April 2, 1888.) THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
655 
telograms which '.live the lie the. one to the other 
followod with their comments, and thus the agita- 
tion is kept up. 
I mention these two cases as a sample, and I 
give them because I got the particulars from eye- 
witnesses. 
The slave question here is like the other white 
slave question in an older country : nothing will 
be done for the social or commercial improvement 
of the Empire, until it is settled in some way. 
The question of the rights of property is the 
fundamental idea pervading both. The kind of 
property in tho old country represents a few squaro 
acres upland, and in the new the right of owner- 
ship in human flesh. Thank God for many years 
we Britons have denied the latter right. Let us 
hopo wo may by-and-byo settle amicably the former. 
A. bcoi'i Blaoklaw. 
25th Nov. 1887. 
COLOMBO COMMERCIAL COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
Kki'oiit to be presented to the Thirteenth Ordinary 
General Meeting of the Company) ou Wednesday, the 
15th day of February 18^8, at 12-30 o'clock p. m, 
Tho following annual accounts are now presented to 
Shareholders, viz.: — 
Profit und Loss Account for the year ending 30th 
September 1887. 
Balance Sheet made up to 30th September 1887. 
As shown by the first named account the year's opera- 
tions have resulted in a profit of £568 10s lid, which, 
with the balance of £32 'is 7d brought forward from last 
year, gives a total of £000 10s bd at the credit of profit 
and loss. The Directors propose that £589 17s b'd of 
this sum be devoted to paying a dividend of 3j per 
cent on the Preference Shares for the year ending 
30th September last, aud that the small balance 
i)l £11 2s Od be carried forward to next account. 
Judging from the Directors' last Annual Report 
Shareholders will at onee see that the above result 
is disappointing to the Board, a considerably larger 
profit having been expected by them. The causes 
which have brought about this result are as follows. 
A very heavy and unexpected fall occurred during 
the year in the" value of Cinchona Bark, the price 
falling so low that it hardly covered tho harvesting, 
shipping, and landing charges. In consequence of 
this depressed state of the Market the harvesting of 
Baik on tho Company's Estates was stopped, and only 
a email portion of the estimated quantity came forward, 
l ie L'oliee Crop also fell short of the small original 
estimate. It i9 found that Tea planted on land which 
has already been under Coffee takes longer to niatnro 
than was generally believed, and on this account tho 
Tea plucked on the Company's Estates fell short of 
expectations. For these reasons the receipts of pro- 
due from tho Company's properties were far below 
tlin estimated value, and to this falling-off is entirely 
duo the poor result Bhewn in the year's Trolit aud 
Loss Account. 
With regard to the above Products tho Board are 
now ablo to report that tho price of Cinchona 
Bark has slightly improved, tho unit value begin 
&b6ut 2jd as against the extremely low prico 
of \h\ per unit ruling for some timo last year. 
Tho Coffro Crop will be about the same as last year, 
but prices have recently fallen eousidorably. The 
yield of Ton from the Company's Estates will very 
luigoly exceed that secured last season. The Com- 
pan) now has 1,071 ncros nndor Tea, of which 621 
in. are upwards of throo years old, and should 
produce leaf freoly, even allowing for tho fact that 
most of the Tea is planted on land formerly under 
Coffee, on which account tho Tea bushes require 
longer timo to develop, tho roots having to get 
dei'p down into the soil. All the Ten is reported 
to be growing remarkably woll, and taking into 
account the ago of tho Tea a good average yield 
per acre is expected. The pneus of Ceylon Tea 
are just now ruling somewhat lower than last yeas. 
Tho treatment and manufacture of large quantities 
of Tea on the Company's Estates necessitate the 
erection of extensive Tea factories with rolling and 
tea firing machines, and the motive power for dri- 
ving them. On one of the Company's Estates this 
work has been satisfactorily carried out during tho 
past year, and the Board are now proceeding with 
the equipment of the other Estates, the work being 
carried out with every possible economy consistent 
with efficiency. 
Since the decadence of Coffee in Ceylon nearly 
tho whole of the mercantile profits of the Com- 
pany have been devoted to the planting and up- 
keep of the Tea on their Estates, and this has 
been the case during the past year. The Board 
are able to report a satisfactory increase in the 
Company's general business operations, and these 
should steadily extend as the Tea industry increase. 
*** It will bo seen that the estimate of this 
year's tea crop is nearly double that of last year. 
It is believed that there are nearly 200,000 acres now 
planted in tea in Ceylon. 
Coffee. Tea. Cinchona. 
cwt. lb. lb. 
Estimate 1888.- 170,000. 23,000,000. 11,000,000. 
During the year the Machinery Accbuht has been 
increased from £903 14s 2d to £1,000 7s 2d., and it is 
the intention of the Board to write off a portion of this 
amount each year so soon as profits permit. 
Mr. John Brown, Chairman of the Board, left for 
Ceylon in December, and will inspect the properties in 
which the Company is interested. Mr. Brown retires 
from office ou this occasion, and, being eligible, offers 
himself for re-election. 
Messrs. Deloitte, Dever, Griffiths ci Co., the Auditors, 
also offer themselves for re-election. — By order, 
J. AtEc. Roberts, Secretary. 
London, 7th Feb. 1888. 
Balance Sheet, 30th Sept, 
Dr. 
Capital authorized :— £ a d 
10,000 Ordinary Shares of 
10 each ... ... 100,000 0 0 
20,000 0 per cent Preference 
Shares of £5 each ... 100,0)00 0 0 
1887. 
£ 
B d 
£200,000 0 0 
£ ad 
70,000 0 0 
18,loU 0 0 
To Capital issued — 
10,000 Ordinary Sares, £7 
paid 
3,(330 Preference Shares, 
£5 paid 
,, Debentures 
,, Bills Payablo ... 
,, Loans, Ceylon ... 
„ Sundry Creditors, Ceylon 
,, Sundry Creditors, London 
,, Profit and Loss Balance... 
Cr. 
By Colombo Establishment— £ fa d 
Freehold Premises, Build- 
■ inirs, Machinery, (to... 20,600 0 0 
,, Estates ... ... 70,000 0 0 
88,150 O 0 
7,400 0 0 
6.21 G 13 0 
6,100 0 O 
ft.tJSO O 9 
3,057 4 a 
000 10 0 
£117,501 17 
As per last account... 
Machinery, as per last 
account ... ... 903, 1 1 3 
,, Mathiuery erected in 
Colombo during the year GU0 13 o 
£90.000 0 O 
£1,600 7 3 
Amount secured on Frn hoM 
Estate* ... ... 3,891 0 O 
Advance* otimiud Crops ... II,:*.*: 10 9 
Sundry Debtors, Ceylon ... S 3 
Stock o( Bones, Storm, 
1 uruituiu, Jtc, in Coylou 0,183 5 0 
