CO885-24 — Page 33

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO.885

24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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CEYLON.

in the island passes through their hands. A considerable portion of their business is done through Messrs. Freudenberg & Company, Colombo, who are the largest indiv.dual importers of piece goods of British manufacture, and to whom they are indebted in considerable sums of money, the immediate payment of which would mean ruin to a very large number of the petitioners. Most of Your Excellency's petitioners have also, by a long course of trade with Messrs. Freudenberg & Com- pany, established a credit with that firm which, if withdrawn, it would be impos- The absence of such credit, particularly at the sible for them to get elsewhere. present juncture, would involve them in great financial trouble.

Messrs. Your Excellency's humble petitioners also include the export merchants and the dealer both in the various coco-nut products and also in plumbago. Freudenberg & Company hold about 30 per cent. of this trade in their hands, and that portion is almost wholly limited to the enterprise and energy of Your Excel- They have always looked to that firm for advances lency's humble petitioners. against produce, and such other facilities as the banks give their more favoured rivals in business. Your Excellency's humble petitioners have incurred large responsi- bilities owing to their interest in copra, coco-nut, cinnamon, plumbago, cocoa, and rubber, and also on the manures they have obtained for their coco-nut, paddy, and other garden produce.

There are no Some of Your Excellency's humble petitioners interested in all these native industries are to-day in woeful plight, as they have no trade. buyers for their produce, nowhere to store their wares, no way of receiving moneys to tide over the present difficulties or pay their workmen, clerks, and other assistants.

Your Excellency's humble petitioners submit their hard case for your gracious consideration, and pray that Your Excellency may be pleased to take into account the unfortunate conditions of thousands of merchants and dealers in the towns and villages, including coco-nut merchants and planters, plumbago traders, miners, and merchants, and also the piece goods merchants all the island over, who find their trades and means of livelihood gone, and grant them such relief as Your Excellency may deem fit.

As a means of gaining that relief they pray that they be permitted to deal with Messrs. Freudenberg & Company, who have so far been their bankers, and from whom they have received all banking facilities in the way of advances and loans.

The sudden stoppage of this large work has cast several thousand men out of employment, and has rendered several thousand tons of produce unsaleable and unproductive. But Your Excellency's humble petitioners have incurred responsi- bilities which, in the event of their breaking connexion with that firm, they will have to meet. The hundreds of bills, amounting to many lacs of rupees, will be handed over to the banks for collection, and Your Excellency's humble petitioners, in the straitened circumstances in which they find themselves, will find it impossible to pay.

Your Excellency's humble petitioners therefore pray for such alleviation as their unfortunate condition may deserve, and for permission to continue their trade In furtherance of their prayer, Your with Messrs. Freudenberg & Company.

Excellency's humble petitioners would submit that cooo-nut and copra cannot be kept in stock for long, except when turned into oil. Messrs. Freudenberg & Com- pany are the only firm who own sufficient plant to convert the present large supply of copra into oil, and have ample enough provision for storing the same in bulk.

For which act of kindness, as in duty bound, the humble petitioners,

Shall ever pray.

21st August, 1914.

39916/S

SIR,

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CEYLON.

No. 31.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 15th October, 1914.)

(Confidential.)

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon,

15th September, 1914. IN continuation of my Confidential despatch of 9th September, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the following telegraphic despatches:-

(a) Your cipher telegram of 10th September, informing me that the Army Council would accept the services of a Ceylon contingent if it were offered for service in Egypt, and if the Colonial Government would pay expenses of transport.

The Army Council's proposal was communicated to the 125 officers and men already in training at Diyatalawa, and was accepted unanimously, though with some expressions of regret that the contingent had not been accepted for service in the fighting line on the Continent.

In reply to your telegram, by my cipher telegram of 13th September, I hastened to accept the War Office offer, and to inform you that the Colonial Government would, of course, arrange for, and pay cost of, transport of one double company of trained infantry to Egypt. I added the hope of the Colony that the contingent might be accepted for service on the Continent, in which case the Colony would contribute a sum of £10,000 in all towards the expenses of its transport and upkeep. I await your reply. Meanwhile the numbers of the contingent are rapidly filling up as it becomes known that the contingent is really to leave Ceylon to serve the Empire overseas. In this connexion I may mention that the important Association of Estates Agents in Colombo have come forward with a promise to keep open, to the full of their power, the places of those planters who have joined the contingent.

(b) Your telegram of 11th September, detailing the amendments of the Proclamations of 5th and 12th August; relating to trading with the enemy. On this I decided to take no action, pending the receipt of the further communication promised in the last paragraph of the telegram. I informed you of this provisional decision by my telegram of 13th September.

(c) Your telegram of 12th September, informing me of the withdrawal of the King's exequatur from Germans and Austrians acting as Consuls for other foreign Powers.

Action had already been taken here on the lines indicated in this telegram, and no further action was necessary.

(d) Your telegram of the 12th September, informing me of the diffi- culties which had arisen between shippers and shipowners regarding the insertion of a new clause in bills of lading.

Steps have been taken to carry out your instructions in this matter and to reassure the shippers.

(e) Your telegram of 12th September, informing me that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty do not now desire to requisition the cargo of the 8.8. "Fürth," but that they desire to know the ownership of a certain portion of the zine concentrates.

The information will be supplied in due course.

(Your telegram of 14th September, in reply to my telegram of 12th September, regarding payment of officers who are prisoners of war.

As instructed by you, I am taking no action pending the further instruc- tions which you promise.

(g) Your telegram of 14th September, inquiring whether the Press Bureau summaries sent by you are found to be so useful and so appreciated as to be worth continuing.

In reply, I have informed you by my telegram of to-day's date 15th September-that, while the summaries are appreciated as reliable informa- tion of the progress of events, the news they contain has usually reached

* No. 80.