The History Of Ceylon Tea

Walk up to any auction room, you will not find it difficult to identify the auctioneer. Not because he sits on the rostrum or is in the possession of a sleek gavel. His distinguishing features lie elsewhere. He is cultured and civilised, tactful, eloquent and westerly to the core. Couched within the frame, is his professional acuteness in tea manufacture, tasting and valuing, analysing and forecasting the world tea markets, and above all, conducting the auction in an orderly manner and at an unbelievable speed, that leaves the bystander totally confused.

The brokers still carrying typically Anglo-Saxon names. They enter into many aspects of the trade from the time the dainty leaves are plucked in the field until it is eventually shipped. Sandwiched between the buyer and the seller, he has much “tight rope walking” to do in an effort to accommodate the apparently diverse interests of the two parties. Yet, the trust that both these groups reposes in the auctioneer is evident in the confidence with which he lets the hammer fall for a bid that, under normal supply-demand conditions, reflect a price that is remunerative to the seller and affordable to the buyer.

His main role however is the preparation of teas for auction, sale thereafter and the final documentation to both buyer and seller. Not all teas meant for export are channelled through the auctions. There are other forms of sales approved by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, but this form of sale is almost negligible. The massive increase in exports witnessed during the past few decades will show up the extra work that has been undertaken by the brokers to keep the international trade in tea moving.

Tea is harvested in Sri Lanka throughout the year, and quality from the various districts varies seasonally according to weather conditions. Unlike most producer countries, we in Sri Lanka are blessed with two monsoons a year. Further, the natural terrain of the land makes it possible to manufacture a wide variety of teas, to serve up to the growing and diverse needs of the consuming public.

Plantations on the Western side of the country in the Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Dickoya, and Maskeliya districts produce their best quality teas during the first quarter of the year. Estates on the Eastern side situated in the Uva, Maturata and Haputale districts acquire flavour during the third quarter of the year.

This gentleman holds an esteemed position in the trade, and is regarded as a perfect “go between.” Sellers have recourse to him all the while, and at every turn, they turn to him for counsel. He has access to all the buyers operating in Colombo. There is a constant exchange of views between these two parties. As a result, they are in a position to gauge the exact requirements of overseas buyers. This information is always passed on to the producers through their agents. It is at this stage that the journey of tea starts, with the broker getting actively involved in all operations down the line.

The moment an invoice is completed on the estate, which could comprise of different grades, the superintendent draws from the bulk, two sets of samples. One set is rushed to the managing agents and other to the selling broker in Colombo. The merits and the demerits of the tea are, in essence identified at this point.

This specialised job involves a close examination of the dry leaf, the infusion, and the tasting of the liquor to assess its value from the point of view of manufacture and specific consumer demand. These communications which are termed “muster reports”are a perfect analysis of what goes on in the factories many hundred of miles away. This lays down the guide lines for the superintendent and the tea maker to follow. If on the other hand, an imperfection is spotted, remedial measures are suggested immediately, before the general standards deteriorate. The broker acts as a quality controller of tea.

Today, weekly sales, average about 5.5 million kilos, with the possibility of quantities building to over eight million kilos during the cropping months. Four to five million kilos of tea arrive daily to sellers or brokers stores in Colombo The Committee of the Colombo Tea Traders Association through the assistance of the brokers, follow these arrivals closely, and regulate the closing of catalogues in a manner, so as to ensure an even flow of tea to the trade, and at the same time preventing a backlog building up during rush periods.

By - Laws pertaining to the cataloguing of teas are under constant review, with periodical changes being made in keeping with the requirements of the trade. It is a flexible set of rules that are often adjusted to suit the conditions of the day.

Broker’s responsibilities are many. It is from the time a tea arrives in Colombo either to sellers or his own stores, the broker gets directly responsible, and he has to ensure that the teas are sold as soon as possible.

With the expansion of the activities of the tea trade in recent times, there has been a tremendous increase in the liveliness at the market place. Voices heard at the sale room have increased, and with it, requests for membership to the CTTA are ever increasing, all wanting to operate at the tea auctions. It became necessary to divide the membership into three categories.

Active Membership - Those persons, firms, companies, or organisations who purchase more than 500,000 kilos of tea at the tea auction in Colombo, or are agents of tea estates who sold more than 500,000 kilos of made tea, or brokers who had catalogued more then 500,000 kilos of tea in the previous calendar year qualified for membership in this category. Active members who do not satisfy these criteria in any year shall automatically be transferred to associate membership in the following year.

There are more than sixty active buyers and twenty-seven active sellers who enjoy over hundred year membership.

Associate Members - Those who could not satisfy the above requirements are regarded as associate members, but are eligible to seek active membership on satisfying the above requirements.

There are seventy-five associate buyers and three associate sellers who enjoy over hundred year membership.

Honorary Membership - Honorary members are appointed by the General Committee and are persons whose experience would benefit the association.

For last year over 220 shippers had operated at the Colombo auctions to secure their requirements for shipments to over one hundred destinations.

All main sale teas arriving in Colombo are carefully sampled and inspected to ascertain whether there are any variances, in which case, the teas are re-bulked before cataloguing. Sample allowance varies with each grade. For purposes of sampling, packages are selected at random. Each buyer is entitled to a two ounce sample. Majority of the buyers supply their own tins, but there are others who are entitled only to a small selection. Brokers provide them with samples, paper wrapped.

All Today, the number of lots offered for sale could vary from seven thousand to ten thousand each week. This calls for tremendous amount of work in brokers sampling rooms, and involves the distribution of 14,000 to 20,000 samples to the trade each week. Sampling is a highly skilled operation, and it has been worked to a fine art, as an error at this point could cause rejection of teas, and above all, having to face the wrought of the seller.

These samples are made available to the buyers together with the printed catalogue of the broker about a week before the sale. During the quality season, air-mail samples of all improved teas are required by buyers well ahead of the sale date, for onward transmission to overseas buyers for bids. This calls for extra work, but they are all taken on the stride. The broker’s only ambition is to obtain the best possible price for the teas.

The broker has to have a through knowledge of the teas he is handling. All teas catalogued are carefully tasted about a week before the sale. A comprehensive report is given on each lot, which include its merits and de-merits, and a valuation placed depending on the prevailing market conditions. This information is transmitted to the seller. Routine visits are undertaken to seller's offices each week, followed up with similar visits to buyers to discuss the relative merits of each lot.

This form of free dialogue between sellers and buyers gives the broker an excellent opportunity to ascertain the exact requirements of buyers and their criticisms if any. These findings are passed on to the sellers for necessary action. Very often, this form of information is vital to the estate to improve the value of their teas. When the broker ascends the rostrum to sell his teas, he has a precise knowledge of each lot and has made a through evaluation of the tea he is selling. He is the best person at that moment to make the final decision one way or the other.

It should not be imagined that these courtesy calls to buyers and sellers are always too technical or cheerless. The broker very often is, up-to-the-moment source of information regarding local events, social or otherwise, even test match scores.

Until 1966, Colombo auctions were held on Monday and Tuesday each week, but with the introduction of the Poya Day System, this order could not be followed After having made a through study, the CTTA was compelled to make alternate arrangements, and the current system has worked out quite well, as overseas clients report little or no inconvenience on their part. It must be pointed out that at the local end, buyers and brokers have been seriously affected when Poya day holiday runs concurrently with the international week-end.

When the amount of lots was small, and the buyers operating at the auction small, the sale was conducted at a very brisk pace, averaging about six lots per minute on a firm market. The run of the sale tends to slow down on a falling market, and a similar situation could occur on a rising market during quality seasons. Today, the quantities handled each week are large, and buyers operating at the sale have increased tremendously, with the result there is a tendency for the sale to slow down.

The selling order of brokers is determined well ahead of time. On the day of the auction, each broker enters the rostrum and proceeds to sell his catalogue, in accordance with the instructions received from his sellers. He cannot waver his trend in selling, and has to maintain a steady speed, taking into consideration all the points noted in his catalogue. He may consider a buyer’s bid on any particular lot too low. He has the option of withdrawing the tea, or recording the highest bid for negotiation, after consulting the seller. To maintain a steady balance, the broker has not only to know his tea, but also world trends. All these factors play an important part before he takes the final decision to sell the tea.

The most trying moment for the broker arrives thereafter, when he has to discuss the prices and the bids he has obtained with the seller. Sellers react differently to realised prices. On a rising market, both parties would be happy, but on a falling market, the broker has to face a barrage of questions. They nevertheless, accept the changing events at the market place each week. The sellers however are conscious of the fact that the broker is all out to obtain the best possible price for the teas he sells.

Once the purchases have been finalised, the broker returns to the office and arranges for the issue of delivery orders to each of the buyers. While is been done, quarter kilo purchase samples are also issued to buyers to check their purchases and make up their trial blends. All these functions are carried out to clock work precision.

After having met up with the more challenging part of a broker, he now settles down to his routine task of collecting sales proceeds from the buyers and settling the sellers. Payments for purchases by the buyers to the broker are made on or before Prompt Day that is six working days after the day of the sale. Payment to the seller after the deduction of the brokerage of one percent and other miscellaneous charges is made seven days after the date of sale.

