April 2, 1900.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
671 
buying brokers iii the London market. Teas 
should never he printed in sale unless the owneis 
are prepared to take the value (iifered by the 
tr:id i on the day they are selling them, thei efore 
all that is necessary is one public auoiioneer to 
knock ilown the lots mechanically and a cleariii;; 
liouse to collect the proceeds in accordance v.'itli 
the conditions of sale. Tiie whole of this work 
could be done for a trifling percentage on the 
value, in fact what goes now for lot money and 
.selling expenses might cover it, and 1^ per cent, 
upon the total value of the Tea sold would be 
saved to someone." 
Do away with the brokers ! The time has 
scarcely arrived for that. Ceylon planters 
would rather vote for doing away with the 
Blenders and giant lea Dealers? 
TRAVANCOKE TEA ESTATES COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
The following is from the report of the direc- 
tors submitted at the third annual ordinary 
general meeting of shareholders, held at the 
office of the company on Feb. 21. : - 
The directors have toiubmitthe genera! balance- 
sheet and pioht and loss account for the year 
ending September .30, 1S99, duly audited. 'The 
net amount at credit ol profit and loss account, 
including balance brought forward at September 
30, 1898, atter providing for general expenses, 
income-tax, &c., is £2,264 Os 8d Dividends on 
tiie preference shares paid December 31, 1898, 
March 31, and iSeptember 30, 1899 (less incom?;- 
tax), amount to £2,682 10s ; less set aside in 
last account, £536 IWs ; leaving to carry forward 
to next year the sum of £118 Os 8d. Tiie re- 
sults of the past year's working have not materi- 
ally differed from those of the previous year, 
as there was no appreciable difference in the 
amount of crop harvested. The average 
price for the teas .sold in London was 7"18d 
per lb, as against 6 80d, and the rate of 
exchange Is 4§d, as against Is 4 3-32d for 1898. 
The tea crop was 390,885 Ih, as against 382,661 lb 
in 1898, the yield being 342 lb per acre off a 
|)lucking .area of 1,146 acres, as against 392 lb 
per acre the previous year off 975 acres. The 
coffee crop aniouLited to 280 cwt. In addition to 
the factories on Hon Ami and Pambanar, factories 
have been erected on the Mount and Munja Mully 
Estates, and these latter are expected to be in 
working order this month. A factory is now in 
course of construction on Kolie Kanum Estate, 
and these five establishments, when complete with 
machinery, ,t:jill meet the requirements for the 
manufactui''-i«f tea from the 3,312 acres, of which 
only one-third of the acreage was in bearing last 
year. Debentures have been issued to the extent 
of £33,100, and a further issue will require to be 
made to bring the tea planted into bearing, and 
to complete and equip the factories. Mr, W. 
MacKenzie retires on this occasion from the 
Board, but being eligible oilers himself for re-elect- 
ion.— i/. <t- C. Mail, Feb. 16. 
THE BOMBAY TEA ASSOCIATION, LD. 
The ordinary general meeting of tlip, shareholders 
of the above association was held for the first 
year at their premises in No. 26, Church Gate 
Street, last month, when a dividend of Rupees 
7 1-2 per share was [declared. The well-known 
millionaire and Banker, Mr. Purunmull Gulji 
Singanee, was elected one of the additional direc- 
tors, a:;d Mr. Fazulbhoy Ji'om.ibhoy Laljee, who 
retired by rotation, was al.-o re-elected a director. 
The directors in their report state that owing to 
the plague, and other untavonral.de circumstance'^ 
which resulted in dislocating aiid paralysing busi- 
ness of all soils : — Your tliieccors tliouglit it advi- 
sable to suspend all active operiUions in reference 
to getting more shares of the company taken up 
by the public, and to wait till better times come. 
In the meanwhile your directors think that tlie 
result achieved so far is eiiconragi:!g, and they 
believe there is a good field for a company like 
ours, and that if properly managed as they feel 
sure it will be under the careful and tactful 
supervision of their agents, Messrs. Morton Maju 
and Company, it will result in musli benefit to the 
sha.reholders. It is with satisfaction that your 
directors state that in spite of adverse circum- 
stances, adilitional shares to the value of Rupees 
26,500 have already been subscribed. — Times of 
India. 

Public Sales for Tea : THaiK Advantages. 
— We saidthe other day we should touch on 
other aspects of the public sale system for tea 
than that of the capability of the buyer, big 
or small, for combination with a view to 
lowering the demand, orfor;iny other action 
with a similar purpose in view. But a corre- 
spondent now sends us a few remarks 
which so exactly sum up the situation as 
it appears, we believe, to most Colombo 
buyers that we have no hesitation in giving 
them i)rominence To a cert.-iin extent it 
nmsL be true tliat a big (very big) buyer has 
the market at his mercy. But what alternative 
would the seller suggest ? Do without; the 
big buyer? — and see where his prices would 
go ! You have only to see what happens 
even in Colombo if, say, Russians are not 
buying much, — why the market is not nearly 
so ' brisk' and prices ma;j shew a decline ! But 
it would be unfair to say the Russians were 
combining to bring price.s; down. It is a far 
more galling thing than that, to them — 
namely, absence of orders ! To my mind, the 
public sale system suits buyer and seller 
hotter than any other. It advertises the 
sellers' goods and gives the buyer the oppor- 
tunity of seeing and tasting a good variety 
and making his choice in a way that he 
would'nt have by private contract. I doubt 
whether the enormous quantities of Indians 
and Ceylons which are sold in .London could 
be handled in any other way but by public 
auction and if I were a broker I should 
certainly want more than one })er cent 
brokerage if I had to ' worrj^ round,' sell- 
ing everything privately. With regard to 
offering a whole invoice privately, without 
the option of dividing, I should not blame 
the seller because in selling privately he does 
not know whether, if one buyer will take 
the leaf teas, another will take the brtdsens. 
Public auction obviates all this, as all the 
buyers are represented in the room and the 
various grades are easily divided amongst 
the various interests. In my opinion there- 
fore the only system possible for dealing 
with the huge sales in London is that of public 
auction, believing as I do that in the long 
ritn it suits buyer and seller best." 
