Aug. 1, 1900.] THE TROriCAL 
THE TEA ASD rKODUOE COMMITTEE. 
REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1399-1900. 
The Coniur.ttee lias held four meetings during 
tlie year. 
The chief business of the year has been the work 
carried on hy tlia la lia and Ceylon Joint Co^n- 
niittee in respect of the attempt to abolish the 
l-i.b. draft allowance per packa'j:e of Tea, and the 
.subserjueat prolonged negotiations with the Tea 
Buyers as to the agreement arrived at in August 
last for a new system of weighnient of Tea by the 
Customs. It is unnecessary here to go in to the details 
of the various incidencs in the dispute, which were 
set forth at length in the exhaustive minute issued 
by the Joint Committee on r2th December last. The 
jg^^g4fl ^Tqv mber last by the Board of Customs of 
Port Order 39 1899 seemed for a few days to have 
brought the matter to a settlement, but the sub- 
sequent suspension of that order before the date 
when it W.1S to corns into foice quickly reopened 
the controversy. The Tea Buyers then suggested 
as an alternative settlement the acceptance of 
Port Order 39-1899 in consideration of certain al- 
teration in t'lo Sales Conditions being agreed to, 
and proposed a Conference of Buyers and Imi)or- 
ters to consider these alterations. Your C«ni- 
mittee on 11th December last nominated Mr. 
Alfred BroNvn to rejireseiit Ceylon interests at 
the Confereuoe, and for the intervening live months 
that f'entlemau has been constantly engage<l in 
the negotiations. The thanks of the Committee 
are due to him for his labours. 
No agreement has yet baeu come to in regard 
to the propoaed alterations, buo in view of the 
recent reduction in the Bulking and Taring rate 
for Tea at the London Warehouses and the 
consequent withdrawal of objection to tiie 
separate taring of London bulked Teas, your 
C )mmittee recommen(ie<l a settlement of the long 
pending dispute on the terms of the original 
agreenient of 2nd August last. This has now 
been brousjht into eftecc by the issue by tlie 
B^ard of Customs of PortOrder 42-1900, "which 
comes into operation on 1st June. 
The Commit tee is glad to be able to report that 
some measure of success has attended the eflbrts, 
made in conjunction with the Indian Tea Associa- 
tion, to obtain a reduction in the London Ware- 
house charges on Tea. The reduced scale of rates 
for Hr.lking and Taring mentioned above can:e 
into force on ]st March, and it is now announced 
that the Tea Clearing House has decided to in- 
crease the discount allowed on other charges from 
10 per cent to 15 per cent. The Committee does 
not consider this la«t concession to be adequate, 
and will not relax its eflbrts until a further re- 
duction is obtained. 
. Matters c.f minor importance that have engaged 
' tlie attention of the Committee are the import from 
Ceylon into this country of spurious Cinnamon, Mr 
Hnghes' repoit on selected samples of prepared 
Cocoa, and the equalization of tares in the 
case of Tea by the insertion into the packages 
of loose pieces of lead or wood. 
J ; At the request of the Committee of the Flan- 
"lers' Association of Ceylon, representation iips 
been made to the London Fire Ofiices Cnni- 
niittee for a reduction ot the rates of premium 
for Fire Insurance in Ceylon. 
The duty on Tea imported into this country 
was raised in March from 4d to 6d per pound, 
' l\ 
AGEICULTUEIST. 83 
UDAGAMA TEA AND TIMBER CO. 
REPORT. 
The report now before the shareholders embrace 
a period of 15 months from SOth September, 1398, 
to 31st December, 1899. 
Diiriug the early portion of the period under re- 
view the weather was very unfavorable for tea and 
later on some crop was lost through want ot labour 
(Singhalese). Only 142,879 1b. of tea were obtained 
from all the estates ; nevertheless the loss of the 
p:svious vear (R8, 16209) was turned into a small 
profit of il2,070-Sl. 
Prices obta,iaed were encouraging 32 -15 cents per lb. 
b?iiig the average for the 15 months. The cost 
however was heavy — 31 cents. Plucking and weed- 
ins; wore both very expensive. 
A crop of 170,000 lb. has been estimated for 1900, 
it is hoped that it will not cost 25 cents per lb. 
The new clearings present a splendid appearance 
and will give a very large yield in 1901. The 
effect of manure also on the older estates is nov» 
shewing itself, Giunidomine is looking very well and 
will give a very good crop. 
Homadola has never been of much value to the 
Company bain^ widely apart from the rest of the 
estates and situated eight to nine miles from the 
Factory, your Directors have therefore accepted an 
offer for its lease for live years for the sum of 
Rl,10;) per annum. 
A block of 754 acres of forest on Homadola was 
sold early in 1899 for R25 per acre, the proceeds 
were applied to the cost of the new factory under 
arrangements v/ith the debenture holders. 
Sawmills — The profit made during 15 months 
amounted to 111,759-68 ; the work was very much 
impeded by the gceit difficulty in obtaining labour 
owing to the rush for plumbago. Transport ot timber 
from the forests was very expensive and mill hands 
scarce and dear. 
Only 49,685 chests were made during the 15 months 
against 58,210 daring the previous 12 mouths. The 
price of tea chests have now risen very considerably 
there is a prospect of a much better result during 
the ensuing year. 
In addition to the loss in interest shewn iu the 
accounts a sum of li8,199'50 is due to tho pre- 
ference shareholders for interest. This is not pay- 
able until sufficient profit has been made to 
meet it. 
It is the duty of the shareholders to appoint an 
Auditor for the vear 1900, and a Director in the 
place of Mr. R D Kersb.i,w who retires by rotation 
and eligible for re-election. 
Tea Consumption among Natives. —The 
Manager of Messrs. Lipton Ld. writes to the 
I)ulian Planters^ Gazette as foliows : — " I 
notice a paiugraph in your issue of 23rd 
instant written on somewliat the same lines 
as your leading article of 2nd Jime, in which 
you appear to take it for granted that 
nothing is being done to approach the 
European population in India regarding the 
constimption of Indian tea. I would point 
out that there is one firm in India which has 
done, and is stilldoing, more towards bringing 
Indian teas to the notice of the inhabitants 
(tjoth European and natives) of this country, 
than is done probably by anyone else. In 
nearly every bazaar in India, you will find 
that (thanks to the labours of Lipton Ld.) 
Indian tea is Iieing sold, and is thereby being 
brouglit to the notice of an increasing num- 
ber every day, and it is, therefore, hardly 
correct to say that there is no organized 
effort to push Indian teas among the in- 
habitants of India." — We wonder if the same 
polic-y is being pursued by Messrs, Lipton, 
Ld, in Ceylon, or if natives are left to find out 
'the advantages of toa-dpjiking by themselves^ 
