and money obtained by this wise measure have enabled
the local authorities to connect the government highways by minor
roads, which bring every village of importance into communication with
the principal towns.

_Railways._--After repeated vain attempts by successive governors to
connect Colombo with the interior by railways, Sir Charles MacCarthy
successfully set on foot a railway of 75 m. in length from Colombo to
Kandy. The railway mileage had developed to 563 m. in 1908, including
one of the finest mountain lines in the world--over 160 m. long,
rising to 6200 ft. above sea-level, and falling at the terminus to
4000 ft. The towns of Kandy, Matale, Gampola, Nawalapitiya, Hatton and
Haputale (and practically Nuwara Eliya) in the hills, are thus
connected by rail, and in the low country the towns of Kurunegala,
Galle, Matara, Kalutara, &c. Most of the debt on the railways (all
government lines) is paid off, and the traffic receipts now make up
nearly one-third of the general revenue. An Indo-Ceylon railway to
connect the Indian and Ceylon systems has been the subject of separate
reports and estimates by engineers serving the Ceylon and Indian
governments, who have pronounced the work across the coral reef
between Manaar and Rameswaram quite feasible. A commission sat in 1903
to consider the gauge of an Indo-Ceylon railway. Such a line promised
to serve strategic as well as commercial purposes, and to make Colombo
more than ever the port for southern India. The headquarters of the
mail steamers have been removed from Galle to Colombo, where the
colonial government have constructed a magnificent breakwater, and
undertaken other harbour works which have greatly augmented both the
external trade and the coasting trade of the island.

_Government._--Ceylon is a crown colony, that is, a possession of the
British crown acquired by conquest or cession, the affairs of which
are administered by a governor, who receives his appointment from the
crown, generally for a term of six years. He is assisted by an
executive and a legislative council. The executive council acts as the
cabinet of the governor, and consists of the attorney-general, the
three principal officers of the colony (namely, the colonial
secretary, the treasurer and the auditor-general), and the general in
command of the forces. The legislative council includes, besides the
governor as presiden