November 2, iSgi.] THE TROPICAL AQRICULTURJST. 
327 
tendence; and what money and brains could do, 
brains and money have done. Itnagino first of all 
half of the river being bodily built up into a 
watercourse GCO ft^ long and protected throughout 
its length by a rubble bank. All this for a turbine 
whioh develops 30 horEe-powcr from a fall of 8 ft., — 
the lowest fall in Oeylon, I believe. The building 
itself is, I should say, 150 ft. by 60 ft., with side 
pillars of stone, and central uprights of iron, and 
is asphalted throughout. It has three lofts, and 
is fitted up with an enormous engine, two Excelsiors, 
two Brown's rollers, two Victorias, one Davidson's 
down-draft Sirocco, roll and tea-sitters, and ^ four 
Blaokman'sfans. A simple calculation from the driers 
shows that this factory can easily turn out 1,500,000 
lb. of tea annually. On asking Mr. Jackson hia 
opinion, he said he liked Davidson's down-draft 
Siroco as well as any he had had to do with. But 
then he had never seen tue Britannia ! I must 
reserve further details for another letter. 
TEA MACHINERY ON THE AGRA TATA- 
NAS: REMINISCENCES OE THEIR 
PRISTINE SYLVAN BEAUTY. 
The same correspondent who described th^ 
equipment of Carlabeck and the working of the 
Britannia Drying Machine now tells us of a similai" 
triumph of engineering skill at Hauteville, on " the 
Agras." The river whioh rises on the side of 
the majestic Kirigalpotta and is with its iributaries 
finally lost in the ocean near Trinoomalee, is com- 
pelled, at Hauteville, to turn a turbine; and the power 
thus obtained is used to work a formidable array of 
rollers and down-draught siroccos and Victoria driers 
and sifters and cutters. "Alton wheels! All on 
wheels! " ns the Turk in Eothen exolaimer]. But what 
a contrast since the time (and it does not seem 
so very long ago) when, in company with poor L. St. 
George Carey and our good friend A. H. Thomas, 
we explored and gave way to poetic raptures over 
the then virgin beauty of the gem-like patanas, in 
a, setting of unbroken "forest primeval"; the stream, 
with its mirror-like pools, where the vfaters seemed 
to be 
" To their own far off murmurs listening," 
adorning both forest and grass land as with 
traceries of now frosted and now polished silver. 
''Here," said poor Carey, then in the prime of his 
energies and the flush of his sanguine schemes, 
"Here" [where Hauteville now shows its cultivat -d 
fieliis and its factory resounding with the whirr of 
macbineryl, "here I will have my bungalow, and 
there," pointing to a long, glassy reach of the 
river, " there I will have my boat. These lots 
I must have." We were then meditating "going 
in " for an Agra lot ; but in view of our companion's 
enthusiastic utterances we felt, as turneil out to bo 
the case, that success was hopeless. The Agra 
lots, of some of the finest of which, distinguished 
for indescribable sylvan beauty, Mr. Carey became the 
proprietor, wont at prices beyond our modest mems. 
Quo 0' Mr. Carey's lots vs^as namad St. George 
and anotlror Hauteville ; and as cultivated estates 
and the scones of bu>y human labour as well as 
of labour-saving machinery of the highest order, 
thny have a beauty and interest of their own. 
But to life'd latest hour we are not likely to forget 
tho views on and from the emerald patanas, ere 
tho foresr.s of a thousand genoratious had been 
foiled, and while their shade provided tho moun- 
tain stream with condition':, for a game at hido- 
and-stek on which the archaic mountains looked 
down with solemn complacency. But while re- 
calling rominipoonooB of tho natural beauty ol 
the Agras and the life and action and hopes 
now centred on them in connection, with 
the great tea enterprise, let us not forget the 
coiioe episode whic'n came between ; an episode 
ending in too many cases in broken fortunes and bro- 
ken hearts. Such vicissitudes are common to human 
pursuits, but not so common the brave perseverance 
with which the majority of tho planters turned to 
the retrieval of their fortunes with the new staple 
tea. Long may it flourish, and may all con- 
nected with it have reason for thankfulness 
in continued prosperity ! The tea planter can 
feel beyond doubt that in supplying the world 
with hia product he is conferring high benefits 
on his fellow-men, a consolation denied to those 
who fill the world with alcoholic beverages, fatal 
to a very considerable proportion of those who 
drink them and injurious to the bodies and souls 
of a further large proportion who are able to 
resist or postpone their fatal tendencies. The 
more they are superseded by 
"The cups which cheor but not inebriate," 
the better for humanity. 
■ -»■■' ■ ■- 
CEYLON TEA FUND. 
Minutes of proceedings of a meeting of tho Standing 
Committee of the Oevlon Tea Fund held within the 
Local Bofird Boom, Nuwara Eliya, on Friday, the 9th 
day of Octobsr 1891, at half past 4 o'clock, (4-30 p.m.) 
in the afternoon. Present :—Me8ar8 Giles F. Walker 
(Chairman Planters' Association of Oeylon), A. W. 
S. Sackville (Chairman, Mtiskelija Aesooiation), F. O. 
GubbioB (Udapussellawa District), W. D. Gibbon (Kandy 
Committee), A. L. Cross (Kandy Committee), J. H. 
Starey (Kandy Oomrnil^tee), and A. Philip (Kandy 
Committee, Secretary, Plantsrs' Association of Ceylon), 
The notice calling the meetina: was read. 
The minuten of proceedings of a meeting of the 
Standing Committee of the Ceylon Tea Fund held at 
Kandy on Friday, the 18th day of September 1891, were 
taken aa read and were confirmed. 
Resolved that Mr. Gubbius's name be added to tho 
Standing Committee of the " Tea Fund." 
Read letter from Mr. Alexander Tait. Bead letter from 
Messrs Walker, Sons, & Co., Limited, enclosing cheque 
for R50 for tho " Tea Fund " for current year, recog- 
iiisicg the good work the Committee is doing and the 
fact that all are interested in iucreasiiig the consump- 
tion of Ceylon Tea. 
Read latter from Mr. Hugh B. Roberta.' Resolved : — 
" That it ha pointed out to Mr. Roberts that the money 
expended upon the Tea Kio.sk and its fittings doe* not 
yet amount to R15,000, and that this sum will cover 
the total cost; that the building is being leased 
to both the Ceylon Tea Company, Limited, and 
the Syndicate Boat Company, Limited, with the 
sanction of Government, aud that the total rent 
amounts to between six par cent and seven per cent 
upon the sum voted by the Committee, and eecurity 
has been taken that the b.isemeut of the building 
will not in any way bo used to the detriment 
either of the Kiosk or those using it." 
Rend letter from Mr. Sholto G. D. Shrine, Chair- 
mau, Dikoya Association. 
Ceylon Tha at the World's Exposition at 
Chicago in 1893.— Read letters from Hon. Mr. L. H. 
Kelly enclosing a communication from His Excel- 
lency the Governor statiug that the foliowinsf gentle- 
men had been asked to form a Committee for tho 
Ceylon representation at the Chicago Exhibition : — 
BIr. Saunders, Mr, Dawson, Mr. Griuliuton, Mr. Giles 
F. Walker, Mr. Henry Bois, Mr. Haly, and Dr. 
Tnmen. 
Read letter from Mr. A. E. Wright. Resolved: — "That 
a special fund bo started to ar.gment the sum al- 
ready voted by tho Standing Committee of the Tea 
Fund for furthering tho interests of Ceylon Tea at 
tho Chicago Exhibition, and that sabscriptions bo 
generally invited for this purpooe." 