In a way, the functions of the broker have been reduced to a great extent today. Before the abolition of the Ad Valorem Sales Tax and the Export Duty Rebate Scheme in November 1992, the broker was called upon to assist the government in the collection of the various levies, worked out on a complicated formula. All teas realising more than Rs. 1.85 per pound at the Colombo auctions was subjected to a maximum tax of cents 70 per pound. This tax was deducted from the seller’s sale proceeds, but in actual fact was paid in advance of the prompt date, by brokers to the Commissioner of Tea Exports. The amounts collected each week varied tremendously according to the quantities on offer and market trends.

Since the inception of this Ad Valorem Tax in June 1959, the brokers had been responsible for the collection of over Rs. 285 million, which had been safely deposited with the Commissioner of Tea Exports. Further, had it not been for the broker, it would have been impossible for the sellers to obtain their duty rebates each week along with their sales proceeds.

It must not be forgotten that the broker, in the midst of all these customary functions, has to get ready for the next sale, He by then would have tasted all the teas coming up for the following sale and all findings transmitted to the respective sellers. The most formidable part of his job surfaces once again, and this goes on as night follows day, about fifty times a year, until his retirement at sixty-five.

The broker plays the part of a “quality controller.” He, besides being an auctioneer, and a tea taster, possesses a through knowledge of tea manufacture, and are often seen visiting factories assisting them to produce teas in keeping with current requirements. This form if information is readily available to the broker through his connections with buyers. In addition, all brokers have their correspondents in all marketing centres in the world. Useful information is exchanged after each sale. This includes detail information of market trends, and statistical data regarding other selling centres and producing countries. These intelligence reports in turn are passed on to the trade. This knowledge is often extended with the interchange of samples from other tea producers in the world. The Colombo broker has the advantage of tasting teas from our competitors. Exchange of information is a system that has evolved through the past century. It is gathering momentum all the time, for the greater good of the tea industry.

The Tea Research Institute relies to a great extent on the expertise within the broking fraternity, to report on their experimental samples. These experiments relate to various aspects such as growth, yield, resistance to disease, pest control, effects of shade, soil, manufacture and also the application of advanced technology in manufacture and the development of new clones. As a result, a broker member is always represented on the Experiments and Extension Committee of the Tea Research Institute. The brokers have played a leading role at all stages in the development of instant tea in the country.

In addition, the brokers continue to have a close rapport with the Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, in all matters associated with tea. Brokers have acted jointly with the Ceylon Bureau of Standards in drawing up a Standard Glossary of Tea Trade Terms.

Brokers are called upon to serve on the various panels appointed by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Survey reports are issued to shippers on request. This was a standard requirement when teas are shipped to countries where the economies are centrally controlled. Damaged caused to tea at the point of export is inspected by them for settling insurance claims. They serve on Arbitration Boards. They also report on samples drawn by customs on behalf of the Commissioner of Tea Exports as spot checks, to determine whether or not shipments conform to the composition of the blend sheet.

Today, with the estates coming under private management, there is severe competition, within and outside the group, each trying to get the better of the other. There is excitement in the factory, and experiments are carried out, very often ending up with better teas. The broker is the “watch dog” of all these happenings, this, no doubt tends to increase his work-load in office, but he attends to it with pleasure. During the agency house era, they employed visiting agents to advise estates on agricultural and technical aspects. This function in recent times has been passed on to the broker.

The partiality the estate staff had towards the broker is ever increasing. In recent times, superintendents and factory staff visit their brokers more often than before. They feel that valuable information regarding the requirements of the trade could be gathered at these meetings. Comparative batches are often tasted in broker's offices. This offers them an opportunity of tasting the better selling teas along with theirs, and identify the weaknesses in their teas. They are often called upon to train estate staff, which is gladly undertaken by the brokers.

The present system of marketing of tea through the public auctions, where an independent person looks after the interests of both the buyer and the seller, has existed in this country from the time the first auction was held in the morning of 30th July 1883 at the office of William Somerville. This arrangement has been put to the test under trying conditions previously, and has come out best, with on other alternatives ever suggested.

This system has existed from the time there was produce to be marketed. It has existed from the time colonial powers started with their own mercantile systems. It reaches maturity only with the British. On several occasions earlier, this method of mercantile behaviour, had come under heavy fire.

Many authorities have been driven to study this system minutely, but they have all reported favourably. We in Sri Lanka had this operation examined in detail by two Commissions of inquiry. They had no adverse comments to make, but recommended its continuation. India our immediate neighbour, went further. After having studied this arrangement in greater detail, they recommended the introduction of many more auction centres. The new comers to the tea industry are presently contemplating the introduction of a more organised system of marketing, and what they mean to do is, to follow the public auction system.

Many unwise and premature attempts to change the auction system in the past have failed. The formation of the Trincomalee Tea Administration in 1958 saved the day for the tea industry. With its arrangement of shipping teas through Trincomalee, the marketing of tea underwent radical changes. It brought into existence a new form of arrangement. The samples of the teas held on estates were sent down to the broker for distribution to the trade. This was referred to as the “Ex estate Sale catalogue.” The exporters were then given the option of shipping his teas either through Colombo, Galle or Trincomalee.

This system, which exists even to day, despite the port of Trincomalee closing down long time ago, speaks volumes for its success. The entire ex estate sale works on mutual trust, and in a situation such as this, the position held by the independent broker assumes special importance. Samples are despatched direct from the estate, and purchases are made in Colombo, with the teas still held back on the estate. The main reason for the system to work so efficiently is the fact that the position of the broker as an independent arbitrator is well accepted by the trade. He is treated as an integral part of the marketing system.

In case of a dispute, if the seller takes the mantle of an arbitrator, there is bound to be a loss of confidence, and would affect the smooth working of the marketing system. These shortcomings were common during the agency house days, when the buyer was also an essential part of the system that managed the affairs of the estate. This subject was discussed at length by the Commission of inquiry on Agency Houses and Broking Firms. They were critical of this system, as there was room for abuse and malpractice, which could eventually affect prices.

Today, there are eight brokers, all with a high state of alertness, and competing with each other to serve the sellers. Efficiency counts today, which ultimately results in better prices to the producer and enhanced revenue for the country. The long standing success of the tea industry that follows the public auction system, could be attributed to the integrity of the broking fraternity who has held the scale impartially between buyers and sellers.

London, was for a long time not only the leading auction centre, but also served as the barometer for world tea prices. This position could not be held for long, and with more producing countries organising their own sale centres, London had to give in, and before long it had to die a natural death towards the end of the twentieth century. The biggest blow came their way when India and Sri Lanka decided to shift their entire trade to local centres. Today over 80 % of black tea is marketed through auction centres in Calcutta, Mombasa Jakarta, Chittagong, Gauhati and Cochin, and Colombo, with the latter leading the way. For the year 2000, over 270 million kilos came under the hammer in Colombo, from a production of 305 million kilos.

With the vast expansion in trading activities taking place in recent times, the possibilities of a few buyers dominating the market and “fixing prices" in the current marketing system have not been completely ruled out. It has also been pointed out that the present system of marketing offer little incentive for value addition by producers. Some sophistication to the prevailing marketing system is called for. Some have advocated “off shore” auctions. Others have suggested following the pattern of the “Dutch” auction, whilst still others have recommended introducing “dollar” auctions. Unfortunately, all these suggestions have generated insufficient support.

Today, the tea industry is at the starting point of a possible series of changes. Not that the auction system is completely outdated, but is this age-old system seems out of tune with modern developments in marketing. The marketing system of the days of yore is under heavy pressure today, not in abandoning it totally, but adopting it to meet the needs of the 21st century. As suggested by Mr, Sivaram, “it is not a case of substituting but supplementing the hammer with the computer.” Action is been taken in this regard, as the present marketing system seems to be bursting at the seems.

The main reason as to why any modern marketing mechanism cannot really replace the public auction system is the incomprehensible diversity of tea. We are happy to report that Forbes & Walker is in the process of revitalising the present form of auction by introducing a new form of on line sale of tea. It is a novel form of provision a transparent, speedy, and efficient process that makes private sales easier to the buyer and rewarding to the seller.

All buyers and sellers currently operating at the sale are eligible to be registered with the site. They will have access to the trading floor, view the teas catalogued, make their offers, monitor the status of their bid in relation to other competitive offers and receive conformation of sales.

This system, if developed to perfection, is expected to create more rivalry at the market place, stimulate better offers from overseas buyers, and activate the market all-round, thereby obtaining better prices for the sellers.

This could be the initial step to initiate change, but in this dynamic world of marketing, far more creative action is called for. With the steady increase in auction quantities, with one of the sales during May 2001 reaching 8.7 million kilos, it had become absolutely necessary to speed up sales. Today, The CTTA is contemplating introducing e-auction sales, but the key issue is whether haste will result in waste. Speeding up the auction is no doubt an issue, but will it have a detrimental effect on prices.

