May I, 1894.] THE rROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
721 
when roused than our good friend.* But his kindness 
of heart and liberality towards all charitable, philan- 
tliropic and even missionary agencies were proverbial. 
The Messrs. Worms were generous supporters of 
our Friend-in-Need Societies, and every agency in 
the country calculated to do the people good> 
while the widow and orphan were never turned 
empty away from their doors. Being conscientious 
Jews, Mr. Worms could not profess a direct interest 
in Christian Missions ; but he never refused his 
£9 or £10 to a mission collector, giving as his 
ground openly and fairly : " Make honest men of 
them, sir " — referring to the need of Christian teach- 
ing among the natives. Both brothers took a great 
interest in the controversy which arose out of Bishop 
Colenso's attack on the Pentateuch, and we (of the 
Observer office) had to get out for them every answer 
published in England to the Bishop's work. Mr. 
G. Worms had a special question to put to us 
one day, as to Christians being as much affected 
as Jews, by the Bishop's attack ; for " if the Pen- 
tateuch is discredited, it will affect your New Book 
(Testament) as much as the Old, will it not? " He 
was pleased with our prompt. " Certainly — we take 
the Bible as a whole." 
No more liberal managers of property existed in 
Ceylon, and Rothschild was certainly the finest- 
looking and most liberally cultivated coffee planta- 
tion in the island, well set off too by its border of 
rose bushes round the boundaries and many 
of the principal paths. Both brothers were anxious 
that their other properties should be opened 
and planted with equal care : Uondegalla on the 
Eauib )da Pass was opeiied lirst for tea, a field 
plantel from seed specially imported from China. 
It grew well ; but tho Chii aman.wbo was a'so imported 
I o prepare the produce, proved so incompettut, tach 
lb. of tea prepared costing some £.5, that Mr. M. 
Worms gave up the idea of tea p' anting, especially 
as coffee was proving so congenial and profitable- 
The field of t'a-plan's was, however, allowed to oou" 
tiuue and afforded evidence that the Messrs Worms 
were pioneeis in this industry. They owned a 
large block of forest in Dimbula which was not 
opened until handed over to the Ceylon Company, 
Limited, when it bee. me the extensive Meddecombra 
plantation. In Dikoya, again, they bought the 1,000 
acres thatleckoie "Norwood'' eventually, and here 
Mr. Worms lindiug that the land was actually in the 
Western Province ( which had no repute for coffee), 
— t .0 SabaragamuwA boundary goiug so far round — 
got the G vernmcnt of the day to alter the boui daries. 
" Nothing put Mr. Gabriel Worms more readily 
out of temper than any display of meanness, or 
oppression of the poor. We well remember one 
occasion on which a reputedly well-to-do tjinhaleae 
Chaplain— with a great craving for the amassing of 
money — approached Mr. Worms with the view of 
getting him to become landlord of a miserable set 
of huts in which Grandpaas workpeople found 
refuge. ' It would be so easy for Mr. Worms, as 
a largo employer, to collect rents and even to in- 
cieasc thoui, which he (Mr. ) found it difficult to 
do.' The rovorcud " Christian clergyman " got a 
IcsHOU troui the Jewish layman that day whicli was a 
Mpleudid exposition of " doing to one's ueigbboiu- ua 
ho would bo done by ' and which he can acarcoly have 
ioigotteu for the rest of bia life. 
In this way the planters of both the Dikoya and 
Maskeliya Districis have to thank the Messrs. Worms 
that they are included in the Central and not in 
the Sabaragamuwa Province. 
The plantation Messrs. Worms took most interest 
in opening after Rothschild was what they called 
" Worms-BaduUa ' (afterwards Keenakelle plantation) 
on the Narangalla range. They employed an old Uva 
planter — George Morice — to do the preliminary work, 
paying him a liberal salary and grudging no expense 
t3 get good work done. On their first visit, how- 
ever, both brothers were greatly disturbed at the 
miserly character of their Superintendent who lived 
on a tenth of his allowances and had besides no 
command of labour. Scarcity of coolies was the 
great want of the day, and Messrs. Worms began 
to think that for an out-of-the-way district, a 
"man of the country" who spoke the language 
thoroughly and understood the coolies, would be 
better as their Superintendent than a European. 
Accordingly on his return to Colombo, Mr, Worms 
cume to our office with an advertisement which 
ran somewhat as follows : — 
"WANTED 
For an extei sive young Coffee Plantation in the 
Badulla District, a iirst-class experienced Superin- 
tendent with good testimonials and thorough know- 
ledge of Tamil. Handsome salary allowed. No 
Euroi)ean need opphj. Address W. care of Observer 
Office." 
This intimation created quite a sensation through- 
out the Planting Districts ; but the labour difficulty 
was given as the explaoation, and Messrs. Worms 
soon got their man, in a Eurasian to whom they 
gave a salary certainly four times more than he 
had ever drawn. But this only served to turn the 
man's h ad and make him greedy for more after a 
dishonest fashion. Working so far from Colombo or 
Pussellawa — before the days of Visiting Agents — 
with no fear of inspection, and knowing that his 
repute depended on the number of coolies on the 
place, the "Superintendent " began entering a num- 
ber of fictitious names in the Checkroll. This 
went ou for some months, but at length suspicions 
were roused, a surprise visit by one of their 
trusted men arranged for, and the result was that 
within six months of the previous advertisement, 
Mr. Gabriel Worms one day appeared in our office 
storming about •■dishonest black men — 200 coolies in 
the checkroll lUO in the held— rogues, sir, put in 
an advertisement," audits terms were as follows: — 
" WANTED 
For an extensive Coffee Plantation in Badulla, a 
first-class Superinteudent of experience ; highest 
testimonials required. Handsome salary provided. 
A'oHe biU Earope<iitJs need apply to W. care of Observer. 
So, this soon brought the right man to do justice, 
to young Keenakelle which was handed over to the 
Company as a magnificent yomig c.lfcc plantation 
just coming into boaiing. The whole of tho proper 
tics held by Messrs. Woroia may bo auoa from th» 
following list taken from our " liatates Directory " 
