THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. r, 1894. 
ORIENTAL BANK ESTATES COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
Directors.— Quintin Hozg, Chairman ; A'ex. William 
Crichton, Normau William Grieve, Jleury Kerr 
Rutherford. 
Report of the Board of Director* to be presented 
to the shareholders at the Eigth Animal Ordinary 
General Meeting, lo be held at Wi cheater Hon--, 
Old Broad Street, London, E.G., ou Thursday Ju'y 
86th 1894, at noon. 
The Direotors have pleasure in pretenting to Share- 
holder* their Report of Proceedings together with tl e 
accompanying Accounts for t!ie eighth year of the 
working of the Company. 
In the course of the year 1891, the Directors found 
that, owing mainly to the depletion (by tbe hurricane 
of 1892) of the workiog capital of the Company, a- d 
to the absenee of any Banking facilities in the Inland 
of Mauritius fion wh : ch they could obta u the usual 
financial assistance they had always previously received 
towards the up-keep of the estates during the five 
months prior to the harvest, soma fresh fioar.cid 
arrangements would have to be made i£ tbe operations 
of the Company were to be efficiently miintaiued. 
The New Oriental Bank Corporation, Limited, l;il 
fumiehed the balanca of the funds required for the 
above up-keep and cultivation expenses before its 
suspension, aud it was, after considerable negotiation, 
arranged with the Bank in l ; quidation that the who'e 
of theOompany's liability (thereto re presented by the 
4£ per cent Debentures hill by it to the extent of 
£132.600, and the floating indebtedness in Lord jn and 
Mauritius) should be consolidated and eliicha'ged 
by the issue to the Liquidation of G per cent Debin- 
turea to the amount of £150,000, secured by a mort- 
gage over the Ceylon properties of the Company, 
leaving all transactions with the Liqai lat on, sub- 
sequent to 31st December, 1892, to be settlod in cat b. 
This arrangement doos not interfere with the rights 
of the holders of the remaining 4£ per cent. De- 
bentures, amounting to £17,400, but they are at 
liberty, should they so elect, to exchange these 
Debentures for the new 6 per cent. Debentures, at 
the price set forth in the above arrangement, viz., 
£100 of the former for £65 of tbe latter. 
It was stipulated by the L : quidation tbat the sur- 
plus of £46,410 in the Company's favour, resulting 
from the arrangement above described, should be 
applied to 8'rengtben the position of the Company 
by writing down the values of various assets, which 
owing to the great fall in exihange, tho loss sus- 
tained through the hurricane, or for other reasoDS, 
required adjustment. The above amouot of £16,410 
bas therefore been to dealt with in the auntxid 
BalBnoe-Sheet, wherein the rate of exchange is takeu 
at one shilling for the rupee, and the Profit and 
Loss Account of the Company remains unaffecied. 
The arrangement above described has received tbe 
sanction of the Court, which is exercising supervision 
over the Liquidation, and also the assent of those 
interested in tbe Company who are oonversint wi'h 
the position of affair. The fact that the New Oriental 
Bank Corporation Liquidation was largely influenced 
in assenting to the scheme by regard for its interests 
as holding shares of both classes enables the Directors 
to report it with satisfaction to the Shareholders 
generally, as it not only frees the Company from heavy 
floating liabilities (exchanging them for debentures for 
• Jong term and reducing tho total indebtednessof the 
Company), but by inorea*ing the working capital, adds 
largely to its stability. The net proflts of the Com- 
pany, being released from the obligation to repay l he 
above floating indebtedness, are thus left free for tbe 
ben fit of the Company itBelf and of its shareholders. 
In Oejlon the Company's tea crop, during the 
period under review, amounted to 1,485.295 lbs, as 
aga'nst 1,363,714 lb. in the previous year. The gross 
average price wm 8Jd per pound in London, and the 
cost f.o.b. at Colombo varied with different cs'ates 
from 4 - 53 pence to 6 67 pence per pcuud. The Ceylon 
oocoa crop suffeEj'd much fnm drotght during the 
year, and only 826 cwls. of cccoa were harvested, 
realizug gross 78j per cwt. as against 1,417 cwls 
realizing gro's HOi per cv.t. in the previous jc-ar— 
a total dimieu'ion in value of tbe crop for tbe year 
of over £4.000. 
