By Joe Segera
In the days when the Carnegies, the Rockefel-lers, the Harrimans and the Henry Fords were making their presence felt as millionaires and multi-millionaires in America, our own country then a fledgling British colony was producing its own wealthy men who were virtually rolling in millions. But on the sale of the country's most popular drink, Arrack distilled from coconut toddy.

In that spacious era when kasippu was unheard of, a class of enterprising businessmen known as "Renters" by the British rulers of the day sprang up. They came principally from two coastal towns Panadura and Galle. They were the Diases of Panadura and the Amarasuriyas of Galle. They brought up practically all the liquor licences freely issued by the British colonial government and opened up arrack taverns in many parts of the country.

While the Britishers and the so-called native upper classes drank Whisky and Gin, the locals, mainly clerks and manual workers, drank coconut arrack which was available in plenty in those non-inflationary days when the Rupee was worth its value in Sterling Silver and a Tenner" known then in Sinhala as the "pawooma" was really equivalent to a Pound Sterling. The New Class, the Renters earned so much money that to us the racy Sinhala idiom, they made money like cadjuts.

So, the Diases and the Amarasuriyas grew richer and taller than the tallest coconut trees that yielded toddy which produced gallons and gallons of money-spinning arrack.

These enterprising Renters invested their money mainly on real estate, sprawling coconut and rubber plantations and palatial houses. Some of those houses were so large that visitors very often lost their way inside them. Elegantly furnished with ornate wooden carvings on winding doors and window they stand today as relics and reminders of an age when the word Capitalist was unheard of and people made unrestricted money and income tax, not to mention GST was unheard of. Today some of these luxury villas have been gifted to the state. The best known of them is "Kethumathie" at Panadura which is now a state hospital.

With the Land Reform laws of the Bandaranaikes hundreds of acres of rubber, tea and coconut plantations were taken over by the state, leaving behind only a bare minimum to the heirs of the millionaires.

The Diases and the Amarasuriyas made generous donations to charity and to Buddhist causes. The Visakha Vidyalaya, one of the premier girls schools in this country is a gift of one of the Dias families. And Mahinda College, Galle is a gift of the Amarasuriyas.

Some of the Amarasuriyas took to horse racing. In those by-gone days of the Governor's Cup, the Queen's Cup and the Roberts Cup there were strings of horses owned by the Amarasuriyas.

With nationalism and a Buddhist revival slowly, but steadily gaining ground, liquor and more so, making money on liquor began to be looked upon as a capital sin against one's conscience. So the early money makers on liquor turned a new leaf. They campaigned against liquor and supported the Temperance Movement in a big way. Prominent among them was that patriot and freedom fighter Arthur V. Dias of Panadura. The Amarasuriyas were also involved in many Buddhist causes like the Buddhist Theosophical Society.

Later on after the pioneers had left the scene of their labours there came a new generation of businessmen whose stock in trade was arrack. They were mainly from the Kalutara district and Beruwela.

A prominent name that comes to mind is that of Dr. M. G. Perera who later became a senator in the early days of freedom in this country.

Dr. Perera is reputed to have owned that largest private sector distillery in the country in his day. Then there were the Coorays of Beruwela who were famous for their Double-Distilled Arrack and that very potent brand of Gin which reminds you of that very common term used by seasoned drinkers, "On the rocks".

Like Dr. M. G. Perera, another professional man who took to the liquor industry was W. M. (Walter) Mendis, a Barrister-at-law who produces the famous "Mendis Special" brand of Arrack.

Mr. Mendis who has taken the liquor business seriously forsaking the better known Bar at Hulfts dorp claims to have visited almost every brewery in Europe. He owns one of the best equipped private breweries in Sri Lanka.

While Arrack prices have soared to unprecedented heights, the Mendis Special Company has just put out the cheapest variety of Arrack in the market. This variety is Rs. 15 cheaper than any other Arrack.

The largest arrack distillery in Sri Lanka is the Distillery Corporation of Sri Lanka at Seeduwa which is owned by that many faceted business tycoon, Harry Jayawardena. This former state-owned distillery was bought by Mr. Jayawardena a few years ago.