354  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [Nov.  i,  1892. 
working  and  durability  of  these  machines,  and  I would 
strongly  advise  planters  requiring  more  rolling  power 
to  carefully  look  into  this  before  making  their  selection. 
I have  also  purchased  from  the  Patentee  in  India 
and  Ceylon  his  patents  for  a withering  machine,  many 
of  which  are  doing  excellent  work  in  India,  and  have 
done  for  some  years.  One  of  these  has  been  erected 
on  the  Great  Western  Estate,  and  through  the  courtesy 
of  Mr.  Thomas  Mackie  I am  allowed  to  state  that 
proprietors  and  managers  may  inspect  this  machine 
by  making  appointments  with  Mr.  Mackie. 
Believing  as  I da  that  it  is  of  the  first  and  greatest 
importance  to  wither  the  leaf  well,  I have  given  the 
most  careful  attention  to  this  machine,  which  pro- 
mises to  be  a great  success,  and  as  users  of  it  in 
India  state  that  it  withers  leaf  quite  equal  to  the  best 
natural  system.  I think  it  would  be  well  for  those 
interested  to  have  a look  at  it. 
Finally  Mr.  Jmkson  states  that  his  personal  efforts 
will  be  oontinued  in  the  field  which  he  has  made 
so  much  his  own  : — 
I now  leave  for  England  to  continue  my  efforts  in 
improving  and  keeping  tea  machinery  up  to  the  mark, 
and  I thank  all  who  have  contributed  to  make  my 
visit  to  your  world-famed  Island  such  a pleasant  one. 
The  pamphlet  which  we  are  noticing,  and  from  which 
we  have  quoted,  oontains  the  memoir  of  Mr.  Jackson 
whioh,  with  the  reproduction  of  an  excellent  photo- 
graph, appeared  in  the  Indian  Planters'  Gazette 
and  was  copied  into  the  Observer.  From  this  it 
appears  that  Mr.  Jackson  must  be  in  the  prime  of 
his  physical  life  and  intellectual  energies  ; for  he  was 
born  so  late  as  1849,  on  Lord  Kintore’s  estate, 
Keith  Hall,  Aberdeenshire.  From  earliest  obildhood 
the  instinct  of  the  future  engineer  and  machinist 
was  so  strongly  developed  that  “ Geordie  Wid  ” 
(Wood)  had  to  threaten  to  put  baby  Jackson  in 
the  furnaoe,  if  he  “ speered  ony  mair  questions 
about  the  thrashing  machine.”  But  neither  by 
fire  nor  by  watery  mud  was  his  useful  life  des- 
tined to  be  terminated  ; for  in  his  advent  to  Assam, 
where  his  genius  was  developed  in  the  direction 
of  machinery,  he  had  a somewhat  narrow  escape, 
thus  described 
When  he  reached  Kookleamook,  the  steamboat 
station  on  the  river,  it  was  about  4 p m.,  and  a letter 
awaited  him  from  Mr.  John  giving  instructions  to 
put  himself  in  the  bearer’s  hands  who  would  bring 
him  safely  to  Mazengah.  This  was  done,  and  the  first 
two  hours  was  spent  in  a dugout  boat  which  took 
him  into  a bheel  or  shallow  piece  of  water,  the  edges 
of  which  terminated  in  mud  in  which  the  buffaloes 
wallow.  Here  an  elephant  was  waiting  him,  which  was 
brought  alongside  the  boat,  and  caused  to  kneel  down 
in  the  mud  for  Mr.  J.  to  mount. 
On  attempting  to  do  this,  however,  the  monster 
beast  trumpeted  so  loudly,  that  Mr.  Jackson  made  a 
bounding  leap,  and  landed  himself  headlong  in  the 
mud  and  water  as  far  from  the  beast  and  boat  as 
he  could,  out  of  which  mess  he  was  lifted  by  the 
coolies  and  put  on  the  Jiattie,  and  in  this  state 
reached  Mazengah  about  10  p.m.  little  or  none  the 
worse  of  the  fright  he  had  got. 
Then  after  much  experience  of  weaiying  work 
through  the  night  hours,  necessitated  by  the 
absence  of  suoh  appliances  as  now,  thanks  mainly 
to  him,  are  at  the  disposal  of  every  manufacturer 
of  tea, 
He  made  his  first  resolution  in  the  lonely  midnight 
hour  that  he  would  produce  a machine  that  would 
do  the  work  so  as  to  give  him  time  for  sleep  at 
any  rate,  and  before  3 a.m.  next  morning  he  had 
made  a model  disclosing  exactly  the  motion  imparted 
by  coolies  in  rolling  leaf  on  tables  by  hand. 
His  career  since  then,  with  the  interruption  of 
the  litigation  with  Mr.  Kmmond,  who  bears  witness 
to  his  honorable  conduct,  has  been  suooess- 
ful  in  every  sense.  He  has  succeeded  in  pro 
viding  appliances  of  the  most  superior  and  effective 
quality  for  the  use  of  tea  planters  ; and  none  of 
these  at  least  will  grudge  him,  or  his  agents 
Messrs.  Marshall  of  Gainsborough  and  Messrs. 
