July 1, 1900. J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
19 
have proved very remunerative, the sales last year 
bringing in £17,591, The Corapmy is to be com- 
mended for publishing with its report a tabular 
statement showing tiie results of working 
for thirteen years, a plan which might with 
advantage be adopted by other companies. Natu- 
rally, the £10 Oi'diuary shares stanil at a con- 
siderable premium, the present price being about 
26^, but the yield at this liauie is still 63 per cent. 
Tlie Eastern Produce and Estates Company, 
the next on our list, cannot boast such a bril- 
liant record, but witliin the last seven years it 
has gradually increased its dividend, and for three 
years past the shares have been on a seven per 
cent basis. The resei vo fund, it is true, appears 
small, being only £2.3,005 for an issued share 
capital of £299,800, and it has not been added 
to for some years. But the Company has reduced 
its Debentures debt from £195,200 to 80,000, the 
amount so applied last year being £7,500. In le- 
a'dty, therefore, it has accumulated a considerable 
reserve fund, and it should be noted that when 
the Debentures are reduced to a total of £50,000 
the sinking fund may cease. The balance carried 
forward from last year is the very consider- 
i^ble one of £9,800. A reference to our usual 
table of Indian and Ceylon fei Plant- 
ing Companies, sliews that the shares can be 
purchased to yield about 6| per cent. The Stan- 
dard Tea Company, our next selection, has an 
excellent record as a dividend payer, the distri- 
butions rising from 10 per cent, in 1893 and 12^ 
per cent, in 1894 to a level of 15 per cent, in 1896, 
■which has been maintained ever since. The Com- 
pany, though not paying more for last year, has 
set aside £700 additional for reserve and deprecia 
tion, and slightly increased the carry forward 
The paid-up capital is small, amounting to only 
£59,50C so that the reserve, which now reaches 
£11,000, is not altogether inadequate. Some 
objection may be taken to the fact that the 
majority of the £10 shares and those tbe most 
freely dealt in, are only £6 paid. But this 
state of things has its advantages, since, 
owing to this liability on the shares, the 
Company has no prior charges, and is able 
to borrow on very favourable terms. The 
good results shown by last year's working are the 
more creditable, as the Company produces a con- 
siderable quantity of fine teas, and the prices 
obtained for such qualities were, on the whole, 
unfavourable. The fourth concern on our list, the 
Nuwara Eliya, is rather heavily capitalised, hav- 
ing a subscribed share capital of £200,000, in 
addition to £30,OlO of Debentures. It is a com- 
paratively new undertaking, only registered in 
1895, and so far has accumulated no reserve 
fund. The Directors, hovi'ever, have been con- 
servative in their distributions, and have only 
raised the dividend to 7 per cent, after main- 
taining it at 6 per cent, for the previous three 
years, while £2,599 is this time carried forward. 
'The Company produces tea of fairly high average 
quality, and the report sets forth the profits made 
by the various estates very clearly. On the 
whole, the Muwara, notwithstanding its capitali- 
sation, may be said to occupy a sound position. 
The Scottish Ceylon Company shows a large 
increase in profits last year, and after distributing 
10 per cent, dividends for the past few years is 
now enabled to pay 12 per cent. It has also 
written off £1,000 from the estates account and 
£402 from capital expenditure, which was not 
done in the previous year. The issued share 
capital of tins concei'!i is only 50,000, of 
which £9,000 is in Seven Per Cent. Preference 
and the balance in Oidinary shares, and there are 
no Debentures. The reserve fund is £7,000. This 
Company nrjde a very considerable stride forward 
last year, and the siiareholders are to be cono-ra- 
tulatedoa the improved position. The weak point 
about the Alliance Tea Company is that it lias 
not succeeded in putting anything to resfrve 
except a sum of £4,600, representing the pie- 
niiums received on shares and Deben lures. 
The issued share capital, it is true, is 
only £65,250, bub the Debenture debt is close 
upon £45,000. Possibly instead of increas- 
ing the dividend from 7 to 8 per cent last year, 
it might have been more advantageous to have 
set apart something towards the formation of a 
reserve fund. However the Directors write off 
£1,000 for depreciation and carry forward £2,180, 
so it cannot be said that tliey have divided the 
profits absolutely up to the hilt. Our last Com- 
pany, the Yatiyantota, is quite a young concern, 
only dating back to the end of 1896. Commence- 
ing with a 2 per cent dividend for 1897, it in- 
creased its distribution to 4 per cent for 1898, 
and pays 7 per cent for the past year. The pro- 
perty consists of lowland gardens, producing large 
quantities of lower-grade teas, and the Com- 
pany benefited considerably last year by the 
high prices ruling for common teas, espe- 
cially in the spring. That cannot, of course, 
always be the case, bub an excellent 
feature of the working of this under- 
taking is the extraordinarily low cost of 
production, so that even on a less favourable 
market the Company should still be able to 
realise its produce at a good profit. The Com- 
pany's issued share capital is £135,000, of which 
£45,00) consists of six per cent. Preference shares. 
The Ordinary share capital was issued at a high 
premium, so that although the Company has 
from this source a reserve of £45,000, it was 
provided by the shareholders themselves, and was 
not obtained out of revenue. Speaking generally 
of the Tea share market, it may be said that 
although there has been a moderate recovery 
from the lowest prices touched since the 
boom time, there is still a fair margin for 
further improvement, and many of the good 
shares, such as those indicated, are worth atten- 
tion. As regards the future, the horizon is nob 
quite free from the cloud of over-production, yet it 
is brightening. All large extensions of gardens 
are now practically stopped, while the foreign 
markets for Indinn and Ceylon teas are steadily 
developing year by year. The Indian exchange 
question is now practically eliminateil ; producers 
have become habituated to a stable rupee and one 
element of uncertainty is thus abolished. The 
Ceylon Companies, as a whole, in addition to 
those dealt with the above, show excellent results 
for the past year, and they are the more creditable 
as they were achieved under conditions by no 
means entirely favourable. 
Undeveloped TIx\iBer Wealth.— The Buiirj- 
Icok Times, in dwelling upon the restricted out- 
put ot teak timber in Siani, points out that there 
are immenbe quantities ot hard woods in the 
forests of the Siamese Malay Peninsula. But 
there are considerable difficulties in the way of 
obtaining leases to work these forests. Anothei" 
difficulty is the uncertainty regarding the amount 
of the transit tax to be levied on woods. 
