332 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
iNov. 1, 1898. 
A COMPANY, 
CEYLON, LTD. 
The annual meeting of the Doomoo Tea Company 
of Ceylon, Ltd , was held on the 30lii September in 
the offices of the Agents and Secretaries, Messis. 
J M Robertson & Co. Mr. W D Gil'bon occupied 
the chair and the others present were Me=<srs. 
W B Kingsbury, A Cantlay, H G Bois, Herbert 
Bois ; Henry and F W Bois by their Attorney 
Mr. H G Bois ; H J Voll.ar and Capt. Deane by 
their Attorney Mr. W D Gibbon. 
The notice calling the meeting liaving been 
read and the minutes of tlie previous meeting 
confirmed. 
THE DIRECTORS' REPORT. 
The report was submitted as follows : — 
Directors.— W D Gibbon, W B Kingsbury, H G Bois. 
The Directors have now the pleasure to subenit 
their Report and Accounts for the year ending 30th 
June, 1898. 
The quantity of Tea received from the two Estates 
was 205,902 lb. against 170,000 lb. estimated, and the 
price realized for that sold wns 4313 eta. per lb. 
against 49-43 cts. last year. The Diiectors regret 
the fall in price and hope that the Teas yet un- 
realized will sell to more advantage. 
During the year an interim dividend of 3 per cent, 
was paid, absorbing E12,000, and after writing off 
Rl 745'82 for the remaining balance of preliminary 
expenses and transferring E2,500 to depreciation 
account there is a sum of R14,400 0l available. 
This amount the Directors recommend being dis- 
posed of as follows:— 
That a final dividend of 3 per cent, 
(making 6 per cent, for the year) be 
paid on the capital of the Company, 
absorbing .. •• •• R12,000 00 
And that a balance be carried forward of ,, 2,400 01 
R14,400 01 
The estimated of crop for the current season is 
220 000 lb. tea and the estimated expenditure is 
R72 946 00 which includes a sum of R6,500'00 allowed 
for cost of new machinery and factory alterations on 
Verallapatna. 
The acreage of the two Estatss now stands as 
follows :— 
Doomoo— _ , 
210 acres Tea 5 years old and upwards. 
3 ,, II 2 ,, ,, 
28 ,, Timber. 
68 „ Grass Land. 
299 acres. 
Verallapatna — 
310 acres Tea 5 years old and upwards. 
35 
120 
35 
24 
10 
154 
3 
, ', 2 
„ 1 
under 1 year. 
Grass Land. 
"Waste and Chena. 
688 acres. 
During the year Mr. F. W. Bois having left the 
island Mr. H. G. Bois was elected to the vacant seat 
on the Board. . . 
In accordance with the Articles of Association Mr. 
W. D. Gibbon retires from the Board, bnt, being 
eligible, offers himself for re-election. 
It will also be necessary to appoint an Auditor 
for season 1898 99. 
By order of the Board of Directors, 
J. M. ROBEKTSON & Co., 
The Chaiuman said the report had been in the 
hands of tlie shareholders for some time and if they 
had any questions to ask or if they wished for 
any explanation lie wc uhl be happy to give it. 
Mr. H G Bois tliought an explanation imght 
be given as to the diff erence in the cost of working 
between Verallapatna and Doomoo as there was 
a large discrepancy. 
Tlie Chairman said the two estaten were 
.supposed to be worked separately, but tiiere was 
a great deal of work done at Verallapatna which 
would usually be done at Doomoo in the way of 
manuf.icturing tea Jf they looked care/ully into 
the accounts they would find that the ex|>euditure 
on Doomoo tea landed in Colombo v/om about 
23 -Is and on Verallapatna 31 98 and pntting both 
together the average would be about 'JH-21. These 
ligurcs include prolit on manufacturinf^ teas for 
outside estates and receipts from rentn. 
Mr. Canti^av referring to Verallapatna estate 
said he noticed the entry " prolit on iiianufaclur- 
ing tea." 
Mr. H G Bois said that wa£ a niiitlake. Tha 
word should be "receipts." 
The Chaikmax added that it had always to be 
remembered too that exjienditure in transport 
was much heavier in Uva tlian in Dimbula. They 
had about forty miles of a cart road to Banda- 
rawella. Another thing they had to bear in 
mind was that on Verallapatna there were 200 
acres of tea not in bearing. Replying to Mr. 
Cantlay he said that the te* in the young clear- 
ings was a very tine jat. Ol tlie old tea he 
would say that 100 acres was poor and the rest 
very fair. Doomoo was a beautiful jat and the 
yield was over 400 lb an acre. 
Mr. KlNGf3BtJRY said Verallapatna had done 
much better than they thought it would. 
The report was then adopted on the motion of 
the Chairman seconded by Mr. CANTLAY. 
On the motion of Mr. Boi.S seconded by 
Mr. Kingsbury a final dividend of 3 per cent 
(making 6 per cent for the year) was declared. 
Mr. Gantlav proposed and Mr. Henry Bois 
seconded the re election of Mr. Gibbon as director. 
Carried neni con. 
On the motion of Mr. Cantlay seconded by 
Capt. Deane, Mr. John Guthrie was appointed 
auditor for the season 1898-99. 
The proceedings terminated with a vote of 
thankf to the Chairman proposed by Mr. Kings- 
bury. 
Colombo, Sept. 13. 
Agents and Seci'etaries. 
"THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST." 
A planter writes that he has always found 
our Monthly exceedingly useful for reference iu 
respect of all Tea (and other Produce) Sales in 
Colombo and London, as well as for practical 
lots of information in planting. " There 
is another matter," he adds, " in which 
its usefulness tor reference has oft«n been 
found by me, namely, for the Annual heports 
of our Planting Companies ; but I wish to point 
out that you occasionally miss some of these. 
1 was disappointed the other day in turning 
back for a particular Company's Report, not to 
find it in the T. A. pages."— This very defi- 
ciency, curiously enough, was remarked on by 
a mercantile subscriber some weeks ago, and we 
took steps at once to secure that henceforward 
every Annual i;o|>oit of the Directors of Plant- 
ing Companies should find a place in our T. A. 
pages, and be available by means of the Index, 
for ready reference. 
