He soon took to business with holdings in tea and rubber plantations, plumbago (graphite) mining and shipping, which he consolidated in the holding company C. H. Z. Fernando & Co.[5] In 1928 he became the owner of the Mount Lavinia Hotel.[6] He was the Chairmen of the Ceylon Import Merchants Association and a member of the Low-Country Products Association.[7]
Political career
He became a founding member of the radical political association named Young Lanka League in 1915 and together with A. E. Gunasinha, E. A. P. Wijerathne, A. P. Thambayah and Valentine S. Perera, going on to form the Workers’ Welfare League in 1919.[8] In the same year he became a co-founder of the Ceylon National Congress.[1] In the Municipal Council he presented the motion to repeal the Poll tax, which lead to its repeal in 1922.[9][10] He was elected to the Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1924 from Chilaw as the member for the Western division of the North-western province defeating Charles Edgar Corea.[11] He was a founder of the Ceylon Labour Party in 1928 and in July 1928 he along with A. E. Gunasinha represented Ceylon at the British Empire Labour Conference in London.[12] Fernando was a strong campaigner for universal suffrage including for the plantation Tamils, which was introduced by the Donoughmore Constitution in 1931.[13][14][15] Between 1920 and 1941, he was elected as a member of the Colombo Municipal Council for Kotahena and served as Chairman of the Ceylon Coconut Board, the Rubber Research Board and the Plumbago Trade Wages Board. He was made a Chevalier of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.[1][16][17][18]
Family
He married Daisy M. Fernando daughter of Hethakandage Bastian Fernando, their sons were P. C. S. Fernando and Chitra Bhanu Fernando R. A. de Mel was their brother-in-law.[15]
^"Back Matter". The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 31, No. 81, Parts I., II., III., and IV. (81). 1928. JSTOR43474070.
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