Sept. 1, 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
209 
reported to us on every hand that the pstate will consti- 
tute a very remunerative asset. 1 may mention that 
IN SELANGOR 
we are not troubled with the Indian rupee but we have the 
advantage of a coinage more in accordance with the 
natural price of silver. With regard to ihe upkeep of the 
estate the gene- al profits of the company will not be bur- 
dened, because we shall keep it up out of the sales of laud 
in Mauritius which would not be applicable in any CHse 
to the payment of a dividend. With regard to the sales 
you will see from our report that we have sold our 
tea during the year at an average price of a little under 
8Jd., as against an average price of something under 8d, 
last year, and an average market price for the } ear 
under consideration of 7Jd., and our profit rose from 
£15,800 to about £16,700 in Ceylon. In fact, there 
are two circumstances which I think will afford you 
satisfaction with regard 
TO Ceylon. 
In the first place, whereas most peeple have been com- 
of the plaining low price they have obtained for their 
tea, and the high rates for rice and the high exchange, 
and that consequently the profits had declined, we have 
been enabled to increase our profit; and, secondly, that 
whereas, as is within your knowledge, we have in the 
course of the pa=t two years sold estates in Ceylon of 
a total acreage of 800 acres of tea in bearing, we have 
now — that is, in the current year — as large an acreage 
of tea in bearing as ever. This is owing to the policy 
that we have pursued during the past few \ ears of 
extending the cultivation of tea rapidly on the better 
estates, and of getting rid of those that were less 
remunerative. There can be no doubt, for instance, 
that the extensions of tea on the estate of Delmar, 
though rapidly made, have been thoroughly well done, 
and that as they increase in productiveness, as 
they naturally will do, the estate will become very 
much more valuable. You will see, also, that at 
Loolecondera we have 1,200 acres of tea planted, 
of which over 1,000 ia actually in bearing. On two of 
the estates we have planted since 1893 a considerable 
acreage of coconuts, and although those trees are 
somewhat slow in coming into bearing, yet the expense 
of keeping them up after they are first planted is quite 
trifling and every year they will increase in value. 
With regard to the expenditure, I have not gone 
into the figures of the cost of sugar per ton in 
Mauritius, as usual, because, as I have just explained, 
the year has been so very exceptional in Mauritius 
that no general rule could be deduced, and nothing 
was to be said usefully on that point, although I 
shall be happy to discuss the question with any 
gentlemen who will come here to see the figures 
in regard to our estates. The expenditure in Mauri- 
tius generally has been reduced from £69,000 to a 
little over £66,000. Every effort has been made to 
keep down the expenditure, and the same thing may 
be said with regard to Ceylon, where you will see 
that there ia a sh'ght decline , but in both these 
cases you must remember the effect of the high rate 
of exchange which prevailed during this year, and 
through which it may easily be that an expenditure 
which was really less than in the previous year 
when measured in rupees, will appear greater if 
measured in pounds sterling. As a great many 
shareholdera appear, from their communications with 
US, not to understand the operation of the exchange, 
perhaps I might usefully say a few words on the 
subject to those of you who are not acquainted with 
it, in order to show how it works and why it ia so 
important to us. AU Indian and Ceylon pro- 
ducers who send home their produce to Eng- 
land receive, of course, gold for it as the result of their 
operations, and out of that gold they have to pay for 
the rupees which are necessary for keepii g up 
their East Indian estate, and when the rupees are 
dear the expenses of the estate are higher than they 
are when the rupees are cheap. That seems very 
j elementary, but the application of it ia striking. Sup- 
Eose you have a group ot estates costing £1^0,000 to 
eep up with the rupee at Is it will cost ;t'15,000 to 
keep them up jwith the rupee at Is 6d and £60,000 
fvith the rupee at 2,3 ; and, if uadei° the formec cii- 
cumstances, with the rupee at Is the profits were 
£15,000 a year, then, roughly speaking, of course there 
would be no profits with the rupee at Is Od. Now, 
the higher rate of exchange which now prevails ia not 
due to any natural causes. Silver is as cheap as it; ever 
was. It is due to the contrivance of the Indian Go- 
vernment. That Government wishes to pay off its debts 
in a manner advantageous to itself, and for that pur- 
pose. It has put in practice a plan for raising the price 
of its rupees in comparison to gold in order that it may 
pay offa greater proportion of its gold debts with them. 
It has closed the mints, and thus made the rupees scar- 
cer and dearer. Now, that is a new plan of tampering 
with the coinage — if I may use the phrase, ni'hout of- 
fence, with regard to persons who are, of course, only 
acting up to the best of their lights; but the principle — 
that, I mean, of trying to get the coinage taken for a 
much higher value than that of the metal of 
which it ia composed — is a very old principle 
indeed, and I believe has never been found advan- 
tageous to the trade of the countries which have em- 
ployed it. In this case the Indian Government, of 
course, has raised the gold value rupee ; but other 
people have to pay for that, and one of those persons is 
THE Ceylon phoducer, 
who ought properly, to have nothing to do with the diffi- 
culties of the Indian Government ; and you must remem- 
ber that the welfare of Ceylon is almost entirely depen- 
dent upon the welfare of the tea producer. A commis- 
sion has been appointed to consider this question, and I 
presume that some regard will be had to the interests 
of the producer, because, otherwise, if the conditions 
are made too adverse, large branches of trade will be 
affected, and there can be no question that the trade 
of India has flourished under a low excham^ e. I have 
kept yon for a long time I fear, on this subject ; but 
it is really of great importance to us and to our profits 
and that is my excuse for doing so. I think I need 
only say, in conclusion, that we have done our best 
in a year of difficulties to promote the welfare of the 
company, and to procure for it brighter prospects. 
While the profits of other Ceylon companies have been 
shrinking we have increased ours, and in Mauritius, 
amidst great difficulties, we have avoided actual loss, 
and iu both cases I think that our thanks are due to 
the managers. With regard to Mauritius, we are con- 
tinuing the scales of land there, and I hope that 
gradually w e may be able to accumulate a fund which 
will materially lessen the burden of the debentuie 
debt. I will now ask Mr. Rutherford to address a few 
words to jouon the subject of Ceylon. (Applause-) 
Mr. Rutherford: As the ch^iiman has asked mo 
to say a few words relative to your bus ne=s in Cey- 
lon, I have great pleasure in doing so, moie esj e- 
cially as there are a great number here who hava 
no intimate knowledge of tea cultivation and man. 
agement. There may be a few who do know in- 
timately about it, so that in any remarka that I may 
make I will only touch upon the fundamental part 
which may interest both clashes of shareholders. Well, 
it will be within your recollection that about four 
years ago, when 1 waa elected on the board of this 
company I went to Ceylon and paid a visit to all the 
company's eatates, and I found then that the man- 
agement waa not as it ought to be, and I made very 
drastic changes in the management. I am happy to 
state that after four years of that management I 
would not undo a single thing that I did when I went 
to Ceylon and made that change. (Hear, hear.) With 
regard to the management, there are many companies 
in Ceylon that have better estates than we have ; but 
I make bold to say that there is not a company — and 
I have a knowledge of a good few — that is better 
managed than the Anglo-Ceylon and General Estates 
Company, (Applause.) You have in the Hon. Mr. 
Campbell, perhaps, without exaggeration, the best 
man that you could have, or that could be got in 
Ceylon. As a preof of that, and of the view tha 
planters take of him, they have elected him to be 
the chairman of the Planters' Association, and they 
liave lately elected him to be their Member iu the 
Legislative Council. That shows clearly that tha 
plaaterB themaelvea look upou bim aa their leading 
