THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May X, 1894.' 
cents (=2Jd to lOJl per lb.) The prinoipal bny<r8 
were the Burnswick, Auerbacb, MaDuheim and 
Amsterdam QuioiDe Works, Mr. Uustiv BriegKb, tb« 
Fraokfort fiotory, and Meseis. Mattbea and BormeeB- 
ter. Of 23§ tons of quinine in the J ark, 20 tous were 
sold. — Chemist and Druggist, April 7. 
PRODUCE (TEA, COFFEE, &c.) COMPANIES. 
LoNLiON, April 13. 
April ia the month ia nbioh the arger pro- 
portion of the 
COMPANIES 
connected with Oeyion and having offices here issae 
their annaal reports. Three of these, those of the 
Eastern Produce and Estates Company, of the 
Haputale Company, and of the MaduJsima Coffee 
and Cinchona Company, are forwarded to you with 
this letter. That of the Mahaousa Tea Company, 
although issued, was refused to me on the ground 
that the directors did not whh the full details 
of it published. I was, however, obliged with 
certain leading points of information respectiog 
it. The capital is £18,000, and the dividend de- 
clared for the year 8 per cent. There has been 
placed to reserve £877 10s 2d, whilst £168 17s 9d 
has been carried forward to the next account. 
The Eastern Produce and Estates Company made 
a profit of £30,409 18a 3d, and after paying interest 
on debentures, £20,045 IQi 3i remain available. 
A dividend of only 3 per cent can, in accordance 
with the Articles of Association, be paid pending 
the reduction of the debenture debt below £50,000. 
This dividend absorbs £8,974 Is Od. £11,034 2s 3d 
is applied to paying off debentures. This account 
is now reduced to £170,880, and the date for 
paying off this amount has been extended from 
the original term of seven years for a further 
term of three years. The Company has 9,750 acres 
under tea. The crop for 1893 was 2,638,000 lb. 
which sold at an average of 8|d per lb. The total 
average of the Company's estates is 17,273 acres 
which include 92 acres under coffee, 426 under 
cocoa, and 281 cardamoms and sundries. 
The Haputale Company's report states that the 
gross profit for the year was £4,720 2s 5d, of 
which £3,701 6s Od is available for dividend. 
This is proposed on the preference shares at the 
rate of six per cent, less income tax. It will 
absorb £3,462 16s 2d, leaving £238 9s 101 to be 
carried forward. The report informs me that the 
season had been favourable for coffee, and that 
this crop had been over 1,600 cwt. reaching 
a gross average price of 105s 3d per cwt. againsts 
£107s 6d in the year previous. The estimate had 
beau for 1,200 cwt. only, and that figure is adopted 
for the current year. Tea bad yielded £2,787 
against £1752 in 1892 and £1065 in 1891. It 
is announced that the Colombo Agency had 
bean accepted by Messrs. Oumberbatcb & Co. 
The Madulsima Coffee and Cinchona Company 
only made a profit of £54l'4'0. A dividend of 
three per cent on the preference shares, less in- 
come tax, is recommended. £294-2-7 will be 
carried forward. Only slightly over 100 cwt. 
of cofiee was obtained, and it is found the 
product cannot in future be looked to as 
a source of much profit. Tea yielded £5416 
against £4123 in 1892, and £260J in 1891. 
The total average under tea is now 1300 acres. 
The total debentures issued amouat to £10,050. 
the report reeeived on the estates from Mr. 
Nattol is considered satisfactory. On the death 
of Mr. A.T. Karslakethe agency of the Company 
iu Ceylon has been undertaken by MesscSi Oum- 
'berbatob & Co.— Londoo Cor, 
VEGETABLE PRODLOTS LV CHINA. 
Some curiosities of the rise and fall of certain 
commercial vegetable produclB may be gathered from 
a report on the trade of Pakhoi for the jeaj 1»92. 
In some remarks on the export of essential oils the 
most noticeable developments are said to have be n 
made in Star Anise and Cassia, the former from 
llliciam verum and the latter from Oinnamomum 
cassia. The advance in the value of Anise oil was 
from il5,185 in 1891 to £35,579 in 169.', and in 
Oassia oil from £13,074 in 1891 to £41,408 iu 1832. 
(yhinese traders, who alone have any knowledge of 
the trade in Star Anise and essential oil', assert 
that this extraordinary increase is due solely to iu- 
creased production, aud further state that every 
alternate year there is a large increase in the trade. 
This latter statement, bowtver, is only partially 
verified by the customs returns for past years in 
the case of Star Anise, aud not all in the case of 
essential oils. The Consul gives it as bis opinion 
that the increase, in part at any rate, is to he ac- 
counted for by a change of route— that whereas io past 
years these goods have been sent ia native boatito 
Macao by the West Kiver, last year, possibly ovring 
to increased taxation by the route, the trade has 
been diverted to Pakhoi. The essential oils of 
Anise and Cassia are mainly destined for export to 
Europe, where the demand, stimulated no doubt by 
the heavy fall in silver, has greatly increased". 
Enquiries have been made by European firms with 
a view to purchasing the oils iu Pakhoi, but the 
trade is entirely in the hands of the Macao mer- 
chants established at Pakhoi, who prefer to send 
them to Macao before sale to foreigners, and shipment 
to Europe, and it seems improbable that they will 
ever be purchased at profitable rates or indeed at all 
in Pakhoi. ' Ground-nut cake has also advanced 
cous derably. This commodity is the refuse of the 
g ound-nuts (Arachis hypogaea;, after the oil has been 
extracted, and it is pressed into cakes and used 
chiefly as a fertiliser in China, for which purpose 
it is said to be admirably suited, and it is interesting 
to note that enquiries have been made from Europe 
with a view to its introduction for the same purpose. 
Its cost if purchased in Paknoi, according to the 
value as stated in the customs returns, would be 
about £'i 12s. per ton, wiih which freight, &c., to 
Europe would make its cost cons.derable. — Gardeners' 
ChronicU. 
^ . 
TEA COMPANIES' MEETINGS. 
THE KELANI VALLEY TEA ASSOCIATION, 
LIMITED. 
The eighth aunnal meeting of the Kelani Valley 
Tea Aatociatlon, Limited, was held 01 the 9th inst., 
at the offioes of the company, 16, Philpot Lane, to 
receive the annual report of the board of directors. 
Notice of meeting havinj; been read by the Se- 
cretary, and the report and acoounts baviug been taken 
as read, 
The Chairman, Mr. G. W. Paine, before sub- 
mitting the usual resolutions to the meeting, 
offered a few remarks on the position of the com- 
pany, going over the accounts in detsil, and re- 
marked that he trusted the shareholders would 
find all satisfactory. He begged to remind the 
shareholders that the company had still the 
sum of £1,285 to issue in debentnre.s at 5 per cent., 
and he also intimated that a call of £1 per share 
on the last issue of 1,000 shares would probably be 
made in about a month's time. He also stated that 
the purchase of Wereagalla and Parusslla estates has 
now been duly completed, and the balance of the 
shares allotted, and the further premiums received 
would be duly placed, as usual, to reserve fund. 
Deficiency in crop was due partly to the dry seasoo, 
aud p.irtly to helopeltis, which is very destmstive to 
the young leaves, but the company's manat^er had 
taken energetic measures to ktep down the Utter 
pest by setting coolies to catch the flies, aad they 
bad now nearly been got rid of. 
