J.\y.  r,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICUI/ITIKlST. 
475 
oriJ  MODKL  rOCONCT  Ff.AN'I'ATK  >N  : 
ITS  PLAMTLK  AND  UWNEU:-A  VI'U'FLDVN 
PIONEER. 
\V'e  have  already  referred  to  tlie  early  career 
of  Mr.  W.  H.  Wrifj,lit,  an  e,\'aiii|)le  in  so 
many  \'ay.s,  e,si)ecially  in  his  enei'gy  and 
ingennity,  to  the  ri.sing  youth  of  the 
i.sland.  Mr.  Wright  is  now  in  his  Toth  year, 
hut  is  wiry  and  nin.-^cnlar  enough  to  warrant 
the  e.xpectation  ot  another  ten  yeais  of  worU 
with  almost  unabated  vigour.  His  education  as 
a hoy  in  Colomho  had  not  many  advantag'es — 
he  never  entered  Academy  or  College — Imt  he 
got  a fair  grounding  in  the  three  “ i*'s”  at  the 
Orphan  Asylum  and  it  may  have  been  his  own 
fault  that  he  did  not  go  further;  for  in  his  \ eryeariy 
years,  he  showcil  a greater  interest  in  everything 
outside,  than  in  the  school-work,  In  every  species 
of  manual  work  he  w.as  certainly  interested  and  in 
this  way  became  a jack-of-all-tr.ades — acipiiring 
what  proved  im  aluahle  accomplishments  to  him  af- 
terwards in  his  jungle-work,  when  he  conhl,  mi  an 
emergency,  act  tailor,  shoemaker,  car|)enter,  mason, 
doctor,  or  farrier  as  the  case  called  for.  Mr.  Wright’s 
lirst  engagement  w.as  under  the  Hon’hle  (Jeo. 
Turner  and  David  Baird  Lindsay  on  Bajawella* 
e.state  as  A.ssistant  on  T2  lUs  (30  dollars)  a 
month,  of  which — he  it  noted  by  the  youth 
of  the  i.sland — the  young  lad  remitted  ,CI 
monthly  to  his  motiier.  He  worked  so  hard 
here,  th.at  Dr.  Ferdinands  who  came  the  way, 
remarked  to  his  Peri, a Dnrai:  “Why  you  will  kill 
this  lad.”  He,  however,  left  soon  after  with  good 
health  and  the  liest  of  certilicates  ami  ne.\t  got 
.a  place  in  Kandy  undm-  .Major  Badly,  1;. K.  l''rom 
there  .Mr.  Wright  went  to  Peradeniya  estate  and 
by  IS12-3  (when  21  years  old)  he  had,  pr.actically, 
full  charge  of,  and  opened  the  coll'ce  plantation  of 
t, ills  e.\tensi\  e property  -.Messrs.  Viscardi  and  Val- 
lance,  tli(>  cdiief  Supm-intendents  direcLing  l. heir  at- 
tention more  to  the  Sugar.  From  Peradeniya,  a lit- 
tle later,  .Mr.  Wright  was  accustomed  (an  evidence 
of  his  active  haliits)  to  drive  to  Colombo  72  miles 
.after  work  on  Saturday  and  be  back  for  his 
duties  by  Monday  morning.  He  won  the  full 
confidence  of  Mr.  Christian  and  other  memliers 
of  the  firm  of  Messrs..).  M.  Itobertson  & Co.,  and 
whenever  any  member  of  the  Firm  u]>conntry, 
wanteil  cash  after  the  Kandy  bank'.s  were 
(dosed,  Mr.  Widghl.  could  grd  them  any 
amount  of  money  up  to  a thousand  iiminds 
from  De  Soysa's  private  bank  without  even  a 
chit,  only  giv  ing  an  order  on  the  (’olombo  firm  : 
such  was  ihe  confidence  jdaced  in  him  alike 
by  Knropeans  and  natives.  — While  he  was  at 
Ilajaweil.i  there  was  ,a  terrible,  ontbre.ak  of 
cholera  and  coolie.s  were  dying,  live  and  si.v  ,a 
day,  on  other  |)laces  round,  hut  Mr.  Wriirht 
was  able  to  keep  his  coolies  in  health  by  a 
simple  means  : every  morning  .at  muster  he  hail 
a supply  of  powdered  charcoal  (burnt  coconut  shell) 
near  him  and  as  e.aidi  man  answered  to  his  name 
he  had  to  come  up  .and  sw'.allow  a teas[ioonfnl 
from  the  master’s  hand,  followed  by  a drink 
of  water. 
.Mr.  Wright’s  lirst  venture  in  planting  on 
his  own  account  was  in  the  Wevakelle 
estate,  Dolosbage,  on  wdiich  he  spent  Bld,0oii 
in  1.')  months  and  Llnm  sold  it  fitr  U3it,0Ub 
to  Dr.  Shiiitoii.  In  the  clo.sing  years  of  the 
“fifties”  his  attention  waas  directed  to  llapu- 
tale  and  he  bought  several  blocks  of  land  from 
(Toveniment.  Koslande  wars  the  only  one  that 
he  retained  eventually,  and  .after  about  two 
years  of  work  he  bought  from  his  partner  Mr. 
.John  Hamilton,  the  veterinary  surgeon  of 
GO 
Kandy,  the  half  .share  of  this  properl  y for  L‘2,2o0. 
