640 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 1, 190L 
THE TRA.VANCOHE TEA ESTATES CO., LD 
Tlie ordinary general meeting ot the Travancore 
Tea Estates Company, Limited, wa'? iield attli? 
offices of thecompany, 23, I^astolieap, on Monday 
last. 
Tiie chair was occupied by Mr W Mackenzie, 
Chairman of tlie company. 
The Secretary (Sir William Jonston) read tlie 
notice convening the meeting. 
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the 
report and accounts, said— I do not think we ought 
to begin the business of our meeting without ex- 
pressing our deep regret at the death of Her 
Majesty the Queen and of our synripathy 
with the Royal Family. Since our last re- 
port death has deprived us of the very useful ser- 
vices of our colleague, Mr Tod, and Mr Talbot, 
another of our directors, is abroad. The report and 
accounts you have had lor some days and, unsatis- 
factory tliough they be, may, I presume, he taken 
as read. The crop was r2'3,0001b more than the 
previous year, because of the larger area being 
plucked. liat for the ab.sence of rain, which caused 
the Indian famine, and the excessive downfall of 
the last two months of our ttnanoial year August and 
September, when Sin fell daily on an average, the 
yield would have been considerably larger. In the 
repoit you are told that 1,702 acres gave 3041b. 
per acre. But as yon will see, one-half of that 
area was immature tea. For the current year the 
estimate from the same area is 743,0001b, I sfiy 
the sauic area, because nothing of any conse<iuence 
cm be gathered this year from the 1,500 acies, 
more or less, planted in 1898. During the first 
three months of this financial year to end of 
December the crop from the 1,702 acres has been 
49,0001b. more than for the .same three months of 
last year. More serious even than the falling-off 
in crop from the bad weather has been the fall in 
tea price.?. In the early half of the year we were 
doing well, and we were quite justified in paying 
the interest on preference shares to end of March. 
But the unprecedented fall which has occurred 
since then has upset all calculations, and has 
brought the average pi ice from V'lSd in the previous 
year to 6'20il, a drop of -98 of a penny per lb. The 
average price of Ceylon teas since June has been 
7-48d, against 8-42d the previous year, and Indian 
tea is also all but Id lower for same period. The 
yield we anticipated four years ago has been 
realised, except during the final months of 
the last financial year, when first drought, causing 
famine, and then an excessive rainfall lost us 
nearly 50,000 lb of tea. The cost of production 
from mature tea has been less than we expected, 
t.he price alone is respon.sible for our present 
dilficulties, Another misfortune we have to 
record is the loss of about £2,800 in advances to 
native contractors. This money was given out 
three to four years ago, when we were preparing 
for the large' (leveloj)ment in acreage made in 
1898. The acting manager vv-ho advanced this 
money has been residei.t in Travancore for many 
years, and w?s well acquainted with the native 
contractors. He was home here a year ago, and 
■was then confident he could recover three- 
quarters of the money on his return. As jet, 
liowever, he has not been able to do so. Ihis 
advance system is niiiversal in the East, but is 
peldom attended with loss in Ceylon. In .some of 
the great tca-))rodue!ng districts of Northern 
Indiariiowever, it is quite umleistood that labour 
Qonit lUOO per head lor a coolie, and it is seldom 
that any of this is recovered. In Travancore we 
trust this may be our only loss under the heading 
The result of the several misfortunes I have u:en- 
tioned, the loss of crop from bad weather, the fa^l 
of Id in jnice and the loss on these advances, is a de- 
ficiency in our resources of about £6,000. To cover 
this we x)ropose to issue £7,0u0 of Preference shares 
and if y(uir and our property is to be protected 
something equivalent to this is absolutely neces- 
sary. At the present moment the average price of 
our tea is Ijd less than last year's average of 6 20d, 
and this means that it is being inoduced at a loss. 
How long this is to continue we, as directors, have 
no better means of forming an opinion than you 
have. Were it to go on for year.-, then it were 
better not to throw away more money but to allow 
the properties to pass to the Dehenture-liolders. 
But, pessimistic as we all aie at present, I doubt 
v/hetlicr anyone in this room really believes 
that prices are not to rise within a reasonable time. 
The laws of supply and demand will assert them- 
selves. Planters will not goon producing 5001b 
to 600 lb per acre at a loss of Id per lb, v hen they 
can produce 400 lb of a better tea which may 
show no loss. The demand is increasing all over 
the woi ld. The crisis has been brought on us by 
the great success of the tea-))lanting industry four 
to six years ago, which induced companies to open 
up hundreds of thou.=ands of acres, the produce of 
which has swamped the market during the last 
two years. I might .say much more iu explana- 
tion of the position, and as encouragement for the 
future. But I refrain, as we liave no wish to 
persuade shareholders against their convictions. I 
do not even wish to advise them. As directors we 
can merely make suggestions. It is for you to 
decide. But failing this scheme, the only resource 
known to us, short of handing over to Debenture- 
holders, is a reconstruction, or rather a re-arrange- 
ment, with a call on the sliares. The sum we 
propose to raise, viz., £7,000, is what 
appears to us sufficient for tlie present. But 
it must be clearly understood that, with a 
continuance of present price--, the whole of this 
might be used up in paying debenture interest, and 
the difference lietween co-t of production and sale 
prices ; but sucl; a condition of things, though 
we cannot, of course, say it is beyond the range of 
possibilities, we can only hope may not arise as 
the enormous tea industry of India ami Ceylon 
would in that case al.so became involved in a 
general disaster. We show you in our report what 
we expect from the working of the con)pany if 
our teas fetch 6-id per lb. when the land is in beai- 
ing. The price is 2d per lb. below that at which 
the company's teas stood when tlie company was 
formed, and if you think that is a fair and reason- 
able figure to assume when production and con- 
sumption have adjusted themselves, then I think 
you should have no hesitation in subscribing for 
your share of the extra capital. The matter 
rests entirely in your hands, however, and you 
must judge for yourselves. With regard to the 
debenture issue, I may state that when the com- 
pany was formed there was not the slightest in- 
tention of issuing debentures. It was stated in 
the prospectus that the first issue of shares was 
for the purchase and working of four estates, 
therein named, aggregating 2,371 acres. It was 
also stated that further lands would be acquired 
and developed. This latter entailed the raising 
of more capital, and the total acreage is now 7,163 
acres. The directors considered that the issue of 
debentures presented the best and cheapest form 
