38 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
fJotT r, 1893. 
the space of three calendar monthg from the dato 
of the deteiminatioD of the coutract. Every suoh 
connent ai d approval shall be eudoraed on the con- 
tract by the peieon giving tuch content or approval." 
With regard 10 the syatem on which the death- 
rate is lo be calculated, it is etated that the Indian 
Immigration Agent has been instructed to follow 
ihs forma in use in AsEam. After a complimentary 
reference lo Mr Turner, the manager of the Company 
owning the estatee, His Bxoellenoy alludes to the re- 
marks of the Committee with regard to the manage- 
m( ut of the Byrem estate boepital which involve a 
severe censure on the Colonial Surgeon and acquits the 
doctor of any intentional neglect. He aUoaoocpts 
an explanation with regard to the evidence of the 
mantiger of the Byram estate which the Com- 
mittee bad charaoterized as untrustworthy. The 
point which the "Straits Independent" makes is that 
the Report of the Commission had not been made 
public. 
THE GOVERNMENT DAIRY. 
Adjoining the Agricultural School is a very toe 
building capable of aooommodating about 75 or 
80 cattle. It is substantially built and tiled, the 
stells being ranged round an open equare, and from 
a sanitary point of view it is quite a model. Mr. 
C. Drieberg the principal of the Agricultural 
School and Mr. C. A, Lye the Colonial Veterinary 
Surgeon have taken a great deal of perecnal in- 
terest in the starting of the dairy and by the 
arrangements they haye made one might say that 
there is abdolut^ tio risk of the milk becoming 
contaminated as there is in the case of cattle 
stalled in ordinary byres. The stalls are 
strewed with coir dust and it will be readily 
undetstood how serviceable a material this 
is in a byro from its power' of ab- 
sorption. Everything offensive is removed as 
quickly as possible /tnd there is an air of cleanli* 
ness about the building that at once strikes the 
visitor. With rei^ard to the dairy appliances" up 
to date " is a phrase which exactly describes them. 
The most modtrn of separators and measures are 
used, and the milk is nicely cooled by being passed 
through a refrigerator in a room which it is 
intended to fit up with a patent window over 
which water will continually trickle so that the air in 
the apartment will be kept always cool. At present 
there are about 80 cattle in the stalls and the 
milk they yielrt is of first-rate quality, giving cream 
as thick as butter for which we should fancy 
thtre ought to be a good market in Colombo. 
The cattle recently imported from India are im- 
proving in condition wonderfully and the calves 
of which there are a dozen (and more expected) 
are thriving very wall. Mr. Lye regularly inspects 
the cattle and see that they receive every 
care and attention. 
INDIAN TEA SHARES. 
Our cootemporary Tmth publishes the foUowiog 
letter :— 
INnlAN TBA companies' 6HAHES. 
Old Cavendish Street, W., May 5, 1893. 
Dear Sib.,— I have read with much interest your 
article on this subject. While coinciding generally 
with your views, I venture to make one or two 
qualifying remarks. 
1. You are correct, that the eyes of investors, 
lurge and email, have recently been opened to the 
sound nature of these companies. While, however, 
there has been a rise in values, there are still 
shares in good companies which can be bought on 
favourable terms, provided buyers are prepated to 
pick up those \vbich ^t^ of^ei^d for ci<tl@- 
2. You are no doubt rlgbt to reecmmend eautioo 
in buyiog, bat you appear to unduly accentuate the 
risk (sic) attacbiug to the tea induvtry. lu thf ea*«, 
particularly of the larger comfiMiiM, this risk (al- 
though it docs perhaps exist) ia greatly minimised — 
(1) by the eatateB being aprtsd over wide areas, t^nb- 
jeet to different climatic couditiona ; &Ld (2) by the 
oompaniea poaieeBing larger rerervea of unOi\.d«d 
profit, applicable, ia unfavuarable eeaaons, to equalu- 
atioo of dividends. 
