THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
373 
Dec. I, 1897. J 
Mr. Shand in 1855 or 1850 took a contract 
from the Government to con.striiet a bridle road 
from Rakwana to Pelmadulla, a distance of 16 
miles, for the sum of £5,000, undertaking to 
buy 5,000 acres of forest land to provide the 
money. He afterwards sold this land which 
formed the Aigburth, Gilgarron, Deveronside and 
several other estates. At one time he held the 
estates of Springwood, Barra, Everton and Rang- 
weltenne, but has sold them all with the (X- 
ception- of Ram;weltenne “ Everton to the Gem 
Notary” in 1870 and Springwood and Barra to 
the Asiatic Produce Company in 1889, and 
the latter have recently sold to the Tea Corpora- 
tion of Ceylon, 
L’ke everyone else Mr. Shand and his family were 
hard hit by the fall of King Coffee, but tliey were 
among the first to convert their plantatioi s into tea. 
They also went in for cinchona which was only 
too 'successful, so much being produced by the 
colony that it became an unprolitable cul- 
tivation. 
Mr. Chailes Shand was one of the most enterpris- 
ing, loim-beaded merchants that ever came to the 
East. His natural buoyancy and equableness of 
temper in prosperity or adversity stood him in good 
stead in any time of excitement or speculation 
such as followed on the American Civil War. 
We have heard that Mr. Shand’s first happy 
stroke as merchant was in buying up all the 
native coffee available in Ceylon at a time when 
it was very low in price (in 1849), shipping it 
(of course via the Cape) to London where, seven 
or eight months after, it was sold at a splendid 
profit, coffee having risen in price as Mr. Shand 
had anticipated. We come next to the Civil War 
(1861 6.3) when Mr. Shand through his Madras and 
Colombo Firms made a rapid and large fortune 
by his dealings in Tinnevelly cotton, the cotton 
crop of the Southern States being shut in by the 
blockade. Almost our first bit of work in Colombo 
ill November 1861 was to frame and print a Tele- 
graidiic Code for Mr. Sliand— three copies only— 
for Tinnevelly cotton. “Hp to what rate shall 
we go per lb. ?” “Oh sixpence is ample.” “.Just 
as easy going to .a shilling.” — “ The day Tinne- 
vclly cotton is at 6d., I’ll relire”:- so spoke Mr. 
Shand when that staple was 24d. ; but within six 
monlhs, if we remember lightly, our “slii ling” code 
was useless, for Tinnevelly cotton had laii up to 
eighteen 'I'cnce ! Mr. Shand had cargoes by sailing 
vessels sold half-a-dezcn limes over between Tuti- 
coriuand London. He was by far the boldest buyer 
in Colombo at that time ; after him coming Messrs. 
E. J. Harley (Harley, Butler dt Co.) ; Alex. Gibson 
(Alstons, Scott & Co.); and J. C. Fowlie— all 
of whom made ample fortunes in cotton. Mr. 
Shand had some strange experiences one of the 
most curious followed on his agreeing to go 
[lartners with a big Madnis landed proprietor in a 
cotton cargo. W’hen the ship was half-way 
home, a rumour spread that the blockade was 
broken. Mr. came in terror and tears to 
Mr. Shand to say he would be ruined, that he, a 
planter, &c., had no right to go speculating in cot- 
ton, and implored to be released of his share. Mr. 
Shand agreed. The blockade rumour proved false ; 
the cotton got safely home ; and Mr. Shand 
(then in London as well as his quondam partner) 
stood for an enormous profit, when he received 
a formal demand from Mr. for his half share. 
He took the letter and papers to Mr. (afterwards 
Sir Hugh) Cairns, who decided that although 
morally Mr. had not a leg to stand on and 
was besides a rascal, yet legally (through want 
of formality in cancelling the agreement) he 
would be certain to gain in any Court. Accordingly, 
Mr. Cairns advised Mr. Shand not to go to law, but 
to pounce down on Mr. , give him a bit of his 
mind, and then offer him so much down. Mr. 
Shand did so ; he called on and a'msed Mr. 
> p and down, and indicated how he would expose 
him in Court; but finally said “to be done with 
it I otter you” — say £5,000 (perhaps half or one- 
third of the half profits), and Mr. jumped at 
the offer rather than face expo.suro ! 
Hurirg the interval between tlie failure of 
coffee and success of tea, Mr. Shand — even when 
well on to 70 years — during his last stay in 
Colombo, was indefatigable in experimenting with 
new products, among the rest with fibrous (ilants; 
and he tested, with machinery of his own in- 
vention, nearly every fibre-yielding plant in the 
island with the result that our little Ceylon 
aloe ( Sanseviera Zeylanica ) gave the best result.^, 
though not enough to make it jiay at that time. 
Another curious experience of Mr. Shand was 
his gifting (as a pleasant fancy) his Rakwana 
Coffee estates to Mrs. Shand when leaving Ceylon 
with his “cotton” fortune in the “sixties.” Most 
fortunate accident ! For when through business 
complications with the Messrs. Collie, London 
Mr. Shand lost all that fortune, the desiused 
Rakwana properties came in very handy as beirm 
free of his personal estale ! 
Haring his long residence in Ceylon Mi . Shand 
had never more than a day or two’, s ilh e.'s, a fact 
which heattiibutes to the climale b.-ina' suited 
to those who are able to move about the 
country or to those in Colombo who la he ph ntv < f 
exercise combined with moderate living. 
Mr. Shand himself was one of the most active 
as well as cheerful men we have ever seen. 
His Inisk step, cheeiy voice and phnuant laugh 
were mi.ssed in the Fort of Colombo when he 
left for England in 1863; and the same was 
