548 
THE TROPICy\L 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Fee. 1, 1901, 
ci RUBBER ESTATES OF PARA. 
' ' STRANGE EXPERIENCES. 
The ordinary general meeting of the Rubber Estates 
of Para, Limited, was held on the 17th inst.. at Win- 
chester House, London, E.O , the Hon. John de Grey, 
the chairman of the company, presided. In moving 
the addption of the report, which included complete 
accounts from the inception of the company down to 
Jnne 30th, 1900, since the total loss, as stated in the 
accounts amounts to £23,769 li!s 3d. This, the Chair- 
man explained, .should not be treated as a total loss, 
because, by the initial expenditure, they had established 
170 to 180 men permanently upon the estates, so that 
a considerably amount of the apparent loss might be 
reasonably called capital invested in putting the estates 
in working order, and establishing rubber "collectors 
upon them, whichexpense would not have tobeincurred 
again. Turning to the result of the first season's work- 
ing, the Chairman had to deplore that it was of a most 
unsatisfactory nature, and the board, since the last 
meetii.g of the company on June 1st, had given the 
matter its most earnest attention, with a view to 
ascertaining the cause which had led to that state of 
things and remedy them so far as lay in their power. 
The leport stated that Mr. Milne, the Estates Man- 
ager, had resigned, and there was little doubt that he 
had tendered his resignation because he bad found 
himself unable to cope with the difficult problems 
that he found in managing theestate". Mr. Jacques, 
ihe Para agent of the company, had been asked to 
proceed to the estates and report fully upon the situ- 
ation and had been appointed general manager. The 
Chairman stated that Mr, Jacques had given the board 
entire satisfaction, and had furnished them with a most 
valuable report upon the property and the business, 
which shows he has a full grasp of the situation. 
In proceeding to summarise the difficulties to be 
encountered, first the indebtedness of collectors ; 
secondly, robbery by them to avoid paying their 
debts,' and also robbery by private boats ; thirdly, 
and most important of all — the badness of the labour 
system. 
Mr. .Jacques reported as follows : — 
'' Admitted on all hands to be one of the wealthiest 
in the district,'' and which, he says, worked by suitable 
labourers, would be worth a fabulous sum, acd would 
give ample employment to 1,200 hands, capable of 
producing 100 and 150 rubber trees, where it only 
produces one at present. " Solve," says he, " the 
la"bour question, and the company can be made a 
prosperous one indeed." He says also that he con- 
siders that apart from rubber, cocoa, sugar cane, 
bananas and plantains, timber and wood could be 
cultivated with good results ; indeed, that there are 
no tropical trees or fruits but can be readily 
cultivated on the estates. These are all matters to 
which we shall direct our attention with a view to 
future developments. (Hear, hear.) Turning back 
to the balance-sheet, under profit and loss I should 
like to show you what economies we have been 
able to effect up to the present time. Yon will find 
put down in the second part cf the profit and loss 
account, from March 25th to Jund 30th, 1900 — taking 
these two dates — the salary of the London manager, 
£2,200; that was at the rate of i;l,200 a year, sol 
haTe put it down in my notes as salary, £1,200 ; at 
the present date that is wiped out altogether. Then 
secretary and rent of offices appears at the rate of 
£550; that has been reduced to dE450. Directors' fees 
appear as at the rate of £1,400 ; that has been re- 
duced te £550, and it will interest the shareholders 
to know that since the meeting of June 1st. the direc- 
tors have not drawn any fees, because they wished to 
delay doing that until the company is in a better 
position. (Hear, hear.) Then salaries of estate 
manager, accountant and inspectors were at the rate 
of £1,836 (£3,367) ; they are now reduced to £1,500 
a year. The special, remuneration to Para agents, 
£650, comes out altogether. Then with regard to the 
Para agents' com-raiflsion, that would oome under the 
second item of estates trading account, conE^araable 
and general stores, and we estimate that to have been 
about £2,000 a year ; against that we have by our 
own Para establishment, under Mr. Jacques, a total 
expenditure which, including office and clerk, comes 
to £1,000. 
KEDBCTION IN ESTATES MANAGEMENT. 
Then there is that Very heavy item of estates man- 
agement, £11,478 for eighteen months. Now, that 
would be at the rate of £7,000 a year, and we esti- 
mate—I cannot give you this figure exactly, but we 
know that great reductions have been made, and as 
nearly as we have been able to estimate them, thev 
amount to £4,000, against £7,600 a year. I should 
now like to call your attention to the returns of 
rubber. The total returns of the whole season, ao 
far as we have gone, to December 19th, are 27 tons, 
and last year they were 21 tons, and when you come 
to think that the collectors at the same date last year 
numbered between 2.50 and 300, and this year they 
are between 170 and 180, you will see that 
with a much less number, the directors have 
got considerably more satisfactory returns. Then 
I should like to mention that at this time last 
year we had received no remittances of the moneys 
of the estates, bat this year, either in hand or on 
the sea in the shape of rubber coming to us, we 
have a total amount of f 1,200, which is sufficient to 
pay one year's interest on our debeutnres, the first 
half-year of which will ba due in January, I should 
also like to read you a telegram which" we received 
on December I5th from Mr. Jacques. He says : 
" Shareholders will be glad to he^r that we do not 
give any further credit." The meaning of that ia 
that he has been able to stop that detestable system 
of indebtedness which has been— I will not say the 
ruin, but which has militated very greatly against 
the success of the company. Yon know that according 
to the system which has prevailed up to the pre- 
sent, when you sent a man up to the estate as a 
collector, you were asked to equip him with stores, 
cash and various advances. I do not know whether 
it will be possible, from what has taken place, to 
completely change that system, but at any rate, it 
can be greatly modified, because our great cause o( 
trouble up to the present time has been that collectors 
great advances far in excess of what they should do, and 
when they become so indebted, rather than liquidate 
their indebtedness by giving their rubber to the com- 
pany to reduce it, they sell it elsewhere. Mr. Jacques 
is endeavouring to Jo away with that system altogether, 
and that telegram means that he is not going to make 
any further advances. In conclusion, I will only 
repeat what I said on June Ist, 1900, and which I 
think is borne out by what I have now stated to yon. 
I said on that occasion :"We are not going to try and 
make a large profit in the first season. We do not 
waot to run any risks. We want to confine our efforts 
to building up a proper system of management which 
shall bear fruit in the future, so that by gradually 
extending our operations in future seasons we may 
develop the undoubted resources of our property." 
It is our confident hope that in time we may be able 
to carry out that policy with success. 
Questions on details of the accounts were put by 
Mr. Wilkinson and replied to by the Chairman, after 
which the motion was put and carried. 
The retiring directors, ths Hon. John de Grey and 
Mr. B. T. Wolseley, were re-elected on the motion 
of Count de Torre Diaz, seconded by Mr. H. M. 
Baker. 
Messrs. F. Davies, Meredith & Co. having been 
reappointed auditors, 
Mr. Leach Barrett moved a vote of thanks to the 
chairman and directors for the able manner in which 
they had conducted the bu"iness of the company. 
The motion was seconded by Mr. Woodrow and 
carried unanimously, and, after a brief acknowledg- 
ment from the Chairman, the proceedings closed. 
—The India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha Trades 
Journal, Dec. 24, 
