62 
THE TROPICAL AfeRlCULTUtllS T. fjoLT i, 1893. 
VII. By Balance, Profit and 
Loss as per last 
statement 30th June 
1892 . . 4,480 36 4,992 27 
From last statement 
to 31at March 1893 511 91 
K18,577 83 
I certify that the balance sheet, to the best of my 
belief, contains a true and correct statement of the 
capital and liabilities and of the property and assets of 
the Company. (Signed) John Guthbie. 
Kandy, 3rd June 1893. 
We certify that to the best of our belief this 
balance sheet contains a true and correct statement 
of the capital and liabilities, and of the property 
and assets of the Company. 
(Signed) L. H. Kelly, W. D. Gibbon, Giles F. 
Walker and J. Munton, Directors. 
E. & O. E, A. Philip, Agent and Secy. 
Kandy, 3l8t March 1893. 
The Chairman in movaag the adoption of (he report, 
dwelt on the very much more satisfactory statement 
laid before the shareholders as compared with that 
presented at the first annual ordiuary general meeting 
Jast year. At that meeting it was decided to dispense 
with the services of Mr. H. B. Millar, the then Manager, 
and to generally reduce the cost of the Tea Kiosk 
establiBhment, which was done, with the reault, that 
the cost for Manager's salary, servants wage-p, &c., 
which had cost R3O40'57 was reduce! by aloutSO per 
cent; the amount for a timilar period that from 15th 
August to 3l8t March being brouKht down toE152l'49, 
while the cost of stationery, ofiSce forms, ftccouut,'&c., has 
been reduced from R560-47 toR8f90. Advertising &o., 
has been reduced from R362-6i to R22.5 notwith- 
standiog that this includes a full page advertisemeot 
in Cook & Sun's Handbook of Information to 
Travellers, the Orient Gnide and the Guide to Kandy. 
The item E675-93 against Manager, Tea Kiosk (Mr. 
H. B. Millar) is the further ascertained loss in work- 
ing the Kiosk up to 15th August 1892. Registration 
of trade mark iu Ceylon is of course an item which 
will not occur again. Sign Boards at railway stations 
have cost R360"ll. The gross profit on tea fold from 
August 15th to Ist March amounts to K1123-15 and 
shows that sales were well maintained during the new 
regime. The profit on sales of refreshment'! at the 
Kiosk amounted for 7^ months to R1651'79, the loss 
in the former statement of R141°50 on aerated waters 
being converted into a credit balanoe. Bent of stalls 
and space remains about the same. The most satis- 
factory feature of the Company's working being that 
oommicsion earned on general business amounts 
R1325-44 as against RI07'14 as per last statement. 
The returns show that on paesenger days the Kiosk 
ia well patronized and there never has been any 
question as to the excellence of the tea served in the 
cup. The ooDsiderable stock of tea left at the Kiosk 
by the late manager has been disposed of and only 
fresh monthly supplies as required vfill be kept on 
Bale. The time has now arrived when your directors 
consider it to the advantage of the Company to 
make fresh arrangements as to the working of the 
Kiosk while appreciating the care ard zeal with 
whioh the Secretary and Agent and his staff have 
carried, but the airangements and working when the 
late European Managers services were dispeoeed with 
the Board feels that for really eflacient working the 
kiosk requires European supervision on the spot-, and 
Mr. A. J. Sawyer has been appointed to take charge 
of the management under the Colombo Agents of the 
Company; the prices of the tea have all been revised 
and reduced. As regards the Export business of the 
Company, Germany, CoQgtantinople, France, Russia, 
ji«laQd, Syria, and India b»Te ftU bftd attentioo, in 
the last-named country tbo Chairman hope] to 
I obtain a fair share of the businers ol supplying the 
messes. 
The Chaiuman couclu led by expreaeinK the Bo&rd's 
appreciation of the setvices of the officers of the 
Company enl expressed a ttrorg convictloa that 
the enda for which the Company wag promoted 
would be attained and that matters were now placed 
on eucb a footing that at tbc ntzt annual g.-ceral 
meeting, he was sure that a most satisfaetcry re- 
port would be presented, and he saw every reaeoo 
to expect that ft dividend may then be recommended. 
The statement of the inccme and expenditure, 
and the balance sbtet made up to 3li-t March 1893 
together with the dirfotor's repott were then formally 
passed and adopted. 
Th« meeting thereof tec dispersed. A. Philip, 
Agent and Secretary. 
COFFEE. 
Sir George Bonhaui, Secretary to the British 
Legation at the Hague, notices in an otfi^ia report 
the approaching close of an interesting economic 
experiment in Netherlands India — that of the com- 
pulsory cultivation of coffee on Government account. 
About sixty years ago, the finances of Netherlands 
India were in an embarrassed condition and diffi- 
culty attended the raising of revenue from the im- 
poverishment of the people, especially in Java. The 
Dutch authorities in the island had ioherited from 
their native predecessors a system of compulsory 
labour and levying taxation in kind, so that a labour 
tax was in accordance with long established insti- 
tutions and familiar to tbe people. Hence, a labour 
tax in the direction of a compulsory cultivation for Uo- 
vernment of staple export articles was resorted to. 
The Government sold the produce and, from the 
profits realised swelling the revenue, the obroaic deficits 
soon ^avo p'ace to surp1us<>8 which continued until 
the outbreak of the Acheen War. Sever*! articles 
were experimented with until experience directed the 
retention of only sugar and codee for compuUory 
plant ng. Gradually, as Liber.il ide«B made way in 
Hollaud, the forced l.ibour principle mtt wi'h objection 
and the Government decHei upon leaving sjgar to 
free cultivation. Coffee remained untouched owing to 
its enormous revenue yield which rendered rash tam- 
pering with it iojudioious. In Java, every h"ad of 
a family in coffee-growing districts ha 1 to plant a 
fixed number of trees in plantations at a rate of fifty 
a year — and to keep a nursery of seedlings available 
under official inspection. The produce is sold by 
the growers to Govercment at a fixed priee 
much below the market value, the differenoe being 
reckoned as revenue. The coffee thus grown was 
sold in Java and Holland. La(te-ly, the exhaustion 
of the soil in Java and the grow u;; wealth of the 
natives have sueeested tbe substitution of free cul- 
tivation, and the levying of direct taxation. Tbe 
current of political opinion in Holland sets steadily 
that way, and the gradual subgiitution of free coffee 
cultivation is within measurable distance, but tbe 
important fiscal interests involved point to caution in 
furthering change. On the West Coast of Sumatra, the 
compulsory cultivation of coffee for reveoue pur- 
poses also prevails among tbe Malays under Dutch rule. 
The article is delivered to Government at a fixed price 
far below ruling quotations, and sold by the litter at 
periodical auctions in Padang. There, too, the forced 
cultivation has fallen into disfavour, and its modifica- 
tion accompanied by a poll tax on the Malays is faid 
to be under consideration by the Government. What- 
ever may be the economic object'.on to a labour tax 
of this kind, it has in the past done good Eecvioe m 
Java. In 1889, the quantity of coffee turned cut by 
Government and the planters came respectively to 
578,000 and 376,000 piculs, and that island's popula- 
tion has risen during the tixty years from six to about 
twenty four millions and tbe yearly revenue from 
thirty to one hundred and thirty two millions of guilders, 
