662 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  i,  1^97., 
and  as  Ida  fiuccstor  Mr.  (!.  S.  DuH'  arrived 
from  EomLay. 
The  Western  P>ank  of  India,  of  rvliicli  Mr. 
J^ufl’  thus  hccanie  Manager  in  Ceylon,  had  only 
opened  in  Coloinlo  and  Kandy  on  the  23id 
October  184.3.  It  rvas  preceded  by  “ The  Hank 
of  Ceylon”  in  Colombo  on  1st  June  1841  ; in 
Kandy  in  1843.  The  latter  Hank  became  irre- 
tiievably  iinolved  in  the  ccfl'ee  crash  of  1847, 
£60,000  being  ultimately  lost  and  the  rival  insti- 
tution now  elianged  to  the  happier  title  of  “ The 
Oiiental  Bank  Coi  poration,”  in  return  for  its 
lioyal  Charter,  took  over  the  liabilities  and  busi- 
ness of  the  Bank  of  Ceylon.  In  ISol,  the  two 
Banks  were  formally  amalgamated,  and  the 
“ Oriental”  entered,  in  Ceylon,  on  that  long 
eareer  of  unbroken  prosperity  which  it  owed  in 
a very  special  degree  to  the  shrewd  and  suc- 
cessful management  of  Mr.  G.  S.  Drift’.  Colombo 
became  almost  the  most  impoitant,  certainly  the 
most  jirosj  erors  branch  of  the  Bank  in  the 
East,  and  Mr.  Dull’  continued  at  his  post  a 
Manager  from  1844  till  1871,  uith  only  one 
interval  of  18  mouths’  furlough  in  England.  So 
long  an  occupancy  of  the  management  of  one 
Branch  has  been  unprecedented  in  the  history 
of  Banking  in  the  East,  nor  can  a career  of 
such  uninterrupted  prosperity  be  paralleled. 
We  ought  to  have  chronicled  before  tliis, 
however,  a circumstance  that  contributed  very 
much  to  Mr.  Drift's  long  residence  and  good 
health  in  Ceylon,  nauiely,  his  happy  marriage 
in  Septemb.r  1847  to  Miss  Kodney  Brown, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Brown,  who,  at  the 
time,  Commanded  the  lloyal  Engineers  in  Ceylon, 
Mrs.  Drift’s  mother  was  a daugliter  of  thef 
Hon.  John  Bodney,  Colonial  Secretary  or 
Ceylon  from  1815  to  1833,  and  grand-daughte 
of  the  famous  Admiral  Lord  llodney.  When 
*as  Colonial  Secretary  Rodney  retired  from  the 
Ceylon  Civil  Service,  he  owned  certain  land  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Colombo,  which  he  pointed  cut, 
would  undoubtedly  be  valuable  to  Government 
as  time  rolled  on  and  he  ollered  to  exchange  it 
for  small  aunuities  in  favour  of  his  two  daughters. 
This  was  agreed  to  ; but  the  bargain  proved  a 
hard  one  for  the  Colony,  since  the  lady-annuitants 
were  so  long-lived  that  Mrs.  Brown  (Mrs.  Dulls 
mother)  who  drew  £60  from  1824,  only  died  on  12th 
February  1897  at  Bath  aged  93 ; while  her  sister. 
Miss  llodney,  still  survives  and  continues  to  draw 
from  Ceylon,  tlie  annuity  of  £42  also  begun  in 
1824  ! Mrs.  Dull  herself,  besides  being  a veiy 
hand-some,  attractive  lady — the  leader  of  Society 
in  Colombo  for  many  years  next  to  Queen’s  House 
— was  always  a picture  of  health,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  miglit  have  been  expected  to  outlive  many 
years  her  comparatively  delicate  husband  ; but  her 
detrlh  took  place  very  unexpectedly  in  London 
during  the  summer  of  1895.  Mr.  and  Mis.  Lull’s 
family  consisted  of  thite  sons  and  Ihiee  dnughteis  : 
two  of  the  sons  being  in  the  Ain.y  as  Cavalry  t Ul- 
cers, the  third  as  a juivate  gentleman  residing  near 
Folkestone  ; while  the  daughters  married,  one, 
Cajit.  Rolfe,  17th  Foot  and  the  other  two  respti- 
tively,  Mr.  Kevett  and  Mr.  B.  C.  Oswald  whote 
London  him  “ Kevett,  Oswald,  & Co.”  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  Ceylon. 
