March 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



669 



tell you which will not, I think, be satisfactory to you to 

 hear. (Hear, hear.) Oousideriug the adverse circumstances 

 under which we have to make our progress, I think it will 

 be satisfactory to you to hear that our revenue goes on 

 increasing continuously (hear, hear,) and we see now, 

 having had the third quarter's return, and that in all prob- 

 ahlity the revenue for this year will exceed that of last 

 year by at least 30 per cent. In our expenditure also, 

 means have been found of making sundry economies ; and 

 although it will be necessary to pass special votes lor 

 some new appointments and make a further outlay of capital 

 in buildings, more especially a gaol, a Government house 

 at Elopura, the headquarters, and barracks for the police 

 at that settlement, which cannot any longer be deferred, 

 those will be entirely covered, so that there will in reality 

 be no increase of expenditure on that account in the 

 year's budget. That is the general result ; and now in re- 

 ference to our prospects. I think I shall be able to show 

 you that they are very promising, and that there is no- 

 thing even in the adverse circumstances, which affect us 

 in common with all the rest of the Eastern world, that 

 should in the least degree tend to discourage us in the 

 great undertaking we have in hand. 



As to our general progress, I will read you a short ex- 

 tract from the Governor's dispatch covering the estimates 

 lately received, and I prefer to give you what our own 

 officeis send us, because it shows it is not only our sup- 

 position or inference, but really what those on the spot re- 

 port to us. The Governor remarks : — " It has been very 

 nearly conclusively proved that Borneo is a tobacco grow- 

 ing country, and in this one culture alone lies the poss- 

 ibility, I may almost say the probability, of a sudden 

 and rapid development of our resources, involving a large 

 increase in the revenue from land sales, farms and other 

 sources. The Chinese Sabah Company will, at the com- 

 mencement of the year, ship at least 9 tons of tobacco to 

 Europe, and should the price obtained approach as we 

 have reason to believe it will, that of Sumatra grown leaf, 

 the attention of tobacco planters will be turned to North 

 Borneo, it being currently reported that land suited for 

 tobacco growing is becoming scarce in Deli, where such 

 enormous profits have of late been made by planting Com- 

 panies ; indeed Mr. W. H. Read tells we that it is not im- 

 probable that 125 per cent dividends, will this season, be 

 declared by some of them. That Liberian colfee, cocoa 

 and sugar cane will do well here is also, I think, put beyond 

 all doubt." 



You are aware it is not on the finding of minerals or 

 gold that we have ever built our hopes. We have always 

 looked to agriculture, and to the cultivation of laud, as the 

 best and most permanent source of the prosperity of the 

 colony. (Hear, hear.) We still maintain that opinion, and 

 you know the policy of the Company, (which has been 

 clearly put forward, and always had your full approval), 

 has been, that the shareholders should not propose to 

 enter into competition with the capitalists outside who 

 might be disposed to invest their money. All we have done 

 is to give them facilities, and assistance when it was in our 

 power to do so, to offer them security for their persons and 

 property, and freedom from interference in their oper- 

 ations; and I believe we shall be repaid by seeing an in- 

 creasing community, planting not only tobacco, but numer- 

 ous other products. We know this wave of depression has 

 overtaken sugar in Australia and elsewhere ; sugar and 

 Bago have fallen to unprecedently low prices. Of course 

 that deters planters from putting their money into new 

 ground for these products. Someone has said, and said 

 very truly, tint to build up a new colony two things are 

 essential, Time and Capital, and we must give a reasonable 

 time for development. 



COFFEE AND TEA ON THE WYNAAD, 

 SOUTH INDIA. 

