THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1894. 
up of any surplus revenue was knocked on the 
head, the Council being empowered to deal with 
Surplus Funds or Supplementary ordinances on 
the initiative of the Governor and to revoke Unex- 
pended Balances of Annual Votes tor W >rks, &c 
without previous reference home. T!i3 unpro- 
ductive reserves lying in the Treasury were first 
invested at interest hy Sir Hercules and added 
£10,000 a year to the revenue; and later on, he 
saved the Colony a good deal hy securing the 
dishandment of the Ceylon Rifles' Regiment. 
All these improvements weakened public interest 
in the League; but there were spurts of revival, 
notably in 1866 when Mr. Wall was for the tirst 
time made Chair. nan of the Colombo Chamber 
of Commerce and in 1868 when he was carried into 
the chair of the Planters' Association after .an 
exciting contest with Capt. Byrde, by a majority 
of 105. Then came Mr. (now Sir Edward) 
Watkin's motion in the House of Commons 
for an Inquiry into Ceylon affairs; and Mr. 
Wall's mission home in September to interview, 
and support the movement. But when all 
this came to nought — when Mr. Wall returned 
without achieving any practical result,— the 
League as good as collapsed altogether and 
many people who had fought for its aims, ti ll 
that the best must be made of the situation. 
This was especially the case after Sir Hercules 
Robinson himself returned from short leave to 
England in June 1869, full of schemes for the 
benefit and advancement of the Colony. Among 
these was the new Silver Currency, which, at 
the ins'ance of Sir Guildford Molesworth, the 
Governor made a Decimal Currency. This was 
unfortunately opposed by Mr, Wall who, with 
one or two more, tried to keep their accounts 
under the old system ; but the reform was too 
real and beneficial not to be universally adopted 
erelong. —In 1869 we may mention the firm of 
Messrs. Geo. Wall & Co. owned 7 Estates ag- 
gregating 1,736 acres in cultivation and were 
agents for 90 estates with 32,328 cultivated acres.- 
VVe ought to refer here to the opening of the 
( olombo and Kandy Railway in August 1867. 
Mr. Wall and the writer were of the party 
taken over the line in a special train before 
the formal opening and he explained to us then 
his position, that he had never meant that a 
locomotive could not be taken round Kadugvaawa 
p ass — nothing was impossible to engineering 
— but that no engineer would he foolish enough 
to follow the Kaduganawa route when a much 
better one was available. Mr, Wall had strenu- 
ously advocated a Northern route via the 
Yattawatte Pass and Matale for entering the 
Kandyan country ; but this was examined and con- 
demned by the responsible Engineers, before Moles- 
worth finally chose the route which h is proved 
so great a success. 
MR. WALL AND MR. TYTLER. 
One of the periodical "depressions" in the 
Planting Enterprise occurred in 1866 67, begWBiag 
from "Black Friday" (Overend Gurney's 
failure in London) and Mr. Wall to turn this 
to practical account, began a discussion in 
the Observer on " Estate Expenditure : how it 
bad increased, was increasing and ought to be 
diminished." It attracted a deal of interest and did 
good. Towards the end. but before the Corres- 
pondence ceased, Mr. H. B. Tytler arrived from 
home full of thp artificial manure " Somhreorum " 
which he hail devised to tenovate the coffee tree. 
He had written letters beforehand from Scotland 
and was impatient of anything else distracting 
public attention. After discussing the subject with 
him on his arrival, our senior asked Mr. Tytler 
whether he hail read the letters on " Estate 
Expenditure"' and what he thought of the calcu- 
lations and deductions. The reply was rather 
startling: — "Yes I've read them and I'll tell you 
what it is : W-ll is mad— mad as a hatter ! " 
Laughter followed and the incident was forgotten. 
That same afternoon, however, Mr. Wall came 
to the oltice with some "copy" on his own 
favourite topic. It was discussed and the con- 
versation turning on Mr. Tytler (who had l>een 
round, meantime, to see his old friend) and 
"Sombreornm," the question was quite inno- 
ceitly put: — "Well, what do you think of 
this new manure and Tytler's anticipations * " 
Again came the surprising rejoinder : — " 1 11 tell 
you at once — between you and me in this matter 
T tl-r is an ass — a downright donkey !" A peal 
of laughter in which Mr. Wall heartily joined 
without knowing the full reason, crowned his de 
parture ; for had the two friends but rivals, met at 
the door, nothing could exceed their esteem for 
each other! In the early days in Kandy Messrs. 
Tytler and Wall were always more or less rivals : 
the latter had the keener and more logical 
intellect ; but Tytler, though slower was weightier 
and more of an all-round character, while in 
bonhomie and humour, which go so far in 
managing men, Mr. Tytler was greatly superior, 
as was shown by his uniform popularity in the 
Planters' Association. 
IN THE "SEVENTIES" AND "EIGHTIES." 
If the Ceylon League had not ahead}' 
been dead and buried, a big nail in its coffin 
would have been placed by the death of Mr C. 
A. Lorensz on August 9, 1871. In October 1873, 
Mr. Wall was chosen Chairman of the Planters' 
Association in succession to Mr. Leake, Mr. Bow- 
den Smith being selected at the same time as 
Member of the Legislative Council. The bearing 
of this fact will be understood when it is known 
that a few days later Messrs. Wall and R. V. 
Dunlop did all they eould to oppose the nomi- 
nation of any one for the Legislative Council 
