 The Governor had absolute power in the island deriving it from the traditional powers of the Dutch governors and the King of Kandy and reporting to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.It was in the Colebrooke Reforms which first defined the role of the Governor as ""the representative of the Sovereign the Monarch who rules over the Parliament of the United Kingdom"".These reforms introduced the first legislator which was expanded over the next century in the reforms that took place.