\\  idle  living  there  he  pnrcha.sed  ,\lr.  ( 'orbet's 
two  rifles  and  two  of  iMr.  Jack  Tyndall’s  for 
CIOJ,  and  after  killing  his  forty  elcidiants  he 
sold  the  btittery  for  the  price  which  he  origin.ally 
p.aid  for  it.  He  saved  Mr.  Tyndall  when  .attacked  by 
hornets  on  a notable  occasion.  Mr.  Wright  was  one 
of  the  i)ioneers  in  the  South-e.astern'’division  of 
Haputale  whore  we  lirst  met  him  in  ISG.").  He 
did  exceedingly  good  work  there  as  a jdanter, 
while  he  was  ahvays  re.ady  to  .advise  or  oblige  a 
neighbour  or  indeecl  ])<assing  visitors — .as  Sir  Hei  - 
cule.s  Bobinson  found,  when  in  journeying  from 
Hambantota  to  Nuw'ar.a  Eliya,  His  Excellency 
was  indebted  to  Mr.  AVright  for  sup])lying  liis 
suite  at  a pimdi  with  the  services  of  some  coolie.s 
to  carry  baggage  from  Wellaw.aya  to  the  Sana- 
tarinm.  Eventually  Mr.  W'right  .sold  his  Koslande 
jiroperty  toMe.ssrs.  Pineo  ami  Bennett  for  f21,U0fi. 
The  history  of  this  transaction  is  w'orth  record- 
ing. Mr.  Pineo  asked  : “AVonIdMr  AA'riglit  listen 
to  any  oiler  for  the  [)l.ace?” — “ Yc.s,”  he  replied,  “if 
a fancy  |)rice  were  given.”  “ How  mnch  would  you 
s.ay?”  “ .T2T, 000— that  is  .£8,000  down  aniLfor 
the  balance  ,£2,000  every  two  years  and  interest 
at  8 ])er  cent.”  Mr.  Wright  was  asked  for  a 
written  statement  of  the  oiler,  bnt  he  said  : “No, 
I give  you  my  word  as  ,a  gentleman  and  expect 
you  to  take  it  as  a gentleman.  I give  you  one 
month  to  decide  .ami  at  the  end  of  the  time  I 
am  free  to  sell  elsewhere.”  Next  day  another 
gentleman  came  and  ollered  Mr.  Wright  £2,00n 
down  as  .a  bonus  if  he  wnuld  sell  to  iiim  on  the 
same  terms,  but  he  refused  and  lost  the  £2,000 
sooner  than  break  his  word.  .After  selling,  Mr. 
Wright  returned  to  Colombo,  where  his  enterprise 
in  house-ouilding  and  in  gardening  was  much 
.admired.  Later  he  parted  with  bis  resideime — 
“ AV'ilhelmruhe,”  Turnd'  Bond— and  went  to  .\liri- 
gama  to  open  Kandangnmuwa  coconut  plant  ati  m. 
Mr.  AVright’s  reminiscences  go  back  to  the  days 
of  tlovernor  Sir  Edward  Barnes  whose  face  .ai'id 
form  he  recalls,  as  also  those  ot  a long  succession 
of  British  (Governors,  many  of  whom  titok  notice 
of  the  enterprising  Horticulturist  by  reason  of 
his  displays  of  new  products  at  .Vgri-liorticultural 
Exhibitions  in  Colombo  and  Kandy.  In  this  way', 
.Sir  Henry  AVard  took  special  jiains  to  have  Mr. 
AA^right’s  vanilla — then  a rare  |troduct  worth  it.s 
weight  in  gold— sent  to  Euro])e  for  a I'rench 
Exhibition.  [.Some  of  the  vanilla  that  he  culti- 
vated .at  Peradeniya  w.as  sent  homo  to  Baring 
Bros,  and  fetcluvd  5 guine.as  a jiound. ] Still  more 
interesting  is  it  to  he.ar  the  veteran  subject  of 
our  notice  speak  of  Geo.  Bird — the  “ f.athcr”  of 
Ceylon  collee  iilanting — whose  sr.alwart  form  was 
only  equalled  by  that  of  the  brothers  Beid  of 
B.ajawella,  “8tum))s”  and  others  of  the  early 
planting  inoncers.  Long  may  the  Chief  of  Cey- 
lonese Coconut  Planters  survive  to  tell  the  tales 
of  his  early  d.ay^s  and  still  more  to  point— with 
honest,  justiliab'le  pride— to  the  work  of  his  brain 
and  h.ands  in  what  is,  in  our  opinion,  the  model 
(’oconut  Phantation  and  Plantm-s'  Fruit  Garden  of 
the  island  of  Ceylon. 
To  exemplify  still  further  Mr.  AA'right's  “jduck,” 
we  may  mention  that  should  he  .sell  “ Kandan- 
gomuw'a”  for  a fancy  price,  which  may  be  learned 
on  a|i[)lication,  his  determin.ation  is  to' get  another 
block  of  waste  land  .and  open  again  in  coconuts. 
This  Speaks  well  for  a veter.an  of  75  with  GO 
years  of  work  behind  him  and  who  has  never 
been  out  of  Ceylon,  his  only  .sea  voy'.age  being- 
in  a brig  he  chartered  to  carr,y  rice  from  Colombo 
to  Hambantota,  to  save  his  own  and  neighbour- 
hood coolies  in  Haputale  from  starvation  ! 
