S£pt. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
189 
Mr. H. K. Ruthebfobd, in seconding the resolution, 
said : As you are aware from the report, I 
visited the Ceylon properties of the company in 
November, December, and January last, and I 
will as briefly as possib'e explain to you tha 
position and prospects of the oompaiy's interests 
there. Well, gentlemen, I joined the boar<l of thia 
oompany in September last, but refrained from 
suggesting any changes nutil I had gone out to 
Ceylon and seen every one of the oompaoy's esta f es, 
a'l the superintendents on these properties, and 
the company's Agents in Ceylon. Having made 
myself acquainted with the estates and the S3 stem of 
management, I came very bo >n to the conclusion that 
although those engaged in the company's service in 
Ceylon were each and all experienced and competent 
men for the various offioes and duties entrusted to 
them, and were anxious that the company's affairs 
should prosper in their hands, still, the cumbersome 
system of control through the London and Colombo 
offices, the Colombo Agents, and visi'iog inspectors, 
rendered their best endeavours to a large extent in- 
effective. The changes made were simple, and, I think, 
will prove advantageous to the company. The 
visiting agents and the Colombo office have been 
abolished, and Mr. John N. Campbell, well-known 
in Ceylon as a planter of the highest standing 
and experience, and a gentleman we were most 
fortunate in securing, has been appointed sole 
manager in Ceylon, The system on which we are now 
working onr bimue-s is, 1 venture to say, as 
economical and efficient as it is possible to make it, and 
I have every confidence that the friction which 
hitherto existed is not likely to occur again, and that 
baneficial results will be found to accrue from the 
chaugos that have been effected. As regards the 
properties themselves, I have reported fully to my 
colleagues on the board on ail the estate?, and what, in 
my opinion, ought to be cur policy with each of 
them. Generally speaking, that policy if>, to as rapidly 
ai possible, plant up with tea the considerable area 
of cultivated, but almost unproductive land which we 
possess, aDd to gradually open out, as our finances 
permit, the reserve lands on our best properties. 
There will be a good deal of necessary expendi- 
ture on factories and extensions so that you cannot 
expect much immediate increase in profits from 
Ceylon. But as these new areas come into bearing the 
cost of production will be lessened, and in a few years 
time our profits should show a material inorea"e, 
more especially if the produoa markets improve. 
The estates are all well cultivated and in excellent 
order. It may appear to some that the cost of our 
tea is high ; but it must not be lost sight of that 
this has to bear the charges of up-keep of a con- 
siderable area of unproJnctive coffee and ciuchona 
land, und that in order to keep down our capital 
account we are debiting extension of planting and 
now builings aud machinery to profit and loss ao- 
count. Your chairman has explained to you the loss 
we sustained by the failure of the cocoa crop through 
drought, and I regret to say that the effects of tfiat 
drought will follow us into the current year as a 
very considerable area of our coooa trees was so 
severely affeoted that it will take some time before 
it recovers and yields its normal crop. On our two 
coooa estates, as it is such a precarious product we 
are steadily planting up these properties with coco- 
nutB ; so that whatever may happen to the oocoi, 
we shall eventually have these properties under 
oooonut cultivation. Iu conclusion, I would merely 
say thati in my opinion, you have in your Ceylon 
estates an improving property, and that the maxi- 
mum profit they are capable of yielding it will be 
the endeavour of the inaua^emtnt in Ceylon and 
Loudon to seoure, by cireful, ecouomioul, and efficient 
work. 
The resolution was agreed to. 
On the motion of Mr. N. W. Grieve, seconded by 
Mr, 1). Kcid, Mr. H, K. Kutherford was re-elocted a 
director. 
The Chairman proposed : " That the agreement 
ontered into between the directors and Mr. Alexander 
William Crichton be, and is hereby, confirmed." llo 
24 
explained that it was to the effect that Mr. Crichton 
should be managing director for five years at a salary 
of £700 a year. Formerly, there were two managing 
directors at £500 a year each. 
Mr. Grieve seconded the motion, which was 
agreed to. 
On the motion of Mr. Morgan, seconded by Mr. 
Geoghan, Messrs. Welton, Jones & Co. were re- 
appointed auditors at a remuneration of 50 guineas. 
An extraordinary meeting was then held, at which 
the name of the Company was changed to the 
Oriental Estates Company, Limited, and Article 98 of 
the Articles of Association was altered by the sub- 
stitution of "£1,200 " for " £1,000." 
A vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed by 
Mr. Field, seconded by Major Speid, and Bgreed to. 
The meeting then terminated.— if. and C. Mail, 
July 27th. 
-0- 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
Highest Yield of Tea in Ceylon. — An 
Agrapatana correspondent recently reported that 
he had gathered for his year's crop an average 
of 653 lb. per acre all round (for about 500 
acres) from tea 3 to 8 years' old. He aeks and 
remarks :— 
"Have you heard of any planes giving better 
'results' anywhere upeountry — in yields and with 
similar good prices as per yearly printed reports of 
sales of tea? I know of nothing to beat this," 
Well done, the Agras 1 Ha3 Bogawantalawa, 0 
any oiher district, at an equal elevation above 
sea-l6vel, equalled or excelled this average yield 
over so large an area ? 
The British North Borneo Company.— 
Oa page 186 we quote a report of tha 
half-yearly meeting of this Company, showing 
a most hopeful tone, aad encouraging facts. It 
will be seea that the Chairman in his speech held 
up Ceylon as an example. This island, ha said, 
owed its prosperity chiefly to the immigration of 
young Englishmen with English capital and it 
was hoped that history would repeat itself in 
Borneo where similar conditions of soil and climate 
prevailed. Commenting on the meeting the 
London and China Express says : — 
A curtailment of expenditure on such matters ai 
public works in a new country may not seem as 
though development was being rapidly pushed, but 
we know that greater energy is being displayed in 
this direction during the current year. The com- 
pany is ruinaing a land telegraph line across the 
country to Sandakan from the poiut where the 
Eastern Extension Telegraph Company has recently 
extended tho Siugapore-Labuan-flong Kong Cable from 
Labuan to the mainland. The material for this land 
line has already been shipped from this country. 
From all the information which the Board had been 
able to obtain they believed that communication would 
be established for the modest sum which they had 
voted for that purpose. In running this line over 
the country a track would be made much of the class, 
we presume, as the pioneer six-foot tracks which 
are familiar to all who have been in tho Protected 
States of the Malay Peninsula. The question of roads 
will be subsequently oousiderel, and, as we said a 
few months ago, whilst we should certainly not 
favour a wholesale methoJ, in the absence of abundant 
capital, of making roads anywhere and everywhere, 
certaiu lines seem to be laid out as bein„' desirable 
to be constructed at the earlitst opportunity. Next 
to the question of coolie immigration, now being 
properly taken in baud, this matter of roads is the 
most important, end certainly merits very careful 
atteution. It is these aida that planters will look 
for iu developing the country, aud the future, which 
i looks distinctly favourable for tobacco aud coffee (not 
to meuiion possibilities of hemp, gold, &o.) may ho 
productive jf the same hopefuluess, plus dividends 
to the propsRstors. 
