172 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Sept. i, 1886. 



again. How many favourable " dry " seasons have 

 been experienced in the last nine years in Uva. 

 Cort'ee must have sun in due season or crops 

 will always be disappointing, leaf-disease or no 

 leaf- disease. The seasons have changed and there 

 is no blinking our eyes to the fact : whenever 

 good crops are got in Uva nowadays, it is by a 

 sort of " tluke." As there can be now no de- 

 puiideace placed on our gotting favourable blossom- 

 ing seasons there, so no dependence can now be 

 placed on our getting paying coifee crops. No 

 matter how healthy and vigorous coffee may be, 

 it iniiat Jiiivv the »»h i)i due Aeasoii. As regards 

 prices, coUee looks grand now : this time next 

 year v,e may see 'good Ceylon middling' again at 



FIVE rOT^NDS PEE CWT. 



The Futlke of the NiLtams. — The SoiitJi of 

 India Obst^rver remarks: — "This district, we feel 

 sure, has a great future before it. Before long the 

 railway will be brought to Coonoor, if not to 

 Ootacamnnd, and thus the trade of the place will 

 be immensely increased. The coffee industry may 

 revive ; and it may play an important part in the 

 district, and fortunes may be made. Gold may yet 

 produce great results. The capabilities of the dis- 

 trict are only just beginning to be discovered," and, 

 finally, our contemporary thinks " the population 

 i-^ sure to be greatly increased when the railway 

 has been established." 



Coal in Ixdia. — The result of Dr. Warth's 

 explorations in the Salt Range is, that he estimates 

 at least 1,000,000 tons of coal may be obtained 

 from the Duudote plateau, and at a recent confer- 

 ence it was decided to arrange for the practical 

 working of the scheme. The coal is not of the 

 best quality; but it is calculated that it can be 

 delivered on the I'unjab Northern section of the 

 North-Westcrn Railway at a cost of E6 per ton, 

 and that its economic value as fuel v.ill be Pvl4 

 per ton, which will represent a saving on that 

 sccti'in of the lino amuunting to 111,1"), 000 per 

 animni. The North-Wcstern ilailway administration 

 will work the colliery. — 31. Mail. 



CiNcxioxA rLANiATioNS, after all, do not seem 

 to be very highly valued in Java to judge by the 

 following extract from the Slraitu Times (translated 

 from a Java paper) received by this mail : — " The 

 times at present arc so hard in Java that, daily, 

 estates, formerly valuable indeed, pass under the 

 Auctioneer's hammer at ridiculously low prices. An 

 allotment worth several thousands of guilders could 

 only be disposed of for one hundred. A plantation 

 stocked with superior varieties of Cinchona brought 

 only twelve thousand guilders. So it goes on day 

 after day. These properties mostly pass into the 

 hands of Chinese. The outlook is indeed so gloomy 

 that a general bankruptcy among the planting com- 

 munity is not at all improbable, unless prevented 

 by unforeseen circumstances." 



Alumixcm WoiiKs Axi) CoKuxDUM. — The Work 

 of developing power on the creek and putting up 

 the mammoth building for the aluminum manu- 

 factory (or aluminium if you want it decidedly 

 English) is now far advanced. Hitherto the pro- 

 cess of obtaining aluminum has been very ex2:)en- 

 sive, through a combination of chemical agencies 

 and heat. At the works the corundum will tiist 

 be subjected to intense heat, then broken and 

 ground to powder, after which it will be fused in 

 hormetically sealed crucibles by the powerful elec- 

 trical current generated by the employment of the 

 largest dynamos th.at liave ever been coiistructid. 



The product is the pure aluminum, of which the 

 yield from the corundum is about 50 per cent. No 

 doubt is entertained of the success of the electrical 

 process, which, although so recent a discovery as 

 not to be described scientifically in works, has been 

 thoroughly tested. Large quantities of the alloy 

 will also be manufactured at the works, requiring 

 it is estimated, from 10 to 20 tons of copper a day 

 when the works get to running to their full capacity. 

