No. 57.— 1906.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



15 



authentic history, President Stark said: "The influx of people 

 which prevailed from the earliest period still continues to pour 

 down upon the Island, but with this difference, that the tide of 

 population now spreads over the land not to lay it waste, but, 

 under the direction of British industry, to bring out its capabilities. 

 In former times every new band of comers was an army of inva- 

 sion . Now, under British supremacy, there is immigration without 

 conquest ; and conquest involves neither extermination, nor 

 slavery, nor a compulsory change of faith, but a common patriot- 

 ism, and that all should feel it to be at once their interest and 

 their duty to co-operate together in maintaining the common 

 fabric of which they are all members." 



Increase of Population. 



One remark Mr. Justice Stark made as the result of his own 

 observation, which stands in striking opposition to actual ex- 

 perience since the first Census was taken in Ceylon. He was 

 referring to the relative increment or decrease of the different 

 races — Sinhalese, Malabars, " Moors " — in the Island, and 

 remarked that " to observation there appears a daily increase in 

 the number of Moors, as there is also perhaps a decrease in the 

 Sinhalese population." It is impossible to say how far such a 

 remark was justified in 1846 ; it excited no comment or objection 

 at the time ; but during the past thirty -five years we have reliable 

 evidence in successive Census returns that no section of our varied 

 population has increased in so liberal a ratio as the Sinhalese, as 

 may be seen from the following interesting return which is given 

 in the latest Census Report by the Registrar-General, and which 

 shows that the Sinhalese increase at a higher ratio than Moormen, 

 although beaten by Burghers ; while the figures for Tamils and 

 Europeans are influenced generally by " immigration " : — 





1871. 



1881. 



1891. 



1901. 



Percentage 

 of Increase in 

 thirty years 



Sinhalese . . 



1,664,459 



1,846,614 



2,041,158 



2,330,807 



40 



Tamils 



537,814 



687,248 



723,853 



951,740 



77 



Moormen . . 



163,729 



184,542 



197,166 



228,034 



39 



Malays* . . 





8,895 



10,133 



11,902 





Burghers . . 



15,335 



17,886 



21,231 



23,482 



53 



Europeans 



3,259 



4,836 



4,678 



6,300 



96 



Changes in Administration and useful " Papers " in the past. 



And here you will be reminded of the vast change which has 

 taken place in many departments of investigation which the 

 founders of the Society naturally aimed at, including within its 



* In 1871 the Malays were included among " Others,'* who num- 

 bered 13,754. 



