( 88 ) 
PANWILA PAST AND PRESENT. 
.81' .<!t {^From a correspondent. 
I first knew the Panwil.a District in the latter 
half of the 'sixtees. Almost all the way from 
Wattegama — I may say, all the way from Kandy 
—the hills were then 
COVERED WITH THE UBIQTUTOUS COFFEE ; 
and although the sight of the green bushes, 
spreading far and wide, up hill and down dale, 
was a little monotonous, yet it was from time to 
time relieved by the snow-white, fragrant 
blossoms that spangled the vast expanse, and the 
bright-red berries that, clustering along the heavy- 
laden blanches, gladdened the planter's heart. 
Mais nous avons change tout cela. " The old 
order has changed, giving place to the new." 
And if the new order is getting a permanent 
footing now, and tlie dark days of failure have 
to some extent, been retrieved — all this is due 
to the pluck and grit of the brave hearts that 
bad to weather the storm, and, as bright hopes 
began to dawn, buckled themselves up for fresh 
ventures, and avenged themselves on their enemy 
by, in humorous punning mood, laughing him to 
soorn as "Him a-liar-vast at-tricks.'^ Yes ! Tea 
is King now ; and though his Majesty is subject 
to such fiactuations that his subjects who are 
loud in his praises today, may be down in the 
mouth tomorrow, their loyalty to him is neverthe- 
less unimpaired, and they would one and all 
stpnd up for their liege lord and raise the cry 
"0 King ! Jive for ever" ! 
PANWILA TODAY 
is pretty much the same as it was in the days 
gone by; for it has nothing of any local public 
interest that can claim the attention or the sym- 
pathy of strangers who live beyond its village- 
bound?. Not even its propinquity to Watte- 
gama, through which the Kandy-Matale Kailway 
runs, has lent it any importanse nor added any- 
thing to its time-honored claim to the possession 
of a Police Court, a Rest House, a Police Station 
and a Tavern. These are the institutions that 
would perhaps justify its pretensions to the 
dignity of a town. The old Rest House was a 
very unpretentious structure with a high verandah 
and two flights of steps leading up to it, kept 
by one Phiiippoo Aratchi, who retained as llest 
House-keeper the titular honorific which was his 
as a servaiic in the employ of a former Judge of 
the Supreme Court. Tlie present halting place 
for te^i sellers is a commodious bungalow, built- 
in 1873, it is said — by the good old veteran, 
Joseph Holloway, the laird cif Wattegama. 
It was built at tiie instance of Government, and is 
under the control of the District Road Committee. 
THF; OLD POLICE COURT 
was a long hall, — built with wattle and mud, 
and thatched with niana. It can still be seen, 
beyond an open space, on the other side of the road, 
opposite the present Rest-house ; and in this pri- 
mitive-looking concern, sat for the Administration 
of Justice in the olden days, no less a person than 
Mr Justice Withers — who only recently vacated 
his seat on the bench of the Supreme Court. 
He was then a rising young Civilian in the service 
of the Crown, and wisely gave u|) that service 
and proceeded to England to qualify himself as 
a BarrLster-at law ; and his career since he re- 
turned in that capacity to Ceylon, has ustified 
the wisdom of the course he adopted. Another 
yburig Civilian of that day, who severed his con- 
nection witli the Ceylon Civil Service, was Walter 
Wragg,— a cultured Oxford "University Scholar," 
who rose to be a Puisne Judge in the South 
African Colony, -and later on became a Chief 
Justice, I think, and obtained the honor of Knigt- 
hood. He, too, was at one time Police Magistrate 
of Panwila. Then 
TWO OF THE CLEVEREST JUDICIAL SERVANTS 
of the Crown, who gained distinction as profes- 
sional lawyers, began their official life here. Let 
us hope that the clever young Oxonian, who put 
his foot on the first rung of the Colonial Service 
ladder and stepped down again to leave our shores 
for the wider sphere of Journalistiic Literature in 
England, and has been entertaining his countrymen 
there with his clever sketches of Cadet-life in Ceylon, 
may live to make a name for himself in the " fresh 
fields and pastures new," he has chosen for him- 
self in the old country. Auiong the men who held 
the Panwila Magistracy in former days, and were 
in residence there, one recalls the names of Tem- 
ple, Knowles, Willisford, Ashniore, Pennycuick, 
R. O. S. Morgan and Hamilton. 
THE PRESENT POLICE COURT 
was built in 1858,— and here at the present time, 
a Weekly Sessions of two days in every week, is 
held by Mr, Wm. Dunuwille, the popular Police 
Magistrate of Matale-except on the 1st Friday 
and Saturday of every month, when the Court 
sits at Urugala. Tiie Police Station now stands 
within a few hundred yards of the Police Court, 
and is in charge of a Police Sergeant. In the 
olden days, it was kept in a building wliich is 
now part of Raxawa estate, in which Mr Parrin- 
lon, the Superintendent of Raxawa, lived, before 
the present bungalow,— nestling in a forest of 
grevilleas, on the crest of a hill, was erected, 
Mr Edwin Beven commenced his professional 
career in Panwila, and then moved on to the 
Kandyan Metropolis, where he holds a leading 
position as a Proctor. Arnold Joseph, Fernando, 
Bartholonieusz and Elders were also proctors 
practising in Panwila ; but these have long ago 
joined the majority. 
OF THE PLANTERS 
of a former day living in the Judicial district of 
Panwila one recalls such names as Forbes Laurie 
(a very pronounced Darwinian), W B Jackson 
Tom Smith, Rollo, Karslake. Hastings Clarke 
&c. At the head of them all stood, and stands 
still, the veteran and highly-re^^-ected planter of 
Kellebokke District, Mr Thomas, late of Oonoona- 
galla, with v'hotn all Ceylon sympathises over the 
loss sustained by him, in the death of his heroic 
son, one of the brightest, clieerieit and happiest 
young men I ever knew, who laid down his life 
for the honor of his country in the late bloody war 
against the perfidious Boer. 
THE APPROACH TO PANWILA 
from the foot of Galphele Estate, (liie property 
now of Mr T Y Wright, but whicii at first I think 
belonged to Mr Holloway and then to a Chetty 
and then to Mr Fred Van Langenberg, and then 
to Mr Donald) lies through an avenue of stately 
grevilleas, and from this avenue, branches oilf 
another which is continued, right on to the 
summit of the hill, and to the bungalow which 
lies concealed in a forest of trees. This feature in 
the scenery rises to its highest) point of pictures. 
