663 
April i, 1898.! THE TROPICAL 
Kotiyagalla in Bogawantalawa was purchased for 
the Messrs. Hadden by Mr. Moir in the year 1872. 
It was never a great success in coSee, or at any 
rate never approached the Hunasgeriya Estates ; 
but it did, and is doing, well in tea; Mr. Fred. 
Hadden, senr., died on 22nd April, 1882, thus 
terminating a partnership made with his 
cousin in 1840, during the whole of which time 
they remained on the most affectionate terms. Soon 
after, it was arranged that Messrs. Fred. & Frank 
J Hadden, sons of Mr. F. Hadden, senr., ' should 
become sole proprietors of the Hunasgeriya Estates, 
and that Mr. C. S. Hadden should become sole 
owner of the fine Kotiyagalla property, of which 
his nephew and son-in-law Mr. Frederick _ Hadden 
became chief manager. Kotiyagalla contains 1,080 
acres of rich land, about three-fourths of which are 
under fine tea. the jat, climate and soil being 
all conducive to a fine high-priced product. Later 
on Mr. Frank J. Hadden became sole proprietor 
of Hunugalla and Weygalla and, lately, he sold 
the latter with 344 acres to Mr. B. G. Beilby, 
retaining Hunugalla— 770 acres with 400 doing well 
in tea— in his own hands. 
We ought to mention, too, the close business 
connection between the Messrs. Hadden and 
the well-known Fenchurch Street Firm, Messrs. 
Janies A. Hadden & Co., of which their relative 
Mr. Alex. Brooke is the esteemed managing partner. 
We may here give “ a leaf from the past’ kindly 
supplied to us without Mr. Hadden’s knowledge by 
one well-acquainted with his family in the early 
days;— “I know not if you realise how Mr. Chas> 
B. Hadden links us with the eighteenth century. 
His father took an active part against the rioting 
then so rife and his .commission dating bacii to the 
time when Kings of England still claimed to be 
Kings of France, is so signed by George III. That 
nonsense was not dropped until the Union with 
Ireland in 1801. There are not many now alive 
whose father’s commissions were signed by a King 
of England, of Scotland, and of France ! 
“The old yeomanry officer had the freedom of 
Nottingham conferred on him in 1795. See enclosed 
cutting from a Nottingham journal. The Colonel 
Seely there is son of ‘ Seely’s pigs’ if you are old 
enough to remember them; The writer of the letter, 
Fellows, is author of a History of Nottingham 
Yeomanry Cavalry.” 
THE FREEDOM OF THE TOWN. 
TO THE BDITOE OP THE NOTTINGHAM DAILY GUAKDIAN, 
Sir, — I notice in your paper of to-day, in the re- 
port of Mr. McGrath’s speech in the Council 
respecting the honour that is to be conferred on Col, 
Seely in reference to the freedom of the town, that he 
says the honour “ would be increased to those who 
followed after by the fact that the first name on the 
list would be that of Mr, Seely himself.” In the 
AGRICULTURIST, 
" Nottingham Date-book,” 1st September, 1795, it 
recorded that the commissioned officers of the 12th 
Regiment of Light Dragoons — Lieut. Middles- 
more and Cornet Hadden, of the Yeomanry Cavalry— 
were presented by the Corporation with the freedom 
of the town, as an acknowledgment of their meri- 
torions exertions in quelling riots. It would appear, 
therefore, that conferring the freedom of the town 
by the Corporation is not unprecedented. — I am 
sir, &c., GEORGE FELLOWS. 
Beeston Fields, .Nottingham, May 7th, 1895. 
In conclusion we heartily congratulate one of 
the earliest, most intelligent and persevering of 
the Planting Pioneers of Ceylon on his long and 
honorable connection with the Colony. We have 
giveii but the briefest outline of the actual jungle 
work of Messrs. Fredk. and C. S. Hadden. It will 
be observed that they stuck to their posts all through 
the financial crash of 1845-47 when coffee and 
Ceylon were supposed to be ruined. The senior 
Mr. F. Hadden, now deceased, gave ten years’ 
continuous hard work to the development of the 
plantations before ever taking a holiday ; while Mr. 
C. S. Hadden had twelve years for his share. 
No one of recent years can picture what life 
and work in the hill-country of Ceylon was like 
in the “Forties,” and more especially what roughing 
in the wilds of Ambegamuwa — in one of the very 
wettest divisions in the island— was like in 1841-2. 
We remember hearing our late senior describe a 
visit he paid to Mr. Wm. Hall (the same who 
sold his interest to Messrs. Hadden) in Ambe- 
gamuwa in 1841, and how the rain got through 
their talipot hut, filled up their boots and gave 
him a cold which it took years to get rid of alto- 
gether ! Scant supplies, there being no roads, and 
bridges and streams often unfordable, were recognised 
as a matter of course, while even the sun was 
rare visitor between May and December ; — 
Past five an’ fifty busy years, 
An’ lo 1 the wondrous change; 
Those Hills are now the white men’s homes, 
Which were the wild beasts’ range. 
And, mixing with the torrent’s roar, 
The steam-pipe’s puff is heard ; 
While rattling round the roller goes. 
As merry as a bird. 
And few and scant their comforts were— 
The leaders of that band — ■ 
Whose cosie cottages now rise, 
Bright homesteads o’er the land; 
So while for all that's still to do, 
Ye strive with high resolve — 
Let grateful thoughts, too, have their play 
As ye THE PAST revolve. 
All honour then to the men who laid the found- 
ations of the prosperity of Ceylon as a plantation 
Colony. Very, very few are left to us who go 
back beyond the half-century in their experience, 
and among these none takes a more honorable posi- 
tion than the Messrs. Hadden who brought youth, 
intelligence, indefatigable energy and capital to their 
work in Ceylon; whilo more especially would ww 
