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Foreword
I attempt to write
this account as it happened and from my point
of view at the time, making minimal commentary
from my current point of view at the age of seventy.
I hope I have remembered the failures and lapses
as well as the successes.
When I was in High
School I remember saying to myself or to a friend,
'I will never be a rickshaw-puller. This was in
the context of my lack of interest in most of
the subjects in the academic curriculum and my
awareness that, academically, I did not expect
particularly good results. As a child I used to
come within the top three in class, but as more
application became necessary I moved to progressively
lower positions until, in my late teens, I was
tucked away somewhere at the bottom. This was
because I only got high marks in the subjects
in which I was interested, such as English Language,
to some extent English Literature, and in Biology
where I excelled. In Physics and Chemistry I was
top of the class in "practicals" but
right at the bottom in "theory" - the
latter was of little or no interest to me. At
no stage in the future was I adversely affected
by this absence of academic stardom.
My entry into planting
was completely fortuitous. My brother was selected
by connections of The Ceylon Tea Plantations Pty.
Ltd.,(1) a London Company but, as he had been
selected as an officer in the Ceylon Navy and
was shortly due to leave for Dartmouth for officer
training, reference was made to the Careers Master
at our College, and he recommended me. I went
up to the General Manager's residence and office
on Scrubs plantation, Nuwara Eliya and was interviewed,
the General Manager being on furlough, by the
Acting General Manager, who was later to be my
PD on my first stint on Tangakelle plantation.
For the sake of
convenience, and sometimes tact, in this document
I will not refer to most people by name but by
their titles in abbreviation as follows:
Manager/Superintendent
= PD for Peria Dorai (Big Master) {Executive
Staff}
Asst.Manager/Superintendent = SD for Sinna Dorai
(Small Master) {Executive Staff}
Visiting Agent/Agricultural Adviser(2) = VA
George Steuart & Co. = GS
Factory Manager/Rubbermaker = RM*
Factory Manager/Teamaker = TM*
Head Clerk/(Office Manager) = HC*
Conductor/Field Officer (Non-executive plantation/division
manager)*
Kanakapillai (Overseer/Foreman) = KP*
Kangany (Leading Hand) = None
* Clerical/Supervisory Staff.
| (1) |
Hereinafter
referred to as CTP. |
| (2) |
A
Visiting Agent was literally that; an agent
of the owner who visited once or twice a year
to oversee the management of all aspects of
the property and advise on policy in general
and agricultural practice in particular. Prior
to 1950, and in some cases for a time since
then, Vas generally had a reputation of being
autocratic, tactless and much to be feared.
In the CTP, the General Manager, stationed
in Nuwara Eliya, was the VA until the time
when GS was given the job of general management.
From this time, various experienced planters
were given the job of VA and the term VA started
to be superseded by the term Agricultural
Adviser although general management was still
included in his duties. Those enlightened
individuals amongst these modern VAs were,
it seems, less inclined to be dogmatic and
more inclined to take into account the resident
PD's views. My experience with VAs ranged
from good to excellent as will be seen later.
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