2'i^ 



fHU TaOPiCAL AQRlCULrvmSt, 



^a 



(Oct. i, ibikf, 



that the Board had resolved on further extending the 

 area under Tea. The extension decided upon has now 

 been planted up, and the acreage under Tea on the 

 Company's Properties is as follows : — 



Planted. Planted. Planted. 

 Nov., Dec, May, Nov. Dec, 



188.1. 1885. 1885. Total. 



Spring Valley 

 Oolanakande 



acres. 

 271 



acres. 



acres. 

 '230 



143 — 



acres. 

 501 

 143 



271 



143 



230 



644 



The cost of planting the 271 acres on Spring Valley 

 in 1884, and the 143 acres on Oolanakande in 1885 

 has been met out of the revenue of the Account now 

 presented, and the cost of planting the 230 acres 

 on Spring Valley in 1885, will be debited 

 to Crop 1885-86. In face of the small crop 

 to come forward during the last-named season, 

 the Board are well satisfied in being able to 

 report such a large area already under Tea. 

 The Tea on Spring Valley is growing most satis- 

 factorily, and the first small plucking is now 

 being secured from the area planted in 1884. 

 On Oolanakande, the Tea bushes are growing 

 rapidly owing to the Estate being in the Low Conntry 

 where the climate is very forcing ; and preparations 

 are now being made for the gathering of leaf. The 

 whole of the Coffee on Oolankande has now been 

 replaced by Tea. 



Cuor FOR 1886-87. — The planting of Tea, as above, has 

 reduced the area of Coffee on SpringValley to ;>90 acres. 

 This is an exceedingly fine slieet of Coffee. Though 

 leaf disease is still present, the Directors have hopes 

 that this Coffee may yet givo good paying crops, 

 and they have resolved for the prtoent to leave it intact. 

 (Several small blossoms have already set for Season 

 1886-87, and as far as can at present be seen that 

 Season should show a good result, as a very consider- 

 able quantity of Bark will be available. The year will, 

 moreover, be aided by a steadily increasing yield of Tea. 

 The Directors, with the exception of Mr. Brown, 

 whose fee includes the expenses of his visiting 

 Ceylon, have resolved, in the meantime to reduce their 

 fees by one-half. Mr. Brown returned from Ceylon 

 in April, having visited the Company's properties. 

 Ml'. Leon Famiii, a Member of the Board, retires 

 on this occasion and being eligible, offers himself for 

 re-election. Messrs. Deloitte, Dever, Griffiths & Co., 

 the Auditors, also offer themselves for re-election. 

 By order, J. Alec Roberts, Secretary. 



26th July, 1886. 



Dr. 



BALANCE SHEET, 31ST MAY, 1886. 



To Capital authorized — 8,000 Shares of £ s. d. 



£10 each, issued and fully paid . .80,000 



„ Eeservcd Fund .. .. 4,012 10 



„ Sundry Creditors .. .. 2,671 5 9 



,, Bills payable . . , . . . 800 



„ Sales of "Produce, 18S5-86 .. .. 693 18 6 



„ Profit and Loss Account .. .. 3,307 15 4 



Cr, 



'.>1,485 9 7 



By 



(* 

 •J 



Estates ,. ,, ..80,000 



Sundry Debtors .. .. 1,093 



Office Furniture . . . . 15 



Charges against Crop, 1885-6 : — 



Spring Valley ., ..6,188 13 9 



Oolanakande , , . . 501 17 6 



Freight and Sundry Charges 215 1 4 

 Directors' Fees . . . . 266 13 4 



London Office Expenditure 254 17 11 



7,427 3 10 



iessTrofit on Exchange 2,100 17 11 



,, Cash on Deposit.. ..4,000 



„ C.ish at Bankers and iu 



Office .. ..1,050 14 6 



5,326 5 11 



5,050 14 6 



91,485 9 7 



OUVAH COFFEE COMPANY, LIMITED. 



Directors. — John Brown, Esij., Managing Director. 

