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Legislative Council of Ceylon

March 30, 2023

The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first form of representative government in the island. The 1931 Donoughmore Constitution replaced the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon.

Legislative Council of Ceylon
British Ceylon
Type
Type
History
Established13 March 1833
Disbanded1931
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byState Council of Ceylon
Seats16 (1833-1889)
18 (1889-1910)
21 (1910-1920)
37 (1920-1923)
49 (1923-1931)
Elections
Last election
1924 Ceylonese Legislative Council election
Meeting place
The Legislative Council building in Colombo Fort. The building was used by the Senate of Ceylon between 1947 and 1971. Today it is known as the Republic Building and houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Members of the Legislative Council, used the post-nominal letters, MLC.[1]

History

Introduction

In 1833 the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission created the Legislative Council of Ceylon, the first step in representative government in British Ceylon. Initially the Legislative Council consisted of 16 members: the British Governor, the five appointed members of the Executive Council of Ceylon (the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, the Auditor-General, the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding), four other government officials (including the Government Agents of the Western and Central provinces) and six appointed unofficial members (three Europeans, one Sinhalese, one Tamil and one Burgher). The unofficial members had no right to initiate legislation; they could only contribute to discussion. This was the first step towards giving the people of the country a voice in its administration. However, in 1860 the member of the Legislative Council were given the right to introduce legislation which did not deal with the financial matters.[2]

In 1889 the number of appointed unofficial members was increased to eight (three Europeans, one Low Country Sinhalese, one Kandyan Sinhalese, one Tamil, one Muslim and one Burgher).

McCallum Reforms

The Legislative Council was reformed in 1910 by the McCallum Reforms. Membership was increased from 18 to 21, of which 11 were official and 10 were unofficial. Of the non-official members, six were appointed by the governor (two Low Country Sinhalese, two Tamils, one Kandyan Sinhalese and one Muslim) and the remaining four were elected (two Europeans, one Burgher and one educated Ceylonese).

The most notable aspect of the McCallum Reforms was the introduction of elected members. However, fewer than 3,000 people could vote, as the right to vote was based on education and assets held. One of the four elected non-official members was Ponnambalam Ramanathan. The financial committee was also established to control the revenue. It included the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Revenue Controller and all the non-official elected members. These changes did not satisfy the Ceylonese, and the movement for constitutional reforms grew.

First Manning Reforms

Further reforms were enacted in 1920 by the First Manning Reforms. Membership was increased from 21 to 37, of which 14 were official and 23 were unofficial. Of the non-official members, four were appointed by the governor (two Kandyan Sinhalese, one Muslim and one Indian Tamil) and the remaining 19 were elected (11 on a territorial basis, five Europeans, two Burghers and one Chamber of Commerce).

A notable change was the introduction of territorial constituencies. Of the 11 territorial constituencies, three were from the Western Province and one each from the other eight provinces. Three non-official members were elected to the Executive Council. Yet again the Ceylonese were not satisfied and requested more change.

Second Manning Reforms

The Second Manning Reforms of 1923 increased membership from 37 to 49, of which 12 were official and 37 were unofficial. Of the non-official members, eight were appointed by the governor (three Muslim, two Indian Tamils and three others) and the remaining 29 were elected (23 on a territorial basis, three Europeans, two Burghers, one Ceylon Tamil for the Western Province). The 23 territorial constituencies were distributed as follows:

The head of the Legislative Council had been the Governor, but the new reforms created the post of President of the Legislative Council, which was held by the Governor on a nominal basis, and the Vice President of the Legislative Council was elected, who was James Peiris. Four non-official members were also selected to be part of the Executive Council.

Replacement

Due to the shortcomings of the Second Manning Reforms the Donoughmore Commission was sent to Ceylon. The Commission gained its name from the royal commission under the Earl of Donoughmore that came to Ceylon in 1927. Its recommendations led to Ceylon gaining limited self-government and the replacement of the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon in 1931.

