APPENDIX  XIII.
 

  CEYLON AND ITS TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND  PRESS.



The gentleman whose portrait wc give opposite, is a veteran colonist and

journalist *—a public man whose name is " familiar as a household word "

in the " first of Crown Colonies," Ceylon, where he has resided for the

long period of nearly  55 years.  For 46 years of these, Mr. Ferguson

has been connected with the  Ceylon Observer, as chief proprietor and

conductor,  so that now in his  77th year he must certainly be the oldest

British-born newspaper editor in Asia.  Born in the far North Highlands

of Scotland, in January 1816,  Mr. A. M. Ferguson left for Ceylon,  with

Governor the Right Hon. J. A. Stewart-Mackenzie of Seaforth, in June

1837, landing at Colombo, after a voyage of over four months round the

Cape of Good Hope, on November 7th, 1837.  For 26 years Mr. Ferguson

laboured in this tropical Island without intermission, so that he had never

travelled on or seen a railway—the first line to Blackwrall was under con¬

struction as be left  London 55 years ago—until, after being relieved in

1861 by his nephew and future partner and co-editor, Mr. John Ferguson,

in 1863 he visited Bombay  en route for Europe.   The first railway in

Ceylon, that from Colombo to Kandy, was opened in 1867.  Previous to

the advent of the Telegraph wire  in conjunction with the then  Observer

proprietor and co-editor, Dr. Elliott, Mr. Ferguson, for eight years, from

1850 to 1858, had a successful carrier pigeon  service in  full operation

between Point de Galle, the mail steamer port, and the capital, Colombo,

a distance of 72  miles.  This distance the  pigeons repeatedly traversed

in 40 to 45 minutes, at  the rate of 96 miles an hour, and carrying enough

news to fill two  pages of  the  Graphic.   In this  way the news of the

Fall of Scbastopol first reached Colombo, and  the Governor, Sir Henry

Ward, caused  a  Royal Salute to  be fired on the faith'of the  "Pigeon

Despatch."  In 1881, Mr. A. M. Ferguson was chosen as  Commissioner

for Ceylon to the Melbourne Exhibition ;  and, among other acknowledg¬

ments of his services on that occasion, he received from  Her Majesty, on

the recommendation  of  the  Governor  of the Colony, the honour  of

"C.M.G."   Messrs.  A.  M,  and  J.  Ferguson have written  largely

about Ceylon, in books as  well as  in the daily press ; and a  monthly

periodical, the Tropieal Agriculturist, originated by Mr. John Ferguson

in 1881, and dealing with all sub-tropical culture, has a standard value,

and  is  regularly filed at the Royal Botanic  Gardens,  Kew, in the

Agricultural Department at  Washington,  as  well  as  by Agricultural

directors and the planters throughout India and the sub-tropical Colonies

not only in the East and West  Indies, but for the Straits, South and East

Africa,  besides the States of  Mexico,   Central  and South America.



  * Since the above was written, Mr.  Ferguson has passed away.  He  died

at Colombo, December 26th, 1892, after three weeks' illness.

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