52' 
climate, though trying to Europeans who live on 
the coast and in the lowlands, is described as 
perfect in the interior of the island. There is 
probably no part of the world in which sugar 
may be so well and so cheaply produced. 
Such woods as ebony, mahogany, and rosewood 
are plentiful, and for the growth of cereals the 
island would be second to no country in the 
world. Tobacco grows wild, and cotton maybe- 
come one of the staple products. Fruit is plen- 
tiful and the forests abound with trees that yield 
india-rubber. Having dealt with the mineral 
resources of the island, Captain Dawson laid 
down his views of the most suitable means of 
opening up communication by means of roads 
and railways, and concluded with an estimate of 
the prospective traffic— During the evening there 
were exhibited an illuminated address and por- 
traits in oil of the Queen of Madagascar and 
her consort Rainilaiarivony, Prime Minister and 
Commander-in-Chief, which Captain Dawson is 
commissioned to present to Her Majesty on his 
approaching visitto Antananarivo. — Globe, Dec. 28. 
A TEA FACTORY TOTALLY DESTROYED 
BY FIRE. 
We learn that the factory on Lynsted Estate- 
Bogawantalawa, has been totally destroyed by fire- 
The fire occurred last night, and all efforts to save 
the building proved unsuccessful. The factory, which 
is almost new, was, we learn, insured with the 
North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, 
the local agents of whom are Messrs. Volkart Bros. 
Lynsted Estate, we may mention, is owned by Mr. 
John Hamilton ci London, the local agents for 
whom are Messrs. J. P. Green & Co. Mr. R. Plum- 
ridge is Superintendent of the estate, and Mr. F. 
G. A. Lane Visiting Agent. — " Times of Ceylon." — 
The amount for which the building was insured 
is we understand about R30,000. It appears that 
the whole Factory with all the contents including 
8,000 lb. of made tea packed and ready for des- 
patch, was burnt within one and half hours. The 
two Superintendents were at the other end of the 
estate at the time, and the only responsible person 
present was the tea maker. The cause of the fire 
has not yet been found out. 
AGRICULTURAL LANDS AND MINING 
IN SELANGOR. 
In another column we quote an extract from a 
leading article in the Straits Times commenting 
in very severe terms upon a petition to Govern- 
ment by the coffee planters of Selangor craving 
for an alteration in the land regulations. How 
far the criticism is justified, our readers 
may be able to judge from the following 
summary of the memorial in question arid 
connected correspondence. It appears that the 
law as it stands at present is that all lands 
in i lie State are liable to be resumed for mining 
purposes by the Sultan on payment of compen- 
sation lor the value, other than metalliferous, of 
the land and improvements, the amount to be 
ascertained in case of disagreement by arbitra- 
tion according to rules, which shall also govern 
the conditions of resumption, to be made from 
lime to time by the President; and that the 
Collector and the parties interested shall each 
appoint an assessor to assist the Chief Mag- 
istrate in determining the amount of compensa- 
tion. What the planters now ask is that when 
it is determined that agricultural land shall 
be mined the lessee should be given t lie option 
of mining it himself, and that in the event of 
arbitration the duty of the Chief Magistrate 
(who should be a barrister-at-law) should be con- 
fined to ruling upon points of law and procedure. 
It is contended that these regulations divert 
capital from the State that would otherwise be 
invested in planting, capitalists believing that 
the property can be resumed at any time 
by the Sultan under rules which are 
not stated and which if they were free agents 
they might not accept. They point out that 
it is now an accepted fact amongst coffee 
planters, that Liberian coffee thrives best on alluvial 
and possibly metalliferous flats, and when feasible 
it is land of that nature that the planter tries 
to procure. The Petitioners admit that, in cases 
where it is distinctly apparent that the value 
of the minerals in the ground far exceeds that 
of whatever product may be growing on it, it 
may reasonably be held that the land should 
be mined; but they submit, that before such a 
decision is arrived at, the strongest possible 
proofs of the existence of a rich mineral deposit 
should be adduced. The matter had been first 
represented to the State Government who de- 
clined to discuss the question ; then before the 
Governor in the petition which we have en- 
deavoured to summarise, and His Excellency has 
also declined to comply -with the request, stating 
that with every desire to assist legitimate 
agricultural operations, he cannot consider that the 
concession aslced for will in any way do this 
while it will, at the same time, in His Ex- 
cellency's opinion, hand over the property of 
the State without proper compensation therefor. 
So far as we can see the Selangor planters have 
done nothing to deserve the character they have 
got from one Singapore contemporary and we think 
that those who are engaged in the enterprise 
here will heartily sympathise with their brethren 
in the Straits in carrying on their operations, 
particularly in these alluvial districts that may 
prove to be tin-bearing, under circumstances — as 
the Singapore Free Press puts it, — " that render 
their tenure of these lands exceedingly precarious." 
There will also, we should fancy, be general 
concurrence in the statement of the Free Press 
that it is " essential to the success of an enter- 
prise of so gradual development as a coffee 
estate that for the term of years needed to 
bring the whole estate into a productive position 
there shall be no disturbance of tenure." 
— •♦ 
MARKET FOR TEA SHARES. 
The Year 1894. 
The year just closed has been a rather remarkable 
one in the history of Joint-Stock Tea Companies' 
Shares. The final results of working for the year 1S93, 
which were made public in May and June last, were, 
with a few exceptions, much less satisfactory than 
those of the proceeding year, and most of the Com- 
panies were obliged to diminish their dividends. 
Values of the shares accordingly drooped towards 
the middle of the year and some very low ex-dividend 
quotations were current. With the opening of the 
new season, however, a high range of values was 
established, especially for the teas from Assam and 
Oarjeeling, and better quality being also attended 
with a diminished output, the Mincing Lane market 
advanced first for the higher grade teas and latterly 
for the cheaper kinds also. These improving condi- 
tions naturally reacted before long on values of shares. 
Dealings in the shares of all the better kno\i a Tea 
Companies have been on a very much larger scale 
than heretofore. This has been due largely to the 
publicity which lias been given in the press to tln ir 
soundness as investments. But it has also been largely 
contributed to by the necessity which investors have 
found of discovering a security of a safo and solid 
kind, which would also yield a good rate of interest. 