Members of the Legislative Council

Official members

Unofficial members

References

  • Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 2: Beginning of British Rule". . Archived from the original on 2001-08-27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  • "First taste of representative government". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 18 March 2007.
  1. ^ Did Donoughmore make a serious mistake?
  2. ^ Cyrene Siriwardhana, Sri Lanka Law College Entrance Examination Course Book,(The Incorporated Council of Legal Education/Sri Lanka Law College, 1998), 26.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "D. S. Senanayake". The Island, Sri Lanka. 22 October 2000.
  4. ^ "No. 27172". The London Gazette. 9 March 1900. p. 1629.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g WIJESINHA, Sam (26 June 2009). . Daily News, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on June 28, 2009.
  6. ^ Gunawardena, Charles A. (2005). Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 1. ISBN 9781932705485.
  7. ^ "Sri Lankan Malays Fight For Parliament Representation". Colombo Telegraph. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  8. ^ Wenzlhuemer, Roland (23 January 2008). From Coffee to Tea Cultivation in Ceylon, 1880-1900. ISBN 9789047432173. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  9. ^ "The London Gazette". The London Gazette (26981): 3858. 24 June 1898.
  10. ^ "The London Gazette". The London Gazette (27578): 4589. 21 July 1903.
  11. ^ "The London Gazette". The London Gazette (27894): 1793. 13 March 1906.
  12. ^ "The London Gazette". The London Gazette (28587): 1659. 15 March 1912.
  13. ^ CEYLON'S BATTLE, The Straits Times (13 November 1929) Retrieved 2 November 2015
  14. ^ Traversed new paths making History, Ananda E. Goonesinha (The Island) Retrieved 2 November 2015

