56 



(5) In any trial for sedition under this section not- 

 withstanding anything contained in the Penal Code, and 

 notwithstanding that the offence was committed before the 

 enactment of this section, the Court may impose any sen- 

 tence which might be imposed under the law for the time 

 being in force in England. 



Provided that in the case of any offence committed before the 

 enactment of this section had no sentence shall be imposed upon 

 the person convicted which might not have been passed upon him 

 if this section had not been enacted, whether under the Penal Code 

 or otherwise. 



Summary of Objects. 



The objects of this Ordinance are : 



1. To provide a permanent special tribunal for the trial 

 of certain classes of cases, which, whether by virtue of their 

 own nature or the circumstances of the time, are not appropri- 

 ately triable by jury. 



2. To provide a more adequate and elastic punishment 

 for cases of sedition tried before this tribunal than is allowed 

 by the present law. 



3. To provide for the trial of certain persons, now de- 

 tained under Martial Law, who are not charged with acts of 

 violence v or direct incitement to, or complicity with, acts of 

 violence. 



The Coming Legislative Council Session. 



The publication of the draft Budget and of the urgent Ordi- 

 nances which it is proposed to enact shows that the Government 

 proposes to open the new Session of the Legislative Council at 

 an early date. Perhaps the formalities of a new Session may be 

 dispensed with, and the Council may meet without any eclat to get 

 through its important business. We take it that the first meeting 

 will not be delayed beyond the first week in August, for the Council 

 has a great deal to do, and will need some time for all the work it 

 has before it. Besides, it is possible that, apart from the business 

 arranged by the Government, the unofficial Members may have 

 contributions of their own to make to the work of the Session, and 

 all this will certainly require more than seven or eight meetings. 

 We have not the space to-day for any comment on the Budget, but 

 have no doubt that every student of public affairs will mark the 

 figures with care, and note the influence upon our administrative 

 outlook produced by the war. 



53. The effect of the present policy, it is submitted, would 

 be the crushing out of existence of the Sinhalese, as a people, 

 in the centenary year of their Union with Britain. Its continua- 

 tion, it is apprehended, would deeply rankle in the minds of a 

 nation who are the most loyal of any in the Empire. 



The distrust that these harsh measures have called forth 

 has created the feeling in the country that they have been in- 

 spired by the civil authorities as a means of suppressing the 

 Buddhist leaders of the Temperance movement, who, with the 

 co-operation of European missionaries and Christian Temper- 



