THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST- 
[Jan. I, 1894. 
this we have no doubt -will be testified to by 
the Comisfiiouer. He ought surely to have a 
grant of tea from the " Tea Fund Committee " 
to use in his Court ; and why not also have 
both him and Mr. Foster nominated Honorary 
or Deputy CommissionerR to represent Ceylon at 
San Francisco ? If the Government could be 
taoved on the recommendation of the PlauterB' 
Association to give a nomination-letter of 
this kind, it would cost nothing ; but it 
could not fail to be much appreciated by the 
recipients and io strengthen their position 
amazingly among the Caiifornian officials. 
It would serve too, to bind Mr. Foster with 
his extensive tea interests, to the Ceylon 
product and to a personal permanent in- 
terest in the Colony. Failing such a letter 
of appointment from Government, we thi«k 
the Planters' Committee might ask their 
Chairman and Secretary to issue (under the 
broad seal of the Association !) a letter re- 
cognising the position of Messrs. Foster and 
Cockburn as representing the tea interests 
of the Colony in the " Ceylon Court " of 
the Caiifornian Exhibition. After reporting 
to us what they had done in ordering some 
hundred pounds' worth of useful and curious 
Ceylon exhibits to show off the Court, and 
in arranging for supplies of Ceylon tea of 
superior quality, Mr. Cockburn adds that 
" recognition by the planters would be some 
reward for a great deal of hard work in their 
interests, while an appointment as Honorary 
Commissioner at San Francisco would un- 
doubtedly give one a better status " and 
^vould, in our opinion, enable more to be 
done for the products of the Colony, more 
especially tea. 
111E KOliTH AND SOUTH SYLHET 
TEA COMPANIES (LD.)- 
it 1b on behalf of the above Companies that Sir 
john Muir, Bart., of Deanston, acil Mr. P. B 
Buchanan of Leadenhall Stie3t are now in our 
luidst. Eaoh Comp»ny has a capital ot a million 
Bterling with £600,000 paid up, and to this 
£200,000, in each casp. is to be added for the 
purpose of acquiring new land in Ceylon and 
Assam and opening out tea estates thereon. 
It is proposed erelong that both Ccmpanies 
shall be Bmalgamated into one large Public Com- 
pany with a quotation on the Loudon, Glasgow 
and other leading Stock Exchanges. 
The present estates of the Companies are mainly 
situated in Sylhet and the Dooars and they 
comprise an aiea of C4,323 acres of land of which 
20,376 acres are planted with best jat from 1 
to 10 years old. These estates are most fully 
and permanently equipped in every way, the 
block cost on 30th November 1892 being 
£1,037,821, or nearly £50 per acre— so that it 
is no wonder they are deemed amcng the 
finest tea estates in the world. Their crop 
in 1888 was 6,678.379 lb. But in 1892 it in- 
creased to 8,359,972 lb.— the cost, including all 
charges in India and at home, being elightly under 
6d per lb., which must be considered very mode- 
rate. When in full biaring the area now planted 
should yield 12 million lb. and at a lower cost 
for production. From 1882 to 1887, no profits 
yiw wade i but >Q 1837 and 1888 the profits 
yielded to ebarebo'.derB eoropoond interest at a 
per cent per annum for the eix years. For the Uel 
four years, an average dividerd of 12 per cent 
per auDum has been paid. Last year, tbr oet 
profile after paying all intered on Loecs and 
Deposits wae £95,8h2 and nfter paying 12 per cent, 
£22,847 was ra'ried forward in addition to 
£20, COO previously at credit of Reserve Account. 
It will ibuB be Been that the Compaoy is a very 
EUCcetHful and a very strong one. And now tbe> 
want to extend their operations into two more 
of the best tea fields in the world— AeEam, 
with its finer quality of tea ; and Ceylon — 
wherd tea can be produced frcin first-claee eslatea 
at a lower coEt even than in Sylhet and the 
Dooars." 
The Directors (ffbo include beeides the gentlemen 
already named, two Messrs. Costs cf Fsieley. Sir 
Bobcrt Drummond MoncrciSe, Bart., of Monoreifle 
and M(B re. Murray and Brown, MercbantB, Qlas- 
gow) ''have fully coniiidered the qiuslien of over- 
supply and they are of opinion that this danger 
docs not exist seeing that the annual ocnsumption 
cf tea in the world, exclusive of tea-producing 
countries is 450 million lb., and of this qtiantity 
India and Ceylon, which produce the fiuoet tete 
in the world, only contribute 170 million lb." 
This is very reassuring and we caanoMHomplain 
of the Estimate, for we believe its origtoal source 
is our own compilation fcr "The Ceylon Band- 
book and Direotcry." Still, India imd Ceylon 
DOW produce fully 200 million lb. between them, 
and it will be a bard fight before tbev drive China 
out of BuEsiaand North America. No doubt it has 
to be done and will be done and we shoald hail 
any movement which draws the Indian «ud Ceylon 
planters clcreer together so that they may fight 
" shoulder to shoulder" in the Etruggle againet 
China and Japan teas. 
What Sir John Muir himself thinks of the 
prospect may be judged from the fact that be 
holds £100,000 stock in each Company and that 
he intends to increase his holding by £50,000 in 
each— making £300,000 in all, or nearly one-filth 
of the whole capital subscribed. 
We cannot but wi^h well to Companies with which 
the future prosperity of Ceylon is likely to be so 
closely identified. 
In this connection we may formally welcome 
tbe establishment of the Colombo branch of Messrs. 
Fmlay, Muir & Co. of Calcutta, which will com- 
mence businets on Monday, the lllb, inst., in tem- 
porary offices in Messis. Bcsanquet it Co.'s block of 
buildings, Messrs, Wm. Walker, C- G. Ballingall 
and A. Fairlie— members of the Calcutta 
House — are to be iu the meantime resident in 
Colombo and to sign the Firm. Mr, Walker 
has had altogether fifteen years' residence in 
Calcutta and will probably be going home from 
Cclcmbo after the busineES here is fully started. 
Three such notable additions to our mercantile 
community are not cften mede all at once and 
we give Messrs. Walker, Ballingall and Fairlie a 
hearty welcome. Sir John Muir and Mr. P. B. 
Buchanan have started upccuntry on a visit to 
the planting d'stricts and propose returning via 
Batnapura and the Kaluganga to Ealutara. 
A BOOM IX TEAVAXCOEE. 
A fea-planting correspondent writes to the Jladrag 
Times : — A small boom in Tiavancore places a 
going on, and the cheaper oi;es are being picked 
up rapidly. If the railway goes to Quilon a verT 
large acreage will te turned' into tea wi cocoa, 
