THE TROPICAL AGIUCULTURIST. [August 1, 1898. 
are estimated at 1,011,570 lb. tea. The giosB average 
rate at wliich drafts were negotiated was Is 3 9-16a 
per rupte. A rise or fall of Id in the rate of ex- 
change is approximately equivalent to 1 per cent on 
the ordinary '^capital of the (Company. 
The Profit for the year inclu- 
Bive of interest, and after pi o- 
viiing for General Expenses 
&e., amounted to £12,997 13s od 
Interest in the Morlgage De- 
bentures has been paid less 
Income Tax £406 Os Od 
Dividends on the 6 per cent 
Preference Shares for the 12 
months were paid on the 1st 
October 1897, and 13th April 
1898, less Tax i;5,39'J Os Od 
An interim Dividend of 2i per 
cent on the Ordinary Shares was 
paid, less Tax, ou the 21st Janu- 
ary 1898 i2,416 IBs 4d 
It is proposed : — 
To pay a FinalDividend of 3J 
per cent ou theOrdinary Shares, 
making 6 per cent for the year, 
which will require, less Tax £3,383 Gs 8d 
To write ott'tlie whole of tlio 
Preliminary expenses £438 19s Id 
And to carry forvv-ard to next 
year (out of which Income Tax 
has to be paid) the Balance of £958 14s 4d 
£12,997 133 5d 
SCHEDULE OF THE COMPANY'S ESTATES. 
Estates, 
Kirkoswald. . 
Bridwell 
Blbedde 
Bogawana . . 
HZ 
748 
307 
559 
227 
15 
46 
71 
100 
41 
109 
71 
27 
70 
12 
15 
6 
a 
18 
o a 
H<3 
877 
473 
747 
436 
Total . . 1,901 140 144 277 38 33 2,533 
EMPIllE OF INDIA. AND CEVLON 
COMPANY, LTD. 
EXTRACTS PROM DIRECTORS' REPORT, 
q Acres under Tea, 
^ "S ■' Acres plant-i! j 
y c3 ed in former .a P S o) 
(5 p Seasons. ^ :sM 
for distribution. The Preference dividend will absorb 
£10,950, and the Board recommend a dividend of 9 
per cent on the Ordinary Shares. After providing 
for the remuneration of Directors, the balance of 
£143 39 9d will be carried forward. 
23 
^ , (Lebanon. 1,641 809 - 10 34 85.3 
Ceylon | knuckles 950 606 — -- — 606 
Gross Average 
Name of Division. Outturn Price on A/c 
in lb. Sale Weight. 
Ceylon (Lebanon ... 386,710 6-60 
Gardens. iKnuckles ... 207,356 
b-61 
594,006 6 60 
The Dooars gardens have not done so well as in 
1890, but the results for the Ceylon gardens are 
encouraging. , . , 
Prospects for 1898.— The gardens are in a good 
Etate of cultivation, advices to date are satisfactory, 
and the Directors look forward with some confidence 
to the results of the current year. o.n 
Profits —The profit for the year amounts to ^6^,bl/ 
43 83 from which £2,570 3s Od has to be deducted 
for commission to Managers. Adding the balance 
of £429 19s lOd, brought forwaid from last yea,r, 
there remains the sum of £30,471 Is bd available 
■NVYNAAD PLANTING NOTES: HYBRID 
COFFEE. 
Coffee Prop prospects are excee<liugly favour- 
able, inucli more so than lias been the rule during 
the past few yearf., as both March and April 
blossoms set well. Extensions of tea are being 
carriei! on vlKorously, de-spite the lamentable fall 
in the Tea ^fa^ket. Estates which in the early 
quarter of 1896 secured an all round average of 
lOd per lb. for tlieir produce, have of late sold 
their breaks for little more than half that price, 
and unless we ^et a very hi},'li average of made 
tea ))er acre, it is dithcult to understand how 
6(1 per lb. with exchange at Is 4<J can pay. 
Both tea and coffee estates are lookng exceeding 
well, and it is a notable fact that one of the 
bumper coll'ee crops expected is from a property 
opened 36 years auo. Increased attention is now 
bein;.' devoted to hybrid Liberiaii-Arabica coffee, 
and amoiij,'st tho.-.e who are in u position to form 
an uiiljiassed judgment on the subject, the opinion 
is rapidly gaining ground that this new variety, 
and not tea, will prove the salvation of ifie 
country. Already rumour is rife that an offer of 
a rupee per bean, the production of an original 
hybrid Liberian-Arabica, has been declined, and 
assuming that a Mysore seer measure will hold 
1,500 of such beans, and that this original hybrid 
has, since it came into full bearing, averaged a 
yield of nearly si.x seers of such coffee annually, 
the value of such a tree, while the supply of 
good seed is so far below the probable demand, 
furnishes an appreciable addition, prospectively, 
to the fortunate owner's income. The result of 
the deliberations of the Currency Commission 
in England is awaited with much anxiety by 
Planters' for with the high ruling late of ex- 
change, and the decline in pnces in both coffee 
and tea markets, it will be a problem for even 
the most atHuent proprietors to show a profitable 
margin in the working of their estates, confronted 
as they all are by alternate good and indifferent 
coffee crops. — 31. Mail, July 5. 
SKL.^NGOK PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
Minutes of a General Meeting held in the Victoria 
Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday, 16th .Tnne, 1898, 
at 11a.m. Presents — Messrs. E V Carey (Chairman), 
C Meikle, A Walker, A B Lake (Members of Com- 
mittee), Hardy laniss, E B Skinner, H M Darby, 
J D Toynbee, A D Douglas, R C ToUemache, W 
Meikle, G Watson, Logan Tod, F A Hurth, J G 
Glassford, C G Glassford, H Hiittenbach, P Callaway, 
N Dalrymple, Brooke and Tom Gibson (Hon. Secre- 
tary.) 
Read letter from Secretary to Government, forward- 
ing copy of a letter from the Colonial Secretary, 
Singapore, to the Singapore Chamber of Commerce, 
ou the subject of the proposed alteration in the 
currency of the Straits Settlements, and asking for 
the views of the Association on the subject for the 
information of Government. The Chairman said you 
only had to look upon the fatal effecis of fixity of 
rupee exchange in India and Ceylon on the planting 
interests, to see that a fixed dollar would affect us 
prejudicially here if its silver value continred to 
depreciate. 
Mr. W. Meikle agreed with the Chairman that a 
dollar fixed at 2s was not desirable. Mr. Huttenbach 
said that although there might be some in the room 
like himself who in the general interest would like 
to see a fixed dollar, still, as such might lead tg 
