Mr, Jayasinghe: බොහොම කණගා ටුයි කියන්නට, ආණ්ඩුවේ ගැසට් නිවේ දනයක් ප්‍රසිද්ධ කර ඉඩම් කච්චේරියක් පවත්වලයි ඒ ගොවීන්ට අක්කර 1/4 බැගින් ඒ ඉඩම් බෙදා දුන්නේ. එතනම තවත් ඉඩම් මධ්‍යම් පන්තියේ අය ටත්, වෙනත් අයටත් අක්කර 4, 5 බැගින් බෙදා දී තිබෙනවා. ඒ අයට කිසි හිරිහැරයක් නොකර මේ දුප පත් ගොවීන්ට හිරිහැර කරන්නේ කුමක් නිසාද කියා මා අසන්නට සතු ටුයි. පොඩි පොඩි ගෙවල් හැදුවම මිලිටරි බංගලාව වෙනවයි. කියා මේ අයට ගෙවල් හදන්නට ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නැහැ. යුද්ධ හමුදාව නැති කරන්න ඕනෑය කිය කියා කෑගහනවා. නමුත් ඔවුන් ලවා මේ අසරණ මිනිසන්ට හිරිහැර කරනවා.

කැත

The Hon. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (Prime Minister): නෑ. නෑ. යුද්ධ හමුදාව තව වැඩි කරන්ඩ යනවා.

Mr. Jayasinghe: ඒකට විරුද්ධ නැහැ. අගමැති තුමාට ඊට වඩා හුඟක් යුඬ හමු දාව වැඩිකරන්ඩ වෙයි.

The Hon. C. P. de Silva: I have nothing more to add. As I said, I am glad that the hon. Member has brought this matter to my notice. I will look into it.

The Hon. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike: I will also look into it. I have some interest in this myself.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Privilege : " Dinamina " Report of Prime Minister's Speech

Mr. Speaker: I have an announcement to make.

The House will remember that on 20th June, 1957, the Hon. Prime Minister raised a matter of Privilege that the "Dinamina" of 20th June, 1957, purporting to report the speech made in the House by the Hon. Prime Minister on 19th June, 1957, had published a perverted version of his speech.

Under the provisions of Section 26 (2) of the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act, No. 21 of 1953, I have recorded the statements of persons whose evidence is relevant to the complaint.

In the course of these proceedings the Editor of the “ Dinamina ", whom I had invited to make any statement if he desired to do so, has made the following statement which I wish to read to the House:

"The complaint of breach of privilege referred to refers to the report of the speech of the Hon. the Prime Minister published in our last two editions of Thursday, June 20, 1957.

A serious inaccuracy crept into our report of this speech and this had inadvertently been prominently displayed on our Parliamentary page. No sooner we realized our error we were prepared to correct it and express our regret. In point of fact when the Hon. the Prime Minister contacted us on the morning of the 20th June we expressed to him our regret and assured him we would make amends in our next issue. This we did in all our editions of Friday, the June 21st. We published the full report of the speech which we had misreported and also published our regret

The Hon. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike: It is not one of my defects to be vindictive. A mistake has been made apparently which has been acknowledged, and an apology tenderedthis matter is in your hands, Mr. Speaker; I am not alone concerned-to yourself and to the House. I myself, in those circumstances, would be prepared to abide by any view that you and the House have. I do not object to the matter being treated without undue severity. But at the same time I do draw the attention of the newspaper concerned as well as other newspapers that mistakes of this kind are apt to have somewhat serious consequences, and great care should be exercised regarding reports that appear, particularly on important subjects such as this.

Mr. Speaker: Any other views? -(Pause.)-I think we might accept the unqualified apology tendered and the statement submitted by the Editor of the "Dinamina ". However, I wish to make it clear to the newspaper concerned that I hope that there will be no occasion in the future to refer to a similar situation.

BILLS PRESENTED Appropriation Bill, 1957-58 "to make provision for the service. of the financial year 1957-58, to authorize the payment by way of

advance out of the Consolidated Fund of Ceylon of moneys required during that financial year for Loan Fund Expenditure, and to provide for the refund of such moneys to that Consolidated Fund", presented by the Hon. Stanley de Zoysa, Minister of Finance; to be read a Second time upon Thursday, July 4, 1957, and to be printed.

Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill "to amend the Estate Duty Ordinance ", presented by the Hon. Stanley de Zoysa; to be read a Second time upon Wednesday, July 3, 1957, and to be printed.

Co-operative

Wholesale Establishment (Amendment) Bill "to amend the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment Act, No. 47 of 1949", presented by the Hon. D. P. R. Gunawardena, Minister of Agriculture and Food; to be read a Second time upon Wednesday, July 3, 1957, and to be printed.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE: Mr. A. H. MACAN MARKAR

Dr. N. M .Perera (Ruwanwella) : I move,

"That Mr. A. H. Macan Markar, Member for Kalkudah, be granted leave under Section 24 (1) (e) of the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council, 1946, to be absent from the Sittings of the House for a period of three months from 2nd July, 1957. "

Mr. Leslie Goonewardene (Panadura) seconded.

