94 
THE TKOPICAL AGKlCULTl'iaST. 
[AUGl'ST 1, le'j8. 
tailed below. I'urlher plantings will be lliiii'.ed to 
replacing Coifee with Tea, as the former has to be 
abandoned. 
The Tea crop for 1897-98 is estimated at 72'2,350 
lb. of made Tea. So fac pluckinga have been good, 
aud the eatimate of crop is considered pafe. 
TEA. 
Over 5 years old 
1,122 acre* 
Planted November/December 
') • • 
1893 
123 „ 
1891 
153 „ 
M • • 
1895 
159 „ 
»> • • 
1896 
161 ., 
») • • 
1897 
183 „ 
Area under Tea 
2,141 „ 
Area under Coffee 
172 „ 
Area under Fuel 
300 „ 
Forest Patua and Waste.. 
515 „ 
Totnl Area . . 8,488 acres. 
Mr. L. Paniin, a Member of the Hoard, retires 
on this occasion, and being eligible, ofifers himself 
for re-election. 
Messrs. Ueloitte, Dever, GriflSlhs A' Co., the Audi- 
tors, also offer themselves for re-election. 
By order, J. ALEU HOBEKTS, Secretary. 
4th June 1898. 
SPRING VALLEY COiMPANY, LTD. 
Directors. — Messrs. Alfred Brown (Managing 
Director), Leon Famin, 1*. C. Oswald, Norman 
Stewart. 
The following annunl Recounts are now presented to 
shareholders, viz.: — Profit aud Loss Ai:couut for Crop 
1896-7. Balance Sheet made up to 31st March, 1898. 
Cnov 1896-7. 
As anticipated in hist year's report, a very small 
crop of cot}'ee\vas secured for the above season, and it 
will be seen that the actual weight sold in Jiondon 
amounted to 2(i8 cwts. 1 qv. ilb. This crop, inclusive 
of clean and refuse coffee sold in Ceylon, realised 
jt;i,182 9s 7d, the average selling piice being 873 lOd, 
as compared with 903 '2d per cwt. obtained for crop 
1895-6. 
The crop of tea amounted to 352,700 lb, the eatimnte 
in last report being 311,C00 lb, and this, togcthcc with 
87,086 lb, boiiglit from neighbouring estitteaaud niauu- 
factured at Spring Valley, sold for £15,392 148 Od, or 
an average of 8 41 id per lb, the average selling price 
last year being 9 08d per lb. 
The yield from the 811 acres of tea in bearing w as 
440 lb. per acre, a good I'eturn when it is remembered 
that the tea is all planted in old co^ee land and that 
the best portions of the estate have yet to come into 
bearing. 
The total proceeds from the sale of produce amounted 
to £16,585 33 7d' The total expenditure in Ceylon and 
Loudon, including outlay on planting 159 acres tea and 
maintaining a large area of young tea not yet yielding 
crop, amounted to £16,049 Is 8d, the result being a 
profit on the year's working of £536 Is lid. To this 
has to be added the sum of £154 93 5d brought for- 
ward from last year, making a balance ai the cre.lit of 
profit and loss of .i'691 Is 4d. 
The Directors regret that owing to the heavy outlay 
necessitated by the extension of our tea area they are 
unable to recommend the payment of a dividend. 
Expenditure incurred in this connection during the 
next and following years will be charged against the 
new preference capital created aud now available for 
the purpose, and profit earned by the bearing area 
will thus be set free for the payment of dividends. 
The Tea Industry in Ceylou aud India is suffering 
from a decline in the vahie of tea, and from the 
artificial value that has been ijlaced upon the rupee 
by the action of the Indian Government in closing the 
mints to the coinage of silver It is, however, believed, 
that the natural advantages possessed by Spring Valley 
place it in a favourable position to compete success- 
fully in the profitable cultivation of tea. 
Every effort is now being made to plmt op oar 
remaining area, and to complete the necessary factory 
accommodation as lanidly ao possible. 
Since the date of last rtport, Ibb acre* of UDpro- 
ductive coffre land have been planted up id lea, and 
11 acres of bleep and precipitous land liave b««u 
planted as a fuel reserve. The acreage now standa 
M follows : — 
TtA. 
Over 5 years old 
Planted November December 
1893 
mi 
1(195 
1U»6 
1H97 
Ar<»a under Tea 
Area under ( o£re« 
Area under Fuel 
Forest Patua and Waate 
811 kcres 
238 .. 
179 ., 
146 ., 
IM ., 
m „ 
1,706 
115 
167 
aC4 
Total Area . . 8,253 acrea 
Mr. L. Famin, a member of the iioard, retires oa 
this occation, and being eligible, offeis himself for 
re-election. 
Messrd. Deloitte, Devcr, Grilfihs A Co., tb« 
Auditors, also offer thtmselvcs for re-election. 
4lh June, 1898. 
DITV ON TEA ENTERING RUSSIA. 
It will be roiiienibereJ that Mr. T. N. ChrUtie 
expresseil a siroiiL' opinion about the ditfereotial 
tliiiie.s levied on tea entering; Itussja fiom <liirereut 
directions and, we believe, tliai n leprehenlntiou is 
belli;.' made through the Riitihh Embassy to get 
the duty on tea.-, by the overland route t>qiiHliM«><t 
with the duly levietl on teat via Oileh.«is or 
lioiii ilie \Ve>t. We had ocoabioii to ask the 
Ru.-?^iiiii C'oiiMil in (.'olomlio a <iue>lioii as to 
the new duties |(rup(>>'ed for tea.s i-e<-ei\c<l via 
tiie Sil>eiiaii rivers, aiid iu (Miurteou«ly replying 
L'apt. de Fri.'~ili touches on the general (juewtion 
in a way so interesting to Ceylon jdanten* lliat 
we make no apology lor (juotiny his letter :— 
Coloiiibo, June 27, 1698.— In reply to your inquiry 
I am sorry to s»y that I have no Cusloma 
Tariff, but as lar as I remember the n imf duty is 
levied for tea whichever way it enters UoBsia, whether 
by sea or by land, and ail the infurmaiions given 
by Mr. Christie is, in my opinion, wrong. The duty 
for tea is everywhere the same, viz. Is lljd per lb. 
Brick tea entering via Kiachta and Yenisei in 
Siberia and for Siberia, comes under a different 
heading, but this can scarcely be called tea for it is 
a mixture of tea and lard and only used by the different 
Mongolian tribes in Siberia ; also there is a reduction 
for tea of any kind for use in Siberia, I believe. 
But should such leas enter into Russia-proper, an ad- 
ditional duty, making it equal to that imported via 
Odessa, is levied on ihe Ural frontier. Brick tea as 
prepared in Ceylon, that is to say compressed black 
fea, as uscn for ihu troops in Russia, naturally cornea 
under the came heading as ordinary lea. I hope you 
will see tro-n this, that there is no preference shown 
to any nation or country where tea is grown, and 
that all those stories concerning the differential duty 
were fouuded on mistakes. 
This leads us to .see that the new duties quoted 
by the St. Petersbuijr Correspondent of the 
London I'imcs telegraphing on June .Sid), must 
be for brick (tea ami lard) sorts. Here is the 
paragraph : — 
A Special Commission discussed the subject here 
several months ago with Muscovite, Siberian, and 
English representatives. The result, as now deter- 
mined upon, is that the foilowing imports by sea via 
Siberian rivers are to be free of duty :— Machinery 
