THE TROPIt^JAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. 2, 19Q1. 
Sir Tfeonws Lipton re«ie»tiou comists simply in 
a cliarge of work, and it is certain that lie lias 
never had to endure that niobt iiksonie of all niise- 
Ties, the misery of doing notliii:?. Any one visiting 
the great establishment in Ciiy Koad will be able to 
lee how organisation has served to leduce every 
operation to perfect simplicity, and so toeconomi.-e 
the labours of the work-feople, as well as to 
promote harmony and happiness among them. 
Sir Thomas Lipton has lor his general manager 
Mr Duncan McDiarmid, who has been associated 
'vith him from liis start in Glasgow, and who 
opened the first of his London branches, which 
nourishes still in Westbourne Grove ; and his tea 
department manager, Mr. T R Smith, another of 
the directors, has been associated with liim ever 
Mnce the firm began to build up the reputation 
which they now enjoy as the " largest tea dealers 
in the world." Huge as the business is, it still 
keeps steadily expanding;. Everyone must remem- 
ber tht rush lor shares that took ]ilace when the 
firm was floated into a company, under the title 
of Lipton Limited. The market value of the 
concern is now little short of live millions sterling. 
This implies an immense turn-ovei. and is an 
indication of the perfection tliat has been attained 
in the system of organisation and administration. 
The spreading branches of this wonderful business 
are all centralised in the private room of Sir Thomas 
Lipton in the City Road establishments 
Sir Th«mR-s Lipton understands the im- 
portance of keeping 
IN TOUCH WITH ALL WHO SERVE HIM, 
from the chiefs of departments down to 
the humblest message boy. Of all the thousands 
in hki employ none is ever debarred from 
acceag to him. Much of his success, as well as 
his popularity, is doubtless to this, which is, 
after all, only the quality of a skilful organiser. 
His dining-room in the City Road premises seems 
to the visitor a most delightful oasis in a well- 
kept wilderness of tea-chests and packing cases. 
Every day when in town he dines "here with his 
chiefs of stafi", end here hangs framed the historic 
cheque which was drawn for one week's clearance 
of tea. Here also may be found several interesting 
mementoes of Sir Thomas's travels to his Ceylon 
estates elsewhere. ■ , . . x. 
Sir Thomas Lipton's parents migrated from the 
North of Ireland to Glasgow, where he was born 
iust forty-five years ago. Beginning Ite as an 
industrious warehouse lad, he has climbed tha 
ladder of success from the very lowest rung. At 
the present moment the business operations of 
Sir Thomas Lipton include Kentish fruit farm?, 
meat stores and refrigerating cars all over 
America, curing factories in Liverpool and else- 
where, biscuit bakeries in Scotland, and "markets" 
all over the United Kingdom. Fiom the City Road 
he is in direct communication with Glasgow, Liver- 
pool, and Dublin. Sir Thomas Lipton is tea mer- 
chant to His Majesty, and some two hundred tons 
of tea are received and sent out by him eveiy 
week. Every other department of his enormous 
business is organised on the same scale, and, in 
addition to his own " markets, ' he employs over 
gix thousand agents. The secret of the pheno- 
menal fuccess be ha.« achieved lies in an 
IMPEOYED SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION AND THE ELI- 
MINATION OF THE MIDDD'MAN. 
An intertbtiiig pictuie lias been drawn of Sir 
Thomas Lipton in Ir-is beautiful home at Osidge, 
South<'ate. AUUo«gh his average working hours 
are p^pulaily supp«sttfl to vary from twelve to 
meen «ut of erwry tw«»ty-f«ur, Sir ThMU* 
cettaialy leelra some\rkat yencger tlmo he tcally 
is. His .stalwart frame (his height is well over six 
feet) is as erect as that of a youth of twenty, and 
one is not likely to easily forget his intelligent 
face and strongly marked features. During the 
time he bas lesided in Osidge he has never once 
patronised either of the two railways which have 
invaded the traditional privacy of Southgate. He 
drives to ami from hi.« great central offices every 
morning and night, and his fast-going American 
trotters excite much admiration and attention in 
the neighbourhood of Seven Sisteis Road, Green 
Lanes, and Palmei's Green. Orchid-growing is 
one of bis favourite foirns of diversion, and an 
electrophone connects him with all the principal 
theatres and concert-halls in the Metropolis. 
A visit to one of Sir Thomas Liptou's tea and 
cofiee estates 
IN CEYLON. 
is an event never to be forgotten. The 
beautiful scenery, the coolies at woik in 
the gaidens, pinning and plucking the tea, 
the great bags whizzling down tlie wire to the 
valley below, the coming and going of bullock 
waggons — all these and many other curious sights 
make up together a scene full of life and colour 
which leaves an indelible imprint on the 
memory. Dambatenne is, perhaps, one of the 
best known of Sir Thomas's estates. It is situated 
in one of the loveliest and most fertile parts 
of the Island, being reached from Colombo by 
railway passing through innunierable "paddy" 
and rice fields and estates of eveiy description. 
The first stoppage is at Kandy, or Newera Eliya, 
aptly described by Mr Clement Scott asa veii- 
table paradise of lilies and roses. Starting from 
Newera Eliya, the journey up country is continued 
with relays or horses, the nights being spent at 
" resthouses " or hotels maintained by the Gov- 
ernment. At Dambatenne the tea is plucked on 
the hills and manufactured in the valley many 
miles below. The tea, when gathered, used to be 
desiiatched to the factory, packed on the heads 
of native beaiers, who had to find their way by 
long and winding pathways down the mountain, 
the journey being frequently one of considerable 
peril. They have changed all that, however, on 
Lipion's estates. The aid of science has been 
invoked to devise a means of transit which, besides 
being expeditious, obviates entirely all dangrt: to 
life and limb. A powerful wire is stretched from 
the tea garden on the njountain to the factory in 
the valley beneath. The leu, when gathered, is 
packed with gieat care in bags, which are fastened 
with rings to this wonderful* aerial railway, 
and sent swishing along at a tremendous rate. 
" It almost makes you dizzy," says Mr Clement 
Scott, " to see the bags dancing down, down, 
over forests, rocks, and rivers, until they arrive 
by sheer force of descent safe at the manufactory 
door." In order to show how quickly tea is manu- 
factured at Dambatenne, Mr Scott relates how he 
picked some tea on the mountain very early one 
morning. He started the machinery that sent 
the, bag whizzing into the valley. There it was 
dried, curled, and made into tea, a cup of which 
he had the pleasure of drinking before going to 
bed that night. The tea, when manufactured, 
is despatched in large bullock wagons to the 
nearest railway leading to the Port of Colombo, 
and veiy scon afterwaids it may be puichased 
in the shops and stores. It is now many years 
since coffee planting saw its best days in Ceylon, 
but at Dambateiie and other estates, Sir Tkomas 
Li^non still cultivates the fragrant berry and 
manages to make it pay almost fis wel4 ?s te^i 
— Tea, October. 
3 
