and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Beb,, 191®. 176 



TEA AND RUBBER: IN JAVA 

 AND BRAZIL. 



NIRMALA (JAVA) PLANTATIONS. 

 The statutory general meeting of the above 

 was held on Monday at the offices of the London 

 Chamber of Commerce, Oxford-court, E.C. 



Mr Walter Hilliers— (chairman and manag- 

 ing director) presiding said : [after preliminary 

 remarks]. The 



FIRST CONSIGNMENT OF THE COMPANY'S TEAS 



has been sold, and I am glad to say they have 

 fetched very satisfactory prices— better than we 

 expected. Quite independent of the market, we 

 hear that the teas have really found favour with 

 the buyers. The work of opening up both for 

 tea and for rubber is being pushed forward, 

 and a fair area will be opened up and plant- 

 ed this year. The representative of the secre- 

 taries (Messrs Rowley, Davies & Co.) has since 

 the formation of the company paid various visits 

 to the estate, and in every report he has made he 

 states how very much impressed he has been 

 with the possibilities of this estate, and that it 

 has really a magnificent future, as he puts it. I 

 should also inform you, as I know it will be of 

 interest, that it came to our knowledge that a 

 very few days after the property was purchased 

 by this company— but before the sale was known 

 in Java — an offer of considerably more money 

 was made for the property than we have paid 

 for it. In fact, the difference was stated to us, 

 but I do not think it would be fair to those con- 

 cerned if the amount were mentioned publicly. 

 This, I think, as far as we are concerned, closes 

 'what I have to say with regard to the estate it- 

 self ; but there is also another matter I should 

 like to touch upon, as it certainly is also of im- 

 portance to the shareholders, and that is the 



EXTRAORDINARY DEMAND FOR LAND SUITABLE FOR 

 TEA CULTIVATION 



which has sprung up during the last few months 

 in the island of Java,and, as a consequence, the 

 value of the land has gone up very materially 

 indeed. One hears from many quarters attempts 

 at estimates of what the output of tea from the 

 island of Java will be in such and such a time, 

 and various forecasts are given as to the revo- 

 lution which the Island of Java may produce 

 in the tea world. I think that a great many 

 of the forecasts are entirely fantastic. The 

 extraordinary crop that is expected by some 

 from Java can, in my opinion, never be ob- 

 tained, because the 



AREA OF LAND AVAILABLE AND SUITABLE FOR 

 PLANTING TEA IS VERY LIMITED 



indeed, and, considering what the output is 

 now, those figures which are often forecasted 

 I am confident cannot bo reached. There is, 

 however, another aspect of this question which 

 is of more interest, in my opinion, and that is 

 the great improvement in the quality of Java 

 tea which has taken place in the last few years. 

 This matter is receiving more and more at- 

 tention in the island by the planters, and, as 

 every one who is concerned in any way with tea 

 selling or tea buying knows, the 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE QUALITY OF JAVA TEA 



in the last few years is most marked, and is pro- 

 gressing, you might say, from season to season. 

 Considering that this improvement is obtained 

 at a very small increase in cost, if any at all, I 

 think that this tendency speaks very well for the 

 future success of any tea undertaking in Java. 



JEQUIE RUBBER SYNDICATE. 



The ordinary general meeting of the above was 

 held on Friday, at the offices, 30, Mincing-lane. 



Mr L T Boustead — chairman— presiding said 

 his task would have been a much easier one if 

 he had had an opportunity during the past year 

 of visiting the estates. . . . 



Both as regarded the plantations and the 

 rubber forests the 



ESTATES WERE WITHOUT DOUBT THE FINEST IN 

 THE PROVINCE. 



Their area was upwards of 80,000 acres, and 

 they had about 540 a^res planted with rubber 

 trees ranging from three to five years old, and 

 a further 60 acres or so cleared, which would 

 be planted up in the wet season. Mr Frank 

 estimated that the 



PLANTATIONS CJONTAIN SOME 325,000 TREES, 



which was a very considerable asset. With 

 regard to the rubber forests, the results of 

 clearing some 236 acres had been of a most 

 satisfactory nature. They averaged about 



300 TREES TO THE ACRE, 



and Mr Frank wrote chat he had several 

 thousand acres of forest equally rich in rubber 

 trees Comparing these figures with those of 

 the best of African forests the number of trees 

 was very great, for there, he believed, they could 

 not boast of more than 25 trees to the acre. 

 He was bound to recognise the fact that the 

 funtumia elastica was a more valuable rubber 

 than the Jequie, but the latter, as the brokers' 

 reports showed, if shipped in regular quantities 

 and in the form of the samples which had been 

 sent over, would fetch a very good price indeed. 

 In fact, they hoped, with the additional machi- 

 nery which had been sent out, to obtain an 



AVERAGE NOT FAR SHORT OF THAT OF EASTERN 

 PLANTATIONS. 



Shareholders might be surprised at such a 

 small area having been cleared during the past 

 year, but it must be remembered that the syn- 

 dicate started with a very small capital — only 

 £5,000 being available for working capital. Since 

 the date of the balance-sheet the working 

 capital had been increased to £ i2,000 ; with the 



CLEARING OF THE FOREST COSTING WELL UNDER 

 £1 PER ACRE, 



they ought in the coming year, and the year 

 after, to be able to make very considerable exten- 

 sions. They had only indicated an extension 

 next year of 1,000 acres ; but he saw no reason 

 why, when the tapping season was over, they 

 should not clear the undergrowth from at least 

 2,000 acres and possibly more, as ample labour 

 was procurable. They had asked Mr. Frank to 

 make a census showing number and girth of 

 rubber trees, and this would be of great value 

 in framing future estimates of crop. Mr. Frank 

 estimated that he had a 



