4i6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1884. 



THE JOKAI (ASSAM) TEA COMPANY, LIMITED. 



CROPS OF HALF-A-MILLION LB. OF TEA COSTING 10^D. PER 

 LB. TO PRODUCE. — DIVIDENDS 6 TO 8 PER CENT. 



The above company haviug made arrangements for the 

 acquisition of several neighbouring estates upon favourable 

 terms announces an increase in its capital. A new 

 issue is made of £60,000, of which £11,000 in £10 shares 

 has been offered 'for public subscription. The following 

 is from the prospectus :— This company was formed in 

 Calcutta in 1873 for the purpose of acquiring and work- 

 ing the Jokai and other estates, and the head office was 

 transferred to Loudon in 1882. 



The dividend for the past three years has averaged six 

 per cent., and with the view to lower the cost of pro- 

 duction through economies in administration and European 

 management, negotiations have been completed for amal- 

 gamating the Muttuck tea plantations, which are contigu- 

 ous to, and in some instances interlace with, the Jokai 

 division of the company, and contain an area of 435 acres 

 under plant, from which 180,160 lb. of tea^were gathered 

 last year, and showed a profit of about seven per cent 

 on the value taken over by this company. 



The award on which the basis of the amalgamation 

 has been fixed was given by Mr. J. J. J. Keswick, Pre- 

 sident of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, who, 

 as senior resident partner in the firm of Messrs. Jardiue, 

 Skinner & Oo.'s of Calcutta, has had large experience 

 in the valuation and financial management of Indian lea 

 estates. He determined the price to be paid to the Mut- 

 tuck Tea Company, Limited, for their estates and assets 

 to be £19,000. 



Favourable arrangements have also been made to purchase 

 or lease several smaller estates in the neighbourhood, the 

 management of which will not involve auy increase in the 

 present staff of the Company. The Board intends to take 

 advantage of auy further opportunities for acquiring other 

 estates in the immediate vicinity, provided such amalgamation 

 will help still further to reduce the cost of production. 



In order to provide for the purchase of the above estates, 



the capital of the Company has been increased to £120, ), 



of which £30,000 was raised, and a further issue of £30,000 

 is now made, comprising £19,000 allotted to the share- 

 holders of the Muttuck Tea Company, and the balance, 

 £11,000, is offered for public subscription. The remain- 

 ing '6,000 shares are reserved for future issue upon the 

 purchase of additional estates, and for other purposes of 

 the company, in terms of the Articles of Association. 



The amalgamated estates already purchased, aud those 

 agreed to be purchased, will comprise more than 8,500. 

 acres, of which 4,581 acres are held under fee simple 

 tenure, and the remainder on very satisfactory leases, 

 direct from Government. They are all within from three 

 to nine miles of Dibrugarh, the chief town in Upper Assam. 

 The outturn of tea this season is estimated at 581,60Q)b. 

 (458,0001bs from the company's own estates, and 123,6001b. 

 from gardens held under lease) which it is expected will be 

 produced at a cost of lOJd. per pound laid down in London. 

 The outturn to end of August has been telegraphed, viz., 

 357 000 lb. or more than three-fifths of the total season's 

 estimate, thus giving every reasonable hope that the full crop, 

 as mentioned above, will be realized, and possibly exceeded. 

 The new shareholders will have the benefit of the present 



season's crop. 



The gross amount realised for the produce ot 1882 an. I 

 1883 was £28,495, showing an aveiageof 12-62d. per pound. 

 Takiug the cost at say lOid. per pound laid down in 

 Loudon, there remains a margin of, say. 2d. per pound, 

 which, on the outturn of 581,6001b. estimated for 1884., 

 would show a surplus of £4,850, or equal to a dividend of 

 over 8 per cent, upon a called-up capital of £60,000 The 

 portion of the current season's crop so far sold— viz., 

 64 621 lb.— has averaged gross Is. i-15d., or Hd per pound 

 in excess of the figures on which the revenue calculations 



have been based. . ' . 



The company's mark has for years maintain.'. I a good 

 position in Mincing Lane, the crop having realised Is 

 nd, in 1881, Is 04_d jn 1882, and Is Id in 1883. 



