Per. i, tfys-j 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
543 
tents, viz., if the packages are invoiced to contain 
100 lb. Tea each, not less than 100 lb. 4 oz. should 
be weighed in ; test packages, proving here a frac- 
tion under 100 lb. will be reckoned as 9;) lb. only, 
or a loss of 1 lb. on each chest of the break. We 
fexr when great pressure prevails at the London 
Warehouses some laxity as to weighing taken place; 
but the loss thereby incurred can be but small, 
compare! with what may be caused neglect of the 
foregoing precaution at the garden in weighing and 
into each packages. 
Weight ok Packages. — When a gross weight of 
1'29 II). is exceeded, there is an additional charge of 
5 I per chest up to 159 lb. The following scale of 
charges fully explains this and deserves attention : — 
Management rate per package, subject to an uni- 
form discount of 10 per cent. 
lb. 
lWI to 199 
2 '9 
lb. 
00 to 79 
1 5 
GROSS. 
lb. 
180 to 159 
2/3 
lb. 
lb. lb. 
90 to 129 80 to SI 
1/10 1/8 
lb. lb. 
45 to 59 35 to 44 17 to 34 
Mvbks ox Chest. — Nothing is wanted or is of any 
service here beyond (1st.), garden mirk ; (2nd.), des- 
cription of tea; (3rd.), garden numbers. Gross 
tare, or net, are not of the last use, and should bp 
discontinued. 
Metal Packages.— As these do not yet tin] favour 
with buyers, special care should be taken to pack 
broken descriptions, which are so liable to lose in 
weight, in strongly ma le wooden packages, the dusts 
should be packed in half-chests. 
THE UVAKELLIE TEA COMPANY OF 
CEYLON, LIMITED. 
The prospectus has now been issued of this Company 
formed with a capital of 11500,000, for the purpose of 
acquiring the Uvakellie estate, situated in Madool- 
sjma, Ceylon, and any other estates which may be 
found suitable. The CJvakellie property consists of 
about 56i acres, of which some 400 acres are under 
Tea (about 70 to 80 acres having Coffee interspersed), 
60 acres jungle, 41 acres patna ; and the factory, 
machinery, and buildings are almost new, and are 
believed to be sufficient for the present requirements of 
the property. A report by Mr. Gibbon points to return 
of 15 per cent, per annum on the capital price ; and 
it is reasonable to expect that, after providing for 
depreciation and other contingencies, an average 
annu il profit of 12 per cent may be looked for, The 
vendor has agreed to accept £8,030 in cash and ±'4,000 
in fully paid shares, together ±'12,000 for the estate, 
as from 1st January last, which sum, at 1/0 13-l(ith 
per rupee, plus preliminary expenses and transfer fees, 
will amount to about R223.780. The only contract in 
connection with the Company is contained in a letter, 
dated 7th January, 1895, by Mr. W. P. Kellocketo 
Mr. W. U. Gibbon giving a firm offer ot the said 
Uvakellie estate. 
The provisional directors are Messrs. W. D. Gibbon, 
P. W. Bois, and W. B. Kingsbury. The agents are 
Messrs. J. M. Robertson ct Co. 
CURRENT TOPICS. 
The annual compilations which the ingenuity and 
industry of firms engaged in the 
TEA TRADE 
in London give birth to. have made clear already that 
the Tea enterprise of the island has no reason to com- 
plain of tho gross (an 1 why not net '/) results of 
last year's operations. Tire loyal Britisher cannot be 
forbidden the exercise of his time-honoured and na- 
tional privilege of grumbling. It is the fall in ex- 
change now. as off '--ting the sterling value of his 
properties here ; it is the fall agiiu in the gold value 
of his Tea as bearing on his little total ill the L&UO ; 
1 ut the fact remains that he received in 1894 a higher 
average price tor his Tea in cents than in any of 
tl e four preceding years. 
In 1889 the average per lb. w is (>(3'5 cents, and 
la; t year it was 01 cents; imt'per contra the number of 
packages sold in 1894, and I suppose the quantity, was 
moie than double that of 1889, and the labour-saving 
appliances and greater experience, as compared with 
five years sine.;, must represent a saving of more 
than 2 cents per lb. Taking these facts into consi- 
de.ation, and that practically almost the whole of 
our production was taken up last year for consump- 
tion in the United Kingdom and in Australia, the 
fear of over-production should not weigh down the 
Planter. The world outside those regions, to say 
nothing of increased consumption per caput and an 
increase of population in the United Kingdom and 
Australia, should be able to give good prices for all 
the island can produce in excess of last year's output 
— the more, as it has had a taste of our Teas, and 
its orders, in the nature of things, should increase. 
Put this matter of exchange, to which I have referred 
as eliciting growls from one quarter, and satisfaction 
from another, is altogether a curious thing,if people 
engaged in the same trade, can take opposite views 
regarding its operation. 
The starting of Mills for 
d :s c;at ng coconuts 
in Cochin is not news which will b. 1 welcomed 
either by lo3.ol growers or m uiufa staters ; and 
for obvious reasons. But the world is too 
progressive for monopolies now-a-diys. It was some- 
time early last year that a lumour to thj same 
effect gained currency hero ; and it was promptly 
contradicted as inconsistent with the position of 
an overdone industry. But appearances do not 
point to the industry as being in any way over- 
done ; and there are said to oe large orders al- 
ways awaiting execution at the local mills. 
Like the unselfish 
TEA PLANTER 
who, while reaping his 10 to 3J per cent from his 
estrtes, the value of which meanwhile runs up to 
±10 and ±'50 sterling per acre, is apprehensive lest 
others might enlist in his over-done industry and 
aggravate the over-pio.luction which compels him 
to be content with such profits, so also I suspect is 
the Desiccating Millowner. His benevolence rebels 
against unsatisfactory investments, while his own 
machinery and Desiccators are developing and 
night work has to be resorted to, to keep abreast 
of the demand for his stuff which semis to be 
making its way in the market, without any special 
advertizing. 
The regrets, however, of the 
COCONUT ESTATE PROPRIETOR 
and of the local millowner at the ' ochin news 
are not founded on precisely identical reasons. 
The former would hive been glad to know 
that the new mills were to be erected here; 
the latter that its erection had been decided 
on in the Red Sea or in Jericho ! 
And, as if to make m itters worse for the Coconut 
Planter, who is but a shade better off than the poor 
Tea Planter with his 10 to 30 per cent — only his 
hair begins to get gray and his heart sick before the 
returns come in! — Mr. John Ferguson must needs get 
up on a coconut stump and incite the lieges to the 
immediate increase of their output of nuts by '20 per 
cent ! Why. good gracious, that would be almost as 
bi3 as telling tin modejt producer of Pekoos to 
inc.'ease thoin to Souchongs, and to watch the effect 
of 100 million lb. on the Lane ! 
Na, na ! Mr. F. Let us literally follow Carlylo'a 
counsel and produce the infinitesimal part of a pro- 
duct, until Cochin transfers some of its mills to Ceylou, 
and then we might thin the brcakwind palms along 
the sea-shore, scatter Agricultural Instructors with 
a pepper castor over the island, and place them all 
under the sapient direction of H. H. C. I 
Why do people speak of 
RAMBLER 
