February i, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
otter be accepted, the Directors will be careful 
to retain in their own bands all mining rights. 
The Directors have provided that out of the present 
issue £20,000 shall be appropriated as working capital, 
which should be ample ; but to provide against con- 
tingencies 16,000 shares (say £30,000) will be held in 
reserve for issue if required, for further working capital 
or o,her purposes of the Company. Messrs. Loos and 
Van Cuylenburg, one of the leading firms of solicitors 
in Colombo, will oertify that the title deeds and leases 
are all in order, and no part of the purchase money 
will be paid to the vendors until the properties are 
transferred to the Company with a good title free 
from incumbrances. 
The vendors, who are the promoters of the Company, 
will sell the proprietors aDd leases, aud undertake to 
pay and indemnify the Company against all expenses 
of the establishment and promotion of the Company 
(except brokerage and the fees payable to the Govern- 
ment upon the transfer of the property to the Com- 
pany] tor £50,000 (payable as to £11,500 in cash, and 
£38,500 in fully paid up ordinary shares or in cash, 
or partly in cash aud partly in such shares, at the 
option of the Directors) and the right to the allotment 
of the Founders' shares at par, under the terms 
of the undermentioned contract of December 5th, 
1889, and thereout the vendors will satisfy all their 
engagements. This will leave a working capital of 
£50,000 as above mentioned. 
GEMMING IN KAKWANA. 
January 6 th. 
Messrs. W. Saunders and Barrington Brown have 
been in the distriot some days. They are staying at 
the Resthouse, and for the present have been visiting 
gemlands and ruak ng diverse enquiries. The Hon'ble 
Mr. Saunders, c. m, a., had acoompauied his brother 
but left after a thoit stay, a special coach conveying 
him to Ratnapuia, There was a great sale of gem on 
Botiatenne on Saturday last. The proceeds were over 
R2,000 for the gems from one pit, and over R900 for 
the gems from another. The lucky proprietor who 
gets bis l-5th from all sales must be congratulated. 
The Botiatenne pits have always paid well, and the 
proceeds of the various sales must have by now ex- 
ceeded R40.000 on the spot. The pit owners would 
have to deduct expenses and interest on capital sunk, 
before making any profit out of the gems sold, but 
the owner of the land gets l'5th without much ex- 
pense, save that of a couple of representatives to watch 
proceedings and guard against thefts as well as illicit 
gemming.— Looal "Examiner." 
THE PRIESTMAN OIL ENGINE. 
A correspondent oalla our attention to the following 
notice of this engine in the Electrician of Dec. 20th. 
Since its first introduction, some few years ago, the 
Priestman engine has been considerabley improved, and 
as a consequence, it is now steadily making its way. 
The uses to which a reliable portable engine, requir- 
ing little attention and few repaii a can be put, a,/e 
so numerous that ii; is not surprising to find an engine 
like the Priestman which fulfils these requirements to 
so large a degree, should be in great demand. For 
driving dynamos in connection with installations in 
country houses, a good oil engine is especially useful. 
One special feature of this engine is that it uses 
the common petroleum oil of commerce and not petro- 
leum spirit, which has a very low flashing point. The 
general arrangement of the engine is simi!.»r to a gas 
engine, the cycle being the same as that of the " Otto." 
The power is ob'aiued by forcing the oil, which J s 
oontained in a small tank, by means of v'r pleasure 
into a, vaporiser, where it becomes mixed with the 
requisite quantity of air to form a combustible charge 
which, being heated, pat-ses into the cylinder. Here 
it is at first corrpre-sed and then fired by an electric 
spark. The exhaust passes away round the vaporiser 
a«d forms the heating power for the incoming cherge, 
aud thence passes into the open air through au exhaust 
pipe. The engine requires little or no attention after 
starting, and can be safely left to run on by itself. 
The cost of working is small and no driver is required. 
By reoeat improvements in the engine, the oil consumed 
has been as low as 1*2 pints per actual horse-power 
per hour, which at the present oost of oil is less than 
Id. ppr actual horse power per hour. No lubricating 
material is required for the oylinder, as the charge 
itself does all that is necessary in this way. The most 
geneial form of the engine is the ordinary horizontal 
type, two forms of which are supplied — one being the 
engi. e itself mounted upon asubstmtial pole plate and 
having a separate tank for circulating water, the oilier 
form consisting of the engine mouuted upon a substantial 
oast-iron tank or water vessel, wheih in itself forms a 
massive foundation. In addition to the horizontal types, 
a portable engine has lately been introduced, 
and at the present time the construction of both launch 
and tramcar engines is under consideration. Many minor 
improvements have lately been made in the construction 
and working of these engines, more particularly so as 
to ensure economical and reliable working, and to still 
further simplify the attention necessary. A new form 
of electrical battery has been added, which is an ordinary 
storage ceil whioh will last for from two to three 
months working daily, and is easily recharged. 
As an additional proof of the value of this engine 
we have only to add that it secured the silver medal 
of the Rojal Agricultural Society at Nottingham last 
j ear. 
» 
NEW STAPLES IN UPPEE BUEMA. 
Experiments on an extensive scale of new staples are 
being made in Upper Burma and the Shan States. 
The result of the experimental cultivation of wheat in 
the Shan States has not proved very successful, still 
the authorities have distributed to some of the Chiefs 
about 5,400 lb. of seed who have promised to make 
another trial. Wheat, which was experimented on in 
the Toungoo and Shwebo districts and tobacco in 
several other districts, have both proved almost a 
failure, while the latter plant in Saigong was devoured 
entirely by insects. It is satisfactory to learn that 
tobacco cultivation was more encouraging in Lower 
Burma, especially in the Pegu and Amhurst distriots, 
the leaves obtained there being almost equal to the 
best samples. As regards vegetables, the prospect is 
more encouraging, particularly in the Upper Ohindwin 
and the Jungdwin Valley where beet, onions, lettuces 
knol-kohls, sag, and tomatoes flourish luxuri intly.— M, 
Mail. 
AGRICULTURE AND THE RICE DUTY IN 
BUEMAH. 
Today we publish in another column the concluding 
part of the Chief Commissioner's Resolution on the 
Revenue Administration of Burmah for the year 1888- 
89, in which our readers will find many points of 
interest. We think everyone will agree with the argu- 
ment therein adduced on the subjeot of the export 
duty on rice. Theoretically the tax is objectionable, 
and when it becomes possible to ro.nit taxation, this 
tax should be one of the first to go, as it would handi- 
cap Burma were other rice-pr ducing countries to 
compete more seriously than they do in supplying rice 
to the markets of the world. But at present the tax 
does very little harm. It is practically equivalent to 
rather less than a rupee per acre in the land revenue 
charged on lands cultivated with rice; and the increasing 
cultivation and growing exports show that, so far, itisno 
impediment to the progress of Buima as one of the 
chief suppliers of rice to the world at large. Iu some 
special markets, perhaps, it helps to exclude Burma 
rice ; but so long as we can get, as we do, customers 
for all we can supply at present, and can get remun- 
erative prices for it we can afford to let a few minor 
markets go. In th ir case even it is probably not the 
export duty alone which excludes Burma rice, but the 
export duty plus the greater distance from these 
particular markets. Theories are very good things in 
