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My first occasion to travel from Colombo to Galle on the southern expressway was during a recent visit to Sri Lanka. On two previous occasions I was told that the route was not interesting as the journey was largely through uninhabited areas, and I unhesitatingly bowed to local opinion. While much of what I was told was correct taken in its own context, travelling along the new highway yielded some fascinating insights to me. The expressway does provide other compensating factors of which the principal one should certainly be the ..... Read More
The planting of rubber as a commercial crop took place several decades after tea production had almost reached its peak in the hill districts of Sri Lanka. Since up country areas were almost saturated with tea cultivation, mid and low country areas were being looked upon as potential locations for other crops. Read More
Ladies & Gentlemen; A warm welcome to all of you for the Annual General Meeting of The Mascots. Read More
My friend Skandakumar, former Chairman of George Steuart’s and presently our ambassador in Australia, in a moving tribute to the late Wickrema de Alwis, has quite rightly described Wickrema as a “Gentleman Planter Par Excellence”. That is the best definition of Wickrema, in my mind one of those rare industry professionals who could be described as a “planter’s planter”. Read More
The curtain came down on the Life of Wickrema De Alwis on 20th October at four score and seven, leaving friends and family to reflect on the qualities of a man that made him not just one of the finest Tea Planters the Industry had known but also a true Gentleman in every sense of the word. Read More
Pooprassie Estate in Galaha (with a G), in the Pussellawa district, was originally a coffee plantation dating backing to the 1850s, and was famously sold to Sir Thomas Lipton in 1890. Read More
The plantation economy of Sri Lanka which sustained and developed the country through two and a half centuries of British rule, depended to a great extent on tea production. Read More
Not long after I left school (Royal College), in late February 1955, I was interviewed by the Managing Director of Bosanquet & Skrine Mr. Walter Berry and his assistant Alan Sharp Paul. Read More