3. As regard* the " icheat " and the " ehafi" (to 
quote your own words), I would sierely say (1^, tbst 
the proportion of "cbaffia, reiative ly, tmall ; and 
(2) , that among the " wheat " tbare are, in addition 
to the companies yoa mention, many other aound 
concerns, among which might be mfeotioDed Aeaam 
Frontier, Borelli, Jbaozie, ScoUisb Afsam, Botok»i, 
Cbubwa, Indian of Cachar, Lungia, ^a. 
4. Ae rcgarda the yii-ld to inTettore afford«il hf 
recent diyidends, yon appenr to have rather uuder- 
e&timated tbcm, many even of the " marktt " atoeka 
returning from 6 to 7 p«r cent. 
6. It ehoold be borne iu mind ihat aome of the 
companies do asd others do not pay interim dividend* 
in December. The following, exceptionally, do nor 
distribute interims, and beiice cow carry tbe entire 
dividend — viz., Darjeelin«, Ji^rctiiut, Indian of Caobar 
Soottiiih A«satu, North Sylbet, and South Hylbet. 
6. Id regard to your special re-marks, your opiorin 
ia correct that Jokai ia tbc CoosoIn of tbe T«a 
Market ; Jorehaut and Lebciig as solid and 
eubetautial companiea, Brabuapjotra and D ood- 
Dooma as tbe crram of A8»ain, but tbe yourger 
Dcoars Conipariy properties ahoald not be overlooked 
(both its Ordinary and l'ref«-rtuce Sb&rrs) — cow great 
favourites with iDveetort — nor tbe Ordii.ari/ and Pre- 
ference Shares of tbe Ceylon Tea PlaDtatioa Cok- 
pany, which may be called the ('outolt of tbn CeyJon 
Com psnief.— Yours faithfully, Anou) Indian. 
We are obliged to " Anglo-Iudiau " fc r bis 
letter. Investors will decide for tbemaelves whether 
they will look through bis ruH>--coloured epeotaties 
er through ours of plain glaes.— i/. ^ C. M»il, May Id. 
NETHERLANDS INDIA : INTEJiESTING 
NEWS. 
COFFEE. — THE BATAVIA EXHIBITION. 
The Home Government have decided upon selling 
by auction at Batavia, this year, one hundred 
thousand piculs of Java coffee. The Netherlands 
Trading Company advised against it, on the ground 
that the Government coffee crop in Java, this 
year, is so short, the estimate being 150,000 piculs ; 
and that the course adopted would lessen the quan- 
tity offered for sale in Holland. The Batavia Ex- 
hibition is short of funds. The expenses already 
reach one hundred thousand guilders, which have 
exhausted the proceeds of a lottery held to raise 
money to meet the expenditure. A second lottery 
is talked of, and the Governor- General is said to be 
not disinclined to sanction another lottery, so that 
there seems to be no fear of a deficit or a call 
upon the guarantors. TLe Queen and the Queeu 
Kegent of Holland have put at tbe disposal of tl'e 
Batavia Exhibition Committee: 6 gold, 8 eilver, and 
8 bronze medal for oompe'ition. The Governor-General 
has given one thousand guilders aa contribution 
towards the cost of medals and prizes. 
The Batavia Kieuv>sblad ootsider.s the sudden rise 
in tobacco prices in Holland as astounding and in- 
explicable to people in Java. For instance, 4U0 balen 
from the Deli es'ate of St. Cyr reached the enormotis 
price of 370 cents per unit, and one brand attained 
,the rate of 400 cents. When it ia borne in tuind that, 
in former days of big tobacco prices. 230 cents were tht^ 
highest rate quoted, people do not know svbat to make 
of t>)is violent reaction from the recent very low prices. 
Advices from Menado in Celebes, to the 23rd April, 
mention activity on the part of a volcano there, called 
Lokeo, which had been looked upon as extinguished. 
On the 29|h March, it saddeuly began to ibov signs 