Walker  of  Colombo,  the  due  rewards  of  hard  work, 
of  brain  and  of  body,  well  and  honestly  done. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  JackBon  reside  on  the  banks  of  the 
Dee,  not  far  from  Aberdeen,  whence  the  magis- 
tracy and  leading  inhabitants  went  not  long  ago 
to  see  how  their  vil'a  and  Mr.  Jackson’s  model- 
rooms  and  workshop  looked  when  illuminated  by 
the  electric  light — Many  will  join  us  in  good 
wishes  for  Mr.  Jackson's  extended  life  in  good 
health  and  accompanied  by  well-deserved  prosperity. 
THE  TEA  KOLLEK  PATENT  CASE. 
THE  PETITION  OF  APPEAL. 
The  following  is  the  petition  of  appeal  in  the 
case  William  Jackson  of  Aberdeen  r.  Alfred  Brown  of 
Colombo,  the  Colombo  Commercial  Company,  Limited. 
The  petition  of  the  above-named  defendants  humbly 
sheweth  : — 
(1.)  On  the  13th  of  September,  1892,  your  Hon. 
Court  set  aside  the  judgment  of  the  District  Court 
of  Colombo  in  your  petitioners'  favour,  and  entered 
judgment  in  favour  of  the  plaintiff  with  costs. 
(2.)  Your  petitioners,  being  desirous  of  appealing 
against  your  Lordship’s  judgment  of  the  13th  day  of 
September,  1892,  to  Her  Majesty  in  Council,  hereby 
apply  to  your  Hon.  Court  to  have  the  said  judg- 
me  nt  brought  before  your  Hon.  Court  collectively  ; 
by  way  of  review. 
The  following  are  the  grounds  of  your  petitioners’ 
proposed  appeal  and  reasons  for  submitting  that  the  | 
case  is  a fit  one  for  appeal  to  Her  Majesty  in  i 
Council,  (a.)  That  the  claim  in  this  action  was  to 
restrain  the  appellants  from  an  alleged  infringement 
by  them  of  a patent  granted  to  the  respondent,  and 
for  damages  and  in  value  exceeding  115,000  and  costs  i 
of  suit.  ( b .)  That  the  claim  involved  questions  of  I 
public  importance  and  interest  in  that  it  was  sought  I 
to  restrain  the  appellants  from  using  or  selling  at 
invention  of  great  practical  utility  in  the  tea  enter-  j 
prise  of  Ceylon. 
And  for  further  reasons  for  appealing  from  the  said 
judgment  the  appellants  would  submit  as  follows  : — 
I.  — The  Hon.  the  Supreme  Court  has  failed  to  ap-  j 
predate  what  is  at  issue  between  the  parties,  and  has 
misunderstood  the  facts  upon  which  this  action  must 
be  decided. 
II.  — The  learned  Chief  Justice  has  found  that  the  I 
plaintiff  had  a perfect  legal  right,  and  did  appropriate  I 
to  himself  and  secure  by  patent  all  the  novel  and  useful 
mechanical  contrivances  contained  in  the  Standard 
and  developed  in  the  Excelsior  and  that,  therefore,  he  | 
is  in  possession  of  a patent  for  a machine  illustrating  ; 
a principle  in  the  conversion  of  motion  which  had  ‘ 
never  before  been  practically  applied,  which  is  de-  , 
scribed  by  the  learned  Chief  Justice  as  follows: — 
“ By  peculiar  mechanical  means  and  contrivances  > 
developed  in  the  machine  a manner  of  rolling  tea  is  se-  i| 
cured  to  be  substituted  for,  and  made  to  resemble,  tea  i 
rolled  by  the  human  hands.” 
And  the  learned  Chief  Justice  has  read  the  word 
“ it  ” in  the  forth  issue  settled  in  the  District  Court  to 
refer  to  the  said  invention.  The  appellants  submit 
that  this  view  of  the  plaintiff's  invention  is  incorrect. 
(1.)  The  Standard  roller  was  never  patented  in 
Ceylon,  and  public  right  to  the  Standard  roller  had 
been  acquired,  one  of  these  machines  having  been  im- 
ported into  Ceylon  in  1879,  and  used  to  roll  tea  leaf  on 
Loolecondura  estate  in  the  district  of  Hewaheta, 
Ceylon,  from  that  year— as  admitted  by  the  respondent 
in  his  evidence  in  the  District  Court. 
(2.)  The  plaintiff  obtained  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  l| 
1881,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  Ordinance 
i No.  5 of  1859,  a grant  under  the  public  seal  of  the  Island 
| of  Ceylon  for  the  sale  and  exclusive  privilege  of 
I making,  selling,  and  using  a certain  new  and  useful' 
! invention  entitled — “ An  invention  for  improvements 
in  machinery  or  apparatus  for  rolling  tea  leaf,”  and 
in  the  specification  of  this  invention  filed  by  him  he 
, declares  what,  he  considers  to  be  novel  and  original 
' and  therefore  claims  as  the  invention.  First.  The1 
