128- 
THE TROPICAL 
AaRICtJLTURIST. [Aug. 1, 1902. 
The crops for the current season are estimated at 
1.206,000 lb. tea. 
The gross average at which drafts were negociated 
■was Is 4 316d per rupee against Is 4id in the pre- 
vious year. 
The Diiectors desire to place on record their ap- 
presiatioa of the services of their Manager and his 
Staff in Ceylon. 
STATEMENT SHOWING RESULTS OF WO R KING FOR 
THK FOUK YEARS ENDING 3iST MARCH, 1902. 
Divi- 
dends. 
Season, y 
Qj 
a 
Cro 
o 
£^ 
O <X> 
<! 
, 
0) o 
-2 ^ 
^ ^ o 
U O 'X 
c5 CD 
Te 
<a 
ft 
be 0 
QE 
£3 . 
S 
o ^ 
CD c3 
o 
% 
|£o 
u ft 
x n 
E-i 
o 
O £ 
lb. 
lb. d. 
d. 
Acres. 
1898- 1899 2,081 1,031,782 495 4-12 8-71 1/4 5-32 6 7^ 
1899- 1900 2,185 1,209,451 553 3-69 7-98 1/4 5 16 6 7^ 
19001901 2,185 1,236,272 565 3-93 7-51 l/4i 6 6 
1901-1902 2,185 1,134,586 519 4-00 7 22 1/4 3-16 6 4 
The profit for the year amounts to £10,354 33 ; 
To which has to be added Interest £160 23 Id ; And 
the Balance from last year of £753 23 3d. Total 
£11,267 7s 4d. 
Interested on the Mortgage Debentures has been 
paid, leas Income Tax .£395 lOa ; Dividends on the 
6 per cent Preference Shares for the 12 months were 
paid on the 1st Oct. 1901, and 2nd April. 1902, less 
Tax £5,254 lOs ; Income Tax co April 1902 has 
been paid £848 8s : It is Proposed — To pay a Divi- 
dead of 4 per cent on the Oi'dinary Shares, which 
will require less Tax £3,766 13 4d ; To transfer 
to Reserve (increasing this account to £5,000) £500 ; 
And to carry forward to next year the balance of 
£502 6s. Total £11,267 7s 4d. 
The Director retiring on this occasion is Mr 
Henry Bois, and being eligible he offers himself for 
re-election. 
Mr. John Smith, the Auditor, also retires and offers 
himself for re-election.— By Order of the Board, 
EoBEETSoN Bois & Co , Agents and Secretaries. 
42, Fenchurch St., London, B.C., 20th June, 1900. 
SCIIKDULE OF THE COMPANY'S ESTATES. 
Estates. 
0.2 
Kirkoswaia 756 
Bridwell 382 
Elbedde 705 
Bogawana 341 
H.2 
35 
86 
26 
74 
35 
27 
44 
Total 2,185 97 180 
c2 
12 
5 
15 
6 
38 
o 
15 
18 
EH 
877 
473 
747 
436 
33 2,533 acres 
THE CONSOLIDATED TEA AND LANDS 
COMPANY, LIMITED. 
Report for the year ending 30th November, 1901, 
to be submitted to the Sixth Annual Ordinary General 
Meeting of Shareholders of the Consolidated Tea and 
Lands Company, Limited, to bo held in the Regis- 
tered Office of the Company, 22, West Nile Street, 
Glasgow, on Fnclaij, the 20lh day of June, 1902, at 
Two o'clock p.m. 
DiRBCToKs : — A. K. Muir, 'E^sq. , Chairman, Sir Ro- 
bert D. Moncreiffe. Bart., A. B. Murray, Esq., A. 
M.Brown, Esq, Robert Scott, Esq., R.H.Sinclair, 
Esq., D.M. Hannay, Esq., J. F. Muir, Esq. 
