May I, 1889.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
78s 
THE ORIENTAL BANK ESTATES COM- 
PANY, LIMITED. 
The Company has been in operation since June, 
1886, and has regularly paid dividends at the rate 
of seven aud five per cent per annum respectively 
on the preferred and ordinary share capital, and 
through the economy now proposed to be effected by 
the issue of debentures, the prospects of the ordinary 
shareholders will he correspondingly improved. 
The Company was formed to purchase from the 
Official Liquidator of the old Oriental Bank, the large 
estates and assets in Ceylou and Mauritius referred 
to in the Company's original prospectus. The Com- 
pany has since purchased other valuable estates and 
assets, both from the Official Liquidator and other 
persons — the cost of their present holding being over 
£400,000, the whole of which has been paid, aud the 
latest valuations of the properties are considerably iu 
excess of this sum. It will be seen, therefore, that 
these properties alone — without taking into consider- 
ation the value of the crops — constitute ample security 
for the debenture issue. 
Estates in Ceylon and Mauritius thk Property op 
the Company. 
Ceylon. — Bellwood, Oraigie Lea, Daugkande, Darra- 
wella, Delmar, Dene, Dodangalla, Donoughmore, For- 
est Creek, Glen Devon, Haviland, Haddington. Hene- 
gahawelle, Hunugalla, Kondesalle, Kuda Oya, Lindu- 
patina, Lonmay, Looiecondura, Mahaberiatenne, Ma. 
hawatte, Naranghena, Newmarket, Nilcomally fths, 
Siunapittia, Stelieuberg, St. Coombs, Summerhill Wal- 
oya, Wattewella. 
Total acreage 12,953 acres. 
Under Tea . 
„ Coffee 
Coco . 
Mauritius.— 
acres. 
4,129 
637 
604 
acres. 
1,158 
80 
6,345 
Under Cinchona ... 
„ r !ardamoais 
Grass, Forest, &c. 
Britannia, Cent Gaulettes. 
Acreage 3,547 acres. 
The Company is also interested in the following 
Estates: — Beau Sejour, Ooustai.ce, La Paix Mon 
Choix, Mon Songe, Mont Piton, Bon Air, Highlands, 
Combo. 
Acreage 9,572 acres. 
The Company has thus become the owner of 30 
free unencumbered properties in Ceylon, having a total 
area of over 12,500 acres, of which iu round num- 
bers over 4,000 acres are cultivated with tea of differ- 
ent ages, not all yet in full bearing ; 600 acres with coffee 
600 acres with cocoa ; 1,000 acres cinchona, aud 80 acres 
cardamoms, the rest being grass land, virgin forest, &c. 
The Mauritius Assests purchased from the Official 
Liquidator, comprise the Cent Gaulettes Estates, 
and large iuterests in the Beau Sejour Estates, 
Hud the Highlands Estates, also in the Bon Air 
Estate. The Company has since purchased and paid 
for the very valuable estate called Britannia, free and 
unencumbered. The factory on this estate has been 
entirely reorganized and fitted by the Company with 
the best modern appliances and the whole provided with 
an abundant water supply. These changes have greatly 
increased the value of the property. The total area 
of the Mauritius properties is about 13,000 acres. 
The estates both in Ceylon and Mauritius are well 
cultivated, in excellent condition, and supplied with 
first olass machinery and are within easy distance of 
the local railways which pass through or close to 
many of the properties. 
The crop of Tea from the Company's estates for 
the present season is estimated at about one million 
lb. of made tea, aud the yield is expected to increase 
annually as the properties come into full bearing. 
The Company's teas command a gowd price in the 
Loudon market. Large quantities of Cinchona, Coffee, 
Cocoa and other produce are also grown on the Com- 
pany's estates in Ceylon and sold in the London market. 
The Sugars are mo tly sol I a road. The total value 
(if produce which the Company is selling annially, 
from its own estates aud from thoso in which it is 
interested, is over £160,000, and the amouut is ex- 
pected to increase considerably. 
AN IMPORTANT RULING IN COMMERCIAL 
LAW. 
The opinion handed down Tuesday, March oth, by 
the United States Supreme Court in the case of 
the Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Co. 
is one of paramount importance in commercial law 
and of special interest to the business world. The great 
question involved was whether a steamship company 
can limit its liability for its own negligence. The de- 
cision of the Court is that it cannot. 
In this case the company had stipulated in 
its bills of lading that it should not be liable for 
the negligence, default or error in judgment of the 
navigators of the vessel. The vessel was stranded on 
the coast of Wales. On the trial in the lower court 
it was found that the stranding was due to negli- 
gence on the part of the vessel's officers. The com- 
pany then claimed that even in that case it was 
exempt from liability by the express stipulation in 
its bills of lading. 
The Supreme Court holds that the stipulation was 
not valid in law, for the reason that no steamship com- 
pany nor any other common carrier has any right or 
power to make such a condition. The Court says: 
No public carrier is permitted by law to stipulate 
for an exemption from the consequences of negligence, 
The fundamental principle upon which the law of 
common carriers was established was to secure the 
utmost care and diligence in the performance of their 
duties. 
A carrier who stipulates not to be bound to the 
exercise of care and diligence seeks to put off the 
essential duties of his employment, 
Nor can those duties be waived inresptctof the 
servants of the common carrier, especially where the 
latter is incapable of acting except through others. 
To admit such a proposition as that, the law merely 
demanded abstract carefulness aud diligence in proprie- 
tors and stockholders who take no active part in the 
business would be subversive of the very object of the 
l.w. 
The Court further holds that English law cannot 
make such a stipulation valid in case of a contract 
made in this country, for in such case our own law 
governs. " The fact that the vessel went ashore on 
the coast of Great Britain is quite immaterial." 
The far-reaching importance of this decisirn 
is apparent when it is considered that it settles, 
by the highest court of the nation, a vital point 
in the law governing not only ocean carriers bat 
also all railway companies. In the case of land 
carriers the question has often been discussed, but not 
always with satisfactory or harmonious results. State 
courts have sometimes decided one way and sometimes 
the other — bohiiug both that a common carrier can and 
cannot limit its liability fo. its own negligence by a 
stipulation to that effect iu its bill of lading. 
AH controversy must now end, and all doubt is re- 
moved by the decision of the United States Supreme 
Court. This decision will have a revolutionary effect 
on both ocean and land bills of lading-. It will make 
a dead letter of the clause exempting the company 
from liability for its own negligence. 
That accords with justice. To permit common car- 
riers to escape liability by a stroke of the pen 
would be to put shippers at their mercy. Mer- 
chants must ship goods by steamer and by rail. They 
are forced to accept the terms and conditions of the 
carrier unless protect^ 1 by law. But the law as 
now interpreted by the Supreme Court imposes an 
important limitation on the power of the carrier. 
The carrier is not permitted to take an undue advantage 
of the shipper, is not allowed to force upon him a 
one-sided bill of lading. 
It must use care and diligenoe in the transportation 
of goods. It must pay for losses due to its o.vn neg- 
ligence. It cannot escape that liability by astipula- 
tion in its bills of lading.— N. Y. Herald— [All this 
is souud commonsense and applicable to the Oeylon 
Government Railway. — En.] 
