THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. |>ne i, 1889. 
Settled down in this country, but my heart still 
clings in fond remembrance to the dear little spice 
island ; it is a sunny spot to me, full of kindly asso- 
ciations ; 'twas there a loved sister lived, and iu 
whose company on Slave Island I spent many 
happy hours. I often sing that well-known sony, 
" Oh would I were a boy again, when life seemed 
formed of sunny years," and tears well up in my 
eyes as I think of that little spot, and all the scenes 
pa«s in rapid succession through my mind. The 
last person I saw who came from there was Rev. 
Mr. Carter, Baptist Minister. I met this gentleman 
in Auckland, New Zealand, and you may be assured 
we had many hours of pleasant conversation over 
the place we both knew so well. How is the island 
prospering ? Is coffee planliog still the rage, or has 
it given place to tea ? Please give me all the news. 
If you can manage it, I would be exceedingly ob- 
liged by your sending me a small packet of tea 
and coffee seeds; I am very anxious to try how it 
will succeed here ; the climate is well-suited for it, 
the only drawback being want of rain, but they 
have irrigation, and that will answer the purpose. 
This is a grand country, and this part of it in 
particular (California) is very fine, the climate on 
the Pacific sea coast cannot be surpassed. You have 
a mild winter with a beautiful summer; where I 
am, it is about 100 miles inland, and hotter in the 
summer, the thermometer stands at 110 degrees in 
the shade most of that time ; in the wioter we have 
it down to 16 degrees above zero. There is another 
great advantage we possess, that is, that we have 
no heavy storms ; now in the east part of this 
oontinent they are subject to terrible storms and 
snow blizzards, the thermometer in many places 
going down as low as 60 degrees below zero. This 
state is very favoured, is a splendid wheat country, 
and can grow all kinds of fruit6. Railroads are 
being formed all over the country, and you can 
make the trip across the Continent from San Francisco 
to New York in 4 or 5 days, and in case you want 
to go to England steamers take you m between 7 
and 9 days. I suppose you have railways pretty 
well over Ceylon now, and Colombo must be much 
improved by the erection of its breakwater. I am 
glad to find that the Government have restored 
those fine irrigation works, which had fallen into a 
ruinous condition ; this will be the means of restor- 
ing that valley to its former prosperity. 
TOBACCO COMPANY OF NORTH BORNEO. 
In compliance with the provisions of section 39 
of the Companies' Act of 1867 the first ordinary gene- 
ral meeting of the shareholders of the Tobacco Com- 
pany of British North Borneo (Limited) was held at 
Winchester House, Old Broad-street, London, on the 
17th inst. Mr. J. Guthrie Davidson was in the chair. 
There were also present Mr. B. Bunge, Mr. Frank 
Shaw, Mr. David Brown, Mr. L. R. Glass and Mr. J. 
A. H. Wrought. 
The Secretary having read the notice convening the 
meeting, 
The Chairman stated that the meeting had been 
called in compliance with the articles of association . 
There was absolutely no business to transact, but the 
directors were glad to meet the shareholders and to 
have the opportunity of communicating to them 
what had taken place since the company had 
started. The directors had first of all made 
arrangements for Mr. Menzies, a gentleman of large 
experience in tobacco planting, to visit the company's 
property and to report upon it. He was a gentleman 
of very large experience iu opening tobacco plantations 
in Sumatra. Mr. Menzies was at Singapore, and left 
that dav for Borneo. According to the latest advices 
they had received they had a staff on the plantation 
consisting of a manager and four European assistants, 
who were required lor tlio purpose, of selecting the 
ground. Operations for opening up the new estates 
would be commenced as soon as they had arranged 
for native labour. At present there were on the plan- 
tations about 200 Javanese and Malays and about the 
same number of Chinese coolies. The Singapore agent 
was negotiating for the shipment of coolies direct ii om 
China. They could, of course, be put on the planta- 
tion much cheaper by direct shipment. All this, how- 
ever, took time. The manager bad reported that he 
was well iu hand with the preparations tor planting 
over 250 fields for the next crop. The weather had been 
unusually rainy, but neveithcjess the work was well 
forward. A telegram from the agent at Singapore 
of the 12th inst. stated that fair progress was being 
made with the planting. Last year's crop, which was 
purchased along with the property, had yielded over 
140 piculs. but it had not yet been shipped. Accord- 
ing to advices from the manager, this was the pro- 
duce of twenty fields. This crop, however, had been 
grown under considerable disadvantages. It was 
planted late, and had suffered from a very trying sea- 
son, there being an unusual number of insects. Not- 
withstanding this the property gave a yield of 7 piculs 
per acre, which would doubtless be larger under more 
favourable circumstances. The quality of the tobacco 
was reported by the manager to be excellent. Indeed, 
they had received information, from the spot that 
the quality of the tobacco from the Segaunan estate 
was equal to, if not finer, than that grown on the 
Lankat plantation. The following is an extract from 
Governor Creagh's despatch, dated Nov. 27th 1888 : 
— " Mr. Oallaghan, who is the Resident of the dis- 
trict, informs me that 100 bales will be exported 
from the Segannan estate, which is moat satisfactory, 
having regard to the reverses of the company dur- 
ing the beginning of the seaBon. One of the assis- 
tants of the Lahat Datu Estate told me that 
the Segannan tobacco is of finer quality than 
theirs, and as Count Geloes speaks iu very high terms 
of Mr. Voorwik's crop, the 100 bales from Segannan 
may be expected to realise a high price." (Applause.) 
The demand for tobacco land in Borneo seems still 
to be increasing. The last news from Borneo with 
regard to tobacco is contained in a telegram, which 
states: — "The Arendsberg Deli Company have taken 
up large concessions for tobacco. Planting prospects 
favourable." The manager of the North Borneo Com- 
pany remarks in writing to the secretary : — " This is 
the company which paid 152 per cent last year, so 
that the fact of their going to Borneo for land should 
be reassuring to British investors in tobacco enter- 
prises in our territory." Speaking of the prospects 
of the company, he said that the demand for land for 
tobacco cultivation in Borneo was increasing, and it 
was evident that this kind of property was much appre- 
ciated in this country. As evidence of this he alluded 
to the rapid manner in which shares of tbe r c cently 
formed tobacco companies had been taken up by the 
public, and argued from it a sound position for this 
company in the future. In conclusion, he said the 
directors would be glad to furnish the shareholders 
with any information they might desire that it was in 
the power of the board to give. 
Mr. Ptkb drew attention to the clause in the articles 
of association which gave the directors power to issue 
debentures to the extent of £50,000. He thought 
this too large a sum for the directors to be authorised 
to issue without consulting the general body of the 
shareholders. He asked the board if they would be 
prepared to take the matter into their consideration 
and refer to it at the next meeting ? 
The Chairman said he thought himself that the 
power of the directors in this particular was excessive, 
but it was not likely that they would ever exercise 
it, at any rate not in his time. 
Mr. David Beown explained that the clause in ques- 
tion had been inserted from some old articles of as- 
sociation, and because it was the cheapest way to go 
to work with advances. £50,000 had been put in the 
articles to enable the company to work on the same 
system if they wished, instead of calling up a large 
amount of capital. The position of tbe company was 
that they had really more money than they required, 
because they were obliged to call up £3 in order to 
get the settlement, instead of £2 as they originally 
intended. If the majority considered it advisable, tbe 
directors were quite willing not to issue debentures 
