804 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



prudence may be preached with success; but, until then, 

 all that the planter has to do, is by good cultivation 

 and udicious pruning to keep his plants in a flourishing 

 and healthy state and thus stave off sickness and ex- 

 haustion. But Colonel Money himself furnishes us with 

 a reason why we should get as much out of our 

 plants as they will give whilst they are young he 

 says: — " In my opinion the excellence of Ceylon teas 

 ii in a measure due to the faot that this gardens there 

 are young." 



In the 7th paragraph he expresses an opinion that 

 "Ceylon is going too faBt ahead, and its eventual 

 success will not be diminished, nay increased by 

 caution "; and in the next paragraph he says that 'large 

 areas quickly planted are not always planted well." 

 If Ceylon had been a new and unopened country 

 like Perak, or North Borneo, this opinion would 

 have been correct ; but he forgets, that, when tea 

 planting iu Ceylon was proved to be not only pro- 

 fitable but successful in every respect, there were 

 on the spot all the materials for extending it, on a 

 yery large scale, at the lowest possible cost, and in 

 the most efficient manner : there was an army of in- 

 telligent superintendents with ample time at their 

 disposal, who, by loug training in a cognate industry, 

 had nothing to learn in the mere work of planting 

 tea, and were therefore most competent to extend 

 rapidly the cultivation of a product which was prov- \ 

 ing itself capable of rescuing the agriculture of the 

 colony from irretrievable ruin. There was agood supply 

 of organized labour of the best sort, land in abund. 

 ance belonging to the failiug industry, and other 

 land which could be bought at RIO per acre, and all 

 that was required was seed for nurseries. When this was 

 procured from India there was nothing to prevent 

 the colony going ahead in a way which might have 

 justified words of caution ; but impecuniosty rendered 

 them unnecessary. With all the encouraging prospects 

 and almost unlimited energy, intelligences and 

 materials, it has taken five years to plant 80,000 

 aores. I have no hesitation in saying that with the 

 prospects of success, the little risk involved in its 

 cultivation after estates are formed, compared with 

 the cultivation of coffee, if capital had been available : 

 not 80,000 acres but double that quantity could have 

 teen economically and well planted during the past 

 five years. I do not say that the 80.000 acres has 

 all been judiciously and well planted ; but, where it 

 has not been properly and wisely done, it was not 

 owing to the want of knowledge but to the want of 

 cash ; and if cheaply-planted laud will not yield 

 enough to pay cost of manufacture, plucking, etc., 

 the loss by abandonment will be very little. 



I ignore the question which is frequently raised as 

 to whether it is wise or prudent to plant large areas 

 of perennial plants in view cf risk of lo;s from dis- 

 ease ordestrucion from insect pests, or the po-sibihty 

 of extende 1 cultivation leading to over-production and 

 consequent unnmunerative prices.for the products, in 

 the distant future. Such considerations for good and 

 obvious reasons never have nor ever will act as 

 deterrents or outweigh present encouraging prospects. 

 I see no reaeot), therefore, why Ceylon is to pause 

 in its onward course as long as prices (which are so low 

 as to curtail supplies from competing countries) are 

 remunerative, and likely to continue to be remuner- 

 ative to the Ceylon planter. 



If Indian tea planting was not weighted with high 

 cost of plantations and excessive cost of management, 

 I have no doubt that prices, which pay us weli, would 

 also pay the Indian planter ; for, I imagine the cost 

 of cultivation, manufacture, packing and transport to 

 Culcutta is no more than it is in Ceylon. Ceylon 

 need not enter into a iace of competition with 

 India : let each paddle its own canoe, but, if a vacancy 

 has to be made for the 50 million pounds which will 



in time be exported from this island, it will I think 

 be filled from a decrease in the supply from China, if 

 the duties on exportation in that country are main- 

 tained at 2|d per pound. 



However cheap labor may be there, it cannot com- 

 pete with Ceylon (as is proved by the gradual falling- 

 off in the export) as long as the duties on exportation 

 amount to as much as 50 per cent of our total cost of 

 production. 



Colonel Money is not well up in political economy : 

 he wishes India and Ceylon to limit their production, 

 in order that consumption may overtake it, and thim 

 cause an advance in prices ; but forgets that such a 

 result would enable China again to flood the English 

 market with its cheap common congous, which are now 

 only being slowly driven out by prices which do not 

 cover cost of manufacture, packing and duties, to 

 say nothing of remuneration to the grower. 



The safeguards of Ceylon planting would be that 

 neither the cost of production, nor the value of the 

 produce, should be higher than they now are. An 

 average of Is 2d per pound, aye, or even of a shilling, 

 will pay us well enough, whilst it keeps the prices of 

 common China congou at a curtailing point. — Yours 

 truly, T. P. 



PLANTATIONS IN CEYLON AND MAURITIUS 

 AND THE O. B. C. 



I have been favoured with a copy of the 7th proof of 

 the Prospectus of the " Oriental Bank Assets Company, " 

 but, as it is intended only for private circulation and an 

 8th proof is already being prepared by the printers, it is 

 obvious that this does not embody the definitive scheme 

 and that I am not at liberty to publish it even if it did. 

 Still I have permission to make known the general prin- 

 ciples and even some of the details in regard to which 

 there is not likely to be any material change. The liquid- 

 ator proposes to transfer the following assets to the Com- 

 pany subject to the sanction of the Court of Chancery : — 



1st. The Bank premises in London, Bombay, Calcutta, 

 Colombo, Kaudy , Qalle, Jaffna, Mauritius, Madras, Shanghai, 

 Yokohama, and Kobe, together with the office furniture, 

 etc., which are valued at £310,000. 



2nd. Certain assets, mortgages and claims in and connected 

 with Ceylon, which on 3rd May last, according to the Bank 

 accounts, taking the rupee at '20d, amounted to £326,000. 



3rd. Certain estates, mortgages and claims in and connect- 

 ed with Mauritius, amounting in like manner to £1,360,000, 

 making a total of £1,996,000. For these properties and claims 

 the liquidator has provisionally agreed to accept £1,625,000 

 and to pass to the credit of the purchase all the sums 

 paid on account of the calls on shares, which amount 

 in all to £1,500,000, but are not expected to produce 

 more than £1,100,000. In exchange for the liquidator's 

 receipts deferred shares will be given, and it is proposed 

 to issue preference shares carrying a 6 per cent cumul- 

 ative dividend to the extent of £500,000 in £25 shares 

 and debentures bearing 5 per cent to the extent of 

 £300,000, so that, if these were fully subscribed, the 

 Company would have in hand £275,000 after satisfying 

 the purchase consideration of £1,625,000. But it is 

 provided that the liquidator shall be repaid his outlay on 

 the estates and refund the proceeds of sales made by 

 him, which would doubtless involve considerable further 

 payment by the Company. There is no schedule or other 

 particulars of the Ceylon properties, the value of which 

 is much less than was generally anticipated by outsiders, 

 but their prospects are very favourably referred to. Thus 

 it is said that the estates in Ceylon are already showing 

 a surplus, and the latest, advices, from a reliable source, 

 are to this effect ; — *' The Ceylon estates are improving 

 greatly in value and are now giving good returns. Not 

 only are they paying their way, but they are yielding 

 handsome profits, and, if the old shareholders can save 

 them out of the wreck, they will be compensated in the 

 next year or two. The success of our tea enterprize is 

 now attracting capital to the island, and it is generally 

 thought that there will soon be a great demand for well- 

 cultivated estates such as those of the old Bank." Then fol- 