Today, the market place is enlarging, and the buyers and sellers are far flung from the scene. The brokers on the other hand, can no longer confine their activities to the auction room. They are now called upon to provide information on market development, not only in Colombo but from all over the world. This is the information that had been wanting so far. Introduction of a web-sight will enable the dissemination of such information in a more effective manner.

A broker’s involvement in tea, usually starts at Mincing Lane. This association dates back to 1687, when the first shipment of 5,000 pounds of Chinese tea arrived in London. It was the era of Clipper-Ships, seen darting across the seas, carrying the most sought-after, and precious cargo of the orient, to the western world. The interest and excitement among tea's dealers during the Clipper-Ship days were rivalled only by the Derby.

The tea trade was then the highest class of mercantile objective, and during the tea season, the celebrity of all eyes was the dashing “tea-clipper,” speeding under her enormous spread of snow-white canvas, from far-away Cathay to her British or American home ports. They were all freighted with the choicest of the new season pickings. A cargo meant to enrich the consignee on first arrival. The best sailing masters, the finest mariners, and the swiftest vessels afloat were represented in the tea fleet.

The racing of the tea ships was at that time the all-absorbing topic at Mincing Lane, the hub of the tea trade, and at all clubs and firesides. When the clippers enter the English Channel, the excitement becomes intense. Before the days of the telegram, when news travelled slowly, the arrival of tea clippers had in it even more mystery and of thrill. The crew of the winning ship were often showered with gifts by the owners of the cargo. The first tea put on the market always enjoyed a premium of 3d to 6d per pound.

It is at this point, that the brokers get to work, drawing samples from the many hundreds of packages for tasting at Mincing Lane. Then the bids would be made by the large dealers, duty paid on the gross weight, and by the following morning the new season’s teas would be on sale in Liverpool and Manchester.

To focus the spotlight on the local scene, the pioneer tea tasters who expanded their activities to other tea producing countries, were mostly trained at Mincing Lane, where all the complexities involved in tasting and valuing are imparted. Those pioneer tea tasters who arrived in Ceylon during the latter part of the twentieth century, easily found suitable positions with the Broking fraternity. Employment was assured to those who had training in Mincing Lane, then considered the stronghold of the tea trade. They arrived in the country at a time when times were difficult.

It was an era when the old staple coffee had failed and buried, and tea was fast heading to be the new principle commodity. Business was disappointing, and some of the new comers found it difficult to sustain themselves. It is reported that after the first month of operations, following the establishment of the partnership between James Forbes and George Chapman, each partner took home Rs. 257.84 for there troubles. They were nevertheless confidant that the dark clouds would move on fast. So it happened, and by the early 1890’s, business had begun to develop, and there was sufficient money to be made, in the fast developing commercial environment of the country.

The local broking fraternity got under way with the arrival of Edwin John from England in 1870, when tea was established as the principle commodity. He became a partner to an ongoing produce and exchange broking organisation, started by his brother George John. It was already in existence when he arrived. With the Central Province becoming the hub of activity, they established an office in Kandy, with George John taking charge. This partnership between brothers expanded with the arrival of their nephew W. G. John. The Colombo office of John Brothers was situated in Baillie Street Fort, the birth place of many other mercantile establishments.

Contrary to general belief, John Brothers was formed without any Mincing Lane connections, with the original partners drawn from different walks of life. With the steady expansion in tea, they had no option but to look in that direction for experts in tea.

The partnership between the two brothers and the nephew was dissolved in 1878, and Edwin John set up his own establishment called E. John at, 19 Upper Chatham Street, Fort. A brass plaque displayed at the door-way proclaimed that they were produce and exchange brokers.

Life was not at all easy during the pioneering days. E. John emerged at a very difficult time when the coffee industry was fast fading away, and the tea industry struggling to be born. Villiers recalled that “Business was at a very low ebb, during the years 1878 to 1888. Most of the brokers, if at all, lived in their offices in the Fort, and it was difficult to make a living sufficient to provide adequate education for the family at home, and many a Ceylon lad missed the opportunity of education which would have been his asset in life. The business in those days was very limited. Coffee had all but gone out, tea had not arrived and the little business there was in cinchona was not enough to go round.”

Conditions began to improve after about 1890, and with it, the organisational structure had to be expanded. Tea was going to save the day for them. Herbert Tarrant was the first trained tea taster from Mincing Lane to join the firm. He gave up a lucrative job at Charles Hope & Company, well-known tea buyers then, to take on a billet at E. John in 1890.

Expansion thereafter was fast. A. C. Rogers joined the firm in 1892. In 1895, Reginald John was taken into the partnership, and Lionel Ottley Leefe was brought in from Hawes & Herty of Mincing Lane, to head the tea department

They continued to trade under the name of E. John. With the partnership expanding in 1901, with the inclusion of C. E. Haslop and L. O. Leefe, the style and the title of the firm was changed to E. John & Company.

In 1910, there was an upsurge in rubber shares, and the London Stock Exchange reached new heights. Good business was conducted in shares and all brokers benefited during this boom period. With this steady expansion in business, the location of the office that they had occupied for thirty-four years was shifted to National Mutual Insurance Buildings.

Many changes to the structure of the company occurred thereafter. In January 1948, E. John & Company amalgamated with two London tea brokers Wm. Jas. and Hy. Thompson & Company and Goe. White & Company of Fenchurch Street, with their representatives on the local board. With it, the name of the firm was changed to E. John, Thompson, White & Company, Ltd.

With these changes, two Ceylonese H. D. Walter De Silva and C. D. H. Leitan were employed as assistants.

In 1959, one of the biggest amalgamations in broking history in the island took place. E. John & Company joined hands with two pioneer firms in this field, Keel & Waldock Ltd and E. John Thompson White & Company to form John Keel Thompson White Ltd.

Keell & Waldock has a long and delightful history, and it may be safe to say that they may have had their embryonic stages at the Colombo Hockey & Football Club in 1896. They moved in fast to expand their businesses, after having secured a sporting relationship between two neighbouring mercantile establishments, one situated at No.13 and the other at No.15 Queen’s Street Fort. Keell was a proficient tea taster. Being a sports enthusiast, he was made the secretary of the CH & FC.

F. W. Waldock was the Manager of the Orient Company who were well into the export of desiccated coconut and coconut fibre. They enjoyed a big stake in the manufacture of railway components, which were very much in demand at that time. They were also involved in insurance work and held a number of agencies. They occupied an office next to Keell & Waldock. Many others from the Waldock family joined the firm. Two Waldocks and Keell were active members of the CH & FC, and had played rugby together. It was this association that saw the birth of Keell & Waldock in 1902.

This form of association continued until 1960, when the firm of John, Keell, Thompson White Ltd, came into existence. Towards the end of 1973, the company acquired a controlling interest in Walker Tours and Travels (Ceylon) Ltd. In 1974, the company acquired a major portion of the shares of the Mackinnon Mackenzie Group of Companies. In 1978,one hundred years after Edwin John started his one-man business, John Keells Ltd was founded with Mr. Mark Bostock as the first Chairman.

William Somerville commenced his professional life as an assistant in the firm of Fowlie, Richmond & Company in 1872, which rose from the ruins of Nichol, Cargill & Company. This association was liquidated in 1875. When he founded his own company in 1876, the broking trade was well established. In 1880, he was joined by James Forbes, who hailed himself as the only qualified tea taster at that time. His stay with Somerville was short lived, and left the services in 1882 to form his own firm, Forbes & Walker, in partnership with George Chapman Walker.

Somerville arrived in the island at a time when the country was unified. In agriculture, the dependence on the single staple coffee was replaced by a more diversified cultivation. Tea by then, had proved a sturdier market product. With faith in quality and service as his motto, he established Somerville & Company single handed, providing all the finances needed to get the project off the ground, with four local to assist him at the start.

A small sign board appeared in due course, announcing to the business community that another service organisation has come into being. Coffee was his original attraction, but as conditions became difficult and more competitive, with the staple changing from coffee to tea, he was forced to expand his scope of operations. He was soon dealing in tea, cocoa, cinchona, and coconuts.

To William Somerville, it was the coffee industry that was going to model his future. His hopes were blasted when the entire industry collapsed in the 1880’s, stricken with a deadly disease. This economic collapse hurt all those in the mercantile sector, but for Somerville, he had by then switched sides and was hopeful of the tea industry offering greater opportunities for survival. It was for this reason that he introduced the “Auction System” so early in the day.

It was during these hard times that Somerville became the tutor to many enterprising young Britishers. There were many instances where the student had taken advantage of his tutoring and used his establishment as a spring-board to vault themselves to better positions.

By the early twentieth century, Somerville was beginning to feel the pressure of had work, and was bracing his hopes on the capabilities of his son, to uphold the traditions of Somerville & Company and succeed in the family business. He must have been a very disappointed person when his son decided to leave to Australia a few years later.

One of the first amalgamations between a foreign broking firm and a local took place in 1911. Patrick Gow of Gow Wilson & Stanton Ltd. London became a senior partner of Somerville & Company, and the firm was renamed Gow Somerville & Company.

The business was converted into a Private Limited Liability Company in 1925, under the name of Gow Somerville & Company Ltd. With the death of Patrick Gow in 1926, the company reverted to the title of Somerville & Company.

