6(32 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1886. 



ing well, and the leaf realising satisfactory prices. 

 Tlie following figures shew the rapidity with which 

 Ihe growth of tea in Ceylon is being extended. 



CliiXON TEA. lb. 



.'^hipped for the year ending 30th Sept. 1882 623,000 

 „ „ 1883 1,523,000 



„ ,. 1884 2,263,000 



„ 1885 3,797,000 



Kstlnmte „ „ 18S6 6,500,000 



and it is anticipated that the returns will continue 

 to increase in about the same ratio until, at no 

 distant date, sliiijnients reach a minimum of 

 ')0, 000,000 lbs. annually. Tea from the Com- 

 pany's property has already been received and 

 sold, and there are now 1,000 acres under Tea 

 on the Company's Estates, the bulk of which 

 will be giving crop by the end of this year. 

 The general business of the Company steadily in- 

 creases, and your Directors look with every contid- 

 enee to very satisfactory results so soon as a general 

 revival in business is brought about by means of the 

 Tea now in plant. Mr. Brown, Chairman of the 

 Board, left for Ceylon at the beginning of December, 

 and will inspect all the properties in which the 

 Company is interested. Mr. L. Famin, a member 

 of the Board, retires from otlice on this occasion, 

 and being eligible, offers himself for re-election. 

 Messrs. Deloitte, Dcver, GrifBths & Co. the Auditors, 

 also offered themselves for re-election. 



By order, J. Alec. Bobebtb, Secretary. 



London, 30th January 1880. 



Balance Sheet, .30tii SErTEJiBEB 1885. 



Oapit:il autbori.sed r— 10,000 Ordinary Skires of £10 

 -uch, £100,(100. 20,000 6 ner cent Preference Shares of 

 Cn each, £100,000. 



To Capital issund— £ b. d. £ s. d. 



10,000 Ordinary Shares 

 .;7paid... ■ ... 70,000 



Les^ Calls outstanding... 575 



G9.425 



3,630 Preference Shares, 

 e.--) p.iid... ... 13,150 



To Debentures... 



„ Bills I'ayable 



„ KKchange Reserve Fund 



„ Loans, Ceylon 



,, Sundry Creditors, Ceylon 



„ Sundry Creditors, Loudon 



,, ProCt and l-.oss Balance 



87,575 



7,400 



3.715 6 2 



8,769 4 



7,400 



3,977 8 



4,517 1 1 



401 4 7 



By Ocilombo E.stablishraentl- 

 Freehold Premises, Buildings, Machiu 



ery tS:c... 

 ,, Kslates... 



Amount secured on Freehold Estate 

 '„ Advances against crops 

 Sundry Debtor.s, Ceylon 

 „ London 

 '', Stock of Bones, Stores, I'mniture, 



Carts &c., ill Ceylon 

 ,. Produce in Loudon and alloat 

 ,. OHice Furuituce London 

 „ Gash at Bankers and .in hand, Ceylon 



London 



THE INDIAN TEA COMPANIES. 

 When the commercial horizon is bein" anxiously 

 Bcaimed at every point for indications of the much- 

 needed trade revival, the tea trade has, of course, 

 not escaped attention. In our issue of November 

 2Stli wo showed that in that market cverythmg 

 pointed towards a decided recovery in prices. The 

 deliveries for consumption have for some time back been 

 stcadilv increiising. while the supply luis been fall- 

 ing oil and .slocks have hii-u sbrinkiii;^ niatorially. 

 W'u might have gone a little farther, and aUiiiued 



that the recovery had actually begmi. An im- 

 provement has been going on for months, which 

 cannot be adeiinately measured by mere rise in 

 price. It may be more correctly judged by the 

 altered tone of the market, and the much more 

 hopeful view taken of its future. The new season 

 is in these respects exhibiting a marked contrast 

 to that of 1881-85. Then everything tended down- 

 ward except stocks, which accumulated from week 

 to week. Importers felt lugubrious, brokers were 

 puzzled, and the retail trade was completely be- 

 wildered. No one could tell what was to happen 

 next. The shrewdest operator could hardly make up 

 his mind whether to buy or sell. Altogether, it was 

 a most uncomfortable season, and but for a lucky 

 accident wliicli happened towards its close, it might 

 have had even a worse ending than it did. In the 

 early months of the cm'rent year, when prices were 

 at almost the lowest level on record, tlie apprehen- 

 sion of a rise in the duty caused large deliveries, 

 and gave a strength to thCiiuarket which it has never 

 since wholly lost. This was an interesting example 

 of what the Americans distinguish as a '•psychological 

 boom." There was no substantial gi-omid for it in 

 the condition of the market as then known, but it 

 changed the prevailing temper. It was an agree- 

 able, though only imaginative break in the loug-con- 

 tiuued depression, and the current, once turned, baa 

 kept on pretty steadily in its new course till now it 

 seems to have acquired a genuine impetus. 



The new season 1885-86 has opened, therefore, 

 under mnch more hopeful auspices than its prede- 

 cessor did. As we demonstrated the other day by a 

 very simple and convincing set of figures, the 

 "statistical situation" has greatly improved. It 

 seems anomalous that such an improvement as is 

 implied in the diminution, of stocks to the extent of 

 one-half, should have had as yet so little effect on 

 prices. Nothing is more common, how*ever, than 

 anomailes of this kind in speculative markets. Wlien 

 carefully investigated, explanations of them are not 

 difficult to find. Markets, as a rule, follow very 

 slowly the facts by which they are supposed to be 

 regulated. Operators may see these facts clearly 

 enough, and be taking note of them all the while, but 

 they may be also taking (note of otherithings no less 

 important. In the case of the tea trade, the increase 

 of cousumption and the diminuation of stocks, vital 

 considerations as they may be, are only seeondary 

 in comparison with prospective supplies. These are 

 the ruling questions of the future, and the Tea 

 Market is at the present time in a very interesting 

 state of suspense with regard to them. Rapid as 

 the growth of the tea trade has been in the past 

 ten years, it is still in its infancy. The capacity 

 of tea-growing countries is far from having been 

 adequately tested, while of late , the industry lias 

 extended itself into new disiricts, where it.s develop- 

 ment may be great beyond present anticipation. 

 Fresh capital is beingi poured iuto Assam, where 

 there is a practically unlimited field for its absorp- 

 tion. If we are going to annex Upper Burma, and 

 give free scope to Anglo-Indian cnter)nise in th.it 

 direction tea-gardens may soon be heard of thei'e 

 which will press the Chinese h:irder even iliaii those 

 of Assam. Then there is Ceylon. The history of 

 tea-planting there is truly a romance of modern 

 enterprise. Five years ago Ceylon was brought to 

 the verge of bankrutcy through the ruin of its coffee 

 planters. As a desperate resort, it betook itself to 

 tea, and the face of the island has already under- 

 gone a marvellous change. Plantations which were 

 deserted and rapidly reverting to jungle have been 

 transformed into tea-gardens, which promise to be- 

 come as remunerative as coffee ever was in its 

 best days. 



In the Tea Market of the future, Ceylon is going 

 to be a very important factor. Within the past year 

 or two Ceylon tea has dawned upon the trade aa a 

 sudden revelation. All at once there dropped, as it 

 were, from the clouds a strange tea with an aroma 

 of Its own, and a quality almost unrivalled. To pro- 

 duce this superior and unique article requires, ap- 

 parently, not more hibour or expense than the 

 coarser'kiuds growu elsewhere. Its growers say they 



