Jan. i, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 485 
THEFTS OF TEA IN COLOMBO OR LONDON! 
The Committee ot our London Association had 
lately under consideration a matter that is of ex- 
treme importance to Ceylon planters. It seems that 
for some months, not a few cases of tea received from 
Ceylon in London have borne evidence of extensive 
pilfering of their contents. In some instances, 
this pilfering is said to have extended to as 
much as 20 lb. of tea out of a single chest. 
The recipients of the boxes so plundered have 
been at their wits' end to whom to attribute 
this theft. All concerned have been in their 
turn, suspected. By some it has been attri- 
buted to the crews of the transporting siiips ; 
by others to dishonest persons in the bonding 
warehouses ; while the rest believe that 
the rascality is committed in Colombo and 
prior to shipment. The majority of opinions 
leans to the last of these suppositions ! It 
must be very difficult to correctly assign re- 
sponsibility. It would seem almost impossible 
that the robbery could be effected on board 
ship. The stowage of cargo is so close that 
we should say that when once this is completed, 
it must be extremely difficult to extract a case, 
open and replace it, without detection being 
almost certain. To our minds, therefore, the ab- 
straction must take place either in the bonding 
warehouses at home, or here, in Colombo, before 
the chests are placed on board ship. In either 
case, it must be, under existing circumstances, 
exceedingly difficult of detection. This conclu- 
sion brings us to the salient question as to why 
this difficulty should be. If the chests were so 
packed as to afford ready evidence of having 
been tampered with, responsibility could readily 
be fixed. Would there be any difficulty about 
ensuring this ? The boxes from China are, we 
know, generally provided with some sort of 
covering, disturbance of which must lead to 
detection. Would there be much difficulty about 
our planters adopting some similar safeguard ? 
Indeed it is suggested in our London Letter — as 
well as in letters from America — that, to some ex- 
tent, our teas sutler by being packed in cases of 
so plain and unattractive a character that they 
are deemed to be unsuited for placing in the 
windows of the grocers' shops. Now the retail 
tradesman delights in gaudy coloring for his 
windows. The exhibition of tea in the original 
chests in such windows, is often resorted to 
by grocers at home, as, we presume, being held 
to be a sort of guarantee of the genuineness 
of their contents. But grocers hesitate to expose 
our own very unornamental cases as tending to 
disfigure their general exhibit. It is suggested 
that if our cases were enveloped in some 
tastefully coloured wrappings, this hesitation would 
no longer be felt. If such wrappers, say of 
paper, were closely pasted over the chests before 
they leave the estates, the latter, of course, could 
never be opened without destroying the covers. In 
such a case it would be apparent at a glance if the 
boxes had been tampered with. We think that 
our planters would do well to give this sugges- 
tion their careful consideration. It can hardly 
be expected that the thefts complained 
of can be wholly prevented so long as detection 
is as difficult as it is at present. The thieves 
must feel that it must be next to impossible 
to locate the theft, and that they are, therefore, 
certain of a large amount of Impunity. Once 
render such localization possible and almost cer- 
tain, and we may predict we should hear little 
more of the complaints now reaching us. Such 
abstraction as twenty pounds of tea from a 
single chest, must be a very serious matter for 
61 
those who may have to bear the loss. And a 
matters now stand, how is this impost, 
to be determined? We can understand that; 
considerable irritation is felt by the purchasers - 
of consignments that prove to have been tam- 
pered with in the way described. The matter- 
is one that may well engage the attention of 
our Planters' Association. For the evil is one 
that, left unprovided against, is likely to extend 
until it may become very serious indeed to ouv 
jsland interests. 

THE CEYLON LAND AND PRODUCE . 
COMPANY, LIMITED. 
Directors. — James Wilson, Esq., Chairman ; Wil- 
liam Keiller, Esq., and Henry Beveridge, Esq. 
Report of the Directors, to be submitted to the 
Tenth Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, to 
be held at the Registered Offices of the Company, 
Nos. 353 and 354, Leadenhall House, 101, Leaden- 
hall Street, in the City of London, on Thursday, 
the 20th day of Dec, 180-1, at 2 o'clock p.m. 
Your Directors beg to submit the annexed Profit 
and Loss Account and Balance Sheet for the year 
ending 30th June, 1804:, duly audited. 
The amount at credit of Profit and Loss Account, 
after reducing the mortgage over North Matale Es- 
tate by £'1,000, is £4,195 0s 10d,. which, with the sum 
of £1,683 15s lOd brought forward from .last year, 
leaves £5,884 2s 8d to he dealt with. 
On the 4th August last an Interim Dividend of 
7A cent on the Ordinary Shares, and 3 per cent on 
the Preference Shares was paid, and your Directors 
now propose to pay, on the 31st day of January, 
1S05, the balance of the fixed cumulative Dividend 
on the Preference Shares (3 per cent) making 
6 per cent for the year, and 7§ per cent on the.] 
Ordinary Shares, making 15 per cent for the year, both ' 
free of Income Tax. This will leave a balance of 
£1,072 2s Sd to be carried forward, subject to the 
Directors' remuneration for the year under review, 
to be fixed at the General Meeting and to the pay- 
ment of Income Tax, &c. 
The result of the operations during the past 
season has not been so satisfactory when compared 
with the previous period, owing to the fall in prices 
of tea and cosoa, and to the shortage in the crop 
of the last mentioned product. 
Tea. — Your Directors regret that the range of 
value for Ceylon tea has ruled lower for the cur- , 
rent year than in 1893. Cold dull weather gene- 
rally and excessive drought in many parts of the 
Island combined to retard flushing, the consequence 
being a shorter out-put from the majority of estates 
than was expected. In the earlier months the qua- 
lity to hand was mostly disappointing, and owing 
to the comparative absence of fine good liquoring • 
descriptions, the average gradually fell until it 
touched 7gd per lb. for June. From this point the 
market rose month by mouth, until the price 
obtained in November reached lOiJd per lb. this advance 
being due partly to very moderate shipments, and also to 
better Teas being sent. For the eleven months of 
this year a total of 834,700 packages lias been sold in 
London, the average price tor the whole being 83d, 
per lb., against 9Jd. per lb. for 771,800 packages in 
the same period of 1893. 
Coffee. — This article has been marketed during 
the past year at very satisfactory prices, and the range 
of values continues high, but most of the Coffee pro- 
ducing countries expect good crops during the season 
just begun. 
Cocoa. — The market for this article has shewn a 
continual decline in values during the year, and the 
produco of the Island has experienced the lowest 
prices recorded since shipped in its present style. The 
quality of the crop has, on account of unfavourable 
weather, been mostly inferior. The low prices h^ye, 
however, had the effect of bringing the growth into 
moro general uso among manufacturers, and your 
Directors look for greater competition in the future. 
