It was good to see a book on Nugegoda . It is one of the earliest suburbs that came into existence following the expansion of the Pettah which in turn grew with the plantation boom. It was different from either Moratuwa or Panadura They were commercial and industrial centres, even before the British arrived - albeit at a low key. The present Nugegoda began as a home for the low middle class population that was emerging in the second half of the nineteenth century. At absorbed waves of minor functionaries in both the private and public sector. It was the place to live if you could not afford to live in places like Kollupitya and Bambalapitiya near the Fort in the then prestigious areas like Silversmith Street or Maradana. It was the place for Postmasters, Station masters. Apothecaries even schoolteachers. It has grown since then in respect of size and character. It has not ceased to grow and change as it grows.

Mr. Herat’s book does refer to some aspects of this change But, there are a few errors and omissions And, it is one of these errors that we are concerned with. It may be minor in the overall aim of his book but since this affects us personally we would like to bring it to his notice.

He refers to a pink house with a roof garden at the top of Melder Place built by Mr. G.S. Jayasuriya. The house was in fact, built by Mr. Thomas Peiris who lived there till he died. Mr. Jayasuriya was his brother-in-law who occupied the ancestral home of this Peiris family. He married Mr. Thomas Peiris’ sister and the property he occupied was part of his dowry.

The property on which the house was built was given to Thomas Peiris by his father Louis Peiris a minor coffee dealer who had set himself up as a middleman between small coffee producers and agency houses. He sent his two sons, Thomas and Albert, to Wesley College. It was one of the school that was called Superior Schools. Wesley was far less Superior to the Colombo Academy, S Thomas, Trinity and S. Patrick’ (Jaffna) - all Superior Schools- that attracted the elite of the time.

Thomas Peiris joined the Colonial Secretary’s office as a clerk when it was under R.E Stubbs who later became a Governor of the island. Peiris left his position to start a Brokers’ Firm in partnership with an Englishman by the name of Spenser. The firm crashed in the years of the depression and Peiris died in very straitened circumstances. His wife who was left not only with seven children but also a substantial mortgage on the property was contrained to sell the property. The Proctor who did the conconveyancing was Henry Jayasinghe a resident of Nugegoda at the time.

Thomas Peiris’ eldest son was Denzil Peiris, who was the editor of the Ceylon Observer. He left Sri Lanka to become Regional Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review based in Hong Kong. He died as editor of South a journal based in London devoted to political social and economic problems in the non- aligned countries Denzil younger brother, Merill was a maverick. He was admitted to S John’s Nugegoda at the age of eleven into the sixth standard having been taught by his mother. Two years later he left the school having won the prize for the best student of the year in the island at the Junior School Certificate Examination. He joined S. Peter’s College, won the Senior English Prize got his London Matriculation and went off to teach in rural schools leaving the Left Parties to, as he would later say "split their ideologies. He taught English in schools in remote parts of Sri Lanka till a Buddhist monk wheeled him into the Vidyalankara Pirivena. Merill was convinced that the Sangha needed English. He died at the Pirivena.

Two of our sisters, both teachers have also died in the course of the years Only three of us survive Thomas Peiris. Our memories of the time spent with him in this house are very vague but we cherish them such as they are..