The second World War put heavy pressure on the administration of Somerville & Company Ltd. as some of the competent persons were called for active service. It was during this time, that the attitudes of the Europeans towards the Ceylonese started to change. It was found out that a Ceylonese if given the same opportunities could easily match up to the imported counterparts. In 1947, A Homer, who was the head tea clerk at Somerville & Company Ltd. was promoted to the position of an assistant in the firm.

After Independence, this trend towards Colonisation began to gather momentum, and the fastidious and the cliquish outlook of most Europeans began to open up. They saw the writing on the wall. It was not just managerial substance they were interested in. Above all, they were looking for people with sum and substance, with whom they could trade their local interests, as time was running out for them.

After a through hunt, D. A. Dias was recruited as the first Ceylonese tea broke to serve Somerville & company in the capacity of an executive in 1955. Vast6 changes took place during the ensuing years, and in 1963, D. A. Dias and P. H. M. Soysa were invited to join the Board.

Mr. Dias took over the affairs of the company at a time when the entire world of commerce and trade was falling apart, and the post-independent political developments in the country were casting long shadows over the activities of Brokers.

Many mid-course corrections had to be made, and they were all faced with circumspection. After having completed a long innings of twelve long decades, Somerville & Company is well geared to face the future with confidence.

Sir Thomas Villiers who reported in a very comprehensive manner the origins of some of the pioneers in the mercantile world, stated in his book “Mercantile Lore” that Forbes and Walker were established on 1st August 1881. Although no actual records are available to prove the date of inauguration, this is one indicator that leads us to suppose that the date is absolutely correct.

It is logical to claim earlier descent, but we could assume that James Forbes and George Chapman Walker “got together” in say June or July 1881, but started proper business from 1st August 1881, from which date they started keeping books and numbering the contracts they put together, in a chronological order.

“Tea, Rubber, Produce, Exchange, Freight and Share Brokers.” So read the board that was displayed at 28 Chatham Street Fort. This was the first communication made to the mercantile world, after the establishment of the partnership between James Forbes and George Chapman on 1st August 1881.

It is very significant that in their various lines of businesses, tea had taken precedence over other forms of activities. It had remained so even today, despite radical changes and shifts in business opportunities to more lucrative avenues in the world of commerce in most cases, over the past hundred years.

In the year 1953, about 257.5 million pounds had passed through the public auctions of which Forbes & Walker had handled 104 million pounds. They obtained an average price of Rs.1.91 per pound. At the sale of 17th April 1950, R. H. Horne had sold 1,205 lots between 3.10 pm and 6.45 pm at an average speed of nearly 6 lots per minute.

It is recorded that O. B. Forbes, the son of the founder, had produced a cash book, the first of its kind in use then, which indicated the brokerage earned from 1st August 1881 to 31st July 1882, and for the following two years. Further, the first profit and loss account for the first month of operation indicated that each of the partners took home Rs. 257.84 for theirs troubles.

James Forbes began tea tasting with Gow Wilson & Company in London. He arrived in Ceylon to pursue a career in planting. After a brief attempt at planting, on Hunasgiriya in Wattegama, he joined William Somerville who had already establish a broking establishment in Colombo. He was made a partner in 1881.

His stay at Somerville however was short-lived. He left the company to form a partnership with George Chapman Walker, and with this association, a new company was formed. It had stood the hardships of a by-gone era and after 120 years has come up with a novel form of trading in tea. It is said that James Forbes was the first qualified tea taster to start as a broker, at a time when broking business was still in its infancy. It naturally follows, that Forbes & Walker had made vast riches from the development of the tea industry in the country. From the very inception, they were able to build up a large tea broking business in the island.

The formation of this partnership took place when the coffee industry had failed, and at a time when many proprietors were going through the insolvency courts. There were still others who often ended up becoming superintendents they owned earlier. Most proprietary planters however showed their grit and determination to weather the storm as best they could, and the only means of survival was to convert their holdings into Limited Liability Companies.

Forbes & Walker played an important part in the formation of these companies by providing the much needed finance both locally and from abroad, to convert the diseased coffee plantations to tea. From this point onwards, the proprietary planter faded away partly on their own accord, so that the black days of 1880 to 1890 would never return.

Forbes & Walker, from the very start, enjoyed a well-grounded financial base, which was used successfully to secure additional business. Following the marriage of George Walker, a rich individual by his own right, to the widow of William Rose, they came in for a good deal of money and valuable urban properties. They owned Bloemendhal Mills and several estates. This marriage at that time was considered a merger of “liquid cash and fixed assets.” This unification provided all the confidences to an already bankrupt planting community to seek assistance from Forbes & Walker. With all these assets, they were able to steal a march over their counterparts from the very inception.

In 1946, Forbes & Walker merged with R. Gordon & Company, its neighbour at Prince Street Building in Colombo. This merger of two firms specialising in the same fields of freight and commodity broking, created a sensation among the broking community, as it was the first of its kind to receive recognition.

The next big change of consequence took place on the 1st of April 1948, when the firm that had been incorporated in January 1948 as a private limited company began trading under the name of Forbes & Walker Ltd.

The plantation sector and the tea industry in particular, has seen radical changes over the past hundred years, but the structure of Forbes & Walker has remained relatively composed. They started as a service organisation, to aid the mercantile sector, and they have remained so until recent times. Radical changes lately however forced them to view the situation differently, and in recent times, they have broad-based their ownership structure by offering shares to the public. This step was taken to fall in line with the ever changing tide of events in the mercantile world.

Forbes & Walker has deviated very little from its original concept, but have faced successfully, the severe challenges during the past 120 years of existence, to uphold the original concept of service to the business world and the community at large. It has stood the test of time.

This company was established in 1904 by Wilton Bartleet. With the steady expansion in trading activities taking place in the country during the early twentieth century, there were many British interests looking in this direction for combining broking interests. The first link between Mincing Lane and Fort originated when George White & Company of London went into partnership with Wilton Bartleet, who played an important role during the formation of Delmege Forsyth & Company during the late nineteenth century.

This was the first introduction of the direct London’s broker’s interest in Colombo business. It was set up to take advantage of the fast developing broking activities associated with the sale of tea, rubber, coconut, cocoa, and spices. This was one of the original member’s of the CBA.

The anticipated advantage to both companies from interchange of business however did not materialise, and in 1912, the partnership was dissolved and the local firm appeared as Bartleet & Company, with P. S. Parsons and Arthur Boys as partners and W. S. Findall and F. R. C. Doyle as assistants.

The success of the “British Period” of the company’ history was largely moulded by John Parson. He was knighted in 1945 for his outstanding services to the country and the community at large.

As a result of ill-health, Bartleet gradually relinquished active participation in the company’s business, and finally died in London in 1937. Business developed fast for Bartleet & Company, and became an important figure in the broking field, with the result, they were forced to move office to a more spacious building at Charted Bank, in Fort.

History was made in 1958, when for the first time in the history of broking a Ceylonese was invited to join the Board of Bartleet & Company. With the appointment of Mr, M. E. Wijesinghe, to the Board, the company entered a new phase of activity. He was soon elevated to the position of the Chairman, and this came about at a time when the government was actively pursuing a policy of Ceylonisation. He actively supported this cause, and Bartleet & Company was soon filled with Ceylonese nationals at all levels.

The conquest of Ceylon by the British was not undertaken half-heatedly, nor was it an accident. It was a well-planned operation, properly executed after having taking into considerations all the potential available in the country for colonisation. “There is no part of this earth’s surface perhaps about which more has been written than about the island of Ceylon.” These were the introductory words used by J. A. Ferguson at a meeting held at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Metropole way back on March 8th 18982, when he acquainted Ceylon to a group of prospective investors.

Sir Emerson Tenet, the great historian, opening his first volume of his fascinating work, Ceylon” says most truly, “from whatever direction it is approached, unfolds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it be rivalled by any land in the world.”

To the British, Ceylon had always remained the most abundant and most important crown colony, supervised directly from the Colonial Office in Britain. So great was the value attached to Ceylon as a result of its fabulous wealth, that Britain chose to cede Java to the Dutch and retain this little island, so inferior in area, population and natural resources. The Dutch on the other hand, who had made a conscious study of the country’s potential for trade and commerce were at one stage prepared to lose India, rather than endanger the prospects of conquering Ceylon.

The past history of the country is well documented, not merely in song and legend, but in records verified by monuments' inscriptions and coins. Some of the columns found in ancient cities are only second to the pyramids of Egypt in vastness and architectural interest. When the last monarch of Kandy was exiled and the country unified by the British in 1815, they had right of entry to a vast collection of chronicles and valuable books, which gave them an insight into the country’s past history

A perfect memoir of the 170 rulers and monarchs that had ruled the country prior to the dethronement of the last King of Kandy, along with there varied forms of administration were available. They clearly indicated that the country had attained a high degree of civilisation and material progress, which was considered rather unusual in the East at that remote age.

