Dec, I, 1893.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
413 
tbia adding 20 per cent, for estra tea lead, bosea 
etc., we have a considerable item, b-u<^, to meet all 
this we have ooly an advantage of RlO extra per 
maucd, in net reeulta of rupees, aooas and pie. In 
the abore calcnlation we are not taking into account at 
all the advautagea to be reaped by the industry, sliould 
Buoh a millenium ever ooour in tea aa to get planters 
all to agree to placli one quality of leaf. This year 
we are told that oommon teaa have declined so muoh 
on account of the quantity of pour teaa being sent 
forward by Ceylon, and from all we can learn there 
is little doubt that coarse plucking has been the 
rale in tha spicy Isle this year. In thia competition 
for the race of premier, there is, we think, no 
doubt that Assam can at any time take the prover- 
bial cake — and by Asfam we mean " Assam proper,'" 
and not the Indian tea industry. Assam proper has 
its drawbacks as well as other places, and were it 
not for these the other districts would long ere now 
have bad to take a back seat. Ihe soil and climate 
of Assam are admirab'y suited for tea. and were 
the distance from seaports not eo great, and the 
diflBculty of enpplyiog labor removed, investments in 
tea in Assam would have realised more tlian even the 
most sanguine could have expected. Sylhet, Caohar, 
and the Dooars, exist only by being more favorably 
aituated, less isolated, and eojoying, with the exception 
of the last mentioned, a more salubrious climate, 
enabling the North-West coolie not only to 
live but to flourish. To climatic influenoea 
far more ia due in the quality of the season's crop 
than ia generally credited, and thia year it has been 
amply demonstrated as Sylhet, Cachar, and epecially 
the Dooars, stand out lor the poverty of quality in 
the liquors of their teas, due, doabtleaa, to the 
want of sunshine necessary for the promotion of rapid 
growth, 80 essential to good results in cup. The 
growth tbia year has been slow, and the leaf, instead 
of being Boft aa a kid glove, has shown fibrous ten- 
dencies, except on one or two occaaiona when the leaf 
oame with such a bunt, that it waa imposaible for 
plantera, even with good margins of withering space, 
to do full justice to ita manipulation. Many planters 
are opposed to very fine plucking, on the ground that 
Obins would look in again, but we do not think that 
this need ever be feared, as China seems to be finding 
outlets for ita teas, in other markets, and is not likely 
to retnrn to ita old love agaio ; and beaides, the 
planter with Ceylon at bis back haa only to change 
hia syatem of plucking, to put a stopper on that, 
and very quickly too. The greatest block in the way 
of fine plucking ia the dread of what Ceylon would do, 
but we contend if it were possible to manage it at 
all, that a aystem of fine plucking would be to the 
best interests of all in tea, aa the prices would re- 
main longer at present rates, and paying a return to 
the investora ; whereaa, if the present mania for 
quantity at the expjnae of quality goes on India tea 
will bo even a greater drag in the market than 
Chinese ever wap, and nothing but baokruptoy can 
stare in the face some of the older conoeros now 
struggling for exislence. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
THE SCOTTISH TKUST AND LOA^^ 
COill'ANY OF CEYLON, LIMITED. 
The following is the Report by the Directors of 
the Scottish Trast and Loan Company of Ceylon, 
]>imited, which was to have been laid before the 
Sixteenth Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders, 
to be held at the Company's Office, No. George 
Edinbiu-gh, on Tuesday. October 31st. 
The Directors present their Sixteenth Report, being 
for the year to Hist August, 1S93. Estates in Com- 
pany'* Possesssion.— The net return from the Com- 
pany's Estate.s and Factories is £5,722 63 lOd for 
1892-03, as compared with X'3,954 7s Id for lciyi-y2 
affording evidence that the working of the six estates 
has been managed in an efficent manner by the Local 
Superintendents, in conjunction with the Company's 
Advisers in Colombo, Messrs. Cuniberbatch Ai Co. 
Duriii;; tlit- year under revi<,'w b»cus have liuctuated, 
but the average lias been n9t satiafaotory. Tho 
sales of produce have been carefully supervised by 
the Resident Director in London. The produce on 
hand at 31st August, 1893, has all been realised 
since that date, with the exception of a small 
parcel of cinchona, estimated at £12 value, and is 
entered in the Balance Sheet at the amount actually 
realised. The outlay on Buildings and Machinery, 
amounting to £855 15s 4d, has, as in former years, 
been debited to capital; but against this £1,595 10s 7d,' 
one-fifth of the total of such outlay aince 1888 has 
again been written off. The Visiting Agents of the 
Company report the Factories and Machinery to be in 
good condition. A new factory is being erected at 
Bookside, which the Directors are advised will 
enhance the value of that estate. Mo>-t<ja;/es held in 
Cei/lon hij the Companii : — The Loans made in Ceylon 
have been reduced during the year by the aum of 
£6,000, and the Securitiea for those remaining are 
reported by the Visiting Agents as ample. The inter- 
est has teen well met, and the arrear of £186 Os 6d 
shewn in the Accounts appended has been received 
since the close of the financial year. Debenture Debt : 
The Balance outstanding has during the year been 
reduced by £2,050. Of this sum £1,550 was due for 
repayment at maturity, and the Directors redeemed 
a further sum of £500, which did not mature until 
Martinmas, 1894. Accounts : — The Balance at the 
credit of profit and loss £ g. d. 
Account is 7,579 8 1 
£ s. d. 
and the Directors purpose — 
To pay a Dividend of 5 per 
cent, per annum free of 
Income Tax 2,250 0 0* 
To pay a Bonus of 5 per 
cent., 2,250 0 0 
4,500 0 0 
To write down " Real Estate 
Account" by 1,250 0 0 
5,00 0 0 
Thus leaving 1,829 8 1 
to be carried forward to next account. 
The Dividend and Bonus will be payable on 11th 
November next. Under the rotation fixed by the 
Directors, Mr. James Haldane retires from office at 
this Meeting ; but he is eligible for re-election in 
terms of Section 14 of the Articles of Association. 
The Auditor for the current year falls to be appoin- 
ted,— By Order of the Board, Fkakcis A. Bringloe, 
Secretary. 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
Tea Sales and Tea Saotles.— Tha question of 
heavy supp ies of tea and the difficulty of tasting 
the numerous samples on which we have commentea 
so often ia referred to in the last 'issue of the Pro- 
duce Market Review. With the large quantity of 
47,000 packages ot Indian tea, necessitating the tast- 
ing and valuing of aomething like 1,400 samples, saya 
the authority we have mentioned, it is not eurpriaing 
that prices were irregular. To add to the difficulty 
of grappling aatisfaotorily with such a number of 
samples it often occurs that the teaa are not ready on 
application at the warehouses which is either due to the 
want of consideration ahown to the trade by the im- 
porters or inability on the part of the warehouae-keepera 
to deal with such a weight of tea. However the remedy 
rests with the owners, and this can only be met by 
not issuing the catalogues until the teas are absolutely 
ready for tampliug, and by giving instructions that 
samples must be ready on the first application, 
which would aave a considerable amount of time and 
expense. The largely increasing imports no doubl 
severely tax the ability of the waxeliouaea in the 
matter of bulking, aa the room at their diaposal for tbi* 
purpose, which iu the paat, when supplies were aioall, 
nas snffioieat to eniatc prompt exocution in tbii 
* Note.— 'I'wo and a lialf per cent, of this was paid 
as au interim Divideud at Whitsunday, X8y3. 
