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The period 1900 to 1910 has been referred to as the “native ere” for tea planting. Gampola, Galle, and Matara districts provided the nucleus for the Ceylonese to make their second attempt at cultivating tea. The wealthy Sinhalese families who owned vast extents of coffee were fast converting them into tea, following the way of the British, but the response received from the government towards this process however was only lukewarm. The state at that time was accused of being indifferent towards this move and without offering all the encouragement towards its progress, they only placed obstacles, which tended to discourage the locals. Despite this apathy on the part of the government, the Sinhalese kept on adding tea to their garden cultivation. Many respectable Sinhalese villages were purchasing tea seeds and tea plants on a regular basis at Rs 10- per thousand cash down.
The Government Agent Southern province in his administrative report for 1890 says “that the natives are going in extensively for tea planting,” and in his report for 1893 he goes on to say that the Sinhalese holdings are especially numerous in Wallaboda, and Talpe Pattus. Although they had fears of overproduction, they were nevertheless confident that local consumption would increase to absorb the excess.
The extent under tea in 1895 for small holder native gardens was around 2000 to 3000 acres. It may sound a wild guess, but the fact of it was that, vast extents were been cultivated with tea, mostly in small units.
The small holder sector suffered from an inherent weakness and remained a feeble link in the plantation sector. Unlike the wealthy types, they lacked back up capital. Their persistency in tea was mainly determined by tea prices. They became active when prices were good, but folded up equally fast when prises declined, with the result, they remained a helpless lot up to recent times.
The more well to-do Ceylonese, following in the footsteps of C. H. D. Soysa and family, scrambled in, and once again, the Southern Province became the centre of attraction for the second batch to make a start.
Unlike in the hill country, the growth of the tea industry in the South was a slow process. The hill country tea plantations were fashioned by the British, but tea cultivation in the low country was fully developed by the low country Ceylonese, according to a style of their own.
The Amarasuriya family from Galle, H. W - Thomas - Francis -- and Buddhadasa, after having acquired the necessary skills from their father regarded a notable agriculturist, took to the cultivation of tea in a serious manner. They are well known for having invested widely in tea, and for conducting their businesses with a considerable degree of success in the twentieth century.
The Citrus Group, with a total extent of 2504 acres had 2003 acres in tea. This was considered the largest plantation in the area. Their plantation empire included many other prestigious tea properties. To mention few, there was Kurulugalla Group Morawaka Korale, in extent 866 acres with 259 acres under tea. Diyadawa Group in close proximity to the above plantation had 661 acres in tea from a total extent of 696 acres. Mahendra Group in the vicinity, was a 263 acre property of which 250 acres were planted in tea. Olympus Grout and the Monrovia Group in the Galle District were two other large properties the family owned, The former was a large property with a total extent of 908 acres, of which 666 acres were in tea. The latter had 197 acres cultivated in tea from a total extent of 649 acres. Up to Land Reform, the above properties remained within the family.
The uncertainties created as a result of World War 11, the subsequent granting of Independence to Ceylon in 1948, and the process of Ceylonisation that followed, brought about structural changes in the ownership of land holdings in the country. The British interests in the plantation sector saw the writing on the wall, and were fast to move out. Many plantations were put up for sale, and this gave further opportunities for the local land owning gentry to expand their holdings, and this time at higher.
Soon the Amarasuriya family was found moving their ownership base to new areas. Their first purchase at higher elevations was Penrhos Group in the Ambegamuwa district, with a total extent of 662 acres of which 400 acres were under tea.
In the Dickoya district, they purchased Castlereagh estate from the Castlereagh Tea Company of Ceylon Ltd. This was a good property with 461 acres in prime tea managed by Eastern Produce and estates Company Ltd. Very attractive dividends had been paid on a regular basis.
The Fairfield estate in the Dimbula district came their way soon after. Another well-managed property of 314 acres of which 288 acres were cultivated in tea. They followed up purchasing Holmwood and Thornley estates in the Dimbulla district with a total of 367 acres under tea. All these properties were bought in open competition with other British interests.