The first Englishmen to visit Ceylon was Ralph Fitch, who excited by the success of the Portuguese in Asia, yearned to secure for Great Britain, a sharing of the splendid trade of the East. He landed in Colombo on 5th March 1580. This visitation occurred twenty years prior to the granting of the royal charter, that gave its first inducement to the origin of an organisation, which afterwards expanded to the imperial dimensions of the East India Company.

It was a voyage of reconnaissance undertaken by him, and it took nearly two centuries after his first appearance in the island, before the attention of the British was turned to the acquisition of Ceylon that was achieved in 1795.

“By this capitulation,” so said Sir James Emerson Tennant, “with all its fortresses ammunition and artillery, its archives and the contents of its treasury and stores, was ceded to the victorious English. Private property was declared inviolable, and funds of charitable foundations were held sacred, the garrison marched out with the honours of war, piled the arms on the esplanade, and returned to their barracks. Night closed on the descending standard of Holland, and at sunrise the British flag waved on the walls of Colombo.”

The first batch of Britishers to arrive in the island were the soldiers, the administrators, and the missionaries. The town of Colombo then offered little attraction to the British on his first arrival. The modern buildings within the Fort were a clumsy application of European architecture, devoid of romance of antiquity nor the interest of innovation. They were all designed to suit tropical requirements.

Fort then would have appeared a shadow town, as all commercial activities of the Portuguese and the Dutch were conducted in Pettah, referred as the “Black Town.” This area was inhabited by the native races and the extent covered extended to the banks of the Kelani river.

Colombo was a multiracial city of which the Sinhalese was in a majority. They were mainly handicraftsmen and servants. There were the Parsees who were exclusively merchants, the Malays were soldiers and valets. There was a large concentration of Tamil workers. The descendants of the Portuguese often ended up as artisans and domestics.

The Dutch Burgers, and the offspring of the English by intermarriages with natives formed essentially the middle-class. They were regarded as an intelligent class who excelled in mercantile pursuits, and as writers and clerks. They filled places of trust in every administrative establishment. They were described as the “brazen wheels of the executive that kept the golden hands in motion.”

There was an ancient prophecy among the Sinhalese in the Kingdom of Kandy that, whoever shall pierce the rock and make a road from the plains, would receive the kingdom as his reward. The Portuguese and the Dutch failed, and the prophecy was at last fulfilled by the British who pierced the rock and built the road.

For centuries, the Kandyans held the Kadugannawa Pass against all attempts by Europeans to take their capital. Neither the Portuguese who held the maritime provinces in the 16th century, nor the Dutch whom the British ousted in the 17th century, were ever able to conquer them. It is true that the Portuguese reached Kandy and even partly destroyed it, but were never able to hold it. The British drove out the Dutch in 1796, but to gain possession of Kandy was by no means an easy task. This mountain stronghold was destined to give trouble to its new assailants and proved a scene of much bloody treachery and horrible cruelty, before it was finally conquered.

With the acquisition of the Kandyan territory in 1815, the country was unified. During the next ten to fifteen years, the British were able to lay the foundation for a plantation economy. Although coffee was introduced for the first time by the Dutch in 1690, large plantations were not opened until about 1825, and the coffee rush did not really start until some twenty years later.

Speculation It was originally the British speculators, who had no knowledge of the industry, that set the stage for the setting up of a plantation industry in the country, commencing with coffee. The fortunate few who were able to get in early, purchased an acre of land for 5 shillings. Prices moved up to one Pound Sterling and more when the success of the first plot was acknowledged. They made fortunes without expending any effort on their part.

With the start of the coffee boom in 1834, about 337 acres were opened up, which expended to 78,658 acres in 1841. Most of the coffee plantation owners of the day were of a class then known as “Galle Face Planters.” They passed their time cantering about the Colombo race-course, and idling in the town, while their estates lay a hundred miles away, completely neglected. For coffee, virtually anyone was taken.

Planter those days were a strange mixture of retires army and navy offices, medical men, engineers, veterinary surgeons, steamer captains, chemists, shop-keepers of all kinds, stable-keepers, used-up policemen, clerks and goodness know who besides. A pioneer tea planter Hunter Blair, received a letter from Earl of Glasgow, the owner of Hoolankanda Estate saying that the brokers had complained that his tea had far too much of “red ends,” and suggested that the tea bushes which gave the red leaf be cut and removed. That was the knowledge they had of the subject they were dealing in.

Jenkins, an old up-country planter recalled that planters in those days got all their supplies from Nuwara Eliya, stinking beef and mouldy bread being their most frequent fare. Bread generally reached the planter when it was about ten days old, mildewed and full of ants. Toast was the best way of eating it, as it killed all the ants and made them digestible too. The Danish butter that came in purple tins when opened revealed on top a lot of yellow liquid like oil, and beneath, a layer of yellow grit. When all mixed, a compound like that used for greasing the axles of railway wagons resulted.

When the coffee industry proved a success, they needed hardy people to manage their properties. and the more daring types from England looking for adventure followed. They were no doubt pioneers in every sense of the word, bold enough to venture out into an unknown tropical country where they staked everything, including their lives, having risked the three months voyage in sailing ships to get to Colombo.

The original coffee planters were an odd mixture of man, but one feature they all had in common was a sense of enterprise. The success of the plantations should fairly and squarely be attributed to the endless courage exhibited by these young men during the initial stages. They were engaged as superintendents on a fixed salary.

They had great hopes of making immense fortunes in this newly opened colony, where the climate was found favourable for agriculture. They were the “tough and tumble” types, who had acquired a challenging experience during their youth, and looking for new encounters in an unknown world.

They found Ceylon the perfect place to indulge in their pursuits. Ceylon by then had received universal recognition as a field for colonists. It was however not the place for the gentry. It was only meant for the unfailing. If he was prepared for hard work, the chances of prosperity were great. It was eight hours work, eight hours play, eight hours sleep and eight shillings a day.

Most of those who arrived in the island, did so unplanned, but there were enough opportunities to go around during the early stages of coffee cultivation. They moved to the unexplored areas, and soon all sides of the mountain ranges in Kandy were rapidly covered on all sides with coffee plantations.

Then they moved to the great valleys of Dumbura, Ambegamuwa, Kotmale, and Pussellawa. They ascended the hill station of Nuwara Eliya, and went across to the sprawling grasslands to Uva.

They pioneered their way through pathless woods and lived for months in log huts. To them, a home was a two-roomed box made of wattle and daub, with a thatched roof in which snakes frequently made their appearance. They would often calm themselves to the howl of jackals and bark of deer. Open fires lit at the fringe of the forest kept the wild animals away.

A sort of a wicker helmet covered with a long padded white cloth which hung down his back like a baby’s quilt, a shooting jacket and trouser of checked paper umbrella made up his singular attire. Colonel Wright, a pioneer planter was paid Rs. 83.33 per month, and had to pay for his own food, drinks and for his servants. They nevertheless enjoyed life.

Mousagalla factory was situated close to Pitakanda in the Matale district and was run by a water wheel from a small dam. When water was scarce, the planters had to work the rollers by hand.

Frequent outbreak of dysentery took a heavy toll on human lives among the labour force. There had been instances where bodies had been carried away by wild animals. Haunted houses were not all a rarity either. Sanitary facilities were completely lacking, and electricity and pipe-borne water were an unheard of luxury. Above all it was the problem of loneliness that gripped all planters alike.

The rugged life of the Ceylon planter has often drawn admiring comments. The legend is that they were not only hardy individuals, but mighty carouses in their leisure. It is said that in some cases when time and weather had totally destroyed their crud huts in which the planter lived, the only indication of the original site was the mounds of empty bottles left behind.

The old planters are nevertheless unanimous in their agreement, that their modern counterparts have advantages and amenities they themselves would not have dreamed of when they came out originally to plant tea, one and a half centuries ago, though curiously enough, almost all of them are of the opinion that the planter was a “happier man” at that time than he is today.

It is doubtful whether we who live in the twentieth first century comforts of our homes, with nothing more then a tame cat or a highly pedigreed dog roaming around the garden, with instant light at the touch of a switch, and water at the turn of a tap, can possibly imagine the lonely and dangerous life of those pioneer planters, whose courage and determination in the face of all adversity made them what they are, “true pioneers.”

The coffee crash, and the subsequent conversion to tea, called for persons with more intelligence and sound judgement, to undertake the cultivation of the new crop. When coffee failed, most of the young planters left the island looking for greener pastures. Those who stayed behind were persons of wealth, who had the resources to direct the plantations on a different course.

The guarantee of prosperity, so said Dr. Alan Walters, a casual visitor to the island “is found in the central, ever magnificent geographical position of Ceylon. Her ready command of cheap labour, her superb climate, and the amazing abundance with which nature, out of a lean rather than fat soil, was all that attracted the foreigner. As an emporium of commerce, a coaling station, and a half way house for the Far East and South China and Australia.”

It was coffee and not constitutional and legislative enactment’s that acted as the catalyst in the economic transformation from old to new Ceylon.

