First Parliament opens

It was also in the month of November 1947, that the first Parliament was ceremonially opened. The date was November 25.
Following the general election held in August/September 1947, to elect 95 members to the

House of Representatives (six more were appointed by the Governor bringing the total to 101) to launch the parliamentary system of government as recommended by the Soulbury Constitution,
D. S. Senanayake as leader of the United National Party which had secured the largest number of seats was appointed Prime Minister.

The ceremonial opening of Parliament followed the tradition in the British Parliament where the monarch read the ‘Speech from the Throne’ outlining the policies of the government. The Governor represented the British monarch who was still Head of State. He read the Speech handed over to him by the Prime Minister giving the proposed programme of work in the first year of the newly born Parliament.

First aircraft lands at Ratmalana

Until Katunayake was opened, Ratmalana was Sri Lanka's international airport. It is now used for domestic flights and for military purposes.

After the State Council made a decision in 1934, to construct an aerodrome within reach of the capital city of Colombo, Ratmalana was selected as the best site. On November 27, 1935 a de Havilland Puss Moth flown by Tyndalle Bisco, Chief Flying Instructor of the Madras Flying Club, was the first aircraft to land at the new airport.

During the Second World War (1939 – 45) Ratmalana airport was used as a Royal Air Force (RAF) base, with No. 30 Squadron flying Hawker Hurricanes from there, against Japanese Navy aircraft.

Ratmalana airport at one time had the country's main terminal, with the Douglas DC-3 Dakota and Lockheed Constellation aeroplanes of Air Ceylon flying out of it. In 1947, KLM flew Douglas DC-4 Skymasters through the airport on the route from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

A national leader passes away

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan

Seventy seven years ago, on November 26, 1930, a leader of national standing Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan passed away. He was 77.

Having passed out as an advocate, he was 28 when he was nominated as an unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1879, on the retirement of his illustrious uncle Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, father of the well known international scholar Ananda K. Coomaraswamy.

At the age of 38, he was a Senior Barrister, with over fifteen years legal experience and was also the Unofficial Leader of the Legislative Council. He was awarded the prestigious title of KCMG, (Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael & St. George) by the Imperial Government in 1889.

He was a critic of the colonial government and possibly as a measure to silence him, he was appointed by the Governor as Solicitor-General in 1892, which post he held until 1903, acting as Attorney-General on several occasions during this period. He was made a King's Counsel in 1902. He retired the following year.

In 1911, he was elected by the people as the first Educated Ceylonese Member of the Legislative Council by a sweeping majority. He defeated Dr. Marcus Fernando. It was a historic event, as he was the very first candidate to be elected to the Legislature of the country by an All-Ceylon electorate, prior to the introduction of universal franchise in 1931, under the Donoughmore constitution. He was re-elected to this seat in the Legislative Council in 1916 and held it until 1920.
After the Sinhalese – Muslim riots of 1915, he was a strong critic of the authorities for their panicky reaction and harsh treatment of Sinhalese leaders under martial law.

When territorial representation was introduced, he contested and won the Valikamam North Seat, in the Jaffna Peninsula, which he occupied from 1924, until his demise. His monumental contribution to education has been the establishment of two schools, the Ramanathan College for girls, established at Chunnakam in 1913, and Parameshwara College for boys, eight years later. The latter has since become the Jaffna University Campus.