June 1, 1900.] • THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
851 
The Imperial Tea Estates Co.— A home 
shareholder writes in severe criticism of the 
management of this Company as being far 
from economical. He wants to know why 
shareholders should not have, half-yearly, an 
interim memorandum stating "conditions 
and prospects " and this ought to be the 
rule in all backward Companies. The idea 
is not a bad one and we submit it to the 
consideration of Directors. 
The Wettest Place os Earth.— Cheira- 
punji, in Assam, north-east of Calcutta, has the 
reputation, says tlie Scientific Atnericaa Supple- 
ment, of being the wettest place on the earth, the 
average annual rain-fall being 498.15 inches, while 
it has the record of one month in which 147.17 
inches fell. The lirst half of the past year beat 
all previous records, 267.84 inches of ram having 
fallen between January and the middle of June, 
five months and a-half, while 73.79 itches, over 
6ft of water, fell in a single week. — Auckland 
paper< April 6. 
The New Dimbula Co., Limited — We 
owe a special apology to the Directors and 
shareholders of this Company for a slip 
made some weeks ago in stating that the 
total dividend for 1898-99 was 16 per cent — 
whereas an ad interim dividend of 5 per 
cent issued March 29th, 1899 and one of 15 
per cent issued October 18th, 1899 make a 
total of 20 per cent, about the highest divi- 
dend paid in connection with Ceylon planta- 
tion Companies, there being only one 
other Company, we believe, giving so good 
a return. 
Limes AS a Gkrmicide.— lb may not be gener- 
ally known that fruit acids are germicidal, but 
the information is of special value to planters 
on tea gai;dens. The juice of lime and leiaon is 
as deadly to cholera germs as corrosive subli- 
mate, or sulphur fumes, or for maldehyde, or 
any other disinfectant. It is so powerful a 
germicide that if the juice of one lime or lemon 
be squeezed into a </lass of water, that if then 
left standing ten or fifteen minutes, the water 
will be disinfected. It makes little difference 
where the water has been obtained, or whether 
it has been boiled or filtered. This is a fact 
worth knowing, for anyone may at any lime 
find himself under circumstances in which it is 
impossible to get either boiled or filtered water In 
such a case the juice of a lime or lemon will purity 
the water perfectly. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
KuBBER Concessions in Matiq Grosso.— 
Favorable reports are made relative to the (Jom- 
pagnie Produits Civils, a Belgian enterprise orga- 
nized in 1895, with a capital of 5,000,000 francs, to 
operate in the Brazilian state of Matto Grosso. 
Benefits have resulted from a recent reorganization 
of the company's staff in Matto Grrosso. The ex- 
tensive concession of Hevea Brasiliensis rubber, 
granted to the company during the revolutionary 
period in Brazil, which at one time appeared some- 
what doubtful, has now been definitely confirmed. 
The company have asked of the government 
another and very important rubber concession, 
situated between their ))ropercies in Deacalvados 
and the first concession, near the Bolivian border. 
It is stated that this claim is now on the point of 
settlement. The new concession will in one sense 
establish a unity among the different centres of 
operation of the comp-iny, resulting in a complete 
■^- change, which, it is hoped, will increase the prolits 
■-of the shareholders. ~r^e India Rubber World. 
Advanced Culture. —The following para- 
graph from the latest Nyassaland paper 
shews great enterprise on the part of a local 
proprietor. It will be interesting to know 
how the experiment turns out : — 
Vve are glad to hear from Mr. Partridge of Sharrer's 
Estates that Mr. Shiarrer is doing Botnethiiig iu the 
way of improving hs estates by the importation of 
large quantities of Ijucerne seed, beans, lentils, and 
other nitrogenous plants. Mo.?t of the estates are 
being gradually shaded. Albizzia, Silky Oaks, and 
native trees are being used. 
Has any one in Ceylon tried an experiment 
in the same direction ? 
Shareholders and Agents.— Discussing the 
affairs of the "Imperial Tea Estates Company, 
Ceylon " in reference to Mr. A. 11, Wiggin's 
letter, our evening contemporary has the following 
remarks :— 
We think with him that the shareholders of the 
Imperial Company have some cause for grievance. 
They have nothing to complain of in the now re- 
duced shipping rate, which at half a cent per lb. 
admits of no margin. But the 2 per cent charged on 
the proceeds of the crop, which bj' agreement is 
payable to the London Agents is one-thirteenth of 
the whole of the profit carried to the balance sheet, 
and Directors' fees bring the ratio down to between 
one-sixth and one-seventh. Considering that there 
is also at this end to be paid 1 per cent on Dis- 
bursements, and 1 per cent on K jceipts, with doubJ- 
less a few other items, we think the remission of 
half a cent shippiog charge yielded in 1899 might 
have been supplemented by some consideration for the 
shareholders from London. Of course, the shareholders 
have themselves to thank for being s\ddled 
with this hard and fast commission by neglecting 
to examine the Articles of the Company, whi; h pro- 
vided for this rate of commission, before iuve-sting in 
it. But our experience is that iutendinij shareholders 
do not examine Articles as a lule ; they only rely, 
in the case of tea shares, on the price paid per acre, and 
on those who are connected with the Company ag 
Agents and Directors. Messrs. Whittall & Co. "s name 
has always been associated with some of the most 
prosperous Companies in Ceylon, everything w.isknown 
to be straight and above boai'd,and the public willingly 
went in with regard to this charge of 2perceut.wo 
think, in comparison with the London Offioe work done 
in other cases, that it is high, and we ehoul I like to see 
the shareholders of the Imperial met by the Directors 
until, at any rate, better times would make such a 
change less felt. But we have no sympathy with any 
attempt to reduce Directors' fees. If times are bad and 
results are poor, all the more anxiety for the Directors 
and the less should their remuneration be attacked. 
As a rule, the Directors' fees in Ceylon Companies 
are anything but excessive, and the typical ' guinea- 
pig " is few and far between. A brilliant instance of 
how good Directors can steer a Company with judg- 
ment and care, and gradually get it off the shoals and 
safely sailing in deep water is the Eastern Produce 
and Estates Company. And yet there was a time, 
doubtless, when shareholders were much inclined to 
begrudge the men at the helm a satisfatory remunera- 
tion for the work that was absolutely necessary, to 
achieve the present good position of the Company. It 
13 not given to all to be able to take a balance-sheet 
to pieces, nor to criticise it, and we think Colombo or 
London Agents might give many more details with 
much advantage, laying themselves out to depart from 
the old set rules which provide a few, baid scanty 
particulars, and instead to place results before share- 
holders in such a fashion that all, or nearly all, could 
grasp fully the contents of the balance-sheet of their 
investment. The Indian Tea Co^mpaniea do this very 
fully ; and Ceylon, which is nevei behind Inditk, 
might "go one better." 
