Sept. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
149 
great variety of duties — some of them very respon- 
sible and in every case most carefully performed, 
though by no means adequately remunerated — 
during his 30 years' service in Ceylon. Capt. 
Steuart soon found that, pecuniarily, he had 
made a mistake in coming ashore. For instance, 
in one voyage in the "Eclipse," with his perqui- 
sites as Commander, he had cleared £2,000 ; how 
much more might he have done in his own ship ! 
But in Colombo, although at first as owning the 
Government boats, supplying stores, &c., the post 
w^s a profitable one, — very soon (in 1832) some 
of the merchants began to complain to Govern- 
ment of the Master Attendant profiting beyond 
his salary. No change was made, though a good 
deal of wrangling took place, before the advent on 
7th November, 1837, of Governor Steuart Mackenzie. 
Meantime, in April, 1835, Captain Steuart had been 
asked by Messrs. Arbuthnott & Co., Agents to 
the Madras Government, to undertake the duty of 
making advances, secured by shipping documents, 
for cinnamon and other produce on their account, 
they providing him beforehand with funds. In 
addition to Letters of Credit on the Ceylon 
Treasury, Steuart received specie (rupees) from 
Madras and sovereigns from England, and his 
business soon became considerable, leaving him 
with a handsome commission. He had been 
refused admission inio the Civil Service proper 
and its pension privileges, and he was therefore 
free to trade, and here undoubtedly he laid the 
foundation of the house of George Steuart & 
Co., though it did not come into existence for 
some years after. On 6th December, 1836, however, 
Capt. Steuart received an order not to trade ; but 
got a year's grace to wind up his existing engage- 
ments. We are not told what happened then, and 
we would infer that he must have got his brothe'' 
to take up the business in 1838 (?) ; for he closes 
his chapter on the subject, writing in 1866, as 
follows: — "I firmly resolved as I could not retain 
the business for myself, to secure ic for my 
brother, and by the kindness of the Madras 
Agents, I succeeded, and thus laid the found- 
ation of that now flourishing establishment Messrs. 
George Steuart & Co., of Colombo, from which 
my brother has retired with a fortune, while I 
have become a Government pensioner." [This 
would seem to shew that Mr. George Steuart did 
not recall, and acknowledge, as James expected, 
vvhence his prosperity first arose? James retired 
in 1855 and died in 1870 aged 80 yenvs ; George 
retired in 1868 and died on 8th July, 1896, aged 
88 years— so that he was 18 years the junior of 
his brother James.] 
On 5th April, 1839, Capt. Steuart ceased to 
be owner of licensed boats ; and in a long and 
able letter to Government, he gave a history of 
the whole case from 1813 ; and he also showed 
how badly he had been treated in being excluded 
from the Civil Service Pension Fund, although 
an early predecessor, Mr. Laughton, was then 
living in England o'l £400 pension from this 
fund, his post being blaster Attendant and his 
service 12 years. Capt. Steuart then offered to 
retire on a pension of £350 after a service of 
15 years, including very valuable work done on 
the Pearl Banks, where he saved Government much 
money and secured good returns in a series of 
Fisheries from 1828 to 1837 inclusive, save in 
the one year 1834, when there was no Fishery. 
But then came a blank with no Fishery from 
1838 to 1854, and Capt. Steuart remained at his 
post till 1855, the first year of a renewal of success- 
ful Fisheries. In 1837, an incidental reference is 
made to the arrival at Trincomalee of the ship 
" Valleyfield," under the command of his brother 
Capt. Geo. Steuart ; and in April, 1839, he 
mentions a nephew who was coffee planting in 
Saffragam — perhaps Mr. Moi-phew ? The merchants 
of Colombo soon found cause to regret their 
meddling with the boat arrangements so admir- 
ably managed personally by Capt. Steuart. Boat- 
men could not be got when most wanted, and 
when a gale of wind prevailed— in the open road- 
stead of Colombo remember — 100 rupees reward 
was in vain offered to any boat that would take 
off a letter to a ship, whereas Steuart used to 
get it done for 10 rupees. At length the trouble 
became so great that on 4th March, 1848, the 
first "Cargo Boat Company" came into existence. 
The book of MSS. before us, beautifully written 
in a clear bold hand, has, for its frontispiece, a 
delightful water-colour sketch of a full-rigged ship 
" Homavvard bound," and the title-page runs ; — 
" EE COLLECTIONS 
Profesional and Official 
(Here comes an oval water-colour sketch of Yacht 
and Boat) 
BY 
James Steuart, 
1866." 
—four years before his death. The volume is further 
embellished with a photograph of the author 
from which our portrait has been reproduced ; 
and by various water-colour sketches— one of Sila- 
vafcturai with the boats returning from the Pearl 
Banks, March, 1828— full of colour and animation . 
and a fuU-page Chart of the Pearl Banks. 
This prefixes a valuable Chapter on the "Pearl 
Fisheries— their arrangement, responsibilities and 
results," which we must meantime pass ove^ 