 As a very serviceable alloy may be made with only 

 five per cent of alummum, it is evident that a very 

 large amount of copper will be required.— Lockjwrt 

 Union. [As Ceylon is rich in corundum, we may 

 probably see the substance utilized some day for 

 the production of the light white metal. — Ed.] 



The Neilguei!UY Company. — The London corre- 

 spondent of the Tillies of India gives the following . — 

 " The Neilgherry CoiT-pany, Limited, has been in- 

 corporated with a capital of £100,000 in fl shares, 

 of which 30,000 are reserved in part payment to the 

 vendor, and the balance has been offered for subscrip- 

 tion here this week at par. The Company has been 

 formed for the purpose of acquiring, carrying on, 

 and extending the business of the Neilgherry and 

 Southern India Lands Investment Company, Limited, 

 (which was established in 1878, for the purpose 

 of advancing money on the security of coffee and 

 other estates) and to acquire in addition, under a 

 separate agreement with the Agra Bank, Limited, 

 coffee cleaning works at Coinibatore and Beypore. 

 Also to carry on a general agency business in 

 Southern India, making advances on coifee, tea, 

 cinchona, rhea grass, and other produce, prepar- 

 ing, curing, shipping and forwarding, selling same 

 oil commission. The prospectus states that tlie coifee 

 cleaning works are fully suppHe.i with modern machin- 

 ery in complete working order. The Coiinbatore es- 

 tabli.shmeut is represented to l.e very advantageously 

 situated on the plains at the foot of the Neilgherry 

 hills, adjoiuing a station on the Madras Kailway, and 

 commanding not oulj' the coffee from the Neilgberries, 

 but also from the Kotagherries, Auanialai.s, Koondalis 

 and She'varoys. The works at Beypore are situated 

 at the mouth of the Beypore river, whence the pro- 

 duce at Coiinbatore and the Wynaad is shipped on 

 board the steamers for the Loudon market. By thus 

 combiuing the business of the Investment Company with 

 that of coffee cleaning, shipping, and selling on commis- 

 sion, the Directors are satisfied that a sate and profitable 

 business will result. The income of the Company 

 will be derived from the following sources, among 

 others : 1. — Interest on investments on mortgage (9 to 

 10 per cent is the current rate). 2. Interest on ad- 

 vances against hj-pothecations of crops, o. Commis- 

 sion for finaucing crops. 4. Cleaning, curing, and 

 transporting crops. ,">. Commission on sale of crops. 

 The Directors say that a careful consideration of the 

 figures laid before them justifies the expectation of 

 earning a dividend of at least 10 per cent, besides 

 providing for a substantial reserve fund. This was the 

 rate of dividend (free of income-tax), paid by the 

 old Company — whose business was limited by its me- 

 morandum and articles of association to advancing 

 money on mortgages of estates only for the years 1S8I, 

 18S2 and 18S3. The head-quarters of theCompany in India 

 will be at Coinibatore, and its affairs there will be under 

 the inauagemeiit of Mr. William Cottrell who has had 

 many j'ears' experience in the business contemplated, 

 and who is now on the spot. The directors are :— .Air. 

 D. F. Carmichael, late Senior Member of Council, 

 INIadras; Captain P. H. Hiwett; Mr. William IMaylor, 

 late of Messrs. Pierce, Leslie & Co., Malabar Coas*) and 

 London; and (after allotment) Jfr. G. E. Biiggs of 

 Messrs. Living.sfon, Briggs & Co., l^irectors of Neil- 

 giierry and Southern India J^ands Investment Ciunpany 

 liimitod. I should mention that among other assets to 

 be acquired are forty-nine mortgages upon jiropertiea 

 in Southern India repri^senting a total of £lS),(»:i.'), which 

 the Company is to get for .£ I0,17."> ; and the total price 

 to be paid is .^nOjOOO — exclusive, I road, of tlie price of 

 the coffee curing business of Stanes & Co. to be taken 

 over fioin the Agra Bank.'' — Sni'.th uf India ObM-irer. 



