These comments were drafted by a Working Party from the Child Psychiatry and Mental Deficiency Sections.

Sri Lanka now has a population nearing 13.5 million, the majority of whom are Sinhalese (72 per cent). The other major ethnic groups are the Tamils (27 per cent) and the Muslims (7 per cent). The religion of most of the Sinhalese people is Buddhism and that of the Tamils is Hinduism (67 per cent and 17 per cent of the total population respectively). Christianity (8 per cent) is the religion of a minority of Sinhalese and Tamil people. Free and compulsory education has resulted in a high literacy rate (84 per cent of those below 30 years and 80 per cent of those below 60 years of age). Eighty-seven per cent of the people are classified as living in rural areas (Census of Population, 1975).

The Mental After-Care Association has just celebrated its centenary. An account of the meeting at which it was founded apeared in the Journal of Mental Science for October 1879.