 ^ YTHE&t, Jan. 25th. — The coffee sample appears to 

 !)■• unusually good this season, and the yield on most 

 Wynaad estates is, above the estimate, so if the market 

 will only keep 8rm for a few months a good many planters 

 Will be able to pull along better than they could have 

 hoped to do a short time backx A curious feature in 

 connection with prices is the fact that, while not willing 

 to go much above R32 for parchment, one or two urine 



are offering 1128 per cwt. for cherry, and are buying a 

 good deal at this rate. There is still a good deal of talk 

 about tea, and there is a prospect of its being opened 

 to some extent in South East Wynaad. There can be 

 no doubt that tea will do well in this district, but with 

 advances cut down to about K25 per "cwt. few men have 

 money enough to try experiments, and prefer to struggle 

 on with their coffee. In spite of the dictum of the Cey- 

 lon Observer, in the article you recently quoted with 

 reference to one of my letters, I do not see how small 

 estates of 50 acres can pay for the machinery. It may 

 perhaps be intended to bring all the leaf to a central 

 factory, but I cannot hear that even then there is much 

 chance of working the yield to " 8 and even 10 maunds 

 per acre" (C40 lb. to 800 lb. *) and though in one ex- 

 ceptional case this limit has been reached, and even passed 

 in Ceylon, it does not at all represent the average. In 

 the north I believe 4 to 5 maunds per acre is looked 

 upon as a handsome return ; and the experience of 

 planters there stretching as it does over so many years, 

 is probably the more trustworthy of the two. On a large 

 acreage, however, it does not require S00 lb. nor even 400 

 lb. per acre to make the industry pay. Wo have not yet 

 heard what prices were realized for the "Mariawatte" tea 

 but from the fact that they put off their pruning so long 

 it would appear as if they must have plucked rather coarsely. 

 In the Nilgiris the yield is comparatively small, but this 

 is made up for in quality. 



The property of the Wyuaad Gold Mines Company was 

 put up to auction in Bombay on the 12th. The bidding went 

 up to K4,000, but the proprietors finally bought the estate in. 

 The property consists of about 1,700 acres of laud, of which 

 about 200 have been planted with coffee and cinchona. As 

 there is, I understand, a fair crop on. the place, which 

 would go to the purchaser, the price offered was very low, 

 and this may be attributed to the state of uncertainty that 

 all landholders in "Wynaad are now in, and are likely to 

 remain in for some years. I have not heard if the Company 

 intend to do anything with their reserve acreage. A good 

 deal of money was spent in working at the reefs in the 

 mining clays, and machinery was purchased in Australia for 

 cru«hing the quartz, but was never worked, nor even, I be- 

 lieve, sent up to Wynaad. The other mining Companies are 

 giving no particular sign of their existence, and the now 

 system of extracting gold does not seem to have been found 

 practically useful. 



The sale of the Wynaad Gold Mining Company's property, 

 which had to be bought in, and the sale of 200 acres of 

 abandoned coffee land in Ceylon for 1129,000, are cases in 

 point. Probably the Wynaad property is just as suitable for 

 tea as the other, and the unwillingness of buyers to come 

 forward must be attributed to the course Government is nuw 

 taking. — Madras Mail. 



THE NEW ORLEANS WORLDS EXPOSITION. 



Interview with the Commissioner of Guatemala, 



Mk. Forsyth [formerly of Ceylon]. 



ocatkmala. 



This enterprising and influential State, the prin- 

 cipal of the Central American group, containing a 

 population of 1,500,000, wisely determined to place 

 her marvellous resources and attractions before the eyes 

 of the world, realizing the signal opportunity of oc- 

 cupying her proper position in the world's congress 

 that will soon convene at the World's Industrial aud 

 Cottou Oeutenuial Exposition. 



This State is ably represented by the accomplished 

 gentleman, W. F. Forsyth, Esq., one eminently fitted 

 for eo re.-ponsiblea position. He, on being interview .1 

 by a Times-Democrat reporter, gave the following d< 

 scription of the exhibits of Guatemala here and en 

 route. 



* We gave this as the experience of a North Indian 

 planter, who, by confining his gardens to 50 acres of well 

 selected soil. &c, raised his average to from (540 to 800 lb. : 

 we by no means said such an average could be established 

 all over Ceylon or Wynaad.— Ed. 



