March r, 1895. 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
59t 
but now it had become the home of an industrious 
peasantry. The districts of Bengal which supplied 
labour to Assam were extremely over-populated, and 
the people were sunk in poverty, but in Assam they 
found well remunerated labour, and were rapidly con- 
verting the country into a garden. The revenue had 
been doubled or trebled within the last ten years, 
entirely owing to the tea industry. Though there 
might be difficulties from over-production, he believed 
there was still great room for improvement, and if 
the Government would only complete the railway 
and steam communication with Bengal, they would 
be able to meet any difficulties that might arise from 
a fall in price. 
Mr. Stanton, in reply, said that most of the points 
raised had been already dealt with by jther speakers 
or by the Chairman. He was glad to hear Sir Henry 
Peek's remarks with reference to the tea duty, and 
thought it would be a great pity if it were taken off; 
for it was so moderate that even the poorest could 
hardly feel it. He could quite endorse what had been 
said as to tea not standing more than three or four 
minutes, and it would be a great advantage if, after 
standing a few minutes, it were poured off into an- 
other pot. When it was allowed to stew a long time 
all the extractive matter was brought out, including 
the tannin, which was better left in. What you wanted 
was flavour, and caffeine, which, more than anything 
else, constituted tea a real food. With regard to keep- 
ing qualities he thought the London warehouses had 
beeu rather hardly dealt with. It was absolutely 
necessary that the chests should be opened, and in 
a country like this it was impossible to close them 
up again perfectly air-tight. Nowadays, tea, was not 
grown or made with the intentiou of keeping, be- 
cause there was no need, nor even opportunity, for 
it ; it was sold too fast. With regard to the displace- 
ment of other beverages, some five or six years ago 
Mr. Goschen published a table which snowed that 
a very largo increase had taken place in the con- 
sumption of certain non-alcoholic beverages, whilst 
the alcoholic had remained almost stationary, or 
had increased to a very much less extent. With 
regard to the production of tea in Australia and 
Brazil, he need not add to what the Chairman had said. 
The UHMltifAN then proposed a hearty vote of thanks 
to Mr. Stanton, which was carried unanimously, and 
the meeting adjourned. 
THE HOKREKELLY ESTATE COMPANY. 
The .annual general meeting of this Company 
was held this afternoon in the office of the 
Secretary, Mr. R. L. M. Brown. The chair was 
occupied by Mr. V. A. Julius who presided. The 
other* present were Mes«r.-. E. Christian, ne»cy 
Dofe, H. W. I'nwin, F. C. Loos, E. S. (jrrigsin, 
f. E. H. SymonB, and 1!. L. M. Brown. The 
notice calling the meeting was? read and the 
ntinutes continued. 
The report of the directors was submitted as 
follows : — 
1. The Accounts now submitted for lS'.U shew that 
the profit on the yen's working, after writing off 
R3,50l> S2 for depreciation of plant and machinery, 
amounts to R18.048-82, which, with the balance of 
R2.2O0O2 brought forward from 1893! makes a total of 
R30,2fe;8i available for distribution. 
2. The Directors recommend that a dividend at tho 
rate of five per cent, be declared on the paid up capital 
of the Company, thereby absorbing RJ8^776', andlcaying 
Rl.472'84 as a balance to be carried forward to tt)9p. 
3. The extreme drought of the past two years h is 
much affected the crop of Coconuts, and the result 
has therefore been unfavourable, although this has 
to some extent been counterbalanced by the en- 
hanced prices obtained for Copperah and Fibre. 
■1., During the year a further payment of R'25,0^0 
has been made in re luctioh of the mortgage over 
the Company's property, leaving only R25\(X)0 now 
unpaid. This will be paid off as the funds of 
tho Company permit, and the item of interest will 
be correspondingly reduced or dispensed with. 
74 
5. The working of the seasons 1892, 1893 and 
1894 compares as lollows (the item of interest being 
excluded) : — 
1S92. 1893. 1894. 
Expenditure on the 
Estate and in 
Colombo Office R30,576'73 31,385 55 33,243'74 
Quantity of Copra 
produced Candies 738 958 773 
Quantity of Coir 
Fibre made Ballots 44,821 39,869 40,245 
Average price obtained 
for Copra, per candy R4059 47 - 43 . 48 - 06 
Average price obtained 
for Coir Fibre per cwt. R 3 02 3'80 4-25 
6. Two Directors. — Messrs. E. Christian and V. 
A. Julius — retire, and are eligible for re-election. 
7. The shareholders have to appoint an Auditor 
for 1895. — By order of the Board of Directors, 
R. Lewis M. Brown, Secy. 
The Chairman in moving the adoption of the 
report said lie did not think there was much 
that called for explanation from him. As was 
stated in the report they had been suffering 
from drought during the past year and the crop 
was less than was anticipated. They had how- 
ever, been able to make up for that by the better 
prices obtained. The mortgage had been reduced 
by K25,0OO. That was paid at the end of the 
year anticipating a call of RlO per share which 
was levied at the beginning of this year and now 
almost the whole of the snares were fully paid 
up. There were a few small calls that had not 
yet been paid but doubtless they would be so in 
the course ot a few days and the dividend would be 
held against them. On the same principle as 
before they had written off for depreciation 
K3,506/82. 
Mr. Uxwix seconded and the report was adopted. 
On the motion of Mr. Giugsox, seconded by 
Mr. Unwin a dividend of .5 per cent was de- 
clared payable forthwith ; on the motion of Mr. 
Uxwix, seconded hy Mr. Geigsox, Messrs. E. 
Christian and V. A. Julius were re-elected 
directors, and Mr. Hercules Scott was re-appointed 
auditor on a fee of K100. Witli a vote of thanks 
to the chair the proceedings terminated. 
'■ MAZAWATTE." 
It must be more than two years back that 
these letters referred to a threatened appeal against 
the use of the word Mazawatte as a trade mark. 
At length the ct&e instituted has been heard, 
anct has been decided in Messrs'. Densliam's favouiP 
Enclosed with this is the Times report of the 
healing of this case, which was brought because 
"Mazawatte" blocked the way against the use 
of the word " Maza" for some wine imported by 
the institutor of it. Mr. .lustice Homer's judg- 
ment is'a lucid one, bul I cannot say 1 think it 
is really a sound one. His lordship said : — '"The 
word had been registered as a trade mark for 
many years without any complaint and without 
anyone having been deceived by it." Judge 
Uomer could not be justified in this assertion. In 
the first place there has been many complaints, and 
the Ceylon Association desired to prosecute reals 
.ig«. and was only prevented from doing so by 
instruction from your Ettanters 1 Association. More 
over, how could the judge know that '• it had 
never deceived anyone';" So far from this having 
been t!ii" case. 1* was myself wholly deceived 
by it until informed that there wa-* no 
estate of the name in Ceylon. Many of my 
acquaintances were similarly taken in, anil 
I venture to say that it a full canvass 
of tho buyers of Mazawatte ten could be made, 
it would be found that a considerable proportion 
