662 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1898. 
f 
I 
District, because all the Government Civil Servants 
had secured land there, . and the first of the new 
roads to be opened would be the one from Gampola 
to Yatiantotte through Ambegamuwa village. Mr. 
Wm. Hall, surveyor, had just cut the boundaries of 
a block of forest, of over 1000 acres, and offered to 
hand over his claim to them on receiving Is. per acre 
commission. The Messrs. Hadden accepted this 
offer, and, as at that time it was considered 
dishonorable to bid at the auction against any one 
who had been at the expense of cutting boundaries, 
they obtained this land at the upset price of 5s. 
per acre. They at once set to work to cultivate it, 
and a very rough time they had of it ; the land 
was situated beyond Carolina Estate towards 
Adam’s Peak ; there was not even a bridle-road to 
it beyond Gampola, and all snpplies and rice 
. for coolies had to be carried over 30 miles of jungle 
road, at that time one of the worst in Ceylon. 
After working hard for twelve months (which was 
well earned experience) the Messrs. Hadden wisely 
and fortunately concluded that Ambegamuwa was 
the worst district in Ceylon for coffee, and so they 
land thoroughly, and thought it such fine old 
forest with splendid soil, that they resolved tg 
attend the auction, and bid for the best three lots. 
These were knocked down to them at T5 per acre 
a price at that time considered enormous, as good 
forest was still to be bought at 5s per acre ! But 
the Messrs. Hadden knew the value of the land, 
and at once opened three new Coffee Estates of 200 
acres each, called “ Huuugalla, ” “ HalgaUa,” and 
“Horogalla, ” all of which returned a profit to 
their fortunate owners, year by j'ear, ior forty years. 
Mr. Frederick Hadden left Ceylon for good in 
1850, and Mr. C. S. Hadden in 1852, by which 
time all stores and buildings were completed, leaving 
Mr. Peter Moir in charge of all the properties * with 
his brother Mr. James Moir to assist him. Two 
more sensible, honest, and hard-working Scotchmen 
never landed in Ceylon. Under their charge the 
estates continued to flourish until the Coffee became 
unable to fight such dire enemies as “Leaf 
disease” “ and Green Bug.” 
The land abandoned in Ambagamuwa was never 
tsvisited by either of the, Messrs. Hadden after the 
day they gave it up ; but it was divided into five lots 
decided to abandon the place although they had spent James P. Moir and put up to auction in 
£1,500 upon it : a serious loss out of the available Colombo on 30th Sept., 1874, at 1 p.m. On that 
capital, for money was not so plentiful it those old day Mr. C. S. Hadden was out partridge shooting 
days. Luckily a small estate “ Algooltenne,” (or on his property in Herts, and; remarked to a friend 
“ Weygalla” as the Messrs. Hadden preferred to call while taking luncheon under a hedge, that he had 
it) was advertized for sale in the Observer, of the 
extent of about 230 acres, only 30 acres planted 
with coffee, adjoining Mr. Tindal’s fine property 
under Hunasgeriya Peak, at that time managed by 
Mr. Austin. Having occasionally visited that gentle- 
man, and being much impressed with the Hunas- 
geriya fine soil, and the splendid young coffee 
plants growing there, the Messrs. Hadden resolved 
to purchase Weygalla, and this Mr. C. S. Hadden 
always considered, turned out to be the best paying 
estate in Ceylon, 
From the day of their entrance into Hunasgeriya 
district, the success of the Messrs. Hadden was 
secured. By the spring of 1845 the crops from 
Weygalla (the first sold for- 124s per owt) had 
returned to the Messrs. Hadden every penny of 
capital they had spent since leaving London- 
We have heard that their neighbours in Amba- 
gamuwa called the young Pioneers, “ a couple of 
fools” at the time they abandoned that district ; 
but the majority of those, they left behind, came to 
ruin, several were proclaimed bankrup*^, and so the 
Messrs. Hadden might then have asked “ Who 
were the fools” ? 
On the 30th June, 1845, a fine block of forest 
land was sold by auction in Colombo situated 
on the Hunasgeriya range, only three miles from 
Weygalla, belonging to Mr. Fraser of Arbuthnot 
& Co., Madras. It was divided into four lots of 
about 250 acres each. The cousins examined this 
a property selling about that|time in Ceylon, and 
expected to receive a telegram giving the result. On 
the morrow on returning hoine from shooting at 
4 o’clock, the telegram was already on his table 
saying that all the lots were sold at a price which 
returned aU the capital they had expended on the place. 
Benaohie and surrounding estates in Lower Dikoya 
were formed out of this group of lots. Had they at 
once been put in tea, as we among others urged at 
the time, their owners would have scored ; but most 
of the land went into coffee and did not pay for 
years until tea took its place. 
* The late Mr. Tytler was fond of telling the 
story of Peter Moir’s selection as their responsible 
Manager by the Messrs. Hadden. How he (P.M.) 
and some other young men came out for an em- 
ployer whose engagement was far from a fair one 
considering the times, and moreover as signed in 
London, it was not binding in Ceylon — and so two of 
the young men broke through it in a few months and 
speedily got employment at double the salary. 
Peter Moir no more considered he was fairly dealt 
with than the others ; but he had signed his agree- 
ment, pledged his word, and no power on earth 
would make him break it. He was called a “softie,” 
a “ spoon,” &c., until on the very day of his agreement 
expiring, he had the offer from Mr. Ohas. Hadden, 
of a post and salary that placed him far before 
his old companions (who never greatly prospered we 
believe), while he had established for himself the 
meet valuable thing in the world, a chaeactee which 
made him esteemed beyond most men right through 
the Colony, and which he never forfeited till the 
day of his death in the old country. Succeeding 
generations of planters came to hear of Peter Moir 
as the man whose word was as good as his bodn. 
