council. The country was administered through a complicated hierarchy of provincial governors, district chiefs and village heads; most land was held on feudal tenure and compulsory service was general. The first British Civil Governor, appointed on 16th March 1798, and invested with complete legislative power, was responsible partly to the Crown and partly to the East India Company Court of Directors and Governor-General at Calcutta. On 13th March 1801 Ceylon became a Crown Colony and the Governor, whilst retaining complete legislative authority, was thereafter responsible only to the Crown. The Kingdom of Kandy was taken over in 1815, but was administered separately from the rest of the country. The history of the present Constitution of Ceylon can be said to start with the setting up of the Colebrook Commission in 1829 to examine every matter concerning the administration of the island. Following the Commission's Report, Kandy was amalgamated with the rest of the country in a uniform administration. Executive and Legislative Councils were established in March 1833, compulsory service abolished, Ceylonese admitted to the Civil Service and plans laid for an educational system and the encouragement of a free press. The Judicature was declared independent of the Executive, Common Courts constituted for the whole island and the jurisdiction of the Courts extended to Europeans and Ceylonese alike. The Legislature set up in 1833 consisted of 9 official members and 6 unofficial members to represent the principal communities. Demands by the unofficial members for representative and responsible Government led to their resignation in 1864 and in 1865 the Ceylon League was formed with the object of securing an unofficial majority in the Council. The number of unofficials was increased by stages and by 1924 the Council consisted of 12 official and 37 unofficial members of whom 34 were elected and 3 appointed by the Governor. Of the elected members 23 were elected for territorial constituencies and the remainder for communal electorates. The practical working of the Constitution was examined by the Donoughmore Commission in 1927-28. The Commission reported (Cmd. 3131) that the Executive was ineffectual owing to the opposition of the Legislature while at the same time the Ceylonese members of the Legislative Council were receiving no experience in the responsibility of government. The Commission advised that extensive responsibility should be transferred to the Ceylonese members. The new Constitution, promulgated in the Ceylon (State Council) Order in Council 1931, together with the franchise and election law, dealt with in the Ceylon (State Council Elections) Order in Council 1931, made on the same day, and based on the recommendations of the Commission, provided for virtually universal suffrage, the abolition of communal electorates and the creation of seven Executive Committees composed of groups of the elected members of the Legislature. The single-chamber Legislature was named the State Council and was composed of fifty elected members, eight members nominated by the Governor and three ex-officio Officers of State. A system of dyarchy was set up by dividing the administration into reserved and transferred subjects, the former under control of the three Officers of State (the Chief Secretary, the Legal Secretary and the Financial Secretary) and the latter under the respective Executive Committees. The seven Chairmen of the Executive Committees with the three Officers of State (who had no voting powers) constituted the Board of Ministers. In a Declaration of May 1943, the British Government promised to grant Ceylon at the end of the war fully responsible government under the Crown in all matters of internal civil administration, the British Government retaining control only of defence and foreign affairs. The Ceylon Board of Ministers was invited to draw up a constitutional scheme on this basis and a Commission under the Chairmanship of Lord Soulbury was sent to Ceylon in 1944 to advise the British Government on the measures necessary to give effect to the Declaration. A new Constitution based on the Commission's recommendations was approved in May 1946 and in June of the following year the British Government announced that steps would be taken to confer on Ceylon full self-governing status as soon as the necessary agreements had been negotiated. Ceylon accordingly attained complete independence and became a fully self-governing Member of the Commonwealth on 4th February 1948. CONSTITUTION The Constitution of Ceylon is contained in the Ceylon Independence Act of 1947 and in the Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council 1946/47 and subsequent amendments. The Constitution followed closely the Soulbury Commission's recommendations (Cmd. 6677) in providing for a bicameral Legislature. The House of Representatives consists of 151 elected members (originally 95) representing territorial constituencies and six members appointed by the Governor-General to represent important interests not otherwise adequately represented. The House of Representatives has a maximum term of five years. (The present House was elected in 1965.) The Senate consists of fifteen Senators elected by the House of Representatives and fifteen appointed by the Governor-General. The term of office for Senators is six years and one-third of their number retire every second year. The Orders in Council define the position, powers and privileges of the Governor-General and Parliament and lay down rules for the functioning of Parliament and the conduct of business. Under the Constitution a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission are established. No change may be made to the Orders in Council without the consent of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives. HISTORICAL LIST OF MINISTRIES D. S. Senanayake, PC, 4th February 1948 to 22nd March 1952 Dudley Senanayake, 26th March 1952 to 12th October 1953 Sir John Kotelawala, PC, CH, KBE, 12th October 1953 to 12th April 1956 S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, 12th April 1956 to 26th September 1959 W. Dahanayake, 26th September 1959 to 20th March 1960 Dudley Senanayake, 21st March 1960 to 20th July 1960 (Mrs Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, 21st July 1960 to 24th March 1965 Dudley Senanayake, 25th March 1965 to 28th May 1970 GOVERNMENT Ceylon's seventh General Election, held on 27th May 1970, returned the Sri Lanka Freedom Party as the largest single party with 91 seats-an overall majority. In 1968, however, Mrs Bandaranaike's Party had formed a united front with the Communist Party and the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party which won 6 and 19 seats respectively in this election. Three Cabinet portfolios were therefore given to the L.S.S.P. and one to the C.P. The support of these Parties will among other things enable the Government to alter the Constitution as they are pledged to do. The United National Party was reduced at the election to 12 seats; the Tamil Federal Party won 13 seats and the Tamil Congress 3 seats. 