External links

  • Sri Lanka History
  • Sri Lanka History,worldxtravel

March 30, 2023
legislative, council, ceylon, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, september, 2020, learn, when, remove, this, temp. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations September 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon now Sri Lanka established in 1833 along with the Executive Council of Ceylon on the recommendations of the Colebrooke Cameron Commission It was the first form of representative government in the island The 1931 Donoughmore Constitution replaced the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon Legislative Council of CeylonBritish CeylonTypeTypeUnicameralHistoryEstablished13 March 1833Disbanded1931Preceded byNoneSucceeded byState Council of CeylonSeats16 1833 1889 18 1889 1910 21 1910 1920 37 1920 1923 49 1923 1931 ElectionsLast election1924 Ceylonese Legislative Council electionMeeting placeThe Legislative Council building in Colombo Fort The building was used by the Senate of Ceylon between 1947 and 1971 Today it is known as the Republic Building and houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Members of the Legislative Council used the post nominal letters MLC 1 Contents 1 History 1 1 Introduction 1 2 McCallum Reforms 1 3 First Manning Reforms 1 4 Second Manning Reforms 1 5 Replacement 2 Members of the Legislative Council 2 1 Official members 2 2 Unofficial members 2 2 1 Burgher 2 2 2 Chamber of Commerce 2 2 3 Planting member 2 2 4 Educated Ceylonese 2 2 5 European 2 2 6 Indian Tamil 2 2 7 Kandyan Sinhalese 2 2 8 Low Country Sinhalese 2 2 9 Muslim Moor 2 2 10 Sinhalese 2 2 11 Tamil 2 2 12 Territorial 3 References 4 External linksHistory EditIntroduction Edit In 1833 the Colebrooke Cameron Commission created the Legislative Council of Ceylon the first step in representative government in British Ceylon Initially the Legislative Council consisted of 16 members the British Governor the five appointed members of the Executive Council of Ceylon the Colonial Secretary the Attorney General the Auditor General the Treasurer and the General Officer Commanding four other government officials including the Government Agents of the Western and Central provinces and six appointed unofficial members three Europeans one Sinhalese one Tamil and one Burgher The unofficial members had no right to initiate legislation they could only contribute to discussion This was the first step towards giving the people of the country a voice in its administration However in 1860 the member of the Legislative Council were given the right to introduce legislation which did not deal with the financial matters 2 In 1889 the number of appointed unofficial members was increased to eight three Europeans one Low Country Sinhalese one Kandyan Sinhalese one Tamil one Muslim and one Burgher McCallum Reforms Edit The Legislative Council was reformed in 1910 by the McCallum Reforms Membership was increased from 18 to 21 of which 11 were official and 10 were unofficial Of the non official members six were appointed by the governor two Low Country Sinhalese two Tamils one Kandyan Sinhalese and one Muslim and the remaining four were elected two Europeans one Burgher and one educated Ceylonese The most notable aspect of the McCallum Reforms was the introduction of elected members However fewer than 3 000 people could vote as the right to vote was based on education and assets held One of the four elected non official members was Ponnambalam Ramanathan The financial committee was also established to control the revenue It included the Colonial Secretary Colonial Treasurer Revenue Controller and all the non official elected members These changes did not satisfy the Ceylonese and the movement for constitutional reforms grew First Manning Reforms Edit Further reforms were enacted in 1920 by the First Manning Reforms Membership was increased from 21 to 37 of which 14 were official and 23 were unofficial Of the non official members four were appointed by the governor two Kandyan Sinhalese one Muslim and one Indian Tamil and the remaining 19 were elected 11 on a territorial basis five Europeans two Burghers and one Chamber of Commerce A notable change was the introduction of territorial constituencies Of the 11 territorial constituencies three were from the Western Province and one each from the other eight provinces Three non official members were elected to the Executive Council Yet again the Ceylonese were not satisfied and requested more change Second Manning Reforms Edit The Second Manning Reforms of 1923 increased membership from 37 to 49 of which 12 were official and 37 were unofficial Of the non official members eight were appointed by the governor three Muslim two Indian Tamils and three others and the remaining 29 were elected 23 on a territorial basis three Europeans two Burghers one Ceylon Tamil for the Western Province The 23 territorial constituencies were distributed as follows Central Province 2 Eastern Province 2 Northern Province 5 North Central Province 1 North Western Province 2 Sabaragamuwa Province 2 Southern Province 3 Uva Province 1 Western Province 5The head of the Legislative Council had been the Governor but the new reforms created the post of President of the Legislative Council which was held by the Governor on a nominal basis and the Vice President of the Legislative Council was elected who was James Peiris Four non official members were also selected to be part of the Executive Council Replacement Edit Due to the shortcomings of the Second Manning Reforms the Donoughmore Commission was sent to Ceylon The Commission gained its name from the royal commission under the Earl of Donoughmore that came to Ceylon in 1927 Its recommendations led to Ceylon gaining limited self government and the replacement of the Legislative Council with the State Council of Ceylon in 1931 Members of the Legislative Council EditOfficial members Edit Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam 1906 3 Harding Hay Cameron Principal Collector of Customs 7 Mar 1900 4 William Driscoll Gosset Surveyor