Extract from 

 11 The Ceylonesej* Friday, June A,th, 1915. 



Martial Law. 



We should like to point out to the Authorities that the Pro- 

 clamation of Martial Law is not sufficiently advertised. The masses 

 were ignorant of the new order of things on Wednesday last, and 

 even many belonging to the educated class. We would suggest an 

 issue of handbills in the vernacular stating both the terms of the 

 Proclamation and the full importance of the term "Martial Law." 

 It may be that when the masses realise what they should expect if 

 they persist in acts of lawlessness, they will desist. Beat of tom- 

 tom is the local method of giving notice to the man in the street. 

 It is essential that the present notification should reach even the 

 villager, and that as quickly as possible. The Press is doing what 

 it can, but wider publicity is called for. 



21. Police Notification. 



" Notice is hereby given that all shops and places of 

 business are to be closed to-day at 3 p.m., and no person 

 is to be on the streets between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Between 

 the said hours no motor or vehicle will be permitted on the 

 roads unless upon a special permit or for an authorised 

 purpose." 



People were forbidden in the streets after 6 p.m., Town 

 Guards and Artillery and Punjabi soldiers, who were ignorant of 

 the language of the people and their ways, and some of whom 

 were Muhammadans, were quartered in different parts of 

 Colombo and in the countryside. Numbers of innocent passers- 

 by, who did not know how to answer a challenge, were shot 

 down dead or bayonetted in the streets of Colombo and through- 

 out the villages. Information has been received that even 

 villagers sleeping in the verandah of their huts have been shot 

 dead without a warning, on the pretext that Martial Law 

 required people to sleep within doors. The village huts are small, 

 and the males usually sleep on the little covered-in space called 

 the verandah abutting his room door. 



"Important Notice/' 



" All persons are hereby warned to keep within doors 

 between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. No person will be 

 allowed on the streets between these hours without a permit. 

 " L. A. NORTHCOTE, Captain, D.A.A.G. 

 " Ceylon Command." 



