Colebrooke–Cameron Commission

The Colebrooke-Cameron Commission was a Royal Commission of Eastern Inquiry sent by the British Colonial Office in 1829 to assess the administration of the island of Ceylon and to make recommendations for administrative, financial, economic, and judicial reform. The official name of the commission was Commission to Examine and Report upon the Present State of the Laws, Regulations and Usages in the Settlements of the Cape of Good Hope and the Island of Mauritius and Ceylon. The commission comprised W. M. G. Colebrooke and C. H. Cameron. The legal and economic proposals made by the commission in 1833 were innovative and radical. Many of the proposals were adopted. They signified for Ceylon the first manifestation of constitutional government, the first steps toward modernizing the traditional economic system, and the beginnings of a uniform system of justice, education, and civil administration.

Recommendations

• Establishment of an Executive Council and Legislative Council
• The amalgamation of the Kandyan and Maritime provinces and their administration as a single unit of government by the Governor in Council.
• The admission of Ceylonese into the Ceylon Civil Service.
• The abolition of 'rajakariya' – compulsory personal service in the Kandyan provinces.
• A commission to manage education should be appointed
• A principle public school on the British model should be established for English education and teacher training.

Outcomes

• The Executive Council of Ceylon and the Legislative Council of Ceylon was established, later becoming the foundation of representative legislature in the country.
• Form of modern central government of established for the first time in the island, followed by gradual decline of local form of feudalism in clouding Rajakariya which was abolished soon after.
• Modernizing the economic system.
• Education is taken over by the government from the church.
• Establishment of the Colombo Academy as the principle public school in the island.