720 
THR TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May I, 1894. 
is totally erroneous ; it belonged solely to Maurice 
Worms and his brother Gabriel who came out 
and joined him in 1842. The name of " Roths- 
child" was given to the property at the e.x press 
request of Messrs. Worms' uncles, the Baron 
Anselm von Rothschild of Frankfort, and Baron 
James de Rothschild of Paris. 
Gabriel Worms was also educated in Frankfort 
and established himself in Paris in abont 1825 as a 
partner of the celebrated Agents de Charge de la 
Ville, de Proulx & Co. The events of the Revolu 
tion of July 1830 having made a great impression 
upon him, he decided on coming to England and be- 
came a member of the London Stock Excban.t;e 
about 1832, where he remained until 1842, when he 
joined his brother and became his partner in his 
coffee planitng enterprise, and the two biuthers es- 
tablished themselves as G. & M. J}. Worms. Mau- 
rice resided at Pussellawa, managing the extensive 
plantations of coffee, etc. ; while Gabriel had the 
Grandpass Mill where the coffee was i)repared for 
shipment under his direction, and he also attended 
to the shipping and banking business of the Firm in 
Colombo. Gabriel was elected a member of the 
Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1847, but was 
unable to take his seat as the Jewish Disabilities 
lia,d not been removed. The brothers weie re- 
nowned for their hospitality, and had as their 
guests at various times all the European celebri- 
ties who visited Ceylon, amongst others the Duke 
of Brabant now king of the Belgians, the Crown 
Prince of Prussia, Earl Grosvenor now Duke of 
Westminster, the late Lord Derby, then Lord 
Stanley, and many others. It was Maurice Worms 
who first introduced the China tea plant into 
Cejlon; he brought cuttings from China and 
formed a small garden at Pussellawa in September 
1841 (vide Sir J. Emerson Tennent's Ceylon, Vol. 
2nd, Chap. 7). Messrs. G. & M. B. AVorms had 
about 2,000 acres of coffee in cultivation and 
XV. • 1 N w w / 
tneu-mark X w / ^vas for more than a 
quarter of a century a household word in Min- 
cing Lane. The enterprise was extremely suc- 
cessful ; but old age creeping on, Messrs. G. & 
M. B, Worms decided on returning to Europe 
after a residence of four-and- twenty years in 
Ceylon. They disposed of their estates and re- 
turned honoie in August 1865 (vide " Ceylon Obser- 
^ler,'" 25th August 1865). Maurice unfortunately 
did not lorig 'Survive his well-earned rest, as he 
died Apw 23rd, 1867, from liver complaint con- 
tracted in the Island. His brother Gabriel at- 
tained ho>Yeyer a ripe old age and died in London 
,17th. October 1881. 
had tl^e srivileg^ pf intimate acqaaintance wli '1 
Mc, Gabcier Worms from the date of onr anival 
.•> ji i!i ">•> ) (lo V 
in the island, November 1861. until his depaurture 
in the latter part of 1865. His residence and o&ce 
were opposite the Observer office, No 19, Baillie 
Street, and taking a great interest always in the 
current events of the day — especially in any mail 
or telegraphic news ; — in the state of the roads np- 
country (often ;i serious matter for coffee transport 
in those days) and in railway progress, be generally 
paid ua a visit in passing two or three times a d&y 
— or one of us ran across with the latest telegram 
or other special bit of news an received. We had 
the very highest estfem lor the cLaracter of Mr. 
Wormst -a thorough gentleman of the old acbool - 
and during the ocoRHional yis\^f> o( Mr. Mauiirf 
Worms from I'lisscllawft, it was very exigent that a 
close attachiii(>dt existed between the brotliers. There 
was every day. a very early vibit to pav to the 
Grandpass iiiillt> where some hucidredt, of native men, 
women and children found emplojmeut on very 
liberal terms, in the picking, drying and other care- 
ful preparation and packing of the coffee for ship- 
iji^iU. 'pben, there was a daily walk round the Fort 
on business in respect of freight, insurance or banking, 
the private room of his ftien<l, the Manager of the 
Oriental B ink (Mr. G. S. Duff), often seeing Mr. 
Worms. He did not care to push liiiust-lf forward 
publicly, but Mr. Worms was ever ready to t&k« 
his share in public niovemfnts. He was prominent 
in the DeputatiDU to Sir Henry Ward about the 
jjeed of Railway communication with the hill-couiiiry, 
and Mr. Worms pithily summed up their hnei- 
npsft in words that berau'e f.amoos throughout the 
colony, — " TI> /wrt come, sir, to he taxed." After Mr 
Henry Ward left, Mr. Worms had frequent occasion 
— as had most colonists — to find fsult with Sir 
Charles MacCarthy's government, tnd especially 
with the cheeseparing policy of the t^olonial Secre- 
tary, Mr. Wm. Cliarles Gibson, which led to some of 
the main roads in the planting districts getting shame- 
fully neglected. Mr- Wornn frequently supplied 
material to ns for writing cdi'-orials on the subject 
— -his clo.sing remark after an ii Icrview frequently 
being:— "Put it in the paper, sir, — put it in the 
piper; — don't mention my name, sir." Mr. Worms 
took a keen ^interest, in the construction of the 
Railway to Kandy ; but during his last year in the 
island, he (under an influence which need not be refer- 
red to here) lost faith in the successful working of the 
second section, the incline from the foot of the hill 
to Kandy— in other worils he began to think a 
locomotive train would never pass rotmd the top 
of Kadugannawa Pass. This led to a curious dis- 
cussion in Baillie Street one day between Mr. 
Worms and M^-. (now Sir) Guildford Moleswor^h, 
the Chief Engineer, — Mr. Worms arguing that as 
the first section in the lowcountry of 34 miles from 
Colombo to Ambepusse was about to be opened, 
it should be so arranged th.it t!;e biillock carts 
with coffee from the hills should be run on to 
specially- constructed trucks and so carried to Colomboi 
where the cartmen had to replenish and see their 
friends, before retnming to the' interior ! The Engi- 
neer did not see this, and so he was plainly 
' told— he was only ai:i V. gineer and ki ev noihing 
i about QOfiee i W> one could speak in plainc. language 
