Start of the Pigeon Express

On September 24, 1850, the Pigeon Express was successfully started from Galle to Colombo by the 'Observer' newspaper.

Reading the news of the fall of Sebastapool being read after the Pigeon Post brought the news to Colombo.

Renowned journalist H. A. J. Hulugalle describes the event thus: In 1850 Galle was still the chief port of call for ships from England. The English mail coach from Galle to Colombo took nine or ten hours. The delay in bringing the news induced the Observer to start a Pigeon Express for the most urgent news. It brought such items to Colombo in less than two hours, sometimes in three-quarters of an hour with favourable winds. A narrow open yard ran down the middle of the Baillie Street office where the pigeons were kept.

The first news brought by the Pigeon Express was the announcement of the recall of the Governor, Lord Torrington. The news of the fall of Sebastapool and of the Battle of Inkerman too reached Colombo on a thin quill of paper tied to the leg of an Observer pigeon.

Rajakariya abolished

Compulsory service known as rajakariya was prevalent in Sri Lanka ever since the monarchy was established in the Anuradhapura period. It was a service done free for the king. In other words the king forced the people to work for him without payment.

Rajakariya was used in the construction of the huge irrigation tanks. Certain services were based on caste. By the time of the Kandyan era, the people were very unhappy with this system. The building of the Kandy lake and the pattirippuwa (octagonal tower) around 1806 A.D, were done using forced labour. They added greatly to the beauty of the Kandy town. But the people felt they were done at the cost of much suffering to them and increased the unpopularity of the king.

Temple lands were exempted from this service. By the 17th and 18th centuries, rajakariya was used for public works such as the construction of roads, bridges and tanks. During the British administration, they too used the system to their advantage.

They made it more efficient and more profitable. However, certain officials viewed it as obnoxious to British principles of justice. Ultimately rajakariya was abolished on September 28, 1932 during Governor Sir Robert Wilmot Horton's time.

Big name in the reform movement

Among the names often mentioned in the freedom struggle are two brothers - Ponnambalam Ramanathan and Ponnambalam Arunachalam. Born in Colombo on September 14, 1853, Arunachalam was the younger of the two. After his early education at the Colombo Academy (Royal College), he joined Cambridge University, having won a Queen's scholarship. Entering the Ceylon Civil Service in 1875, he was the Registrar General and conducted the census in 1901. He was nominated by the Governor as a member of the Legislative and Executive Council and was knighted in 1913, the year he resigned from the public service. The Legislative Council met to give formal sanction to government measures, discuss the Budget and ventilate grievances.

Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam

Then he joined the movement against colonial rule after the civil disturbances in 1915. He worked closely with James Peiris, himself a Cambridge product. He was the first president of the Ceylon Reform League and his role was described by the Association's joint secretary, D. R. Wijewardene thus: "Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam had shone brilliantly as a Civil Servant. He was a scholar, philosopher and proved administrator. He had now divested himself from his official habiliments and was looking round for an opportunity for service in a different field, under freer conditions. I persuaded him to deliver his epoch-making address on 'Our Political Needs' at a meeting of the National Association (April 2, 1917). That address was both a starting point and a blueprint for the important constitutional changes which followed, and was listened to by a large audience at the Victoria memorial Hall."

It was after this lecture that the Ceylon Reform league was formed. During the next three years he succeeded in stimulating the liberal forces in the country to take an active interest in the political future of the island. The Ceylon National Congress was formed on December 11, 1919, which Arunachalam, in his presidential address said was "the fulfillment of dreams cherished from the time I was an undergraduate at Cambridge." He played a pivotal role in the reform movement.

Later he moved over to Jaffna and with his brother Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan formed the Jaffna Mahajana Sabha.

He died in February 1924 while on a pilgrimage to the Hindu temples in South India.