The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 16

11 The Sydney Morning Herald, Tues. July 13, 1971 16 -r. PM's non- JCY TM, RUlKR, COCONUT RESURCH STATIONS CATM RRBDMO CMTRB AOWCUITURAI STATIONS alignment policy CEYLON IKE STATIONS QGUWWnOTS flovr.DAwa Htoucco ei coconut -ej rubier COCOA TEA Adam's MoS! A OMURUNKAM EI -h 83 MANNAR amamcHewrA DAjWHCpiiAWB y7ANUhA0HAPUHA 1 fafl eoKLOTA II TAMSUTTAO QoWMUOm Ej ll.Dirrrl noHmaWUMOtt V. "fJHPOLONNAIIWMk DBS DO ODAMUUA BaiNlKAWERATIVA "MO OBAUWIU, AaTTICALOA ffl "Tiff ONALANOA KARAOTfAHAWanABa 1 mXftTK KANOY ontOWIVA AMPARAI 1 COLOMBO ha EQ EQ OOODAKIWAU rt Emb SrAoQHI A. AKUBESSA VJ gems KALI IN MILKS the universities.

Jungles surrounding the ancient capital, Anuradhapura, became a training ground. The Government was aware of the existence of the JVP or Guevarists but aimed revolution was not anticipated. A state of emergency was declared on March 17 because of terrorist activities in rural areas, sabotage of power lines and theft of explosives from Government stores. On April 4 and 5 concerted terrorist attacks were launched on a number of police stations. This was the beginning of the armed rebellion intent of overthrowing the Government "in aday." Confronted with armed terrorists Ceylon's defence forces were inadequate Army Navy Air Force plus Police 12,500.

An appeal was made to friendly nations for assistance. India supplied frigates to patrol the coasts to prevent foreign arms reaching the rebels. Russia sent aircraft and personnel to train the Ceylo- Australia's Colombo' accepted in Colombo at a conference of Commonwealth' Ministers in 1950. Under this plan donor nations give capital and techni- cal aid to 18 developing coun-' tries in South and South-East Australia, under the Col- ombo Plan, has given eco-nomic aid and technical assistance to Ceylon amounting to more than $A14m up to June, 1970. Much of this aid is in the form of gifts of flour.

Since the inception of the Colombo Plan, Ceylon has sent -students to Australia for training and experts have been sent to Ceylon. TRADE Trade between the two countries is at present limited by Ceylon's foreign exchange shortage. The figures represent thousands of Australian lars: I 80 81 82 THE PRIME Minister, Mrs Sirimavo Bandaran- aike, in July, I960, be- came 'the world's first woman Prime Minister. Her husband, Prime Minister Solomon Band-aranaike, leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, had been assassinated in the previous September by a Buddhist fanatic, Mrs Bandaranaike's Government nationalised education, insurance, public transport (only the' buses) and the ports. When she lost the 1965 election to a coalition government led by Mr Dudley Senanayke her "party moved further to the Left.

She became the world's first woman Leader of the Op- -position. In May, 1970, her party 'and its coalition was swept into office. Her election promises included' nationalisation of the tea and rubber estates, eight foreign banks, and many social benefits. She promised a foreign policy of non-alignment, recognition of North Korea, East Germany the Eth nic links with Australia THE MAJORITY of Ceylon's population of 12 million are of Sinhalese origin. Most, are Buddhists.

On an ethnic basis 71.1 per. cent are Sinhalese; 21.6 pc. Tamils (of whom about half are Ceylon nationals); 6.4 pc Ceylon Moors; others 0.9. The Sinhalese were originally Aryan invaders who came from North India in the fifth or sixth, century BC. The Aboriginal inhabitants, the Veddahs (believed by some to be related to the Australian Aborigines), were largely assimilated.

'v; The Ceylon Tamils, usually found in the north and east, are mostly Hindu and Tamil speaking. They are descendants of the early invaders from south India. Non Ceylon Tamils, mostly of recent Indian origin, provide the basic labour force for the large estates, particularly the British-owned tea estates. Kong, a rise of over 50 per cent in 12 Australian printers suffer from heavy import duties on paper, and low-cost Asian' competition. The Federal Government in a bid to close this economic gap, two years, ago brought in a 25 per cent bounty for locally printed books.

