June i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
839 
1,600 acres of land planted with tea, and 
fully provided with buildings and machinery 
at £40 per acre ... ... ... £61,000 
1,000 acres of jungle at £2 10s... ... 4,000 
Total ... £08,000 
The jungle land, although adding greatly to the 
value of the property, gives no roturn, and if you add 
its cost to that of the dividend-yielding portion, you 
have a total of £12 10) per acre. This is a little over 
10,000 pence — a hundred hundreds — so that for every 
10') 10. per acre of yield and for every penny per lb. of 
net profit on that yield, the estates should give 1 per 
cent of dividend to the shareholders. Thus a yield of 
450 lb. per acre and a nett profit of 4d per lb. 
would show a dividend of 4'50 x 4=18 per cent. 
There is one point which I explaiued at the last 
general meeting, but which, as I see many share- 
holders here who were not then present, it may 
be desirable to go over again. I daresay, every share- 
holder may not take the trouble to go over tho 
Memorandum and ^Articles of Association of the 
Company, and may wonder how these estates come 
to cost less than the amount paid to the vendors, 
viz. £75,000. The explanation is that what the vendors 
sold to tho Company was not only the four estates 
of Mariawatte, Dunodiu, Dewalakaude, and Semba- 
watte, but these estates along with their profits for 
1886 : they handed over to the Company not only 
the estates, but £11,361 5s 3d in cash, and this cash 
balance has formed the working capital of the Oom- 
pauy. I may state that by the Memorandum and 
Articles of Association tho Directors cannot use this 
money to pay dividends with, as it is part of tho 
capital of the Company, and can only be used for 
capital outlay, such as planting new fields, purchasing 
additional land or machinery, or erecting additional 
buildings. Part of this capital, amounting roughly 
to £4,000, has beeu already expended in this 
way. Such, gentlemen, is the general position of the 
Company, bat I have no doubt you will expect 
me to give you some particulars regarding 
the individual estates. I will begin with the 
first in the statement, which, by the way, is also 
the most interesting not only to us shareholders, but also 
to Ceylon tea planters generally — Mariawatte. 1 think 
I may fairly say that this estate is unique in the his- 
tory of tea-cultivation, and that the splendid results 
obtained from the original 100 acres so early as 1884 
gave a marked stimulus to tea-planting iu Ceylon. In 
1888 these 100 acres gave 550 lb. per acre ; in 1884 
tho yield suddenly jumped up to nearly 1,100 lb., au 
unprecedentedly high level which the estate has since 
very well maintained, the exact figures for the past 
4 years being as follows : — 
1884 1,092 lb. per acre. 
1885 1,170 „ „ „ 
1886 1,059 „ „ 
1887 1,126 „ „ 
The youuger tea is not yet mature, and I cannot say 
if it will ever equal the original 10<> acres, but one field 
in 1887 gave 700 lb. per acre. Tho soil is a deep rich 
ferruginous loam, eminently suited, for tho growth of 
good toa. In January of this year an addition was 
made to Mari iwatto by tho purchase of Atgalla estate 
for £1,800. This land is not of the same kind as 
Mariawatte, but the purchase has added considerably 'O 
the value of the property: half of tho now laud will 
grow very lair tea, while tho timber enhances tho value 
of the estate. The climate of this whole plant ition is 
perfect for tea growing. I know tho climate well. It 
was a source of great loos to mo as a railway con- 
tractor, but abouutiful Providence bus many compensa- 
tions, and my compensation for the Nawal.ipitiya rail- 
way slips has been tho Mariawatte tea: what was 
death to the radway contractor has been life to tho 
tea planter. Mariawatte is situated in a hollow sur- 
rounded on all sides by bills which intercept tho vapour- 
laden clouds ul' both monsoons. The fury of the storms 
bursts on the outward slope of these hills, but tho 
"tail-ends" as one may say pass over and fall upon 
Mariawatte, giviug just the kind and quautity of rain- 
fall required for tea. Tho factory is, as most of you 
know, a very large and fine one. When the original 
owners of this estate erected so largo a building, they 
were thought very extravagant, but I believe it will be 
found none too large in a few years. The young trees 
are coming on very well, and we are doing a large and 
increasing manufacturing business. 
