rs?  i-: 
Vol.  XII. 
COLOMBO,  JULY  ist,  1892. 
[No.  1. 
THE  REPORT  OF  THE  EASTERN  PRODUCE 
AND  ESTATES  COMPANY. 
E have  made  a point  hitherto 
of  specially  noticing  the  re- 
ports of  those  companies 
Whose  operations  have  in- 
cluded what  may  be  termed 
the  transitious  period  of  plant- 
ing in  Ceylon.  Occupying 
perhaps  the  foremost  position  among  those  has 
been  the  Eastern  Produce  and  Estates  Company, 
which,  our  readers  will  .doubtless  bear  in  mind’ 
was  formed  to  take  over  from  the  liquidator  of 
the  defunct  Ceylon  Company  the  estate  properties 
possessed  by  the  latter  at  the  date  of  its  winding 
up.  It  is  true  that  when  the  transfer  took  place 
some  progress  had  already  been  made  in  the 
supersession  of  the  exhausted  coffee  trees  by  tea 
bushes  ; but  the  bulk  of  this  operation,  we  believe, 
has  had  to  be  performed  by  the  new  Company, 
the  report  of  which  for  last  year  now  lies  before 
us.  Our  London  Letter  by  this  mail  briefly  reviews 
the  very  onerous  conditions  under  which  this 
Company  had  had  to  work  since  the  transfer  of 
the  properties  was  made  to  it.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  we  should  here  recapitulate 
t’hese.  It  will  suffioe  to  remark  that  those  conditions 
have  not  only  been  fully  met  and  complied  with,  but 
that  the  timo  has  arrived  when  the  holders  of  ordi- 
nary shaves  in  the  Company  are  able  to  obtain  soma 
return  for  the  money  invested  by  them.  All  of  us 
must  be  ready  to  endorse  the  remarks  by  our 
London  correspondent  that  this  faot  is  not  alone 
creditable  to  the  management,  but  highly  satis- 
factory to  ell  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity and  progress  of  our  tea-planting  industry. 
We  observe  that  the  profits  made  during  the  year 
amounted  to  about  £22,000,  there  being,  with  £4,752 
brought  forward  from  the  last  account,  an  exaot 
sum  of  £26,608  133  4d  available  for  fulfilling  all  the 
conditions  imposed  by  the  articles  of  association 
under  whioh  the  Company  was  formed  and  registered. 
These  having  been,  as  we  have  said,  fully_  com- 
plied with,  the  directors  are  yet  in  a position  to 
propose  a first  dividend  at  the  rate  of  1|  per 
cent  per  annum,  free  of  income  tax.  We  have 
no  doubt  that  while  this  muoh-desired  point  has 
been  reached,  a liberal  expenditure  has  been  made 
to  bring  the  efficiency  of  all  the  properties  up  to 
the  highest  modern  standard,  and  that  so  muoh 
has  been  aooomplished  during  the  relatively  few 
years  throughout  which  the  Company  has  been 
working,  is  a faot  that  oannot  fail  to  be 
regarded  as  most  satisfactory  by  all  who  have 
watched  the  progress  of  the  undertaking. 
Year  bj-  year  we  have  seen  the  oloud  under  which 
this  Company  and  similarly  situated  companies  com- 
menced their  working  clear  away,  until  even 
that  placed  under  the  most  restrictive  of  conditions 
is  able  to  appear  before  the  publio  as  a paying 
concern,  and  with  ample  grounds  exhibited  for 
anticipating  a bright  future  for  those  who  have  had 
so  long  to  wait  for  it.  The  faot  furnishes  an 
additional  commentary — if  any  were  needed — upon 
the  pusillanimity  of  those  who  decided  upon 
winding  up  the  affairs  of  the  old  Oriental  Bank. 
It  is  perfectly  well-known  that  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  that  act  that  the  Ceylon  Company,  which 
wa3  the  child  of  that  institution,  had  likewise  to 
follow  suit  ; and  great  dread  was  felt  at  the  time 
that  this  was  done  that  the  forced  realization  of 
that  Company’s  properties  would  flood  the  market, 
and  would  heavily  depreciate  the  value  of  estate 
property  throughout  the  island.  We  now  can  see 
that,  if  the  Bank  had  stood  its  ground,  not  only 
would  it  ultimately  have  attained  the  success 
which  now  attends  the  New  Oriental  Bank’s  work- 
ing, but  tho  Ceylon  Company  under  judicious 
management  might  have  been  tided  over  all  its 
difficulties,  and  that  the  assets  which  the  Bank 
directors  regarded  as  comparatively  valueless  would 
have  been  made  in  the  end  to  contribute  largely 
towards  the  maintenance  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
foster  mother.  We  have  no  doubt  that  muoh  of 
the  credit  due  for  the  results  now  obtained  and 
disclosed  must  be  assigned  to  tho  able  managing 
director,  Mr.  Ralph  A.  Cameron. 
— & 
NOTES  FROM  OUR  LONDON  LETTER. 
London,  April  29. 
THE  EASTERN  PRODUCE  AND  ESTATES  COMPANY,  LD. 
Very  considerable  interest  must  be  attached  to 
the  report  of  tho  Eastern  Produce  and  Estates 
Company,  whioh  is  herewith  forwarded  to  you.  You 
will  recollect  that  this  Company  was  formed  to  take 
over  and  work  the  numerous  properties  which  were 
possessed  by  the  Ceylon  Company  at  the  time  it 
was  wound  up  and  its  existenoe  finally  dosed. 
| Very  stringent  conditions  were  {imposed  at  the  time 
