224 
THE TROPICAL AGFJCULTURIST, 
[Oct. 1, 1899. 
in later years suspended. The opportunity occur- 
ring, Mr. Lewis embraced the offer of the charge of 
a Coffee Plantation, Hatterebage, in Saffragam, in 
1843. This had long been his wish before leaving 
England. Having noticed the fiscal changes which 
had equalised the duties on Coffee from the West 
Indies and the Colonies, he had been confident 
from the first, that planting in Ceylon by Europeans 
would soon follow. Here, notwithstanding the 
intense solitude of the place, a happy three years 
were passed, 150 acres planted and partially brought 
into bearing at a reasonable expense. The pro- 
prietor, his friend and fellow-passenger by the 
"Achilles" died, and troubles arising with his 
representatives, Mr, Lewis' connection with the 
estate ceased. He was soon called down te 
Colombo to undertake to bring into shape the 
accounts of an Agent for Proprietors in Europe, 
who had bought and carried on many estates at 
a vast expenditure of capital. This he did not 
fully accomplish for reasons which need not 
be stated, and he declined to proceed further with 
them. At that time 1846-7, a Conveyance Com- 
pany was projected in order to bring down the 
coffee crops from Kandyan districts with better 
dispatch than could then be accomplished by 
bullock carts, which usually took from five to 
seven days between Kandy and Colombo. For this 
it was proposed to establish stations on the road 
for providing fresh bullocks to draw the loads 
and to make the journey continuous and not inter- 
mittent by the work and rest of the same cattle, 
A fair salary being offered for a Secretary, Jlr. Lewis 
applied for and obtained it. Outside attendance 
at meetings of Directors and receiving subscriptions 
for shares, his first work was to determine the 
sites of the stations and to negotiate with native 
owners and Government officials for the land 
required. Having accomplished this and secured 
a terminus in Colombo, other business of a more 
pressing nature having come upon him, he resigned 
his position with the Company, Mr, Lewis then 
held the Power of Attorney of a merchant who 
was leaving for Europe, and contributed some 
assistance to the ' ' Examiner " newspaper then but 
lately commenced. This last led to lending his 
savings to the then proprietor, of which being 
unable to obtain the repayment for good or for 
evil, and very unwillingly he had to take over 
the paper on the return of his merchant friend 
to Ceylon. This was in the year 1848, and his 
connection with that paper, of which he was sole 
Editor, continued until June, 1853, when the 
" Examiner" was disposed of to three gentlemen now 
all gone to the majority. The year 1848 was 
notable for a partial rising of the natives in 
the Central Province and the means used for sup- 
pressing it, which gave rise to a lamentable con- 
troversy between the " Examiner" and the Observer, 
which had hardly subsided when Sir George 
Anderson succeeded Lord Torrington as Gover- 
nor, The proceedings in Parliament at home 
were no less stormy ; an exhaustive Parliamentary 
enquiry took place, and many Ceylon officials 
were removed to other Colonies. The two last 
acts of the drama being the Court Martial 
demanded by Major, now Colonel Watson, by which 
he was acquitted, and another enquiry by two 
members of the Indian Civil Service with the same 
charge in connection with his action whilst on 
duty in the disturbed districts. Before parting 
with the " Examiner " it may be mentioned that 
though it did not enjoy a large circulation, it wai 
an authority on mercantile questions, always siding 
with the new departure. Free Trade then coming for- 
wiivd at home, ]Many improvements, arising from 
the Editor's early Inisiness experience at home In 
regard to preparation and packing coffee for ship- 
ment, were advocated in its columns, many sug- 
gestions for improvements in cofiee cultivation were 
put forward which have borne fruit in later years. 
At the Great Exhibition of 1851, Mr, Lewis 
contributed Models of Buildings and Machinery 
on Coffee Plantations for which he received a 
Medal, and the smaller contributions mostly passed 
through his hands, sent into the "Examiner' Office. 
Leaving Ceylon in November, 1853, he arrived 
home in the following March in fine health, just 
as the Fleet was leaving for the Baltic ; the Crimean 
War having broken out during the voyage round 
Cape, After parting with the "Examiner," on his 
passage to England round the Cape in the " Sym- 
metry" in 1853, Mr. Lewis, besides other things 
amused himself with writing a short ' ' History of 
Cofiee Planting " and the modus operandi which 
after his return to Ceylon was published in chapters 
in the " Examiner," and afterwards gathered into a 
pamphlet for distribution to his friends. This 
little work was used and favourably acknowledged 
by Sir Emerson Tennent in his great work on 
Ceylon. Later it was plagiarised by several writers 
on the same subject, whose names and works need 
not be mentioned. It is only fair to say, that an 
ampler historical account of the commencement 
and progress of Coffee Planting in the various 
districts, was published by Mr. A. M, Ferguson in 
his Ceylon Commonplace Book in 1859, Having 
married, he returned to Ceylon arriving in Sept- 
ember, 1855, ostensibly to undertake the manage- 
ment of a plantation in Dimbula ; but the arrange- 
ment falling through, at the invitation of his old 
friend, Mr, Butler, he became assistant to, and 
holding the Power of Attorney of, Messrs. Darley, 
Butler & Co. , which power he was called upon to 
