THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Skpt. 1, 1898. 
alTccted Ly tlie lower prices oLtnined for ihe teas 
and by the Iiiglier rate of exchange. In 189G tlie 
average price of Ceylon tea was H-2'}, wl)ile in 1897 
it was 7'79, sliowiiif; a clillerence of about id ptr lb. 
The rise in the exchange value had caused an in- 
crease in the cost of workinj; the estates of £424 
2s 8d.— The report was adopted, and Mr. Bobert 
King and Rev. Dr. Grant, Dundee, were reap- 
pciiited directors.— J'Ae Grocers' Journal, July 9. 
THE DIMBULLA VALLEY (CEVLOI^) 
TEA CO., LTD. 
Directors : — James Shiclair, Cliairnian and Mana;?- 
ing Director; Wm. Forbes Laurie, Keith F. Arbuth- 
not, ^neas B. McDonell and C. J. Howe. 
Directors' Report. — To be submitted to the share- 
holders at the second annual ordinary general 
meeting, to be held at the office of the Com- 
pany on Tuesday, the 19th day of July at 12 o'clock 
no^n. 
The directors beg to submit the general balance 
sheet and profit and loss account for the year end- 
ing 31st March last. 
The net amount at credit of profit and loss ac- 
count, bringing forward .£375 (is 2d from last 
account, a fter providing for general expenses, for 
depreciation, and for directors' fees, and after 
writing off the whole of the preliminary expenses, 
ia i;ll,693 93 9a. 
Dividends aggregating G per cent, 
less Income Tax, have been paid for £ s. d. 
1897 on the Preference shares. These 
dividends amounted to .. .. 3,410 2 0 
Interim dividends aggregating 5 per 
cent, less Income Tax, have been 
paid, and amount to . . . . 5,733 5 0 
It is proposed to pay a final divi- 
dend of 2 per cent on the ordinary 
shares (making 7 per cent in all). This 
will ab sorb . . . . . . 2,293 6 0 
Leaving to be carried forward to next 
year a balance of ,. .. 220 IG 9 
£11,693 9 9 
The Company has during the past year had to 
contend with serious mistakes in local manage- 
ment, resulting in a very heavy shortage of crop 
beyoud what may have been due to unfavourable 
weather. It has also had to face a depressed tea 
market and a rate of exchange which averaged Is 
3Jd as against Is 2 9-lOd for the previous year. Your 
Managing Director, Mr. Sinclair, thought it advisable 
to visit the Company's estates himself in January last. 
It was then too late to regain the large shortage, 
or to alter the system of working, but the results 
during the last two months of the financial year 
'have been proportionately far more satisfactory than 
those for the previous ten months. 
Mr. Sinclair reports that the estates are in ex- 
cellent order, and he is of opinion that the in- 
sutnGient plucking of last year will enure to the 
benefit of the present year. Already 30,0001b more 
tea have been secured during the first three months 
of this year than were made during the corres- 
ponding quarter of 1897. So much of it as has 
yet come to hand show that the teas keep up their 
high quality. Mr. Forbes Laurie, another of your 
directors, also visited the Company's estate iu January. 
His opinions and conclusions are in agreement 
with those of Mr. Sinclair. The directors recom- 
mend a final cividend on the ordinary shares of 2 per 
icnt, making up the total dividend for the year to 
f per cent. 
The total tea crop for the year was 833,871 lb. . 
As the Company was in possession of Langdale 
estate during the whole of the year, the total crop 
should have exceeded 900,000 lb. The gross average 
.price realised was 8'95d per lb., as against 9'22.c| 
fsr lb.forl8?C-97. 
The Company's property consists of 
ing, viz. : — 
the follow- 
Fo'"e8t 
Total 
Waste, 
above 
Area, 
Tea, 
Ac. 
Sea Level 
A crcs . 
Elgin 
448 
379 
09 
4,f>00 
LiT'pakelle . , 
20t» 
197 
9 
4,40fl 
Tillicoultry . 
401 
380 
21 
4.300 
Mausa Ella . . 
050 
Am 
82 
4,800 
Belgravia 
305 
270 
35 
4,200 
Bearwell 
233 
229 
4 
4,200 
Langdale 
303 
291 
12 
4,300 
2,416 
2,214 
232 
The issue of 1,207 preference shares nnd 1,133 
ordinary shares was promptly takcMi up by share 
holders in the Company. 
A mortgage debt for i;5,00<J, which fell dno ou 
December 31st last, has been paid off, which will 
result in a saving of revenue to the Company. 
Mr. Keith F. Arbuthuot retires iu accordance 
with the articles of Association, and tffers himself 
for re-election. Slessrs. Singleton, Fiibiau & Co., 
the Auditors to the Company, retire, and, beinfr 
eligible, offer themselves for re-election. — By order of 
the Board, Bektuam F. Whitk, Secretary. 
9th July 1898. 
THE ANGLO CEYLON .\ND GENERAL 
ESTATES COMPANY, LLMITED. 
Report of the Board of Directors to be presented 
to the fiitockholders at the twelfth annual ordinary 
general meeting, to be iicld at 2U, Eaxtchcap, 
London, E.C., on Thur.sday, July 21st, 1898, at 
noon : — 
The Directors herewith submit to the Stockholders 
their Report, together with the accounts of the 12th year 
of the working of the Company. The net profit, at 
shewn in the audi led accounts annexed hereto, amounts, 
after payment of the Debenture Interest, to £9,629 
83 lid. 
In Mauritius, the year under review, the Directors 
regret to state, had been throughout unfavourable. 
A prolonged drought seriously affected the canes over 
a large part of the island, and particularly tho^e on 
the Beau Sejour and Mon Songe Estates, in which the 
Company has an important interest, and a hurricane 
was experienced in the month of November last 
which did some damage, not only to the canes, bnt 
also to the buildings. The combination of these un- 
favourable conditions resulted in a great diminution 
of the crops, 8,910 tons of sugar only having been 
made from the estates as against 11,900 tons in the 
previous year. Further, owing to the prevalence of 
plague in Bombay (the principal market for the Com- 
pany's sugars), hardly any demand existed for sugar 
for a long period, and consequently low prices ruled 
for Mauritius sugar throughout the year. Consider- 
able stringency existed also, and still exists, in the 
Money Market in Port Louis, and rates for accom- 
moclation advanced to 15 per cent, per annum and up- 
wards for ordinary commercial business. 
A considerable sum is shown for cash in hand at 
the close of the financial year ; part of this consisted 
of proceeds of Ceylon land sales, and the remainder 
included the necessary provision for financing the 
Mauritius Estates until the new crop is available. 
The circumstances being as described, the Directors, 
while feeling that the Company is fortunate in having 
escaped actual loss in Mauritius, regret that they are 
unable to recommend the distribution of a dividendi 
"With the couse:\t of the Trustees for the Debenture 
Holders, the Estate of Kuda Gya in Oeylon was sold 
as from June 1st, 1897. 
Owing, however, to the extensions made in recent 
years, the total acreage of Tea in bearing on the 
Company's Estates in tbe coarse of the current yefti 
