Miscellaneous. 



498 



[Dec. 1906. 



architecture is positively harmful. It is futile to suppose that satisfactory archi- 

 tecture of the old kind can be had by putting out the work on contract ; the chief 

 part of the profits then go to the middleman, and the workmen are so hurried and 

 stinted as to make it impossible for the best work to be done. Very often it happens 

 that low-country workmen, out of touch with tradition, are thus employed by the 

 contractor, who is subject to no real check, and there remains nothing of the spirit 

 of national architecture in the work, but only the outward semblance. 



Taking the Ruanwella Ambalam as an example, and beginning with the 

 roof :— pains have been taken to use flat tiles (not however made locally, but brought 

 from the low-country, in fact from All Saints', Colombo ; ) but the eaves-tiles are not 

 the real thing at all, but simply the ordinary roofing tiles nailed round the eaves ! 

 Seeing that special and very beautiful eaves-tiles were made (and were obtained for 

 the Kandy band-stand even) it should have been possible to get them here too. Take 

 next the moulding round the wall, a few feet from the floor ; instead of forming an 

 actual part of the wall itself, covered with plaster afterwards, this moulding consists 

 entirely of plaster, applied to the wall surface. This is a shameful piece of jerry- 

 building, and as a natural result the moulding is already breaking away. Fine large 

 pieces of jak have been got for the pillars, but the carving is wonderfully thin and 

 poor, and all the pillars are the same ; in good old work it rarely happens that even 

 two sides of one pillar are alike in every detail. The bars, bolts, and handles of the 

 doors are of poor design and contrast unfavourably with older work. 



But perhaps the worst feature is a part of the doors themselves. The contrac- 

 tor has observed the massive arched lintels of Kandyan doors, and by way of imitation 

 has jastened on to each half of the door itself thick pieces of wood so cut as to 

 represent an arched lintel when the doors are closed- This is a miserable bit of 

 imitative deception, and not even that when the doors are open. The only satisfac- 

 tory method would be the old one of making certain chiefs responsible for the 

 execution of certain work ; or, perhaps better, the direct employment of the best 

 workmen by Government, supervised by an official really familiar with the national 

 style and sensitive to any degradation of it. One other simple step, and an 

 inexpensive one, would be of value ; that is the granting of certificates to competent 

 men, and their registration as such. These certificates could be granted by the 

 Government Agent, and would check the employment of ignorant and unskilled 

 men ; for the Chairman of the Buddhist Temporalities Committees would be in a 

 position to insist on the employment of these men only, and the same would be the 

 case when work was done directly for Government, whether through a contractor 

 or otherwise ; i.e., a contractor, if employed at all, should be compelled to himself 

 employ only certified workmen. It is quite certain that, unless the national archi- 

 tecture can be at least partially revived— by which I do not mean a slavish 

 antiquarian copying of old forms, but rather a preservation of the old feeling, and 

 the employment of men who have been through the traditional course of instruction 

 —the minor arts will continue to degenerate and to satisfy only the trivial needs of 

 the casual visitor. 



It remains to consider the possibility of directly affecting the prosperity of 

 the minor arts. The prime necessity is to once more awaken the interest of the people 

 of the country in these things ; but in the meanwhile they must be kept going 

 somehow or other. I am inclined to think that what is immediately required 

 is some direct assistance from Government with a view to increasing the 

 production of the work of the best quality and making it accessible to pur- 

 chasers. The former state of society in which the arts and crafts prospered 

 so much, cannot be restored ; but the expenditure of public money on national 

 architecture, crafts and craftsmen may be regarded as a precedent which should be 



