CO129-600-2 Salaries Commission- proposed Public Services Commission 20-1-1948 - 1-3-1948 — Page 38

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CEYLON GOVT. GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

38

MAY 17, 1946

Short title and application.

Dates of operation.

AND WHEREAS paragraph 10 of the said Statement of Poli contained the following decision :

"His Majesty's Government are in sympathy with the desire of the people of Ceylon to advance towards Dominion status and they are anxious to co-operate with them to that end. With this in mind, His Majesty's Government have reached the conclusion that a Constitution on the general lines proposed by the Soulbury Commission (which also conforms in broad outline, save as regards the Second Chamber, with the Constitutional scheme put forward by the Ceylon Ministers themselves) will provide a workable basis for constitutional progress in Ceylon.

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Experience of the working of Parliamentary institutions in the British Commonwealth has shown that advance to Dominion status has been effected by modification of existing constitutions and by the establishment of conventions which have grown up in actual practice.

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Legislation such as the Statute of Westminster has been the recognition of constitutional advances already achieved rather than the instrument by which they were secured. It is therefore the hope of His Majesty's Government that the new constitution will be accepted by the people of Ceylon with a determination so to work it that in a comparatively short space of time such Dominion status will be evolved. The actual length of time occupied by this evolutionary process must depend upon the experience gained under the new constitution by the people of Ceylon":

AND WHEREAS, having regard to the matters aforesaid, it is expedient to revoke the said Orders in Council and to make other provision in lieu thereof :

NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby ordered by His Majesty, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, as follows:-

PART I.

PRELIMINARY.

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council, 1946.

(2) Nothing in this Order shall extend to the Maldive Islands.

2.—(1) This Order shall be published in the Government Gazette. (2) Parts I., IV. and IX. of this Order shall come into operation on the date on which this Order is published in the Government Gazette.

(3) Part III. of this Order shall come into operation on such date as the Governor may appoint by Proclamation, being a date not earlier than nine months from the date on which this Order is published in the Government Gazette.

(4) Parts II., V., VI. and VII. of this Order shall come into operation on such date or dates as the Governor may appoint by Proclamation, being a date or dates not later than the date on which the names of Members elected to the first House of Repre- sentatives are first published in the Government Gazette.

(5) Part VIII. of this Order shall come into operation on the first day of October next following the date of the first meeting of the House of Representatives.

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