimating that the old Prize Court rules remain in force pending the proclamation of the new rules for- warded under cover of your despatch of the 14th instant.

2. I referred in paragraph 3 of my despatch of 20th instant* to the steps taken in regard to the organization of a contingent of local volunteers for service in Europe. The number of applications received up to date from those desirous of The list of applicants has been joining the contingent is approximately 250.

scrutinized, as regards the planters, by the Chairman of the Planters' Association and the Chairman of the Estate Agents' Association in Colombo; as regards mem- bers of the mercantile community in Colombo I have taken steps to assure myself that their applications are made with the consent of their employers; while in the case of Government servants all applications are required to be passed by the Colonial Secretary. It will, therefore, be possible, without detriment to the busi- ness interests of the island, to make an immediate commencement with the training of at least a portion of the 250 applicants and, as I announced in an address to the The final Legislative Council on the 24th instant, of which I enclose a copy, I propose to send a first detachment of those selected to Diyatalawa forthwith. arrangements are now in hand and I hope to see the training camp started by the first of next month.

3. As a further contribution from this Colony towards the needs of the Empire I propose that subscriptions should be raised locally on behalf of the Prince of Wales's Relief Fund, and a public meeting will be held on Tuesday next to inaugurate the local fund.

4. In the concluding portion of my address to the Legislative Council I referred to the cordial co-operation which has been accorded to me by the leaders of the commercial and agricultural communities of the island, both European and Ceylonese. In particular, I had in mind the assistance which I have received, and am receiving, from the Committee referred to in my previous despatches (presided The members of that over by Mr. J. Thomson Broome, of Messrs. James Finlay and Company, the newly- elected Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce). Committee have been unremitting in their efforts so to arrange matters in connexion with the transactions of the local German merchants as to secure the co-operation of conflicting interests and to overcome the opposition of the few whose self-interest has blinded them to the advantages of the broad lines of policy which I had sought to lay down. I am glad to say that, through the intervention of the Committee, that opposition has now almost entirely disappeared, and I am confident that the steps taken to deal with a situation which presented not a few difficulties will prove to have been fully justified by the results. The subject is one in which I take a keen personal interest, as I was an active member of the Sub-Committee of the Com- mittee of Imperial Defence which dealt with this subject a year or two years ago at home.

I may here add that the large and immediate interests of the permanent popu- lation of the island in this connexion are very fairly set out in the accompanying copy of an article in to-day's Ceylon Morning Leader.†

5. I am still in communication with the Government of India in regard to The Director of Indian the disposal of the enemy ships detained in Colombo.

Reichenfels" with her cargo of coal might be sent Marine has asked that the s.s.

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to Bombay and placed at his disposal in connexion with the transport of troops from India. The Prize Court was prepared to allow this to be done on a deposit being made in Court to the value of the ship's cargo. The Director of Marine has been so informed, and his reply is awaited. On the receipt of an intimation that either the Admiralty or the Indian Government is ready to furnish the required security I am prepared to advance the necessary sum forthwith from Colonial funds, subject to subsequent adjustment.

* No. 27.

† Not reprinted.