Cmd. 3131 Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE 15, Donegall Square West, Belfast; or through any Bookseller. 1928. Price 3s. 6d. Net Ceylon Constitution Personnel of the Commission :— The Right Hon. the Earl of DONOUGHMORE, P.C., K.P. (Chairman). The Right Hon. Sir MATTHEW NATHAN, P.C. (Ire.), G.C.M.G. Sir GEOFFREY BUTLER, K.B.E., M.P. Dr. T. DRUMMOND SHIELS, M.C., M.P. Mr. P. A. CLUTTERBUCK, M.C., Colonial Office (Secretary). ... ... ... CHAPTER III.-Working of the Existing Constitution... ... CHAPTER V. Franchise and Representation CHAPTER VI.-The Kandyan Claim... CHAPTER VII.-Local Administration ... ... CHAPTER VIII.-The Civil and Public Services IX.-Miscellaneous ... ... ... CHAPTER X.-Summary of Recommendations 4 18 30 ... 80 103 APPENDIX IV.-Statistics of Population, Revenue and Expenditure, Shipping, Imports and Exports, Education, and Cultivation APPENDIX V. The Kandyan Convention of the 2nd March, 1815, and the Government Proclamation of the 21st November, 1818 APPENDIX VI.-Functions of the Finance Department ... APPENDIX VII.-Valedictory Correspondence MAPS General Map of Ceylon (Frontispiece). Maps of Ceylon showing the Distribution of Certain Races (Facing page 90.) Map of Ceylon showing the Crude Density of Population (Facing page 101). To the Right Honourable L. C. M. S. Amery, M.P., Secretary of State for the Colonies: CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. We were appointed by you on August 6, 1927, as a Special Commission with the following terms of reference : "To visit Ceylon and report on the working of the existing Constitution and on any difficulties of administration which may have arisen in connection with it; to consider any proposals for the revision of the Constitution that may be put forward, and to report what, if any, amendments of the Order in Council now in force should be made.” To assist us in our task we were furnished with copies of all despatches, open and confidential, bearing on constitutional developments in Ceylon, and we were able, before our departure, to study the State Papers presented to Parliament in recent years. We left England on October 27, 1927, and arrived in Ceylon on November 13. We remained there until January 18, 1928, and were back in London on February 4. The details of our itinerary are given in the diary which forms Appendix I to this Report. During our stay in Ceylon we held thirty-four sittings for the purpose of taking evidence, the majority in Colombo; for the convenience of witnesses, however, sittings were also held at Kandy, Jaffna, Batticaloa, and Galle. We also visited, unofficially, many other parts of the Island and were thus able to obtain a general idea of the activities and interests of its varied population in the villages and the urban centres; of life in the paddy fields and on the coconut, rubber, and tea plantations; and of conditions in the arid districts of the North and South-East, the fertile hills and luxuriant valleys of the Centre and the prosperous paim-belt of the West and South. Famous temples and historic ruins, schools and colleges, hospitals and dispensaries, agricultural stations and irrigation tanks, workshops and factories, all these we visited to the extent that time permitted. Every branch of public and private enterprise was shown and explained to us. Everywhere the recipients of much private hospitality, we had the advantage of establishing the closest touch with all sections of the community. We examined 141 witnesses and delegations who appeared before us either on their own behalf or in the interest of political, religious, or commercial associations. A list of these is given in Appendix II to this Report. Other persons who were invited found themselves unable to give evidence, while others again applied too late to admit of our according them a hearing. Most 66333 A 2 |