The Directors beg to submit the Accounts for the 
year euding 30th November 1901, 
The crop of tea from the company's estates was 
ll,742,4iS lb, or 1,590,836 1b lesa than that gathered 
in 1900. A L-ath.3r finer class ol: leaf wa^ taken off 
the bu.shes, bat tha main cause of ttie shorta^je was 
the severs drought experiauoed chiefly in Sylhet at 
the beginning of the season andar review. A slightly 
higher price has been obtained for the produce, viz., 
6 B7d |!ec lb, against 6'43d per lb in 1900, or an im- 
provement in pi'ioe of about jd pei; lb, but in view 
of t\\". shoL'tage in the general output from India 
and Ciylou, it is disappointing that better prices 
have not been forthcoming. Unfavourable v/eather 
similai'ly affected the crop returns of the Kanan Devan 
and Anglo-American companies, in whicLi this com- 
pany is largely interested. For some considerable 
time past, in view of the adverse oivcumstances 
affecting the tea-growing indastry, the directors hive 
had under consideration the terms of the agreement 
between the comp.^ny and its manai;ing agents in 
O tlcuita, and Colombo. While it was recognised that, 
at the time the agreement was entered into, its 
terms were reasonable, the agents, on being approached, 
expressed themselves as perfectly willing to consider 
a re-arrangement and they voluntarily offered in future, 
during the coatinuauce of the present depression in 
tea, and while reserving their rights under the agree- 
ment, to restrict their charges as agents of this com- 
pany, and of the other tea companies in whic:h this 
company is interested, to their actual outlay plus a 
commission of 3 per cent, on the netl profit.s. This 
offer, which the directors regard as a most favourable 
one for ths company, would, of course, supersede the 
arrangement \vith the Calcutta and Colombo Agents 
referred to in the directors' report for year ended 
November 30, 1899. With tile view of enabling the 
directors to make up ths full sum drawn from the 
reserve account, and place the company again in a 
dividend-paying position as soon jis possible, the 
managing agents have voluntarily agreed to give up 
to the company, for the benefit of the revenue account 
of 1901, the whole of their commissions for that year. 
The directors have returned one-half of their fees, 
and the London agents have also returned one-ha^f 
of their commission. Giving effect to the concessions 
referred to in the preceding paragraph, the accounts 
show a balance at credit o£ profit and loss account of 
£79,053 Is 9d. Against this sum are chargeable : 
Commission on profits to managers of estates and 
secretaries, interest and discount on bills, &c., interest 
and proportion of charges on debenture stock and 
income-tax, amounting together to £35,363 lis 9d. 
This will leave a balance o£ ^ 13,689 10s, of which 
£41,634 Os 7d v/ill fall to ba replaced to the reserve 
fund in accordance with the resolution to that effect 
passed at the annual general meeting of the 
company held on August 30, 1901. The reserve fund 
will, with that addition, stand at £65,000. The 
balance remaining at credit of profit and loss account 
— namely, £2,055 9s 5d — the directors propose should 
be applied in reduction of the amount standing at the 
debit of preliminary expenses account. No extensions 
are in progress or contemplated, and the planted area 
o£ the estates of the company, which have now been 
practically all surveyed by European Surveyors, 
aggregates 28,473 acres. The estimate of yield for the 
current season is 13,572,880 lb. The weather upon 
the whole has, so fai-, been generally favourable to 
growth, in consequence of svhich an improvement is 
already noticeable in the out-turn. The estates 
of the company are in excellent condition, and when 
the present crisis is over they will undoubtedly again 
earn good profits, especially as, in spite of hard 
times, they are being cultivated and upheld as 
liberally as ever. Efforts continue to be made 
to increase the consumption of Indian and Ceylon 
teas in countries other than tha United Kingdom, 
and especially in America and Russia ; while a 
strenuous endeavour is being made by producers in 
India, including this company, to encourage 
tea drinking amongst the native poulati9u, and it 
hoped that in time an appreciable quantity of 
