CINGALESE DUE SOON TO GO TO THE POLL

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1238, 10 July 1947, Page 3

CINGALESE DUE SOON TO GO TO THE POLL

NEAR-DOMINION STATUS

Milestone In Political Advance The new Constitution, of Ceylon, with its 6,500,000 population, which will mark a milestone in its political advance, is to be inaugurated, early in November next with the ceremonial opening of the first House of Representatives and Senate. It confers a near-Dominion status on this island of 25,000 square miles, which has hitherton been governed as a British Crown Colony. On July 14 the Governor of Ceylon will issue a proclamation fixing the date for the General Election. July 31 will be Nomination Day, followed by the election between August 30 and September 30. The position is new clear. According to Mr. E. R. Sudbury, Commissioner' of Parliamentary Elections, _39 of the 50 registers entrusted to British printers have been sent back for final printing. The remaining 11 are now going. As for the 39 registers entrusted to the Government press, most of them are ready, and a few a e already in the hands of the printers for final printing. Mr. Sudbury gave Reuters facts and figures to show that what could humanly and reasonably be done to enable the people of the island to register themselves as voters had been done.

■His officers, he said, had dene an excellent job, considering the difficulty of dealing with such a vast number, of persons, most of whom live in not easily accessible estates and hamlets. As many as 2,988,749 men, and women of the island' have already registered as voters,. This l would leave only 254,678 adults without

votes, assuming that the island’s adult population total, estimated by last yer.»r’s census at 3,243,427, is correct.

Mr. Sudbury thinks the total number of voters for the forthcoming- general election will be increased when the claims for the remaining 14 electoral registers are adjudicated.

Taking all factors into consideration, he terms it a creditable achievement to have 2,988,749 voters on the list, since it means n addition of approximately 224,110 votes over the figures for the last revision of the electoral register in 1945. In 1936, when the last general election was held, there were only 2,451,323 voters on the list.