In the midst of these visions of riches, a crash suddenly surfaced which awoke victims to the reality of desolation. The financial collapse of 1845 in England speedily extended its harmful effect to its colonies, and Ceylon was no exception. Remittances ceased, prices fell, and credit failed virtually overnight. The most harmful of them all, was the announcement of the withdrawal of the distinctive duty that, for so long had screened British coffee plantations from competition from the coffee of Java and Brazil.

The resentment thus produced in Ceylon towards this move was unimaginable. All hopes were blasted, and estates were forced into the market and madly sold off for a twentieth part of the outlay incurred in cultivating them. Those who could not make the mark were forced to abandon them to return to jungle. For almost three years, the coffee enterprise appeared paralysed.

In the dull time that followed, there were many happy hints in money making. One proprietary planter who had a Liverpool training, bought up all the native coffee, which was a big crop in those days, for “a mere song,” He had it shipped it to London via the Cape. The cargo arrived in London six months later to a vastly improved market. He had it cleared, made a fortune, and immediately founded a mercantile house in Colombo, with later on in Madras.

With this first coffee crash, a different class of entrepreneurs emerged. They were those who could combine sound judgement with proper capital management. They finally succeeded. The question of planting coffee was viewed more rationally and scientifically. Unprofitable districts were avoided, unproductive estates abandoned, and the soil enriched artificially in proportion to the produce it created.

Science combined with new sources of capital saw the second stage of the coffee industry getting under way. As to the future prospects of the colony, A. M. Ferguson in 1857calculated that suitable land had yet to be brought under cultivation, and the produce, by increased processes had the potential to increase it by at least twenty-five per cent. He was looking forward to the day when a quarter of a million of cultivated acres together with the native crops, would produce two million hundred weights of coffee annually.

In 1869, when the future of the coffee industry was well entrenched in the country, and the future prospects well assured, there appeared for the first time an enemy most insignificant on arrival, but in less than a dozen years was responsible for bringing down the export of this great staple to one-fifth of its extent. Though it appeared as a minute fungus and new to science, it destroyed an entire industry.

The bright orange spots that were later established as the “coffee leaf disease” first appeared on an estate in a remote corner of Badulla. It was treated as a matter of little concern, but the attractive prices than prevailing eclipsed the general decrease in crop intakes.

The insidious leaf disease was working deadly mischief, and when it was found difficult to arrest, the planters were forced to turn to science. It was found too communicable for arrest, and before long, it had spread to coffee districts of India and Java.

Despite the problems created with the crash of coffee, Ceylon continued to offer the best opportunities to further one’s knowledge of tropical agriculture. Many of the pioneer Britishers who arrived in the country as “green horns,” had by then, acquired a through knowledge of coffee cultivation and processing, and above all, they had mastered the art of coloured labour management. This was one of the most coveted qualifications' one could have achieve at that time. They found easy passages to other colonies where similar projects were undertaken.

To be recognised as a Ceylon trained planter was indeed a passport to esteem and gainful employment. They were wanted all over the tropical and sub-tropical world. It was said that that locally trained European planters were found cultivating coffee, pepper, and tobacco in Malaya and Sumatra, sugar in North Queensland. There were still others pioneering the cultivation of coffee in the highlands of East Africa, improving the cocoa and coffee culture of the West Indies, growing oranges in Florida, grapes and other fruits in California, and superintending plantations in Brazil.

It would be proper to characterise the Ceylon tea industry as: Taylor Made” bearing in mind the leading role played by James Taylor during the initial stages of its establishment. When coffee failed, there was an urgent necessity to find an alternative. Tea was tried and it succeeded. Out of a very apparent and tangible evil, good undoubtedly resulted in the case of Ceylon as a planting colony of the British.

Tea did not turn up among indigenous vegetation, but the original seeds were imported into the country from India in 1837. It remained in an experimental stage for almost three decades, until James Taylor was able to prove that tea could be grown as an alternative plantation crop to coffee, which was by then on its way out. The success of the industry is owing to people such as Taylor who had the prudence and courage to start over again to rebuild their fortunes, risking all they had in their efforts to do so. It was all a story of pluck and nerve that could have had few equals elsewhere.

It was the belief, and often remarked that the western and the central divisions of the island was as far as one could see, was intended by nature for tea growing. “Leafage” is the predominant characteristic of the vegetation, and the constant humidity and the almost uninterrupted monthly rainfall, often turned out too severe to blossom and fruit formation. On the other hand, they were the ideal conditions in which the tea plant flourished.

Tea cultivation unlike coffee, was undertaken on a more scientific foundation. The government offered all assistance to ensure that this new industry avoided all the imperfections of the earlier staple. Assistance was readily available from India, who then had mastered the art of tea cultivation. The progress made into tea was rapid, but there was a period of apprehension between 1867 and 1874. With the success achieved at Loolecondera, the real push into tea started in around 1874. The extent of tea increased from 350 acres in 1874 to 1,080 acres in 1875, and in the following decade, tea coverage had expanded to 32.000 acres,

The Ceylon planter had much to learn, and he did it with determination. This led him to install in place of coffee, a faster spreading and a rewarding industry that helped him to win back his earlier losses.

Taylor sold his first lot of Assam hybrid tea in Kandy in 1972, and in the following year 23 pounds were valued at Rs. 58.00 and dispatched to Mincing Lane London for their comments. The London brokers, who at first paid little attention to Ceylon teas due to the small quantities arriving at Mincing Lane, were soon loud in praise for its delicate and rare quality. They began to pay special attention to Ceylon teas, and W. J. & H. Thompson devoted a special circular to the trade on this aspect. During the early stages of the tea enterprise, Ceylon teas were rated equal or better to the best Assams.

The Ceylon tea industry offered great promise, and it was only at this stage that the more qualified tea tasters from Mincing Lane, considered the strongholds of the London tea trade, started to arrive in the island to set up a marketing system similar to what was in existence in London. The British mercantile community started to expand thereafter, having arrived in Ceylon to set up the necessary infrastructure to support the fast expanding economy of the country.

Edwin John arrived in the island in 1870 and joined his brother George John to establish John Brothers, which is operating under the name and style of John Keells Limited today. William Somerville founded his company in 1876. A partnership developed between James Forbes and George Chapman in 1881 to form Forbes & Walker Limited. The first link between Mincing Lane and Fort originated with the formation, when George White & Company of London went into partnership with Wilton Bartleet, which ultimately ended up forming the present Bartleet & Company Limited.

Generations of governors, officials, and world leaders have all paid tribute to the mercantile sector where the Britishers played a leading role. They were proud of the saying, “We do not imitate, we are a model for others to follow.”

The The origin of the mercantile community can be traced to the early 1840’s, which saw the establishment of Mackwoods (1841), George Steuarts (1844), Cargills (1844) J. M. Robertson’s (1845) and Brodie’s (1846)

Mackwoods was founded by the two brothers, William and Francis who were officers on ships that called frequently in Galle. In 1863, their agency business had expanded to include the management of sixty estates. Mackwoods are the second most senior member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

James Steuarts, who pioneered the formation of George Steuarts, was also a mariner who owned a ship, the “Mediterranean.” Joseph, James and George, were brothers who opened a family business in 1844, which grew ultimately to become one of the largest agency houses in the island. They were the most senior member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, having joined in 1844.

Cargills began business in 1844 as Milne & Company, named after its founder, William Milne. Many changes to the name took place subsequently, but in 1890 Cargills bought the goodwill and stocks of Maitland & Company which owned “The Medical Hall,” the scene of many sociable parties then. The Medical Hall’s stocks of liquids very often contained brews more potent than what the doctors of the time recommended.

J. M. Robertson & Company was a firm of estate agents and merchants, that commenced business in 1845.

Brodie & Company was started in 1846 as Brodie Bogue & Company, but subsequently changed to Brodie & Company.

More Delmege & Forsythe (1850) - It all started in Galle initiated by H. J. Reid. They operated as general merchants, in marine, fire, and life insurance and as agents for the Brocklebank Line.

Volkarts was formed in Colombo in 1851 by C. A. Frei. They were the leading exporters of coffee, coconut, coconut oil, cinnamon and pearls. Salomon Volkart joined the firm in 1877 and changed the name to its present style.

The history of Lee Hedges & Company goes back to 1852 when W. D. Lee began business as a merchant. J. R. Hedges joined him in 1866, they were one of the pioneers to turn to tea after the crash of coffee. In 1912, a break away group of Aitken Spence & Company purchased the controlling shares of Lee Hedges, and in 1917 the firm became a limited liability company.

Walker sons & Company was started by John Walker who began business in Kandy. It was then considered the heart of the coffee growing industry in the island. He was a century ahead a head of his times in the treatment of his employers. He was the first to introduce a provident fund, profit sharing and medical assistance to its staff. He was an engineer by profession and effected several improvements to the machinery used on coffee estates initially, and then to tea factories.

Walker & Greig was started in 1854 as a branch of Walker & Sons, and was very much involved in designing machinery for use in tea factories.

Mercantile Bank has the distinction of being the oldest bank in the island having be4en established as the Chartered Mercantile Bank in 1854.

In 1857, R. B. Carson and T. Wright began a firm that operated under the name of Carson & Company. The firm was able to secure a fair slice of the estate agency business. In addition they had several shipping agencies and a booming coal business for ship bunkers. They also enjoyed a monopoly in the import of textiles from Manchester.