Question put, and agreed to.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

Dr. Perera: Before you pass on to Public Business on the Orders of the Day, may I raise a matter which concerns both sides of the House? We shall be embarking on a discussion of the Appropriation Bill very soon, It has been the practice in the past not to introduce Private Members' Motions in anticipation of the Budget as we might thereby be prevented from having a discussion on the subjects concerned when the Budget is introduced. I notice that

there are a few such Motions that had been placed on the Order Paper, may be, due to inadvertence. In regard to the Motions that have been introduced by the hon. Members of the Opposition, I have persuaded those hon. Members to agree to withdraw them. May I also appeal to the Hon. Leader of the House to see that any Motions that are introduced by hon. Members on that side of the House too are withdrawn, as otherwise we shall find ourselves in some difficulty when the actual time comes to debate them?

The Hon. C. A. S. Marikkar (Minister of Posts, Broadcasting and Information): There are no Motions that have been introduced from this side of the House.

Dr. Perera: Why not? There are some to be moved by the hon. Member for Nawalapitiya.

The Hon. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike: He is suspended between heaven and earth. I had in mind the point that the hon. Leader of the Opposition is making. Tomorrow is Private Members' day and the question of the discussion of some of the Motions down for tomorrow has been settled. I will be glad if my hon. Friend or any other hon. Member will raise that matter when the question comes up so that you, Mr. Speaker, will be able to give your Ruling at the appropriate time. I do admit that some of those Motions overlap what is contained in the Budget. In such cases, those who participate in the discussion will have to cut short their speeches in view of the Budget.

Mr. Speaker: When hon. Members come to those matters they will have to be a bit careful.

Dr. Perera: As I said in regard to those Motions that have ben introduced by hon. Members from this side of the House, they have agreed to withdraw them. But so far as Members on that side of the House are concerned, I think there is only the hon. Member for Nawalapitiya.

"That the by-law relating to leave of absence to officers and servants of the Kandy Municipal Council made by the Municipal Council, Kandy, under Sections 267 and 272 of Municipal Councils Ordinance, No. 29 of 1947, approved by the Minister of Local Government and Cultural Affairs, which was presented on June 20, 1957, be confirmed. "-[Hon. Jayaweera Kuruppu]. . Resolved:

"That the by-law relating to exempting certain premises from the special water rate for 1957 made by the Urban Council, Bandarawela, under Sections 143 (b) and 166 of Urban Councils Ordidance, No. 61 of 1939, approved by the Minister of Local Government and Cultural Affairs and published in the Government Gazette No. 11,095 of March 22, 1957, which was presented on June 20, 1957, be not disallowed. "-[Hon. Jayaweera Kuruppu].

Resolved:

"That the by-laws relating to the recovery of conservancy fees made by the Urban Council, Gampaha, under sections 166 and 170 (9) of Urban Councils Ordinance, No. 61 of 1939, approved by

Mr. Samaraweera: I shall quote the definition given by the InspectorGeneral of Police:

"Fruit machine commonly known as jack pot. This is operated on a token disc. Prizes are marked in a prize card. The wheels of the machines work automatically after the slot is engaged and lever pulled. The dial registers an assortment of fruits in three columns. Prizes are given if three fruits of the same variety appear in a horizontal line. This machine is manufactured by Mills Novelty Factory, Chicago.

Jack pot depicting a crane. It is operated on a token disc. Prizes range on the bed of the machine and are picked up by the crane when the slot is engaged. The operator may not get an award if the crane fails to hold a prize.

Rotary merchandiser (slot machine) is electrically worked on a token disc. Prizes are arranged on the bed of the machine at different angles. A scale is

provided with a screw device to set the gauge and the range. The slot is then engaged and the rotator works. When it stops working, the range and the gauge marked on the rotator come in line with a prize bearing the marking of similar range and gauge. This is the prize.

Mutoscope (slot machine) is operated on a token disc. When the slot is engaged pictures are revolved on a rotator. There is a possibility of introducing obscene pictures into this.

Punching ball (slot machine) is also operated on a token disc. When the slot is engaged, a ball has to be punched and the force of the punch is registered on the dial of a clock, in pounds. Betting takes place on the force of the punch.

Pin amusement table (bagatalle) also known as hit-a-pin. These are operated electrically or manually. Awards depend on the number of points scored, bets are taken by by-standers speculating on the number of points that would be scored by the operator. These tables are either imported or locally made."

I might mention that those amusement tables which are operated manually are not included.

Question proposed.

Dr. Perera: I understood, by and large, the tendency has been to prohibit the importation of electrically manipulated machines.

Mr. Samaraweera: Electrically or mechanically.

Dr. Perera: According to the definition given it would appear that "Punching Ball" falls outside that category. Here the strength of the individual will determine whether he will get the prize or not. It has nothing to do with the mechanical or electrical manipulation. It is purely a question of the strength of the person operating it.

Mr. Samaraweera: To an extent.

Dr. Perera: May I, therefore, ask whether this could not be exempted? After all, the whole purpose is to ban the importation of instruments used for games partly of chance and partly of skill provided also that such instruments could be electrically or mechanically operated. I cannot