Sir Herbert Stanley rebuts the suggestion that the present Constitution
is, in the words of the Donoughmore Report, "an unqualified failure." He prefers the phrase "a qualified success." On the other hand, he recognizes that a constitutional advance is overdue, and particularly favours the broadening of the present electoral basis by the extension of the male franchise and by the admission of women (over thirty) to the vote. Both the Colonial Secretary and the Governor insist on the necessity for making " damicile " the standard test for the franchise, with the necessary alternative qualifications in special cases. They are also in agreement that communal representation should as far as possible go by the board, but it is held that special powers must be vested in the Governor, which will safeguard the minority communities while making the position of the Ceylonese paramount. One of Lord Donoughmore's salient proposals was -that for several standing executive committees of the State Council, an idea which is an entirely new—but we think sound and up-to-date—departure in British colonial theory. Opinion in the Colony seems divided on this question as on others more controversial, but Sir Herbert Stanley considers that, subject to the necessary safeguards, the Unofficial Members of the Council will be content with placing on record their dissent on certain points.
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