486 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Ian. i | 1895. 
Purchases. — During the past season your Direotor 
have purchased about 175 acres adjoining Btrathisla 
and 14 acres in the neighbourhood of Owella, whilst 
nearly 60 acres have been added to North Matale. 
The following Statement shews the acreage ol the 
Company's Properties at date :- 
Forest, 
\j OH 6 6 
Irpl) CO 
\J L dsa, 
Total 
Name of Estate. 
Tea. 
and 
Chena 
Acre- 
Cocoa. 
aban- 
age. 
doned, &c. 
AHoowiharie 
. 105 
394 
171 
670 
Andangodde 
. 120| 
1203 
Fetteresso 
. 405 
33 
438 
New Peradeniya . 
. 381J 
17J 
5Bi 
458J 
North Matale 
. 280 
819 
468 
1,557 
Owella 
41* 
138 
179 
Rickarton 
! 500 
96 
590 
Strathisla 
183 
158 
341 
Forest Land 
430 
430 
1,796} 
1,454£ 
l,550i 
4,8001 
* Coconut, coffee and cocoa. 
New Clearings. — The subjoined figures shew the 
•extent of the new clearings at date : — 
rp. Coffee and 
lea Cocoa 
AHoowiharie ..90 .. 21 
Fetteresso . . 80 . . — 
New Peradeniya . . 13 . . — 
North Matale . . — . . 55 
Owella .. .. — .. 41* 
Strathisla . . — . . 170 
183 
296 
479 Acres. 
* Coconuts, Coffee and Cocoa. 
Your Directors are pleased to report that the latest 
advices from the various Superintendents are to the 
effect, that these additions to the Company's planted 
acreage promise to be a success, notwithstanding the 
unfavourable weather experienced. 
The crop prospects for season 1S94-1S95 are so far 
very favourable, and in the event of the prices of 
cocoa shewing some substantial improvement, the 
Directors do not doubt but that the current season 
will prove an eminent success. 
The Mortgage over the North Matale, &c, estates, 
which originally stood at £15,000, has now been 
paid off, and the relative deeds will be released in 
due course, The extinction of this Mortgage ma- 
terially enhances the value of the Debenture 
holders' security. 
Mr. Henry Beveridge, by rotation, retires from 
the Directorate, but he is eligible and offers him- 
self for re-election. 
Mr. James B. Laurie also retires, but he is eligible 
and offers himself for re-election. 
Your Directors terminated the Ceylon Agency on 
30th June last. By Order of the Board, 
Jas. Wilson, Chairman. 
Alfred E. Lock, Secretary. 
Leadenhall House, 101, Leadenhall Street, 
London, E. C, 11th December, 1894. 
COPRA IN FIJI. 
November 19.— Copra is a drug in the market 
principally on account of want of storage, con- 
sequently no one cares to buy, and sellers there- 
fore have to be satisfied with a low price, although 
one holder is taking advantage of low steamer 
freights to ship through to London. There is 
something like 3,000 tons copra in stores and, 
although one barque has been loaded during the 
last month and two more are loading in the 
group, this will not relieve the stores to any 
material extent. Truly this is a record year for 
copra in Fiji. The "Titania" is still loading at 
Loma Loma and is expected to be full ship. The 
''Valparaiso" left hereon I Oth with about 650 ton* 
on hoard and the " Emerald," which arrived on the 
1st instant 35 days out from Adelaide, is loading 
in the stream from vessels as they arrive. Two 
other vessels are on the way ami on their arrival 
will relieve the stores somewhat. — Jiji Times. 
TEA SWEEPINGS AND CAFFEINE. 
London, Dec. 14. 
( from a corrcxjiondent.j 
For some reason or another which we do not know, 
the Tea Clearing-house up to this day have bent no 
reply to the 'J ea Dealers' Association ; therefore, 
further action will be taken next week on their account. 
Another point is being discussed, and that 
is, (in all public wharves where there is storage 
of teas) whether certain surveyors should 
not be appointed to superiiit ;, i the weighing and 
repacking of teas, and also to critically examine the 
question of overweights as it is known to the trade 
that this is a question that will have to come under 
consideration very shortly. It is also known that 
great differences o;cur ' between certain wharves: 
when this matter is critically investigated it will be 
singular to trace out if those wharves who grant no 
overweight are those which have been in the habit 
of shipping the teas to Germany. 
Letters are appearing in the American papers 
stating that Caffeine is being manufactured from 
Japanese tea in the United States. 
In this country the shipments of tea from Japan 
to England, that is, in 1894, have been almost 
nil, for the simple reason that it is found that the 
Japanese tea is remarkably weak and about as 
opposite to Assam tea as is possible. If the 
Americans are going to depend for their supply of 
Caffeine upon Japan tea dutt, at the priceB they 
name, Id. up to 2*d. per lb. it will cost them a 
considerable sum of money to get out the Caffeine, 
and this tea will not yield on an average more than 
1-1)%. These figures will be more easily checked, 
a3 experiments are being made to investigate the 
quantity of Caffeine in Japanese Tea. At present 
the price of Caffeine has been fixed at 10s 
per lb., but it is almost impossible to obtain any 
before the end of December or the beginning of 
January. The Caffeine made in Germany is of such 
a crude nature that it can only be exported to 
America or used in the manufacture of Citrate of 
Caffeine. The German Chemists will not offer it 
for sale, and they depend entirely for their supplies 
upon the English makes. There has been a deciJed 
upward tendency in Indian and Ceylon teas the 
last 10 diys. This may partly be accounted for by 
the quantity of teA-dust purchased for the manu- 
facture of 1 affeine. 
COFFEE PLANTING IN THE STRAITS. 
The Acting District Officer, Din Langat (Mr. 
J. R. O. Aldworth) in his Decemlier report, says : — 
An application from Mr. D. Kinderslev for 
180 acres of land for coffee planting nearCheras 
has been approved. No premium is charged. A 
gentleman has been writing a series of articles 
in the Selcmgor Journal on the subject " Coffee 
Planting," over the nam de plume " Planter." 
In his second article we read " as far as we 
know at present, all land, both at Klang and 
elsewhere, is to be sold by auction." It is hard 
to understand how such erroneous ideas gei 
abroad. As a matter of fact, four applications 
from Europeans for an aggregate area of l.;"00 
acres in this District have bee 1 approved this 
year, two of them since the publication of the 
above quotation, and in no case has the question 
of selling by auction, or even of charging any 
premium, been raised. 