 H. H. Potts, Esq , L. Farain, Esq., Edward Oonder, Esq. 

 Report. — To be presented to the Twenty-Third Ordin- 

 ary General Meeting of the Company, to be held 

 at No. 5, Dowgate Hill, London, on Wedues<lay. 

 the 4th day of August 1886, at 1 o'clock j). m. 

 A Balance Sheet shewing the financial position of the 

 Company on 31st May, 1886, and Profit and Loss Account 

 for Season 1884-85, are now presented to Shareholders. 

 Crop 1884-85, estimated at 5,600 cwt., resulted in a 

 total of 5,566 cwt. qr. 17 lb. The value of this Cofltec 

 was £15,950 6s lOd, or, equal to a net average of 57s 3d 

 per cwt. Refuse Coffee sold in Ceylon and proceeds 

 of Cinchona bark brought the total receipts from sales 

 of Produce up to £17,344 3s 8d. The Ceylon Ex- 

 penditure includes R22,727'17 spent on Tea clear- 

 ings, and after allowing for this sum, the result of 

 the year's working is a Profit of £1,083 14s 6d. 

 Adding this profit to the Balance of £1,109 6s 6d 

 brought forward from last year, there is to the credit 

 of Profit and Loss the sum of £2,193 Is Od, and for thu 

 reasons which are given below, the Directors cannot 

 recommend a distribution of any portion of this amount. 

 In face of the low prices obtained and the small yield 

 secured per acre, the Directors feel some satisfaction 

 at having been able to carry out extensive Tea plant- 

 ing operations and yet leave a balance of Profit. It 

 was at one time thought that Crop 1884-85 would 

 amount to only 4,400 cwt. and the labour force was re- 

 duced accordingly ; these hands were so fully employed 

 picking the larger Crop secured, that it was found ne- 

 cessary to postpone any extensive harvesting of Cin- 

 chona bark until after the close of the financial year, — 

 the sum of £443 lis lOd appearing as the proceeds of 

 Cinchona bark in the accounts being derived from the 

 sale of 4| tons of this product. The Coffee Crop Season 

 1885-86," which was at first estimated at 3,00U cwt. is 

 now expected to yield no more than 1,500 cwt. A very 

 large harvest of Cinchona bark is however expected, 

 but it is feared that the year's returns from Uiese 

 products will hardly be sufficient to meet the ordinary 

 estate expenditure and also the expenditure on the 

 large additional area of tea. The tone of the Coffee 

 market is at the present time very firm. Tea.— -Tlie 

 contemplated extension of this Product referred to in 

 last Eeport has been very successfully carried out, 

 and the area now under Tea on the Company's Estates 

 is as follows : — 



Planted. Planted. Planted. 

 Nov. Dec. Nov. Dec. Nov. Dec. 



1883 1884 1885 Total. 



9 347 447 803 



The cost of planting the 347 acres iu 1884, has been 

 included iu tlie expenditure of the past year, whii'j the 

 cost of planting the 4 17 acres iu l-'-'SS will have to be 

 provided out of Crop 1885-86, and the small Coffee 

 Crop to be obtained that year, fully upholds the policy 

 of the Board in having accomplished the planting of 

 this further large area of tea. All the Tea planted 

 on the Company's Properties is reported to be grow- 

 ing remarkably well, and the first pickings are now 

 being obtained from that planted in 1884. Crop 

 1886-87. — The plantiug of Tea has reduced the 

 area under Coffee, from 1,992 acres to 1,273 acres, 89 

 acres of Tea having been planted iu land formerly not 

 under cultivation. The area of Coffee retained io 

 mostly at a higher elevation and in stronger soil than 

 that which has been replaced by Tea, and up to the 

 presput lime the effects of leaf-disease have not proved 

 so fatal to its crop bearing properties. It is not the 

 intention of the Board to entrench on this area for 

 the further extension of Tea, unless the ravagi s of 

 the disease make it unprofitable to continue it iu 

 coffee. Sq far, several good blossoms have feet tor 