The entry of the Amarasuriya family to the tea scene during the second stage of the Ceylonisation process was most appropriate, and contributed in no small measure towards promoting changes in land ownership, which the government in power at that time was trying to encourage. Their contributions towards the tea industry are well documented.
Thomas Amarasuriya, OBE was elected to the Senate under the SLFP government and subsequently chosen as the first Ceylonese Chairman of the Planters Association in 1956. He continued in that position the following year. He was elected as a life member of the of the association on 24th October 1970.
History has repeated itself, and after 38 years his son M. J. C. Amarasuriya, who had always been a keen observer of the plantation sector, is now occupying the “hot seat” in the PA as it's Chairman.
Mr. Francis Amarasuriya also served on the Board of the Tea Research Institute as Chairman. In addition to the Amarasuriya family, there are many others who gambled their fortunes in tea with noteworthy results.
Mr. P. L. Buddhadasa, opened up and planted Allen Valley and Andaradeniya Group in the Morawaka Korale district. He constructed a well equipped and a showpiece of a tea factory on this property, at a time when there was insufficient factory capacity in the area to manufacture green leaf. Andaradeniya factory became the nucleus for the processing of green leaf and was the first bought leaf factory in the area. Bewerly Group owned by Mrs. V. Wijewardene, Panilkanda owned by D. J. Ranaweera and many small holdings supplied the factory leaf on a regular basis.
Mr, D. J. Ranaweera OBE is another pioneer tea planter who started his planting career in the Southern Province, but soon moved to the hill country where the tea industry was prospering. He was able to out-bid many a European to secure Fetteresso Group in Dickoya which had 890 acres under prime tea.
His holdings in the low country, consisted of Kiruwanaganga (385) acres, and Panilkanda (734) acres in the Morawaka Korale and Diddenipotha Group (1075) acres in the Matara district.
Mr. Victor Ratnayake, MBE considered the “laird” of the South, was not only an eminent and a proficient tea planter but was also a notable legislator. He was the son of an equally popular philanthropist Muhandiram A. A. W. Ratnayake of “Ratnayake Group” fame. He was another person who stood out as a nation builder. He, not pursued his personal interests as a tea planter, but devoted much of his time for the promotion of the tea industry in the country. Outside his political career, he was the Chairman of the Morawaka Korale Planters Association, at a time when the interests of the PA were mainly directed towards the British Planter. It would not have been an easy task for him to get the local planters views across to them. Mr was an active member on the Board of Management of the Tea Research Institute Talawakelle. In recognition of his services to the planting community, he was elected as the chairman of the PA in 1961. He remained as the Chairman until 1993.
Mr B. Warusavitarne, a low country tea planter with extensive experience in planting, served the industry in many agricultural and national consultative projects. He had dons much for the promotion of Ceylon tea abroad, and has been a member of the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board for a considerable length of time. He held the Chairmanship of the Ceylon Planters Association from 1966 to 1969. He also served the Sri Lanka Tea Board as its Chairman from July 1977 to December 1979.
P. Ratnayake of Willie Group Deniyaya is not only a renowned tea planter, but also a well-trained tea taster. In addition, he enjoys the unique distinction of having departed from conventional designing of tea factories to create a new concept in factory construction. His original factory was destroyed by fire in September 1964. Mr Ratnayake planned his new factory without the use of any timber in its entire construction. Further, the Willie Group factory was one of the first factories in the island to go in for the trough withering of tea.
In a study of this nature, a complete identification of personalities who pioneered this great industry is not possible in a publication of this nature but a few families do standout, and they are:--
E. W. Goonatillake family ( Hallala Group - Walimaga ), Senator Sarath Wilesinghe family ( Andapana Group - Kamburapitiya ), M. Jayawickrema family (Charley Mount Group - Weligama ), R. J. Roberts family ( Katahene group - Deniyaya ), Hewavitharana family (Mawarala Group - Mararella ), M. D. Yapa family (Yapland Group - Kotapola ), D. S. Jayawickrema ( Berubulla Group - Matara ), Y. M. Soysa and Brothers for a star purchased Gartmore Group in the Maskeliya district with 755 acres with a cover of prime tea the 1960’s They enlarged their tea holdings further by acquiring Hatale Group in the Kelebokka district with 478 acres under tea.
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