• Self-Government For

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24625, 23 July 1945, Page 4

• Self-Government For

Ceylon , The Colonial Secretary has, inevitably, rejected the “ Free Ceylon “ Bill passed early this year by the Ceylon State Council; and the Council, as ,was also reported on Saturday. has protested against this “ denial of the rights of the people “ of Ceylon to freedom and to the “ determination of their own constitution The fact is that the State Council seeks to force the pace of constitutional reform much beyond that to which the Britisn Government has committed itself. As the Colonial Secretary expounded his Government’s policy m April. 1943, Britain stood by the assurance given two years earlier that, “ after the war ”, the island would be granted “ full responsible “ government under the Crown in “ all matters of internal civil ad- “ ministration That assurance had been limited by certain safeguards. Mr Stanley repeated them. Control of defence and external affairs was to remain in British hands; and the Governor couid veto certain bills, among them any “ which have evoked serious oppo- “ sition by any racial or religious “ community and are likely, in the “ Governor’s opinion, to involve “ oppression or unfairness to any “ community ’. The “ Free Ceylon Bill, with its provision for Dominion status, and that immediately, would confer very much more than Britain had offered. But the circumstances in which the bill was framed foretold its death. In May two years ago the Colonial S.ecre-

tary announced that a commission would be appointed to examine any proposals for constitutional reform formulated by Ceylon’s Board of Ministers anc( approved by threequarters of the State Council. These proposals were duly framed, and last July Mr Stanley reported that the Soulbury Commission would go to Ceylpn at the end of the year to examine them and to consult the various ■ interests concerned. The announcement was warmly welcomed by the minority communities. Of the island’s population 4,155,000 are Sinhalese, 1,543,000 Tamils, , 393,000 Moors, 41,000 Burghers and Eurasians, and 18,000 Malays; and with the present constituencies the Sinhalese majority controls the Board of Ministers and the State Council, Moreover, the Board of Ministers had declined vo consult minority opinion on the proposals. The Sinhalese Ministers, however, promptly refused to have anything to do with the Soulbury Commission, and, though the British Government insisted that in common fairness all sides of the case must be heard, declared that they would persist in their boycott. The commission went to Ceylon at the beginning of this year. The Sinhalese ignored it, and pushed ahead witn the “Free Ceylon” Bill. Amendments by the minorities, asking that their rights be safeguarded and that the draft constitution be framed within the terms of the Colonial Secretary's declaration, were rejected. The bill then passed has now been rejected, and, unhappily for Ceylon’s prospects of political advancement, the Sinhalese show no sign of contrition. Factional antics, wrote a correspondent of “ The Times ” in a survey of the Soulbury Commission’s task, had been doing “ great harm ” in • the previous two years. “Real differ- “ encesare being intensified; imagin- “ ary differences • are being made “ real. The sooner this period of “ suspense and indecision is brought “to a close, the better for all con- “ cerned ”. The period seems no nearer the end.