The history of Millers began with the establishment of a shop in Kandy by W. M. Miller in 1859.

By In 1860, Mudaliyar Hewavitarana started a furniture firm that was able to achieve fame and fortune within a short period of time. It has remained a family concern up to recent times.

M. Moosajee, the founder of Moosajee’s did considerable business at a time when horse and carriage were the chief form of transport. The firm had 150 horses and 125 carriages. With the passage of time, they have diversified their business and are supporting the government’s food drive, and are still maintaining their forage and other lines of businesses.

John & Company was started by E. John who came to Ceylon to start a branch for the Mercantile Bank in Kandy. He had a few postings in India and on his return, he established himself as a bill broker in 1865.

Leechman & Company was a family concern started by three brothers G.B, W.C, and C. A. They were the first to introduce cinchona cultivation to the country in the hope of replacing coffee. It turned out to be a failure; they then concentrated their energies on tea and rubber.

In a commercial sense, The Cargo Boat Despatch Company that began in 1866, is as old as the port of Colombo. The firm was made a limited liability in 1936, and made a significant contribution towards the war effort in both world wars.

The Aitken Spence is a descendent of Clark Spencer & Company that was started in Galle in 1871. Aitken Spence & Company was formed in 1874 and became a limited liability company in 1932.

It was gas that lit the city of Colombo, and for this purpose, the Colombo Gas & Water Company was started on 10th August 1872. When electricity replaced gas, the company judiciously acquired interests in electricity.

Louis Siedle pioneered the establishment of the firm Siedles. He was known to have had a through knowledge on gems, a gift he had acquired through generations.

The first German colonist of consequence to start an establishment in Colombo was Philip Freudenburg. His original interests revolved round coffee, but with its demise, he turned o shipping. With the opening of the Suez Canal, he did a lucrative shipping business between Colombo and Europe. He also invested heavily in an oil mill and manure works, which he established in Hultsdorf.

James Finlay was originally known as Finlay, Muir, & Company established in the country in 1873.This is a very old Scottish firm whose genealogy can be traced back to James Finlay, born in 1727 when maritime Ceylon was ruled by the Dutch.

Brown & Company was established in 1875, and was mainly involved as estate and general agency work. The greatest money spinner was the agency they held for Ruston-Hornby engines, which were in great demand then. During the post-independence period, the management passed into Ceylonese hands, and since then, it has expended as a group.

Caves was started in 1876 by a deeply religious person H. W. Cave. He was originally involved in the importation of religious books, and served as the secretary to the Bishop of Colombo Dr. Reginald Coppleston. His greatest contribution to the country was the series of books he had written on Ceylon, which are now collectors' items.

The Colombo Commercial Company was founded in London in 1876 to acquire coffee plantations in Ceylon and export their produce, with the coffee crash, they turned to tea. They were one of the pioneers in the manufacture of tea machinery that were very much in demand both in Ceylon and abroad.

When the Prince of Wales visited Ceylon in 1875, there was an acute shortage of hotel accommodation. It was to relieve this problem that the construction of the Grand Oriental Hotel was started in 1878.

Skrine & Company was started by D. W. H. Skrine in 1877. Bosanquet & Company was started by Richard Arthur Bosanquet, a coffee planter in 1881. There two companies merged in 1930 and called themselves Bosanquet & Company.

Many Whittal & Company was established by James Whittall, a British businessman who came to Ceylon from Cairo, Although his stay in the country was short lived, he became the President of the Ceylon Association in London from 1888 to 1893, that helped him to keep his Ceylonese connections alive.

Forbes & Walker was started in 1881 by James Forbes and George Chapman Walker. Forbes was initially a planter who switched positions for a desk job in Colombo. Chapman had arrived in the country with the military, became a civilian and followed a mercantile career.

The Head Office of the National Bank of India was started in 1863 in India, and a branch office was opened in Baillie Street Colombo in 1882 to service the many mercantile establishments in the vicinity.

E.B. Creasy, as the name implies was founded in 1882 and remained a family business for a considerable length of time.

Colombo Apothecaries originated in Slave Island, but with the business expanding, they were forced to acquire the present site in Fort. They began entirely as chemists, but they were fast to gram other favourable opportunities that came their way. They are now a departmental store, having expanded in all directions.

Boustead Brothers founded in 1886, was originally involved in estate agency work. With E. G. Money, an experienced engineer joining the firm in 1892, they were able to move to more lucrative areas. They obtained the contract to construct a tramway in 1896. They were greatly responsible for the transforming the city of Ceylon from the gas light era to the age of electricity.

Sir William Mitchell was responsible for the start of the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. in 1888, but it changed hands the following year. It was purchased by Ahmedbhoy Habibhoy, a Bombay based textile merchant. Labour was cheap then, and a boy was paid 12.5 cents to 25 cents a day, and women were paid from 30 cents to 50 cents a day.

F.X. Pereira & Sons was initiated by Francis X. Pereira who came to the island from Tuticorine in 1888. The firm had the distinction of being appointed drapers to the Governor Sir West Ridgeway and Lady Ridgeway. When the founder Pereira died in 1906, his five sons continued in the business until the present times.

present Tommy Lipton who started life as a grocer boy in Glasgow, blossomed in manhood into an empire builder. On his first visit to Ceylon, he is reported to have said “We could grow tea here.” This was the start of a long journey for Ceylon teas, where he was successful in making Ceylon and tea synonymous, and Ceylon was referred to as “Lipton’s Tea Gardens.” So was the great propulsion Lipton gave to Ceylon tea. The local establishment was set up in 1890.

Bois Brothers initiated by two brothers Percy and Stanley had enjoyed a cherish history in the country. They started as estate agents, but with the demise of coffee, they were able to secure a lucrative agency of the British India Steam Navigation Company. With the development of the tea and rubber industry, they became agents for a number of estates. Stanley, who was knighted subsequently, was a prominent figure in the business community, who held many prestigious positions in the world of commerce and trade.

Hayleys can trace its beginnings to Charles P. Hayley & Company established in Galle in 1876. For a considerable length of time, the management of the company was directed as a family concern by his sons.

Chartered Bank was originally represented in Colombo by A and B Scott, and later by Alston Scott & Company. As the latter firm’s fortunes declined, a branch of the bank was opened within the premises of Alston Scott & Company and this was later converted into a branch institution of the present bank in 1892 at Baillie Street. They assisted in the expansion of the tea industry, and in 1927, they bought 75 % of the shares of the P and O banking Corporation.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was originally represented in Ceylon by Delmege Reid and Company, and it was one of the few banks that had its headquarters in Hong Kong.

One of the best known photographers of this century is Plates, but they had diverse interests when they started operations at the end of the last century. They were very much into house decoration, furniture and cinematography. They had a publishing department that printed a few annuals that were very much in demand. They had a fine collection of picture post cards of Ceylon scenes.

Gordon Frazer was a tea merchant from Mincing Lane who came to Ceylon in 1891. He teamed up with D. R. Buchanan and in the following year formed Buchanan Frazer & Company. In 1895 this company was liquidated and along with G. E. Woodman, they formed Gordon Frazer & Company.

Harrison and Company was initially established in London in 1844, but the Colombo branch was opened only in 1892. The firm became a limited liability company in 1908.

Most of the pioneer mercantile establishments have been taken care of. This publication will be incomplete, if we fail to place on record the slow process of transformation that took place among these young qualified tea tasters to a new situation, in a country far away from home.

Most The attractions of Ceylon were diverse and appealed to a variety of tastes and needs. First of all, the economic conditions of the country were encouraging to the capitalist, who devoted his energies to tropical agriculture as a means of increasing wealth. Tea, rubber, and the commonest of them all coconut, flourished remarkably well and seldom failed to yield an abundant return to the careful investor.

Many others visited Ceylon in search of health, or to escape the rigours of the European winter. As a health resort, Ceylon was known to have possessed a warm and tranquil climate, and it was not only a source of health, but of enjoyment too. For the young Englishman approaching Colombo by sea, he would have been overwhelmed at the sight of the mountain range at a distance, sacred to the production of tea, reaching out to the skies, and capped in the centre by the venerated peak named after our first parent.

As the ship came closer, a few objects would rise from the mass of foliage that is equally interesting. On the extreme right is Mount Lavonia Hotel. It was a brilliant white building standing upon a rocky projection, washed by waves on three sides. It was a Vice-Regal villa during the early British times, but with the construction of the Queen’s House in fort, it became the Mount Lavinia Grand Hotel. Then the Galle Face green, some three hundred acres in extent comes into view. It was originally devoted to cricket, hockey, soccer and a sea side esplanade where horse racing took place on special occasions. The Galle Face Hotel situated at the far end of the green, and the Colombo Club standing at the centre was other sights easily visible from the sea. .

The other prominent land marks that are easily identifiable are the silver dome of Saint Lucia’s cathedral, the tower of the Anglican Cathedral, the Dutch church of Wolfendohl and the spire of the All Saints Church.

