THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1895. 
fcallisecl red alumina, only differing from the na- 
tural ruby in the process l>y whieh the v have been 
produced! Examined with the microscope, they 
betray their origin by the glassy enclosures which 
they contain, and sometimes by a streaky ap- 
pearance.- Westminster Budget. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Applications in respect of the undermentioned In- 
ventions have been filed, during the week ending loth 
March-, 1895, under the provisions of Act V, of L6B8, 
in the office of the Secretary appointed under the 
Inventions and Designs Act 1888 :— 
Improvements in Steam Engines.— Samuel Cl< land 
Davidson, of Sirocco Engineering Works, Belfast, 
Ireland, Merchant, for improvements in steam 
engines, and in means for driving high speed shafts 
therefrom. 
Improvements in apparatus for withering tea 
leaf, &c— Samuel Cleland Davidson, of Sirocco En- 
gineering Works, Belast, Ireland, Merchant, for im- 
provements in apparatus for withering tea leaf, or 
exposing chemicals or other material to hot or cold 
air, or a mixture of air and vapour or gust a) • 
for drying yarns, cloths, and other substances.— 
Indian Knijineer. 
THE BATIAL'tA LLA ESTATE COMPANY 
LIMITED. 
Capital £15,000, in 1,500 Shares of £10 each, 
FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT TO THE SHARE- 
HOLDERS, 
Owing to unfavourable weather the yield of Tea 
shows a decline, which has however not affected the 
revenue of the Company as the average selling price 
has been higher. There has also been a somewhat 
considerable saving in working expenses. 
The Directors in again presenting their Annual 
Report to the Shareholders are pleased to be able to 
state that the working of the Company during 1894 
has been quite satisfactory. n o 01 ,„ 
The quantity of Tea sold in London during 1894 has 
been 117 209 lb., realizing nett £4,591 5s lid, against 
105 494 lb, realising £4,723 3s 5d. in the proceeding 
vear The average selling price has been 10 50 per 
lb on London weights against 10-05 in 1893. Sales 
of the Company's Teas in Colombo amounted to 
05 455 lb in addition to which 70/ bushels of Cotfe 
we're' also sold locally. The amounts realised from 
these sales R12.158-57 and Rll,770 13 respectively, 
have been applied towards payment of working ex- 
penses of the Estate. ■ .. ■ . 
The low rate of exchange ruling during the year 
his been very beneficial to the Company's business. 
The drafts for up keep have been at an average of 
Is lhA per rupee against Is 3 5-10d in 1893. 
After deducting 10 per cent, or £3S2 4s 4d, from the 
amount at debit of machinery and factory account on 
31st December last, payment of interest on debenture 
capital, income tax for the year, and writing off 
£945 10s 4d, from estimated value of Asiatic Produce 
Company's shares held by the Company there re- 
mains at credit of profit and loss account a balance 
of £1 941 9s 2d. The directors propose to appro- 
priate from this amount £1,800, for the payment of 
I dividend of 12 per cent, free of income tax, carry- 
ina forward £141 9s 2d. 
In accordance with the articles of Association, Mr. 
Charles A Reiss retires from the Board by rotation, 
ami being eligible, offers himself for re-election. 
The " directors have again to thank Mr. Thomas T. 
Coles for the trouble taken in auditing the Books. 
The shareholders will be pleased to learn that 
nne of the directors, Mr. Edward H. Haiicocke 
has re-ently visited Ceylon, and has brought home 
a most satisfactory account of the Company's pro- 
perty, and future prospects. 
The Director are indebted to their Sup:riuti nic-iit , 
Mr. G. C. K. Norina-i mil their (Jene al Ageuts in 
Colombo, Mr-s^rs Benham and Bn niner for tutir 
car.'ful attention (o the interests of Company. 
Edwakd H. Haxcjck. 
ClIAHLKs A. liElhS, 
Adolf Zimmcrs, 
Pireetort, 
Albjs B. ToMKlNOS, Sicttary. 
51 Lime Street, Loudon, E. C, 19th Mar.-h 1895. 
THE GOSPEL OF SANITARY TEA. 
Our tea planters, writes the Timet of Attorn, are 
doing much to push Indian teas into the American 
market. This is all very good no doubt, but evidently 
they do not care to see that there is an inexhaus- 
tible market much nearer, we mean in India. India 
with its 200 millions of inhabitants will make the best 
and surest market for our own teas if we only 
take the trouble to create a market in the country 
and of enconrarging tea drinking, by all means in 
our power, amongst the people of the soil. The In- 
dian Medical Congress lately held in Calcutta 
gave its opinion that boiled water is indispensably 
necessary for the health of the village people who 
have no filtered water to drink, but some of our 
Calcutta contemporaries 1 ave put forward the taste 
and shiell of the boiled water as the obstacles 
against its universal use. Under the circumstan- 
ces, the Tea Association would do very well by 
preaching the gospel of tea amongst the people by 
holding tea-meetings in different parts of India 
and by delivering lectures and circulating pam- 
phlets about the properties and usefulness of tea on 
the basis of sanitation. They should engage the 
services of some enthusiastic practical voung 
Europeans and some experienced and educated na- 
tives for the purpose. The cost of the whole un- 
dertaking would be much less and the result more 
certain than that of the American campaign. The 
European tea missionaries, if we may call them so, 
should be selected from practical men well versed in 
the vernacular languages and possessing qualifications 
attractive to the high and middle classes of India who 
are the natural leaders of the masses and are their 
natnral medium of communication on all matters. 
Nothing could be done without the help of those two 
factors, especially the latter. The Indian Tea Asso- 
ciation is doing very good work in its own way, 
but we would w : ish it had a little more vitality in it. 
— Western Star. 
CHINESE FOR TEA IN AFRICA. 
The Portuguese transport " Africa" was to leave 
Macao on the 25th inst., with 450 Chinese emi- 
grants for S. Thome, and also time-expired 
marines. The Chinese, it is believed, are going 
to Africa to work on the tea plantations. 
— S- F. Press. 
BRAZIL COFFEE NOTES. 
The coffee trees in the municipality of Perajn, 
in southern S. Paulo, are said to be heavily laden 
with blossoms. The planters are naturally in 
high spirits over the prospect. 
The Journal do Conimcrcio of the 11th hints 
that the minister of finance will use his good offices 
to reconcile the dispute between Minas Geraes and 
Rio de Janeiro in regard to the collection of the 
export duties 011 coffee. It would be a substantial 
service to commerce were the minister to induce 
them to simplify the collection of this tax.— Bio 
Ncws> Feb. 12. 