Even with the bounty, most Australian books can be printed 20 per cent cheaper over- seas, or 70 per cent cheaper for a full-colour run. Printers and publishers would like to see a higher bounty paid. Their request is the subject of a Tariff Board inquiry. Meanwhile, the all-Australian Horwitz publishing group has asked the board for "some restriction" on imports of remainder books. Unsold copies of books are.

regularly "remaindered" by their publishers, and sold for big discounts. Overproduction in both Britain and the US has led to a flood of these books, Increasing competition for. local books. Horwitz's publishing director, Mr Sam Ure Smith, stresses that he does not want to prevent free competition. But he does want to restrict dumping.

"Last Gordon' Barton, chairman of Angus and Robertson, stressed need for Australian publishers to go international in order to meet overseas competition. He drew a parallel with the Australian film industry which has all but drowned In Imports. His firm has office! in Lon-. don, and this year will be using children's books in an attempt i to crack the American market Ure Smith's "Uhu," winner of last year's Children's' Book Award, was printed for the Australian, British and American markets. This, book ran into 47,000 copies.

'Larger markets also benefit the authors, who, according to writer Colin Simpson; are en gated in, a "sub-economic activity." for Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and the breaking off of diplomatic relations with Israel. Her father, a wealthy plantation owner, was a member of the Senate. She married' when she was 24 and has three children. Mrs Bandaranaike is Buddhist by religion but received her education in Roman Catholic schools. From a shy personality when she began campaigning after her -husband's death, she has developed into a strong minded, determined politician.

She is now 54 years old and has a tremendous following among the people as a "mother figure." In foreign affairs Mrs Bandaranaike has followed a firm and positive policy of non-alignment. She led delegations to conferences of non-aligned nations in Bel-, grade (1961), Cairo (1964) and Lusaka (1970) as well as attending the commonwealth conference. Under an agreement 525,000 of the 975,000 Tamils are to be returned to India, .300,000 1 by Ceylon, and the status of the remainder left for subsequent settlement. Ceylon Moors originally came as traders from South West Asian countries. They are Muslims and are mostly professional and business workers.

The Burghers are mainly. English speaking and of Dutch descent prominent in. professional and business circles. Many have migrated, particularly to Australia. SERVICES: Medical attention is free.

Transport and many essential food items are subsidised. LANGUAGE: The official language is Sinhala. Under British rule English was the administrative and commercial language. In 1956 Sinhala was declared the official language. In 1964 the Sinhala Only Act instructed all Government departments to use the official language.

Most officials use English when speaking with foreign -visitors. Tamil is permitted in the north and east for some official purposes. EDUCATION: The tradi-tion of free education from the kindergarten to the university and consequent high literacy rate about 80 per cent makes Ceylon second only to Japan in Asia in literacy. A survey in 1969 'showed that 59 per cent of authors earned less than $10 a week; from their books (less than a Social Service pension), and-that 85 per cent earned less than the average shorthand- typist on, say, $50 a week. The return from all literary' work was about $1 an hour.

As Colin Simpson savs. vou are lucky to-get your weeaen at mat rate. "Royalties to authors vary. A typical situation would be a 10 per cent royalty on the first 000 books, rising to 12i per; cent for the next 4,000, and 15 per cent thereafter. 1 Thomas Keneally (who admits to making an adequate living from his novels, though "we don't live at the swimming pool says an author needs to sell 10,000 copies to earn enough to live on.

Over the past three years the Society of Authors has campaigned for a better deal for its Members. Their chief efforts have been directed at the public lending right the right of an author to be recompensed for the use of his books through public lending In Britain, it has been esti- -mated that the public takes 80 per cent of its reading matter from lending libraries. The percentage for Australia is probably, not as high. The fact remains that the writer is pro- -ducing something "which not have to be purchased to be used. The Society -of Authors would like Australia to adopt -the Danish' scheme whereby the writer receives an annual flat fee for each copy of his book in each library.

They nave suggested zue a year lor the author and 5c for the publisher. tV 'As a gesture of support for the writers' camnaian. Ahous and Robertson have decided to withold from libraries all copies of Mr Simpson's latest dont wonder if it's not on the shelves; it's not an anti-library campaign, he insists, but a fair deal campaign. Another instance of the new world of publishers iT nese to fly the aircraft. Britain, the United States, Yugoslavia and the United Arab Republic all supplied arms, ammunition and equipment.

Non-military supplies such as drugs were re-. ceived from West Germany, East Germany, Po- land and other countries. On May 1 Mrs Bandaranaike offered a four-day amnesty to the insurgents during which tinie all Government offensives were halted. Thou-. sands surrendered.