A return, issued bv the Secretary Indian Tea Districts 

 Association, shows that the position of this company com- 

 pares favourably with fourteen other first-class dividend- 

 paying tea companies in Assam ; the average cost per acre 

 being £49 10s„ and the cost of production U£d per lb ot tea. 



The capital cost per acre of the estates of this company 

 on the same basis is £40, and the cost of production per 

 pound is estimated at 10Jd for 1844 season. 



The following agreements for sale and purchase of pro- 

 perties have been entered into between the Jokai (Assam) 

 Tea Company, Limited, and the liquidators of the Muttuck 

 Tea Company, Limited, dated March 11th, 1884. Corre- 

 spondence between John Berry White and Messrs. Fiulay, 

 Muir, & Co., regarding purchase of Sherwood estate : con- 

 tract, dated February 9th, 1884, between John,Berry White 

 aud Richard Rowe, as to lease of Kalijan estate ; contract, 

 pated February 20th, 1884, between John Berry White an 

 Khetsee Doss, regarding leaseof Baugpara aud Poitta gard- 

 ens; an agreement, to act. as produce brokers of the 

 company, has also been made between Messrs. Lloyd, 

 Matheson, & Co., and Mr. Alex. Lawrie, dated June 

 9th, 1884.—//. and 0. Mail. 



Indian Tea in Australia.— The following occurs in 

 a r port of the meeting of the British Indian Tea 

 Company :-- 



" A shareholder asked whether they had tried to dispose 

 of their tea in the Australian market, which he understood 

 was a very good one for China teas. The Chairman replied 

 that the Indian form of tea packages were unsuitable to the 

 Australian market. They had tried the experiment of putting 

 their tea up in half-chests similar to those used by theOhinese, 

 but even then they would not sell, and he believed they had 

 lost about £500 by their experiment. He thought that what- 

 ever Indian tea was sold in the Australian market would be 

 more as a sort of curiosity than as a staple aricle of c in- 

 merce. — Indian Ten Gazette." 



As most of the India tea purchased in Australia 

 is used for blending, we do not think the nature of 

 the chests has had so much to do with the disappoint- 

 ment as is supposed. The question is one of price, 

 and pure, good Indian tea cannot be sold at the rates 

 for which the Australians have been accustomed to 

 purchase inferior China stuff. 



The Brazil Coffee Crop : Large Proportion of 

 Light, Coffee. — The Correio Paulistcmo remarks as 

 below on the prospects of the forthcoming crop : — 

 After the different opinions concerning the present 

 crop, based on bull or bear ideas, it is possible today 

 to guarantee that the crop unquestionably is smaller 

 than that of 1883, and the quality will be, more- 

 over, inferior. On the plantations, where washed is 

 prepared, this is evident, for the proportion of coffee 

 that floats in the tanks is much greater than the 

 proportion of other years. Some months ago, ob- 

 servers, seeing the trees heavily laden with fruit, 

 concluded that the crop of 1884 would, at least, equal 

 that of I8S3. Today, this may confidently be denied 

 on account of the light [chocho) beans that are ap- 

 pearing. Never before did this phenomenon so clearly 

 appear. One-third of the berries are chocJw or im- 

 perfect; so that the gathered crop must suffer a con- 

 siderable reduction .when prepared, 30 per cent at 

 least. The crop will therefore, unquestionably, be 

 inferior to that of 1S83 both in quantity aud quality. 

 As to that of 18S5, if the weather favours it, if no 

 further frosts occur, uor sensible decrease of temper- 

 ature it will probably be one-half of the presentciop. 

 While the effects of the frost were not so great, as 

 at first was stated, nevertheless they much (nniilo) 

 affected the life of the trees and their sap for bloss- 

 oming. Adding to the above the fact that very little 

 of the old crop reinaius in store, and that consider- 

 able new coffee has been marketed, the planter should 

 be forewarned against speculations. The position of 

 the article cannot in any manner be bad, production 

 is reduced on a sensible scale, now as well as for 

 the future, therefore it cannot escape the fatal laws 

 of supply and demand. Do nut let planters hur.y 

 forward their crops : the storage of their coffees in 

 their stores will produce more than sufficient to meel 

 the losses caused by delaying their shipments. 



