8 3 8 
TNC TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June 2, 1890, 
kept of the men allowed to work, so practically we 
are not in any way worse off than before. From my 
point of view I can see we are in an infinitely better 
position and are making at least a couple 
of lakhs which we lost before. By this ar- 
rangement they need not send their rubies to the 
treasury at Mandalay for sale, all that is now abol- 
ished. The Indian and local Governments have 
waived their rights in favour of the Company. " 
Prom this we learn that the native miners have 
been found willing to pay, and pay heavily too, for 
liberty of action as regards sale of the gems. One 
and a half to two lakhs of rupees per annum is 
no small Bum either for the miners to pay or the 
Company to receive. We learn the arrangpment is 
to last a year as a tentative measure, and that its 
adoption will do away with the necessity for the 
guard of Gorkha police and this again will be a 
savingof some R2,000 rupees a month, no small item 
in the annual cost of working the establishment 
at Mogok. 
When we come to the question of what the agents 
and employees have done during the twelve months 
that have elapsed since they ostensibly commenced 
operations in Burmah. We find it would be easier 
to state what haB been left undone rather than what 
has been done. The impression left on the mind 
after an interview with the executive engineer is 
that " but little can be said of what is being done 
on the property, the actual work of searching for 
pemB can hardly be said to have fairly commenced. 
What has been effected in spite of a host of diffi- 
culties has necessarily been more a work of prepara- 
tion than anything else. It is not easy for the 
outside public or the shareholders in so large 
an undertaking, to realise the immense difficulties 
under which it must of necessity be carried out," 
Thes6 of course are mere indefinite observations from 
the guarded statements of an employee who was only 
doing his duty to his employers in keeping a guard 
over his tongue when asked for information. Sir 
Lepel Griffin throws a little more light on the 
subject ; — " As to the work we have done, I may 
say we have not gone very far. The machinery 
is coming up and I am urging things on as fast 
as possible. I have relieved the Chief Engineer of 
all duty as superintendent because I saw he would 
be overburdened. With all the miscellaneous work 
he had not time to attend to his proper duties, 
but now he is quite free to go on with his en- 
gineering and ruby mining. Mr. Atlay will take 
over the duties of superintendent. He is agent 
now and he will have sole control of everybody 
except the engineering work, which is quite enough 
for one man and is after all the most important 
post. Mr. Brigham came from California six months 
ago, but I do not think there is work for him. 
He has suffered exceedingly in health and is 
anxious to leave, so I have consented to his going. 
I do not think he has enough scope for hydraulic 
engineering of the type they use in California, 
which is also a very expensive one. I think the 
native method almost as good." 
Knowing as we do the contemptuous terms in 
which Mr. Streeter ridiculed the native gem pits 
in Ceylon, we should like to hear what he has to 
say to the Chairman of his famous Burma Com- 
pany, stating as his opinion that it is "almost 
as good as " the costly and scientific hydraulic 
engineering with which mining is so largely con- 
ducted in the State of California. This by way 
of parenthesis. From the above utterances of Sir 
Lepel Griffin we may very fairly infer that he is 
not altogether satisfied with what has been done 
at Mogok. Expensive men had been engaged when 
there was nothing for them to do, for it 
must not be forgotten that Mr. Brigham 
who is now leaving the country without 
any practical advantage having accrued to the 
Company by his services, is not the only one 
who has done so. Mr. Robert Gordon was the 
engineer who selected the grant and took up his 
residence upon it. FindiEg however there was 
nothing for him to do, he accepted an offer in Siam 
and is now chief engineer to the Government there. 
The employment of these men must have cost the 
Company a very considerable amount for which 
little or nothing has been obtained in return. Sir 
Lepel Griffin went onto say: — " I am muoh pleased 
at the general aspect of affairs and am particularly 
convinced that if the work is carried on with 
energy it will be a great success. I think the 
difficulties have not been understood as to getting 
along the road, the amount of sickness and the 
almost impossiblity of getting machinery to the 
place until two months as>o. The road is a ghastly 
road still. I certainly told the shareholders so as 
plainly as I could, but I did not know it so well 
then as I know now. I have, however, greater 
faith than ever in the prospects of the Company. 
It wanted, as I have said, to be worked in a more 
energetic way and I hope this will be done. 1 ' 
Put into as few words as possible this means the 
past year has been very nearly lost as far as the 
Company is concerned ; it is nobody's fault, but the 
loss remains, and a great quantity of the Company's 
capital has been unprofitably squanderd. This ia 
from the Chairman of the Company, let us see what 
the comparatively uncultured Shan trader has to 
say : — " The officials of the place do not want the 
truth to get into the newspapers. The machinery 
sent out from England is scattered all over the 
district. It is like king Mindohn's iroD foundry 
and cotton mill, one part here and ons part four 
miles oft. If these things were reported in news- 
papers, it is probable that enquiries would be made 
as to who is responsible for the non-erection of the 
machinery, or at any rate for not keeping the parts 
together instead of in confusion, and some of the 
people at the Buby Mines might get into trouble. 
I do not think that working the mines on the 
present system will ever pay the Company unless 
they get the Government to reduce the amount of 
the fee they pay annually for the concession." 
SCOTTISH CEYLON TEA COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
(Special Eeport.) 
The first annual ordinary meeting of the Company 
was held at the Company's offices, 16 Philpot Lane, 
London E.C., on the 15th April last at 3 p. m. 
Mr. H. L. Foebes, the Chairman of the Company, 
presided. The notice convening the meeting was 
read by the Secretaries. On the motion of the 
Chairman the report of the Directors and accounts 
for 1889, as submitted, were taken as read. 
Mr. Fokbes pointed out that little was left for him 
to add, as the quasi prospectus and the report, now 
in the hands of the shareholders, gave all informa- 
tion regarding the progress and operations of the 
Company, but he would add the following remarks : 
" The first year closed on 31st December 1889, and 
gave a result of 16J per cent profit on the 12 
months' working. The Board led the shareholders 
to expect no dividend for past year, but I have 
now the pleasure to propose to them to divide 
4§ per cent. Contrary to the usual practice with 
new Companies, the whole of the preliminary 
expenses amounting to £425 lis 8d had been 
written off. Further a sum of £4,315 10s 2d 
had been expended on Capital account. Theee 
two items, together £4,741 la lOd, had been 
