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Business - 1875 to around 1945

 EXTRACT FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF CEYLON

BY ARNOLD WRIGHT – 1907

Page 486

Don Davit & Sons

The firm of Don Davit & Sons was founded by A. W. P. Don Davit de Silva in 1875 at Galle, for the importation of spices and foodstuffs from India. At the commencement only a small trade was done but after four or five years the business (continued on page 489)
 
(Pages 487 and 488 contain photographs – see below)
 



Page 489 – (text continued from Page 486)
 -became firmly established and the importation of rice from Calcutta was also undertaken. By degrees the business was extended, and soon the trade mark of the firm became well known all over the country, and a very large trade was done in rice, imported from all Indian ports, as well as from the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. Sugar, another article in which the firm deals largely, comes from Austria and Hamburg;  while flour is imported from Victoria and Southern Australia, all kinds of grains and cereals from India, and coconut oil is largely dealt in. Another commodity in which the firm does a big trade is barbed wire for fencing purposes, and they have made a speciality in horse-food, of which they are the largest importers. Some idea of the magnitude of this business can be gathered from the fact that they import, on an average, 50,000 bags of rice a month and 40,000 bags of horse-food a year. In Galle High Street, Messrs. Don Davit have a rice depot and grocery store, and the general store and head office are also situated in that town. They have branches at 49, 51, and 69, Fourth Cross Street, Colombo and at Lower Chitpore Rd. Calcutta, and also at Cocanada.

 

At Galle, the firm has a large yard where coconut oil, which is bought up from various small dealers, is filtered by special machinery, after which it is exported to England, the United States, and the continent of Europe generally. Other articles of export dealt in by this firm are desiccated coconut, citronella oil, cinnamon oil, coir yarn, rope, poonac ,fibres, and copra , principally to Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At Hikkaduwa, in the Southern Province, the firm owns a large coconut estate.


The founder of the firm was the son of a local merchant ,who started business with his father at Tangalle, in the Southern Province. He is an ardent Buddhist, and renewed and equipped the temple at Ahangama, as well as the school at Gintota. He is a great friend of the poor, and is ever ready to help deserving cases which call for the exercise of charity. An admirable feature of the business is that there is a benevolent fund made up from a certain percentage of the turnover, and every year some 5,000 people are clothed and fed on a special almsgiving day. Mr. A. W. P. Don Davit , the senior partner, presides over the Galle house., Mr. A. W. P. Simon de Silva manages the Colombo branch, and Mr. A. W. P. Baron de Silva is general manager for India. The junior partners, who are smart business men, were educated at local colleges and Mr. Simon de Silva is a member of the Theosophical Society ,besides being a keen sportsman.



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