General George Lee Acting Auditor General C P Layard Government Agent Western Province H F Lockyer C J MacCarthy Colonial Secretary Sir James Peiris 1924 30 E R Power Government Agent Central Province H C Selby Frederick Richard Saunders Acting Treasurer Sir Graeme Tyrrell Colonial Secretary G Vane Acting Collector of CustomsUnofficial members Edit Burgher Edit J G Hillebrand appointed 1833 1843 John Frederick Giffening appointed 1843 1851 Sir Richard Morgan appointed 1851 1856 Charles Ambrose Lorensz appointed 1856 1864 James Adrianus Martensz appointed 1865 1872 Charles Ferdinands appointed 1873 1875 James Arthur Van Langenberg Sr appointed 1876 1886 Peter Daniel Anthonisz appointed 1886 1894 Henry Lorensz Wendt appointed 1895 1900 Frederick Charles Loos appointed 1900 1911 William Gregory van Dort appointed 1911 James Van Langenberg Jr appointed 1911 Hector William van Cuylenburg elected 1911 1915 Charles Van der Waal elected 1916 Allen Drieberg elected Arthur Alvis elected 1912 N J Martin elected 1921 Herman Loos elected 1924 C E De Vos elected 1924 George Alfred Henry Wille elected 1924 1931 V R S Schokman elected 1931 J R WeinmanChamber of Commerce Edit Henry de Mel elected 1921 Planting member Edit George Ackland 1846 George Wall 1858 64 Reginald Beauchamp Downall 1876 88 Stewart Walter Loudoun Shand 1882 1884 Giles F Walker 1894 97 J N Campbell Edward Rosling 1902 1913 William Duff Gibbon 1907 Thomas North ChristieEducated Ceylonese Edit Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan elected 1911 21 Sir James Peiris elected 1921 24 European Edit Giles F Walker 1898 1902 Thomas Lister Villiers 1924 1931 Indian Tamil Edit K Natesa Iyer elected 1924 I X Pereira elected 1924 31 Kandyan Sinhalese Edit Tikiri Bandara Panabokke I 1889 1892 Theodore Barcroft L Moonemalle 1906 William Ellawala 1892 1897 Tikiri Bandara Panabokke II 1921 1931 J H Meedeniya Adigar 1921 1931 Low Country Sinhalese Edit Solomon Christoffel Obeyesekere appointed 1889 1916 5 Alfred Joseph Richard de Soysa appointed 1911 Muslim Moor Edit Muhammad Cassim Abdul Rahman appointed 1889 Wapchie Marikar Abdul Rahman appointed 1900 1915 Noordin Hadjiar Mohamed Abdul Cader appointed 1917 1923 elected 1924 1931 6 Tuan Burhanudeen Jayah elected 1924 1930 7 Mohamed Macan Markar elected 1924 1931 Sinhalese Edit J G Philipsz Panditaratne appointed 1833 5 J C Dias Bandaranaike appointed 1861 5 Harry Dias Bandaranaike appointed 1861 5 James Dehigama appointed James De Alwis appointed 1864 5 James Peter Obeyesekere I appointed 1880 5 Albert L De Alwis Seneviratne appointed 1881 1899 5 8 Solomon Christoffel Obeyesekere appointed 1899 1916 Tamil Edit A Coomaraswamy appointed 1833 36 3 Simon Casie Chetty appointed 1838 45 3 V Edirmannasingham appointed 1846 61 3 Muthu Coomaraswamy appointed 1862 79 3 P Ramanathan appointed 1879 92 3 P Coomaraswamy appointed 1892 98 3 W G Rockwood appointed 1898 06 9 10 A Kanagasabai appointed 1906 19 11 12 Territorial Edit W E Boteju Sabaragamuwa Province 1921 A Canagaratnam Northern Province South 1924 Charles Edgar Corea North Western Province 1921 1924 Victor Corea Western Province Colombo 1924 W A de Silva 1931 Waithilingam Duraiswamy Northern Province 1921 Northern Province West 1924 C H Z Fernando North Western Province 1924 13 14 Marcus Fernando Western Province Colombo 1921 H R Freeman North Central Province 1924 1930 C W W Kannangara Southern Province West 1924 Henry Kotelawala Uva Province 1921 John Kotelawala S D Krisnaratne North Central Province 1921 1924 Arunachalam Mahadeva Western Province Ceylon Tamil 1924 Forester Augustus Obeysekera Southern Province Central 1924 Tikiri Bandara Panabokke Adigar E W Perera Western Province Division B 1921 Western Province Kalutara 1924 W M Rajapaksa Western Province Division A 1921 S Rajaratnam Northern Province Central 1924 Ponnambalam Ramanathan Northern Province North 1924 30 T M Sabaratnam Northern Province East 1924 Fredrick Richard Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake Western Province Negombo 1924 M M Subramaniam Eastern Province Trincomalee 1924 E R Tambimuthu Eastern Province 1921 Eastern Province Batticaloa 1924 O C Tillekeratne Southern Province 1921 1923 A C G Wijekoon Central Province 1921 V S de S Wikramanayake Southern Province East 1924 References EditRajasingham K T Chapter 2 Beginning of British Rule SRI LANKA THE UNTOLD STORY Archived from the original on 2001 08 27 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint unfit URL link First taste of representative government Sunday Times Sri Lanka 18 March 2007 Did Donoughmore make a serious mistake Cyrene Siriwardhana Sri Lanka Law College Entrance Examination Course Book The Incorporated Council of Legal Education Sri Lanka Law College 1998 26 a b c d e f g D S Senanayake The Island Sri Lanka 22 October 2000 No 27172 The London Gazette 9 March 1900 p 1629 a b c d e f g WIJESINHA Sam 26 June 2009 Felix in Parliament and at Parliamentary Conferences Daily News Sri Lanka Archived from the original on June 28 2009 Gunawardena Charles A 2005 Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd p 1 ISBN 9781932705485 Sri Lankan Malays Fight For Parliament Representation Colombo Telegraph 1 March 2019 Retrieved 7 March 2019 Wenzlhuemer Roland 23 January 2008 From Coffee to Tea Cultivation in Ceylon 1880 1900 ISBN 9789047432173 Retrieved 10 May 2020 The London Gazette The London Gazette 26981 3858 24 June 1898 The London Gazette The London Gazette 27578 4589 21 July 1903 The London Gazette The London Gazette 27894 1793 13 March 1906 The London Gazette The London Gazette 28587 1659 15 March 1912 CEYLON S BATTLE The Straits Times 13 November 1929 Retrieved 2 November 2015 Traversed new paths making History Ananda E Goonesinha The Island Retrieved 2 November 2015External links EditEarly 20th Century Political Formations of Sri Lanka 1815 1948 Sri Lanka History Sri Lanka History worldxtravel Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Legislative Council of Ceylon amp oldid 1123335282, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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