Mr. H. K. Ruthtr'ord visited tbe Ceylon Estates of 
the Company during tbe months of .November, Decem- 
ber aid Jinuiy last, aud reoom in ended certain cbanpes 
in the lccl administration, wbioh neve been carritd 
OQt, including tbe appointme'it of Mr. J. If. Campbell 
as General Manager in tbe Island. 
In Mauritius the crop of rugar dealt with by 
tho Company on its own eautee and those in which 
it is int-rctfd amoauttd to l-',876 ton', as against 
6,783 tons in 1892-3, aud 11,201 tone in 1891-2 
end 10,100 tons in 1890 1. The results ot the work- 
ing of the Company's Estates in Ceylon and 
Mauritius respectively are given to the Profit and 
Lo>s Account, calculated at tbe aveiage rate of 
rxchange for tbe >ear, vis., 1/3J. 
Toe ocst of all machinery, plants and buildings 
supplied during the year in both islands has been 
paid out of the profits for the s sine period. 
After making provision for tbe payment of in- 
terest on the Debentures, there r< mains a balance of 
£14,483 2s 5 1, out of which the Directors recommend 
that a dividend of 3s 61 per sh»re on the Preferred 
Shares le pa d, ai.d that £6,000 be placed to Reserve, 
leaving the sum of £1,325 5i 5d to be carr ed 
forwa d to the next account. The dividend now reoorn- 
mcuYtd as above will, if assented to by the Meeting 
be piyablc on the 1st August, 1891, at the Bisliopsgate 
Street Office of tbe Company's Bankers, the National 
Provincial Dink of England, L'inited. 
Hio appointaieutB of Mr. A. W. Crichton and Mr. 
W. Cotton ltohde as joiht Managing Directors of t* e 
Company were terminated by consent, and Mr. W. 
CJtloa Rolide retired from tbe Board iu May last. 
Mr. Quintin Hogg, of No. 23, Hood Lane, EC, was 
offered, aud bas accent' d the CI a ricansbip of 
the Company, anil a provincial agreement, eob- 
jeet to confirmation of the meeting, has been 
made by the Directors with Mr. A. VY. Crichton, 
appointing him sole Managing Director for a term 
of five years, fiom the 1st day of Februaiy, 1894. 
In accordai ce with the Articles of Association Mr. 
11. E. Rutherford retires from the Board and, being 
eligible, offers himsjlf for rc-e'ectioD. 
By order of the Board, Henry GaET, 
12th JuK, 1894. Secretary. 
♦ 
INDIAN KINO. 
At the drug sales today (July 19; a 2£ c*t. case of 
kino from Bombay was offered. The drug was in 
v^ry small angular pieces, m xed with numerous tears 
aud conta ; uing much vegetal le debrir, chiefly pieces 
of lark adheieut to tbe gum. The colour of the 
simple was a brill'ant ruby, and the tas'e intenie'y 
aalri'ig nt. The bright colour end intpnse ^stringency 
preclude its belonging to one of the varieties of 
Australian Red Gum. The sample is of a veiy 
gummy character, aud is almost entirely soluble in 
water aud partially so in spirit, forming rubby red 
scljlions. It resembles the abtrirgtnt gum lately 
imported from Mashonaland and is piobably of 
African origin, although s.meof its characters might 
point to its being Indian Butea Kino. — Chemist and 
Druggist. 
TEA-GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Her Majestj's Coneul at Charleston has lately 
wiitton a rej ort on an experimental tea farm at 
Summerville, a suburb of Charleston, which, owing 
to the climate conditions of that part of the State 
of Siuth Carolina, give9 promise that great success 
will attend the cultivation cf tbe plant in question. 
Cc naul Rawson Walker says that the first tea plant 
in that section of the United States waB planted by 
the Trench botanist, Micbaux, in 1804. The publi- 
cations of the United States Patent Office and the 
United States Department of Agriculture record the 
results cf mazy subsequent attempts to inaugurate 