They have been placed in the charge of the National Committee of Reconstruction. This committee is to (1) re- establish civil authority and solve immediate and lone term problems in the areas affected by the insurgency; (2) rehabilitate the insurgents, both those captured and those who surrendered. The Government is confident that those who refused to surrender will be captured. A further opportunity to surrender was made for a three-day period, June 7-9. Mrs Bandaranaike and her Government face a formidable task, Colombo Plan and trad AUSTRALIA established a High Commissioner's office in Colombo in 1948.

The following year Ceylon set up its High Commission in Canberra. -1 Ceylon is the birthplace of per cent). This reliance on a few primary products, with prices falling on world mar- kets, is the cause of many of Ceylon's economic problems. The Central Bank of Ceylon in its 1970 report states that Ceylon's gross national product increased 4.1 per cent in 1970 compared with 5.1 per cent in 1969, better than the annual average rate of growth of 3.9 per cent for the period 1960- 67 but lower than the average of 4.5 per cent for the decade 1960-69. Tea production in 1970, estimated at 468 million pounds, was 3.3 per cent lower than the previous year and the lowest since 1962.

Rubber production rose by 5.4 per cent as a replanted acreage came into bearing. Paddy (rice) production increased by 10.9 million bushels or 16.5 per cent on a bigger area v- Industrial development is in Its early stages. Industries run by Governmen t-owned corporations are cement manufacture, steol rolling, tyre Fr mam nrr.nib) clude dairy products, wheat i flour, malt extract, fruit, coal, animal tallow. Australia is the fourth largest buyer of Ceylon tea. Tea accounted for 92 per cent of exports to Australia in 1969.

Tea imports are falling: 43.3m lb in 1960, 41.2m in 1965, 33.8m in 1969. Ceylon also exports to Australia desiccated coconut, fibre, graphite, cinnamon and spices. THE "gentleman's profession," as the book trade was once known, has been dragged into the Cut-throat world of big business. V. In the last 10 to 15 years, the problems of writing, publishing and selling books have multiplied and compounded.

-Costs of production have soared. Publishers and booksellers are- being forced to recognise the need for new marketing techniques, i In a welter of overproduction, economic crises, and bewildering new business principles, publishers and sellers still cling to their altruistic ideals. They are still vividly conscious of their responsibility for the development of an Australian culture. Australia has one of the highest book consumption figures in the world. The average Australian spends $6 a year on books, compared with $4 spentby a Briton.

Books worth 16m were sold in Australia in 196970. But only 30 per cent of the Australian market is met from domestic publishing. The Australian Book Publishers' Association has 57 member companies, of which only -25 are fully Australian owned. Sixteen were branches of British firms, four of US and two of New. Zealand publishing houses.

The other 10 were five Australian companies controlled by British publishers. There are five university presses. The Australian publishing Industry, to remain, independent, will have to seek more overseas outlets. Our population of 12 million provides only- a limited market. The number of regular bookbuyers (those who buy twice a year or.

more) is a mere eight to ten per cent of the population, So Australian i publishers tend to tailor their output to this limited market, which limits profit margins. Overseas, competition. Is becoming tougher. In 1969-70 books worth $2.6 million mostly printed for Australian' publishers were hiiported from Hong pectation of great changes. Failure to fulfil them is a root-cause of Ceylon's present insurgency.

The Sri Lanka Freedom 5 arty led by Mrs Sirimavo landaranaike won 91 of 151 seats, and allied with the Trotskyite party and the small Moscow Party, won 116 seats in the House of Representatives. In this election there were 800,000 new voters because the voting age was lowered to 18 years. Their impatience with the Government's failure to get results quickly added to the rebellious tension. Mrs Bandaranaike's youthful supporters expected early changes and felt cheated that the rhetoric of the election campaign did not yield results. The coalition promised jobs for all, and increased rice ration (reduced by the previous Government), reduced cost of living, cheap housing for the poor, nationalisation of banks and the tea industry, and making Ceylon a republio within the Commonwealth.

Such promises, if carried out, would have bankrupted the already financially drained country. By contrast, in her New Year message published January 2, 1971, Mrs Band' aranaike warned that only hard work and austerity could solve the country's problems. Rice dominates Ceylon's politics. Halving the subsidised rice ration and the rise in the market price destroyed the previous Government The promise to double the rice ration perhaps influenced the electorate in 1970 more than any other factor. The rice ration of four pounds was restored, but its cost was increased from: 50 Ceylonese cents to 75c.

