February i, 1890.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
529 
" THE GEMMING AND MINING CO. OF 
CEYLON, LIMITED." 
This mail brings us a oopy of the prospectus of 
the first registered Ceylon Gemming Company, and 
a very long and interesting document it proves 
to be. The Company also forms the subject 
of a good deal of information in our London 
Letter including a referenoe in the City article 
of The Times from the Seoretary of one of the 
rival "Gemming and Mining Syndicates" 
whioh, to say the least, is not very generous, 
although from the similarity of names it may have 
been thought necessary to prevent mistakes in 
identity. No doubt the Syndicate which has sent 
out Mr. Barrington Brown — known popularly in 
Ce>lonas Messrs. Saunders and Harding's Company 
— deserve credit with British capitalists for taking 
the prudent step of having a professional expert's 
opinion before trying to launoh a Company. This is 
the course also followed by the second Syndicate pro- 
moted by Mr. Davis of Messrs. Gow, Wilson & 
Stanton, whose agent Mr. Fahey has just arrive! 
in the island. At the same time, we were bouud 
to say in defence of the oourse adopted by gentle 
men with so mueh local standing and experience 
as Messrs. Geo. Vane, o.M g , Thos. Dickson and 
E. T. Delmege — who, with Mr. P. E. Linthilac 
(Messrs. Dufour Bros. & Co., Director Gold Trust 
and Inve-tment Co.) and Mr. Charles Sehmalz 
(Messrs. C. Sohmalz & Co., Diamond Merchants 
Paris) form the Directorate of the Company whose 
title heads these remarks,— that they have a 
thoroughly good answer to the implied criticism of 
Mr. G. T. Verney in the London Times. Their pros- 
pectus shews this, in pointing out that they require 
no expert's report as to gems being found in the 
principal properties they have secured. The gems, 
gemmf rs and gempits are all there : the work is 
even now being prosecuted — the business this first 
Company takes up, is in fact " a going concern' 
only requiring proper, practical management and 
scientific appliances in m-ichinery &o. to develope an 
industry on the scale justified by the capital now 
to be expended. That capital moreover is of a 
more moderate amount (£100,000) than the 
sum (over £300,000) projected in connection with 
the first Syndicate, and we believe that the 
Directors and their friends are prepared to take 
the entire responsibility even if the general public 
do not oare to seoure any part of the shares 
offered. Indeed this news is confirmed by a card 
from one of the Directors written just as the London 
mail closed on the 20th ultimo and stating that 
at a meeting of the Board then sitting, " they 
had deoided to go to allotment." Another fact 
in favour of this Company is that they have 
secured looal Directors in Messrs. C. E. H. Symons, 
Jaoob de Mel and S. C. Obeyesekere with Messrs. 
Delmege & Co. as local Agents and the New O. B. C. 
as Bankers. But the main point in their favour is 
their acquiring outright the Everton and Aberfoyle 
estates — the prioe paid being over £11,000 sterling 
— and mining rights over Rangwelltenne, Springwood 
and Barra estates. While Everton has been a 
mine of wealth to gemmers for years, the other 
properties are reported to have valuable gem lands 
and some plumbago deposits. Along with the 
prospectus the Company have issued a rough sketch 
map showing the position of all these properties, 
the distanoes to Colombo, &o. On the baok of this, 
there is a whole page devoted to extracts from 
the Ceylon Observer, and our book on " Gold, 
Gems and Pearls in Ceylon and Southern India " is 
speoially quoted in the prospectus. Should suooess 
therefore attend this Company and others to follow 
whioh have been indebted for information to the same 
67 
source, a percentage of the profits should be set 
aside for the compilers 1 But to resume, the 
• rrangement made in acquiring mi ung rights over 
the estates name I strikes us as an eminently < quiiable 
■ ne — indeed a very t'avou-able one to the proprietors. 
They are to be paid first of all Rl per acre per annum 
over the whole extent for five years ; 2ndly, 
compensation by valuation for any damage to 
planted land in opening pits ; 3rdly, an expenditure 
of at least £500 sterling on each property in 
prospecting is guaranteed ; and 4thly, the proprietors 
are to have 20 per cent (l-5th) of the actual profits 
from gems found on these estates. Nothing could be 
fairer to estate owners than such terms, although 
it would almost appear a better bargain for Mining 
Companies to buy estates outright at the ourrent 
rates of value for tea-bearing fields. 
Since writing the above, we learn from the 
looal Agents — whose advertisement will shortly 
confirm the news — that the capital of the first 
Company registered had all been subscribed 
before the mail left in the proportion of one-fourth 
by the public and three fourths by th» wealthy 
Companies behind the promoters that from ihe 
first undertook to float the concern on the infor- 
mation placed before them. It is certainly a 
curious fact that nearly all the richest of our 
Sinhalese are known to have made much of their 
money out of plumbago, the Messrs. de Mel, 
Fernandos, Paulis Silva, &c. — In the Financial News 
of December 17th, we find the prospectus of the 
Company headed with the following curt notice : — 
" The subscription will open on Thursday the 19th 
instant and close on or before Friday, December 
20th." Not much time allowed lor the publio to 
subscribe I From the editorial columns uf the same 
paper referred to we take the follow ng : — 
Ceylon, whichhas from tinoe immemorial been fam°d 
for its gems — sapphires, rubies, oriental topaz, garnets, 
amethysts, cinnamon stone and catseyes — has at last 
attracted the attention of the company p.-omott-r, and 
:fc is announced that a comp iny has now been forme d 
to carry on the gumming industry in a systematic 
manner, on a large scale and with the aid of the 
best of machinery and of engineering skill. Mining 
for precious stones has long been a paying business 
among the Singhalese, who have carried it on in the 
primitive manner, with very imperfect appliances ; 
and it is believed that, with the advantages that the 
new compauy will enjoy, the industry may lie developed 
into one of great importance arc! profit. Gemming is, 
of course, one of the most speculative forms of min- 
ing, but it is one which, when it does pay, pays hand- 
somely. 
We now quote rather freely from the prospectus 
itself — this being the pioneer of, we trust, a good 
many similar Oeylon Mining and Gemming Com- 
panies ; — 
Gemming and Mining Company op CeYi.on, Limited. 
— Incorporated under the Companies acts, 1862 to 
?888. Capital £100,000, Divided into 49,950 Ordinary 
Shares of £2 each, and 50 Founders' Shares of £2 
each. 
A special feature of this undertaking is that some 
wel. -known Ceylon gentleman h*ve allowed their names 
to be identified with the enterprise, and have c mseuted 
to give the bent-tit of their experien e to this compmy, 
and will be upon the spot to overlook the w irking and 
management of the gemming industry. Messrs. Del- 
mege, Keid & Co., of Colombo and Galle, who ar^ in- 
terested in some of the undermentioned properties, have 
expressed their willingness to aot as looal agents, and 
the London Board consider this a guarantee to the 
shareholders that the anticipations contained in this 
prospectus will be fully realised. 
This Company has been formed for the purpose of 
acquiring the freeholds (subject to a small Govern- 
ment license) of the well-known Estates of Everton 
(native name, Kabragallakelle) and Aberfoyle (uative 
name, Kalkanda), being a portion of some of tha cioU j^b 
