i>/'; 



•*KE * TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September t, 1884. 



[' upon increased supplies, no expenditure during 

 son 1884-85, after this date, be incurred upon new 

 buildings or machinery without the sanction of the share- 

 holders in general meeting. 



Next comes the report of the Lebong Tea Company, 

 ous of the oldest and most successful in Darjiimg. A 

 large tract of Ian." had been purchased lor the Bake 

 of the forest on it, The Chairman said they had 

 reason tj b3 phased with tha prices obtained for 

 their tea, but he felt anxious regarding the future. 

 He 3tated : — 



I am afraid that the opening markets hare not been 

 qtite so favourable as we should have been glad to see. 

 The increase which has of late taken place in the con- 

 sumption of Indian, compared with China tea, goes to 

 show that the quahty of Indian tea is asserting itself very 

 satisfactorily, and as Indian tea growers the great object 

 now before us (quality beii.g the distinctive characteristic 

 of Indian tea) is to make the quality of this Company's 

 teas as high as possible. To that object our Manager, 

 Mr. Christison, i.as d ;~oted his special attention and he 

 trusts — and we sincerely echo that hope — that in the next 

 year the quality of our tea will continua to improve. The 

 improved prices that we obtained last year has enabled 

 us to increase the dividend substantially, and instead of 

 paying as we did last a 6 per cent, dividend for the 

 twelve months we are now in a position to recommend 

 to the shareholders the distribution of 9 per cent., 3 of 

 which has already been paid as an interim dividend and 

 it is now proposed to pay the remaining 6 per cent. (Hear, 

 hear.) 

 Sic James Caird then went on to say : — 



Ihen with ragard to one item in the expenditure, 

 namely " Commission." Probably many of the gentlemen 

 who have looked over these accounts must have been 

 somewhat startled at seeing such an item ; and I must 

 say it does appear in very dangerous proximity to the 

 salines o£ the directors. The fact is it represents com- 

 mission that is paid to the managers, and forms a sort 

 of peicentage upon the dividend. It is of great import- 

 ance to unite the interests of the managers of the 

 different tea plantations in obtaining the very best quality 

 that can be got, and in that way of realizing a good 

 price for the article, and we think we have secured that 

 end by giving a certain limited commission to those 

 men for bringing about this satisfactory result. 

 (Hear, hear.) On the opposite side there is an entry 

 tha*-, appears for the first tima namely, " loss by taring " 

 . — that is the loss which arises in the taring or the opeu- 

 ing of the box s at the docks. We are endeavouring to 

 see whether we cannot get rid of the necessity 

 for this taring at the docks here and bo treated in the 

 same manner as the " Heathen Chinese," who has not 

 his chests opened. 



Mr. Law: — The Ohiua tea chests are about the same 

 weight, ours, vary ; that is the reason. 



The Chairman : — That we are steadily endeavouring to 

 correct. 



The Mortgage Bank of India had a very different 

 tale to tell: not only no profit, but a considerable 

 addition to the balauce to the bad. There had been 

 a falling-off in crop last season, production ha c I 

 too much and a disposition was evinced to rind fault 

 with the management. The Bank owns properties in 

 various districts, and those in Daijiling were favour- 

 ably spoken of : — 



It, is unsatisfactory that with an iucreased crop and a 

 better average price there should not be a larger amount 

 of profit. This, however, is in some measure accounted 

 for by the upkeep and cultivation of a larger I aring 

 area becoming chargeable to revenue without corre- 

 sponding incre -e in crop and by heavy but neces: 

 pel, 1 , ture on machinery and stores during the year. As 

 stated in our last report, the attempt to open out profit- 

 able markets for Indian tea in Australia and V' erica 

 have been attended with but little success. We made no 

 shipments to either of these markets, during last season, 



either directly or through the Calcutta Syndicate, and 

 the results from the sale in Calcutta of the teas that 

 we had prepared for those markets were by no means 

 satisfactory. 



Our readers will observe that a visitation of blight 

 and red spide; was traced to abnormal weather, 

 drought nrevuK.;g '.n the earl/ part of the seaBon. 

 In Assam, low yield and high cost were sutjecls of 

 complaint. In Cachor, yield was short of estimates, 

 and ihe climatic conditions were th.3 cause. It is 

 stated : — 



This short fall is mainly attrib atable to the severe and 

 lontinued drought which prevailed during the early 

 part of the season, followed by storms, and floods in May 

 and June, and again in Aegust, with the necessary con- 

 st quences of blight and prejudice, to cultivation, entailing 

 by short out-turn a heavy cost of production. 

 We in Ceylon are by no means likely to suffer from 

 w:atheras they do 20° further north, in reaious where 

 erithquakes and storms occur and where hail is com. 

 mon and destructive. It is said : — 



We regret to add that in May, 1884, two heavy hail- 

 storms again occurred at Jalingah doing damage to plant 

 as well as to seme of our buildings, and being likely to 

 prejudice the current season's outturn. 

 Id Sylhet also yield was short, the reasons being 

 thus stated : — 



The short fall may be accounted for by the prevalence of 

 unfavourable weather, for although there appears to have 

 been but little blight the leaf hardened rapidly and ceased 

 to grow. The average sale price of the t-^as has been Is 

 l'26d per lb., which cannot be considered satisfactory 

 Owing to the low acreage yield the cost of production 

 hRi been HTld per lb. Outbreaks of smallpox and cho- 

 lera at Sbabazpore have recently caused us much anxiety, 

 but we are glad to say that according to our latest ad- 

 vices both those diseases were disappearing. At Shabaz- 

 pore there is a good supply of timber, and we are now 

 making arrangements for the manufacture of tea boxes 

 on a large scale for general use at our gardens in the 

 district. 



At Kolabaree there was want of sufficient labour for 

 cu .i\ 3tion and manufacture. The conclusion is: — 

 The estimated crop was 7,130 maunds or f 70,400 lb. and 

 the out-turn has been 7 175 maunds or 574,090 lb. The 

 average sale price of the teas from the Upper Division 

 has been Is 4'62d per lb. whilst the teas from the Lower 

 Division have realized an average price of Is 7'27d per 

 lb. The cost per lb. of the Upper Division's teas (laid 

 down in London and taking rupee expenditure at, Is Sd) 

 has been 10'84d per lb. and the cost of the Lower Division's 

 teas ll"32d per lb, The season's profit from the Upper 

 Division has been £6,431 (is 4d, and the like profit from 

 i ,ver Division £9,717 7s 3d, the aggregate being 

 £16,143 7s 7d. The actual yield slightly exceeded the 

 estii.iated quantity and but for the unfavourable weather 

 which prevailed during part of the season and the early 

 closure of manufacture, this excess would probably have 

 been larger. The earlier portion of the season was very 

 hot and dry, and up to June but littie rain had fallen, the 

 consequences being visitation of blight and red spider at 

 some of our gardens which necessarily prejudiced the crop. 

 The expenditure, upon buildings and machinery during the 

 year was large but both buildings and machinery are now 

 in such good condition at most of our gardens that we may 

 anticipate material reduction in these items in the future. 

 This Bank has leeway to make up, and so with a 

 good many other Indian "coucerns" on which there 

 had been large expenditure in former times. Many 

 planters here will have the same discrepa icy in ac- 

 counts, if the previous expenditure on coffee and cin. 

 chonas is counted against estates converted into tea 

 plantations. On the other baud, the ground will be 

 ready for planting. 

 The paper we are quoting from gives also a table show- 



