300 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 1897 
Meanwhile, Mr. John AValkei’; who after more 
than thirty year.s of hard work in Ceylon, did 
not care to undertake the burden of further e.x- 
tensions, and had settled with his family in 
Stirling, decided to retire from the firm he founded, 
and an arrangement was come to wliereby 
he agreed to take o\er the up-country places of 
business and carry them on under tlie stjleof 
Walker & Greig, leaving the Kandy and Colombo 
establishments to John Walkei eV' Co. Milliam 
Walker now became senior partner in the Ceylon 
business, as well as in that of \\ alker Brothers, 
who, after the ojiening of the Suez Canal, found 
it necessary to remove from Glasgow to London, 
and who, in addition to Ceylon, have now very 
large interests in South Africa. Although his 
home was in Glasgow', INIr. M alker frequently 
visited Ceylon, as he had no sympathy with 
“ absentee landlordism,” and desired to keep in 
touch with all, from his junior partners down 
to the office )>eons, who were eiigaged in the 
Company’s service. Sometimes his family felt 
that he W'as not sufficiently .‘•trong for these 
visits to Colombo, and when the last trip was 
made, in 1889, I can remember Captain Bayley, 
who was struck with his appearance, urging him 
not to return to Ceylon, and concluding his remark 
with, “Kemember the fable of the pitcher that went 
once too often to the well.” But Mr. M alker loved 
Ceylon, and had a w'arm heart for the natives, to 
many of wdiom he w'as indeed a real friend. 
Throughout his life William 'SValker w.as deeply 
interested in all schemes for the uplifting of 
those whom we describe as the ‘ working classes.” 
The term is very defective w’hen we remember 
the number of masters, professional men, mer- 
chants, etc., etc., who work as hard as, if not 
harder than, the majority of our w'orkmen. Still, 
it has its special meaning, and in that special 
sense I use it. He always dejilored the strug- 
gles between masters and men, which have 
wrought so much mischief to trade and roused 
so much ill-feeling, destroying utterly the old 
kindly and personal relationship which used in 
many cases to exist between both. He had little 
faith in Trades Unions, which he regarded as in 
barge measure involving the transfer of the men 
from one tyranny to another ; and when, as sro 
often is the case, they deliberately go out of 
their w'ay to sow discord betw'een master and 
men, he considered their work diabolical. It 
was not in Trades Unions he saw hope for a 
better state of things, but in co-operation and 
profit-sharing, which in the later years of his 
life he advocated, in season and out of season. 
I cannot give a better exposition of Mr. Walker’s 
views on this exceedingly interesting question 
than by quoting from a panqrhlet called 
“ Christianised Commerce,’' which lie wrote and 
published in 1888, as follows , 
“ I am for freedom, not socialism. I am for 
freedom in our dealings with other nations, in 
our manufactures, in our merchandising, in our 
contracts between employer and einjiloved. _ Free- 
dom for every man to do his lie I for his own 
truest interest, and for the good of the com- 
munity ; but freedom tempered and controlled by 
the teaching and e.xample of Christ. I see no 
other solution of the pressing .social troubles 
and difficulties of our day.” 
So earnestly did he believe in this as the 
right principle that he laid aside a portion of 
his own share in the business, the income from 
which was to be divided among those w ho con- 
tributed by their work to earn the profit. When 
on one of his visits to Ceylon in 1886 he wa.s 
invited to meet some three hundred of the 
Company’s employes, who presented him with a 
beautiful address, accompanied with a liandsome 
desk made out of Ceylon native woods. In 
acknowledging the gift he said : — 
“ I desire as much to be your fnenil as your 
master. I think that the linn with which I 
have been connected so long as its head has 
done good work for Ceylon. We have lirought 
works to the Island that were never brought 
before. M’e have also paid large amounts in 
wages every month to the Sinh.ilese and Tamil 
workmen. But we think we can go on a step 
further and do better. The first thing 1 will try 
to do for yoir will be to allbrd you medical aid 
in time of sickness. I wish also that some pro- 
vision be made for any one who meets with any 
accident, or in cases of any ]irotracted illness. 
The next thing I wish is that something be 
provided for our men w hen old age comes on and 
youare not able to work. If this is carried out, no 
old and steady worker in the Company’s service 
will ever have to apply to the Friend-in-Need 
Society.” The scheme thus formulated was carried 
out, to the great benefit of the workmen. 
In the year 1890 IMr. Walker was persuaded 
to agree to the conversion of the Ceylon business 
into a Limited Company. For some time lie had 
great misgivings about this step, as he feared 
the elimination of the jiersonal clement and 
dreaded the possibility of the business becoming 
a mere instrument for grinding out dividends 
for shareholders who had no interest in the con- 
cern beyond their shares. He was afraid that 
the government of the business by a “ Board of 
Directors” would tend to blight personal res- 
ponsibility, and was inclined to regard a “ Board” 
in much the same w'ay as Syilney Smith did 
cor|ioratioi;s when lie said ‘‘ they had neither a 
body to be kicked nor a soul to be damned !” 
And so it wuis only under certain conditions be 
w’onid agree to the change in the constitution 
of the business ; anrt one of these conditions was 
that certain shares, the most of which he him- 
self provided, should be set aside, and the income 
from the said shares be devoted to the forma- 
tion of a “ Provident Fund. ” This Provident 
Fund meets all expenses for the w'orkmen when 
laid aside through ill-health ; finds them in 
medical advice and in medicines ; and finally, 
when the men are too old to work, or perma- 
nently disabled, secures to them a small pension. 
From this fund thousands of rupce.s are thus dis- 
tributed every year among the men, in addition 
to their wages ; and the members of the European 
staff also benefit by it. 
In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to 
give some of the leading jioints in the busine.ss 
career of William Walker’s life ; but it is only 
one aspect of the life, and probably he himself 
w’ould say it was the least important, except so 
far as it was a “ means to an end.” For mere 
w'orldly prosperity he had .'uprenie contempt; 
but the joy of being in a position to “ help 
lame dogs over stiles” was genuine, and many 
lessfortunate ones havehad cause to bless hisname. 
He cared little for public suhsci iption lists, where 
people’s names and contributions are advertiseil to 
the wmrld. His belief w'as that if eachmemher of 
the community, in a position to do .so, were simply 
to attend to the cases that come across his or her 
path in life, then theer would be a tremendous re- 
duction in the sum-total of human misei y. 
