Vol. XVII.] COLOMBO, SEPTEMBER isx, 1897 . [No. 3. 
“PIONEERS OF THE PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN CEYLON." 
(Second Series.) 
ALEXANDER LI A R P E R, J. P. 
PLANTER AND MERCHANT 1849— 1889i 
HE gentleman, wliose portrait 
we present this month, is not 
one of whom much can be 
said ; for, although an oldand 
respected Colonist in his day 
and emphatically a Planting, 
Pioneer, he was among the 
most modest and unobtrusive 
of men, and as a lelative has stated to us, — exceed- 
ingly reticent about himself. The district with 
which he wasmost identified is Matale East, where 
he came to own as well as manage the Mousakande 
Estate, before he was induced by Mr. George 
Wall to become a partner in his firm, and to do 
much of the work of visiting and inspecting 
the estates for which the Firm had the Agency. 
But to begin at the beginning— and to give the 
purport of one or two slight sketches of Mr. Harper’s 
career as put before us — M'e learn that Mr. Harper 
was born in the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, of 
very respectable parents, his fatlier being a man who 
took a firm stand for moral and religious life, 
at a time when evangelical doctrines and practice 
in those parts were rather dead. From a lawyer’s 
office in Edinburgh young Harper came out 
to Messrs. Crowe & Co.,* Colombo — then inter- 
ested in planting as well as import business, — and 
* Better known as Messrs. Crowe, Orabbo and Chris- 
tian in the “forties” until Mr. Christian joined 
Messrs, J. M. Robertson & Co. and Mr. Crabbe re- 
turned to London, when the firm became A. & R. 
Crowe & Co. — Ed. T.A. 
was engaged in planting in several places. For 
sometime he was at work in theGalle district open» 
ing coffee land, but it turned out unsuitable. After 
that he was connected with the old “ Ceylon 
Plantations Co.,” in Elkadua, and then went into 
business with George Wall and Captain Jolly, doing 
generally the Visiting Agent’s work when Mr. Wall 
was in Colombo. Mr. Harper returned to Scotland in 
1862, and for four years was Captain of Volunteers, 
making a most efficient officer ; and then in 1869 
when' his first wife, — daughter of Andrew Cros.«, 
Esip. , Sheriff, Substitute of Perthshire, and a sister of 
Mr, A. L. Cross, so \vell-known and i-espected in 
Ceylon, — died, the widower returned to Ceylon 
and resided till 1872 on Mousakanda Estate in Ma- 
tale East. Illness coin])elled him in that year to 
leave for Europe, and he never afterwards returned 
to the Island. In 1874, he sold his interest in 
Mousakanda to George Wall & Co., and in that 
same year, or early in 1875, Mr. Harper married 
for the second time, his bride being Miss Reid, 
eldest daughter of the Rev. W. Reid of Banchory- 
Ternan, Aberdeenshire. By hi.s first marriage, 
Mr. Harper had one daughter, who became the 
wife of Dr. Leslie Milne now of Caledon, Cape 
Colony, son of the Rev. Dr. Milne, Parish 
Minister of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire ; and one 
daughter and son by his second wife, but the 
boy died in infancy. 
One of the most interesting parts of Mr. 
Harper’s life was his residence and work in 
Italy. After his second marriage he resided a 