2 Independents were elected. GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF His Excellency Mr William Gopallawa, MBE Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and External Affairs, Minister of Planning and Minister of Irrigation, Power and Highways: The Hon. Maitripala Senanayake Minister of Shipping and Tourism: The Hon. P. B. G. Kalugalle Minister of Public Administration, Local Government and Home Affairs: Minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs: The Hon. T. B. Subasinghe Minister of Communications: The Hon. L. S. Goonewardene Minister of Agriculture and Lands: The Hon. H. S. R. B. Kobbekaduwa Minister of Housing and Construction: The Hon. P. G. B. Keuneman Minister of Information and Broadcasting: The Hon. R. S. Perera CABINET OFFICE Secretary to the Cabinet: L. Gunasekera THE SENATE President: Senator The Hon. A. Ratnayake Deputy President and Chairman of Committees: Senator The Hon. S. D. S. Somaratne Clerk of the Senate: B. Coswatte HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees: I. A. A. Cader The central administration of Ceylon is provided by the Ministries and Government Departments set out below. Below the centre, Ceylon is divided into 22 administrative Districts each under the authority of a Government Agent whose headquarters is traditionally known as the 'Kachcheri'. The Government Agents are supported by one or more Assistant Government Agents and by Divisional Revenue Officers for the subDivisions of their Districts. All these officers are members of the Ceylon Administrative Service (formerly the Ceylon Civil Service), which also staffs the Ministries and non-technical departments, and are fully transferable. At the foot of the administrative 'pyramid' are the Grama Sevakas, a new class of full-time civil servants established in 1963 to replace the old part-time Village Headmen. The basic function of Government Agents and District Revenue Officers is land administration. But in addition to other administrative functions directly vested in them by legislation they are the principal executive officers and representatives of Government in their respective areas and, as such, are responsible for the co-ordination and general supervision of the work of the local representatives of specialist and technical departments such as Health Services, Public Works, Education and Irrigation. Local Government in the usual sense of the term is in the hands of elected bodies: Municipal Councils in the ten largest towns, Urban Councils in the bigger towns and Town Councils in the smaller, and Village Councils for villages or groups of villages. The staffs of these local authorities with the exception of those at the lower salary levels, are recruited centrally and their terms and conditions of service are centrally regulated by the Local Government Service Commission. Local authorities derive their revenue in part direct, e.g. from the rating of property, and in part from block and specific groups from the Central Government. Co-ordination between the Provincial Administrations and the Local Authorities is achieved by the District Co-ordinating Committees of which there is one in each Administrative District. These comprise on the one hand the Government Agent and all local Heads of Government Departments and, on the other, representatives of all local authorities in the District together with those members of Parliament whose constituencies lie within the District. MINISTRIES AND GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AND Permanent Secretary: Dr J. B. Kelegama MINISTRY OF JUSTICE Permanent Secretary: N. Jayawickreme QC MINISTRY OF Agriculture AND LANDS Permanent Secretary: A. T. M. Silva MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Permanent Secretary: Dr P. P. Udugama MINISTRY OF LABOUR Permanent Secretary: A. E. Gogerly MINISTRY OF POSTS AND Permanent Secretary: S. J. Serasinghe DIPLOMATIC CEYLON REPRESENTATIVES IN OTHER MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY OF SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND Permanent Secretary: Dr Nath Amerakoon MINISTRY OF PLANTATION INDUSTRY MINISTRY Of ParliamenTARY AFFAIRS Permanent Secretary: Dr N. S. R. Gunawardene REPRESENTATION COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES Britain: (High Commissioner); Canada: (High Commissioner); Australia: (High Commissioner); New Zealand: (High Commissioner) (resident in Canberra); India: (High Commissioner); Pakistan: (High Commissioner); Ghana: (High Commissioner); Malaysia: (High Commissioner) COMMONWEALTH HIGH COMMISSIONERS Britain: A. M. MacKintosh, CMG; Canada: CEYLON REPRESENTATIVES IN (Ambassador); Cambodia: (Ambassador) (resident in Peking); China: (Ambassador); Cuba: (Ambassador) (resident in Ottawa); Czechoslovakia: (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); France: (Ambassador); Germany: (Ambassador); Greece: (Ambassados); Indonesia: (Ambassador); Iran: (Ambassador) (resident in Karachi); Iraq: (Ambassador) (resident in Karachi); Israel: (Minister); Italy: (Ambassador); Japan: (Ambassador); Lebanon: (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo); Mexico: (Ambassador) (resident in Washington); Mongolia: (Ambassador) (resident in Peking); Nepal: (Ambassador) (resident in Delhi); Netherlands: (Ambassador) (resident in Bonn); Philippines: (Ambassador) (resident in Tokyo); Poland: (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); Rumania: (Ambassador) (resident in Moscow); Sudan: (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo); Switzerland: (Ambassador) (resident in Paris); Thailand: (Ambassador); United Arab Republic: (Ambassador); United Nations: (Permanent Representative); United States: (Ambassador); U.S.S.R.: (Ambassador); Yugoslavia: (Ambassador) (resident in Cairo) T HE island of Cyprus, latitude 35° N., longitude 33° 30′ E., lies in the eastern Mediterranean and has an area of 3,572 square miles. The territory of the Republic of Cyprus comprises the whole of the island with the exception of the two Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in the south, which have a combined area of 99 square miles. These have been retained under British sovereignty. Mount Olympus rises 6,403 feet above sea level and is the highest peak situated in the Troodos Massif in the south-west of the island. Cyprus has an intense Mediterranean climate with a hot dry summer and a |