Turning now to Dunedm and Dewalakaude, I may 
tell you that the crop on th< se estates has been very 
short owing to the drought ; the rainfall from Nov. 
1886 to March lb87 inclusive was only 2-5th.s of the 
average for the same 5 mouths in the 5 previous 
years. For my own part, I am never concerned about 
shortness of crops from abnormal drought; it gives 
the trees a/viutering, and we will get the tea when the 
weather changes as it must do some time. The 
superintendents report that they never saw the 
trees looking better. I will now say a word about 
Sembawatte and its daughter Mudamaua. The share- 
holders would notice that a new estate had made 
its appearance iu our statement. This is how it 
happened. The Government wanted to recover pos- 
session of 400 acres on the crest of the hill for 
climatic reasons and offered us acre for acre else- 
where. To this proposition we readily assented,' as 
this part of the estate was of quite inappreciable value 
to us. The land we have got in exchange is good and as 
it adjoins a block of 60 acres which we owned and 
which by reason of its smalb ess was of no value to 
us, we have practically got laud for a new estate of 
507 acres without any outlay at all, and one which, I 
hope, will someday be a fine tea estate. 
I will now make a few remarks about the cost of 
production and price obtained for our teas. These I 
consider highly satisfactory to the shareholders as well 
as highly creditable to the management in Ceylon. 
In view of the enormous devolopment of the tea- 
growing industry, I think it is as plain as the nose 
on a man's face, that we must make every effort 
to keep the quality of our tea high, and the cost of 
producing it low. I do not think, however, that we 
will ever be able to put before you results much 
mora favourable than those shown in the statement 
for this year. Possibly many small economies may 
be effected, but on the other hand we cannot expect 
to go on getting these large crops without 
manuring. I have the authority of Mr. Hughes, the 
analytical chemist, for stating that an average ciop of 
tea takes as much out of the soil as an average crop of 
barley or oats, and iu view of this, I think that manur- 
ing cannot be long deferred, and that, when it begins, 
we must look for increased cost iu the production of 
tea. In the short time we have been in existence as a 
Company, we have built up a considerable commission 
business which has this year gone a good way towards 
paying our London expenses, and as this is a growing 
business, I have no doubt that next year the whole of 
these expenses will be defrayed from this source. 
Before concluding, let me say a few words about the 
administration. And first, ahout the constitution of 
the Board of Directors. When this Company was 
inaugurated, the men who were chiefly interested in it 
and who formed the original Board, were not tea- 
planters, nor yet commercial men, but engineers and 
railway contractors. Wu soon felt that there was 
an element wanting in our body. We wanted a 
man of good standing in tho City of Lmdon with 
a thorough knowledge of commercial and banking 
business, and we unanimously agreed to ask Mr. David 
Ueid, of 7, Mincing; I.ano, to qualify and join tho 
Board. This he agree.! t.i do, ami his appointment 
was effected by tho me; bo, I of procedure laid down 
in clause 52 of the A. i eies ol Astoeiati n. T > piss 
to another point : — my eoUeagtll s and myself think 
that however important it in ly be to have a good 
Board of Directors, a uiitter of still greater import- 
anos— I may say of importance — to the share- 
holders is to have iu Ceylon a Manager In frhOM 
judgment and probity they can place enure mfldence 
and superintendents of ohvWwr and ability. I ran 
as-mro the shareholder* with the most unqualified con- 
fidence, for I speak from the 1,,-st p. r- u,l k:i I.;e. 
that iu Mr. Rutherford aud his staff these conditions 
are well fulfilled. 
