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. 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: •
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 5 The head of the Legislative Council had been the governor, but the new reforms created the post of the
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==