But  this  is  hastening  too  far  ; for  we  have  now 
to  treat  brielly  of  Mr.  Drift’s  connection  with  the 
planting  develoi>ment  of  Ceylon,  bj'  no  means 
the  least  impoitant  division  of  his  career.  Of 
cour.se,  as  Banker,  he  was  always  the  judicious 
upholder  of  coffee  planting  in  our  hill-country, 
and  most  of  the  prolits  made  lor  his  Bank 
was  through  the  wise  as  well  as  liberal  encour- 
agement of  the  planters  and  the  growing  busi- 
ness in  all  departments  that  necessarily  acconi. 
panied  the  spread  of  the  industry.  But  per.son» 
ally  and  in  his  juivate  capacity,  Mr.  Dulf  showed 
his  confidence  by  investments  in  cofl'ee.  His  very 
first  venture  was  in  the  Tellisagalla  estate,  Kot- 
male,  with  Mr.  Crosby,  and  he  also  became  in. 
terested  with  relatives  in  Dumbaia,  by  a purehasr, 
which  led  to  the  lamous  Rajawella  litigation  case. 
In  the  Ballacaduagioup  of  estates,  Mr.  Duft’w,-# 
for  some  years  the  partner  of  Mr.  Andrew  Isicol  ; 
and  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  J.  C.  Fowlie  he 
opened  Raiipahannock  estate  in  Ldapinssellawa. 
In  I’ussellawa  and  Ramboda  he  acquired  consi- 
derablc  ]iroiirietaiy  rights  :—Hellebcdde  w hich 
had  belonged  to  the  heiis  of  Colonel  Mac- 
pherson  ; while  .Sanquhar  w as  opened  by  him.  Blue- 
lields  and  Ballagolla  ; and  Rangbodde  purchased 
from  the  heirs  of  General  Fra.scr.  In  Colombo,  Mr. 
Drift’,  at  one  time,  owned  both  tlie  House  and  what 
is  now'  Mount  Lavinia  Hotel.  On  Mr.  Lawrence 
Ulijdiant  selling  all  the  Kuwara  Eliya  and  other 
Ceylon  property  belonging  to  his  bather,  our  foimer 
Chief  Justice  Mr.  Dull’  became  the  purchaser, 
and  horn  j art  of  the  forest  land  was  able 
to  develope  Dunsinane  estate  in  the  Pundaluoya 
Valley.  ’When  the  Messrs.  Worms— cousins  of 
the  Rothschild.s — wished  to  retire  from  Ceylon, 
it  was  Mr.  Duff  who  arranged  the  imrchase  of 
their  properties  and  so  far  as  this  island  was  con- 
cerned, promoted  the  establishment  of  “The 
Ceylon  Company,  Limited.”  Then,  again,  Mr. 
Dull  early  became  a juoprietor  and  pioneer  in  the 
Uva  districts.  He  aceuired  Gowrakelle,  and  in 
partnership  with  a nephew,  the  Gonakelle  Group 
as  well  as  Kayabedde  in  Haputale.  Getting 
alarmed  about  the  dearnc.'^s  of  rice  and  .scarcify 
of  labour,  Mr.  Duff  sold  the  Mousagalla  block  of 
land  to  Mr.  C.B.  Smith,  the  same  proving,  as  a coffee 
plantation,  a regular  gold  mine  to  the  fortunate 
proprietor.  In  Haputale,  Mr.  Duff  opened  the 
