524 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTUmST. [Feb. 1, 1899. 
and Mousakelle estates in Haputale as well as 
Moragahagalla estate in the Knuckle«. Mr. Tot- 
tenham subsequently opened Lunugalla in Hapu- 
tale, purchased Amanadowa and another estate iu 
the then newly-formed district of Madulsima ; 
besides Bambrella and Dawatakelle in the Knuckles; 
Wattagalla in Rangala ; and Mousava, Morankanda, 
Udahena and Bulugahatenne in Kurunegala district. 
Iq this way Mr. Tottenham became the owner of a 
larger number of coflee plantations than almost any 
other individual proprietor in the island if we ex- 
cept, perhaps, Mr. A. C. White. 
Mr. Tottenham never settled down himself to 
manage any of his properties, though he took a 
general interest and oversight : engineering work 
was however more congenial to his taste. He 
was fortunate enough to secure a contract from 
the Ceylon Government for the survey of Temple 
Lands at a fixed rate per acre which, it was un- 
derstood, resulted in considerable advantage to the 
Contracting Surveyor. Mr. Tottenham imported a 
considerable staff of Surveyors amongst whom were 
Messrs. H. S. Deane (Chief Assistant), T. Smith, 
James Gunn, Borron, Collinson Agar, and L. P. 
Tottenham, a younger brother of his own ; and 
very speedily disposed of the work entrusted to hnn. 
Some of his staff afterwards joined the .Survey, Public 
Works and Eailway Departments ; and others went 
to the Straits Settlements. Soon after this, while 
in Europe, Mr. Tottenham took great interest in cou- 
triving a means for securing better means of trans- 
port for the Uva districts. His proposal took the 
form of a Wire Tramway to be operated chiefly by 
water power, and to run from the neighbourhood of 
Kandy via Dumbara, Lower Hewaheta, ISIaturata and 
across Udapussellawa by the Nildandahena Pass to 
Haputale and BaduUa. The experiment went so far, 
that a trial overhead wire tramway was erected on 
Brighton Downs, and there we had the pleasure of 
personally inspecting it in 1870 in company with Mr, 
Tottenham, when we were certainly very favourably 
impressed with the prospect of its practical 
success. (We had, afterwards, at Mr. Tottenham's 
invitation, in London the opportunity of meeting re- 
presentatives of the coffee enterprise from nearly every 
part of the world, not only Ceylon and India, 
but Java, Brazil, Guatemala, Jamaica and Natal, 
the dinner party including Mr. Rucker, senior, 
who told us he had sold Ceylon Coffee iu his day 
at 18s. and 118s. per cwt !) The Wire Tramway, 
however, did not quite satisfy Mr. Tottenham and 
was finally abandoned. 
Early in 1872 and after a memorable visit 
to Uva, we began writing on the subject of 
Hallway extension from Nawalapitiya to Hapu- 
tale, collecting the needful statistics of acre- 
age and coffee crops and drawing up the first 
Memorial on the subject to Governor Sir Wm. 
Gregory. Mr. Tottenham very kindly placed the 
benefit of his professional knowledge at our service, 
and supplied an estimate of cost for a narrow-gauge 
line to run from Nawalapitiya, via lower 
Kotmale, Pundaluoya and the valley of the 
Nanuoya to Upper Dimbula and so across to 
Haputale. Mr. Tottenham went so far as to 
indicate his readiness to construct such a line 
for £11,000 sterling per mile. But the Ceylon 
Government was far too slow to act on any 
such offer, and the time was then fast ap- 
proaching when Mr. Tottenham was to sell out 
of Uva and quit Ceylon for a number of years. 
This transfer of interests occurred in 1873 when all 
the Haputale and most of the other estates were 
sold to the late L. St. George Carey on his estab- 
lishing the firm of Carey, Strachan & Co. To the 
same firm Mr. Tottenham sold the estates of hii late 
cousin, Cornwallis Tottenham, and the group 
belonging to Sir John Cheape which included 
(ialaha, Kitulamoola, the three Vedahettas (North, 
East and West) and one or two other places.* 
About this time Mr. Tottenham with the aid of 
the late John Gordon (of coffee pulper fame) 
introduced from Liberia 
THU FIUST LIBERUN COFFEE 
ever seen in the East. By means of wardian cases, 
Mr. Tottenham sent out a large quantity of ripe 
cherry coffee and a large number of well grown 
plants ; and Mr. Bull, the well-known Chelsea 
nursery-owner, who attended to Mr. Tottenham's 
plants in transit, afterwards raised seedlings and 
plants from cherry and sold them for some time, 
as a tropical novelty, as high as ten shillings per 
plant! Since that year, 1873, Liberian Coffee has 
spread to many parts of the Eastern world, notably 
to the Straits Settlements and Java, although in 
Ceylon much has not been made of it. In introducing 
it Mr. Tottenham (like every one else who took an 
interest in it) fully anticipated that a variety of 
coffee, so hardy and coarse iu its growth, would 
be able to withstand the fungus llemilcia tasiatrix 
" Coffee-leaf disease," which had begun to ravage 
the Ceylon plantations of the Arabian kind. But 
this anticipation was doomed to disappointment in 
Ceylon, although farther East the cultivation has 
been persevered in with a considerable measure of 
success. 
Mr. Tottenham was absent from Ceylon from 
]873 till 1897; but he was by no means idle. 
He is indeed of the type of colonist and pro- 
fessional man who must always be occupied with 
some useful practical undertaking. It would 
take too long, and occupy much space, if 
we entered into anything like adequate mention 
of Mr. Tottenham's experiences in financial and 
industrial undertakings in the United Kingdom 
as well as other countries — as a contractor, for 
instance, for the construction of the Northern system 
of Docks in Liverpool, now used by all the' large 
American Liners, or of his Mining investments in 
Spain and other parts of the world. But we 
must mention his candidature for a scat in the Im- 
perial Parliament, a return to which he missed (or 
escaped!) solely through the Borough for which 
he stood being merged in the County, by the 
Ee-distribution of Seats Act in 1885. 
A more notable circumstance — and one that 
must have given Mr. Tottenham much satisfac- 
tion — was his bringing under the notice of the 
British War authorities, in 1888— the first time 
their attention had been drawn to it — the rery 
important, not to say vital, question of "high ex- 
plosives." This reminder resulted in the experi- 
ments undertaken at Lydd, and the adoption of 
what is now called " Lj-dditc " by the British 
Government. Through Mr. Tottenham's business 
connections with different continental countries, 
he was at the time (1888) in possession of records 
of certain "high explosive" experiments in other 
countries which were both new and astonishing 
to the British authorities. Since then " high ex- 
plosives " have received and are receiving much 
attention on the part of the officials of both Army 
and Navy, who thus show that they fully realise 
the importance of keeping pace with other coimtries 
in experiments and preparations, however much 
we may desire that peace, and the Czar's " truce 
of God," ruay prevail. — It may be mentioned 
that Mr. Tottenham is a member of the Wel- 
lington and - Carlton Clubs in London. 