The expansion of the mercantile community in Colombo was a slow process commencing from about the 1830’s. By the mid 1860’s there were only twenty-four European mercantile houses all housed inside the Fort, employing sixty to seventy resident partners and assistants. It was a true Fort then, enclosed by walls as well as batteries, a deep wide moat crossed by drawbridges with sentry-mounted medieval winding gates, which bore the mark of Cohorn and the Dutch East India Company.

Unlike now, they were then thrown much together. They must have had their cliques, like and dislike, and yet approached nearly to one big circle of friends, all living under the shadow of displacement from home. They had only a fortnightly mail from home directed through Galle by the P & O. Telegrams were unheard of in those days. All the travelling and the heavy freight between England and Ceylon passed round the Cape of Good Hope, a voyage of 15,000 miles occupying from 80 to 110 days according to vessel and weather.

Conditions would have changed for the better, and life could not have been such a drudgery during the 1890’s when the first batch of young tea tasters arrived in the island looking for suitable employment in the broking fraternity. They were mostly rained men from Mincing Lane.

On their first arrival, they would have compared the domestic economy of the Europeans that precede them, with those along with what they were used to at home. Generally, the household expenses of those who had by then were established, would have appeared to be on the expensive side, but for the money, they got more luxuries in Ceylon than what they would have obtained in England. According to Cave who had researched extensively on this subject, had the following to say.

Servants for a small family occupying a bungalow would have numbered anything between ten and twelve. His total sum of wages would have amounted to Pounds Sterling 10 per month, with the servants providing their own food. The rent for the bungalow Pounds Sterling 13. House keeping expenses depended upon so many circumstances, and the normal home life for the Europeans resident in Ceylon differed greatly from the habits of the West.

Recreation preceded business. It took the form of riding, tennis, golf, and the preoccupation of various hobbies and pursuits. Evening recreation included games such as hockey, tennis and cricket. These conditions would have been delightful to the new-comer, but he had to prove his worth to his new employer, and above all, ensure that he had sufficient funds to indulge in these out-of-office preoccupations. These to him would have been completely out of reach way back at home.

Unlike the young planter who disappeared into the wilderness on their arrival, those who joined the brokers, had to exercise greater care in their social communications. The pioneers in the mercantile community had already established a code of moral principles for those that followed and the new comers had to follow judiciously. Failure to do so would have cost the beginner a voyage back home. They had to adjust their social behaviour from the rough and tumble ways at home to an entirely different form. Today, the high standard of social graces prevalent in the mercantile community can be attributed to the grooming imparted to the younger generation from the commencement of their careers in Colombo.

They were encouraged to partake in sports, and often the membership was paid by the firm. Social interaction was inspired by their superiors. In addition to performing their duties in office, they had to go looking for new business, and the only way they could have achieved this end was by enlarging on their group of friends. Life was not all easy at the commencement, and a common accusation levelled at these young executives was that they lived beyond their means. Many found this function of entertaining others a heavy drain on their resources, but life went on, and with a further improvement in economic activities, they were all well compensated for.

Unlike now, there were no sponsors for budding sportsmen in those days, but that did not discourage those from attaining splendid heights in sporting activities. Patrick Francis Hadow was one of then. When he went to England on his furlough in 1878, he took with him his tennis racket. As it happened, his visit coincided with the second Wimbledon tournament, and he put in his usual entry.

And incredible as it might seem, the unseeded and unheard planter from distant Ceylon, overcame the best of players and eventually dethroned the defending champion S. W. Gore in straight sets to claim the Men’s Singles title. There were many others, who had done exceptionally well in other fields of sport as well.

There were many others in the broking brotherhood who had done well for themselves in the field of sports. Among the pioneers were Wilton Bartleet, F. A. Waldock, W. S. Flindall and his son Buster, Neville Leaf, H. R. Wratten, Peter Potmore, Ken Atkins, and in recent times, just to mention a few, were personalities such as John Burrows, Mark Bostock, Brian Baptist, who had contributed their might towards the promotion of sports in the country. The wooded panels of most of the older clubs carry the names of those outstanding sports personalities. They are prominently displayed for the guidance of the younger generation.

In Colombo, the Ceylonese Hockey and Football Club, the Colombo Cricket Club and the Queens Club were the popular haunts of the Europeans, where gallons of beer were consumed freely over a friendly chat. To most of the young executives, the clubs served as a home away from home.

Unless there was cricket played at the club, they would visit their planter friends up-country over the week-ends. Many estates had their own tennis courts and croquet lawns carved out on a flat piece of lawn among the tea bushes. Nuwara Eliya had a wider choice of leisure activities. The streams were stocked with carp and trout introduced to the waterways in the early 1880’s. A game of golf in the evening usually ending up with a dance at the golf club. The ratio of men to women in the early days would not make for much actual dancing, but they well knew that there was more to a dance than dancing.

The 1890’s was a period of great activity in the commercial world. 1894 was a landmark in the history of transport in the island. The bridge across the Kelani River that was spanned by a bridge of boats was completed. Railway extensions were taken from Haputale to Bandarawela, and from Polgahawela to Kurunegala.

Carriages were the main mode of transport between towns and within Colombo itself. A ferry service was in operation between Slave Island and Pettah, which worked every five minute. The fee was two cents a ride. The cheapest mode of transport available during that time was the rickshaw, and it became a standard procurement in every Broking establishment. Although the use of the rickshaw invited caustic remarks from the general public, it continued to be used, and became a common sight with the puller paying dearly for his troubles.

Electricity produced by a gas engine driven dynamo, was introduced to the billiard room at the Bristol Hotel. Experiments carried out with incandescent gas at the Grand Oriental Hotel were a success. A gas engine was fitted in the office of the Observer. J. J. Todman arrived in the island to advise Bousteads on the introduction of electricity to whole of Colombo. The Colombo Tramways Agreement was signed and a successful experiment was carried out in a telegraph service between Colombo and Trincomalee.

This was an age of development, and for the young executive, new opportunities were opening up in the not-too-far-distant future.

On A broker whilst attending to his official duties as a seller, takes on a different composure. He has to exercise a high degree of calmness. He has to remain serene and above all undisturbed, when buyers often offer unrealistic prices for his teas. The broker after all, is a human being, and there had been instances where he had lost his cool, and the joker in the broker prominently displayed.

On one occasion, the Auctioneer became infuriated because the buyers were offering bids much lower to his valuations. He could not stand it any longer. He brought the hammer so hard on the table with such violence that head came off the handle. A replacement could not be found and the auction had to be abandoned.

There was another instance where the auctioneer after having completed the sale of his catalogue, walked away taking the hammer with him. Confusion reigned and someone was hurriedly sent to trace him. After hunting all over Fort, the man was ultimately located brooding over a beer at a leading hotel, the hammer still clutched in his hand.

There is the story of a tea buyer who took to the task of buying tea lightly and decided to indulge in some sort of alcoholic celebration. He arrived at the sale room and jubilantly started bidding a rupee a pound more than the market price. The sale was in danger of becoming a farce. The intoxicated buyers' principals were promptly summoned at which point the buyer disappeared.

Once while a broker was asking an impossible price for his invoice, he argued, “Gentlemen, remember these are things that are very hard to come by.” Everybody agreed with him - for the estate was “Virgin Forest.”

Buyers those days prefer to purchase teas packed in plywood chests. Whilst the sale was on, a certain buyer inquired from the broker packed in tubes, so said the broker. Everybody rechecked their catalogues and there was a gale of laughter, for the name of the estate was “S. R.”

Tea is no doubt the cheapest drink next to water, but is nevertheless was safer than water because water for tea is boiled. There are a few countries who cannot afford to pay higher prices for better teas, so they support the poorest of what we have. One day when a certain shipper was bidding for this low quality stuff for his export pack, another shipper had a wisecrack at him, “as they do on cigarette packs, they should have in bold letters on these packs too the words “Drinking this tea could be harmful to your health.”

The Ceylon tea industry could boast of having employed the services of qualified British tea tasters who treated this area of operations as their own exclusive domain that they judiciously protected from local infiltration. They held it so from 1883 to 1945. It was the then Tea Commissioner P. Saravanamuttu who was able to persuade the British to train Ceylonese as tea tasters. On the 1st of July 1945 the first three Ceylonese were selected for training as tea tasters. They were Austin Perera, Errol Fonseka and Lionel Cooray.

Their first appearance of these three gentlemen at the tea sale room was taken lightly by the GOH waiters, who served cakes and tea at the auction room. They ignored them all and served only the British. It was no easy passage for the local pioneers to get to the top. They had to fight hard to climb up the leader.

A non-professional may not know the important part played by the hammer at these auctions. The seller has to knock down each lot sold, and until the hammer-stroke is done, the lot remains unsold. The first recorded tea auction took place in Colombo on 30th July 1883. Its growth has been unique and Colombo is considered the largest auction centre in the world handling about 5.5 million kilos each week. It has become the cross-road of the journey of tea from the producer to the consumer.

The gavel that has been the emblem of authority through the centuries has remained so as the Herald’s wand for the transfer of ownership. A verbal contract becomes an irrecoverable bond at the fall of the hammer.