Apart from dissent at the increased cost, the 75c represented a subsidy which the Government with a growing trade gap and alarming shortage of foreign exchange could not afford. To obtain additional foreign exchange for the extra rice very tight control of imports was enforced. Many industries were left without raw materials. Unemployment inevitably rose. With the private sector stagnant because it awaited the Government's nationalisation plans unemployment was further aggravated.

Failure to tighten controls over the tea, rubber and coconut estates mostly owned by foreigners, to nationalise eight foreign banks, and to take over most of the wholesale trade and to end unemployment finally launched the armed rebellion of April-May. Among the highly educated and unemployed youth of Ceylon disillusion developed a revolutionary movement The seeds of this were sown as long ago as 1965 when the lanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) was formed. The dissidents were generally known as "Che Guevarists inspired by the Cuban revolutionary. (, The Guevarists organised district cells among the unemployed rural workers and in It could be a republ ic CEYLON, a Commonwealth member acknowledging the Queen as head of state, expected to announce important constitutional changes this year. Since independence, proclaimed on February 4, 1948, Ceylon's constitution provides for parliamentary government with a Governor-General representing the Queen, a Senate of 30 members and a House of Representatives of 1 57 members.

The present Government, following its election promise to establish a republic, has established a Constituent Assembly consisting of all mem-bc-s of the House of Representatives to consider a revision of the Constitution. The status of the Senate is under consideration by the Constituent Assembly. Half its members are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister and half elected by the House of Representatives. In October, 1 970, the House of Representatives passed a bill abolishing the Senate. Of the 157 members of the House of Representatives, lSl are elected by universal adult franchise and six are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Ceylon has enjoyed universal adult franchise since 1931, longer than any other Afro-Asian nation. Voting is not compulsory but an average of 78 per cent of the electors vote and spoilt votes are rare. Proble ms follow revolts ARMED rebellion in Ceylon by disillusioned, unemployed university graduates and secondary-school teacher in April this year reflects the social pressures and economic stagnation of this Indian Ocean island. Election promises in May, 1970, which swept a three-party coalition government to power, aroused intense ex ft Imports Exports Year from to Ceylon Ceylon 1965- 66 17,563 17,408 1966- 67 15,535 15,787 1967- 68 15,014 1968- 69 15,184 15,085 1969- 70 11,358 14,717 Ceylon's Imports from Australia increased from $lm in 1938 to more than $19m in 1968. Exports to Australia in- -creased from $2m to more than $15m In the same period.

There was a slight decline in 1969. -Ceylon is Australia's main' market for wheat flour, taking about 40 per cent of export Australia's share of Ceylon's total imports was 35.2 per cent in 1968 and 25.8 per cent in 969. Exports to Ceylon in manufacture, petroleum marketing, ceramics, plywood manufacture and fish canning. Private companies make tex- tiles, cigarettes, margarine, pharmaceuticals and soaps. Mineral production is relatively unimportant High quality graphite is mined and exported.

A large variety of precious and semi-precious stones are dug. A cement industry is based on adequate deposits of kaolin, glass sand and mlocene limestone. The Government is pursuing an energetic tourist drive to assist its foreign exchange balances. Earnings from tourism rose 3 percent in 1970. I'.

READING- THE lAM AND PEOPIB OF CEYLON by Ufroy C. Matwflli CEYLONi Its Frtpbs and Kt Hemes lUr Wsmi CEYLON hy S. A. rinhm CEYLON Aa latYedacttoa to the Rtspbtxltnt Lend by A. G.

TnssMcrf CEYLONi DUsamas of a N.w Natiea ay H. Wrif (tact CEYLON Peart ef the Ek7lLWu1iM. A man pans for gems near Ratnapura, where the main river is the Kalu Ganga. Right: Vipula Dharmawardane, Batik artist from Ceylon has so far exhibited successfully In Canberra and hopes Sydney and Melbourne shows, will follow. FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROBLEMS ECONOMY: Seasonal setbacks to agricultural production in 1969 gravely affected Ceylon's economy.

The principal crops are rice, tea, coconuts and rubber. Of Ceylon's 16,200,000 acres, about 5,800,000. are cultivated and one million under pasture. Ceylon's foreign, exchange difficulties have increased annually since 1957 (with one exception) because of depressed export prices. The gross national product rose in 1969 by 5.7 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent in 1968.

The decline followed a fall in export 'income coupled with a slowing down of 1968 growth rates in other Total exports in 1969 were valued at $287' million and imports at $382 million, resulting in an adverse trade balance of $95 million compared with $21 million in 1968. The principal exports are tea (55 per cent), rubber (22 per cent) and coconut products (12.