Jan. 2, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
477 
THE CALEDONIAN (CEYLON) TEA 
ESTATES, LIMITED. 
Annual Report. 
Trustees for the Debenture Holders : — Sir Cecil 
dementi Smith, g.c.ji.g.; Mr. H. K. Rutherford. 
Directors :— Sir Alfred Dent, k.c.ji.g., Chairman ; 
Messrs. William Gow, Alexander Ross. 
Manager in Ceylou : — Mr. J. Stanley M. Ross. 
Secretary :— Mr. H. F. Stanley. 
Offices : 11, Old Broad Street, London, E.G. 
Report of the directors to be submitted at the first 
annual ordinary general meeting of Shareholders to 
be held at the offices of the Company on Thursday, 
2-lth November, 1898, at 12 o'clock noon. The directors 
beg to submit the balance sheet and profit and loss 
account for the year ended 30th June, 1898, duly 
audited. 
The profit and loss account, after providing for 
interest on debentures, London charges, directors' 
fees, dx., 8hov?s a balance at credit of £2,208 lis Id. 
The directors recommend the payment out of this 
amount of a dividend on the prefer«uce shares at the 
rate of 6 per cent, per annum, from the dates of 
payment of the several instalments thereon to 30tli 
June last, amounting to £1,13.^ 12s 8'^., and a dividend 
on the ordinary shares of six shillings per share, 
amounting to £1,0.50. 
The result of the first year's working falls short 
of the original estimates, owing to causes which 
have affected returns from most, if not all, tea 
estates in Ceylon. 
The season proved generally dry and abnormally 
cold, causing a serious shrinkage in jield throughout 
the tea districts. This and the low prices prevailing 
have contributed almost entirely to bring about the 
comparatively disappointing result of the season's 
operations. 
This being the first year of the Company's business, 
and in view of the fact that part of the buildings and 
machinery are new, whilst a considerable sum has, 
during the year, been spent on upkeep and repairs 
and charged to current expenditure, the directors have 
not thought it necessary to write off anything for 
depreciation. 
■The estimates for the current year ending 30th 
June nextj taking exchange at Is i^A and the average 
price of the tea at 7d per lb. net (which is below the 
present average), promise a satisfactory return on the 
ordinary shares, after providing for debenture interest. 
Preference share dividend, London charges, etc., 
owing to the large area now beginning to come into 
bearing. 
The present statistical position of tea, together with 
the increasing demand for British grown tea for 
foreign and colonial markets, justify the directors in 
contemplating hopefully the future of the Company's 
business. 
The Auditors, Messrs. Singleton, Fabian & Co., 
offer themselves for election for the current year. 
By order of the Board, H, F. Stanley, Secretary. 
11, Old Broad Street, London, E.G., 14 Nov., 1898. 
The Cryptogamlst and ms Work.— An ex- 
perienced planter writes : — " H.E. certainly ' put 
his foot in it' when he stated that there was 
no more work for a Cryptogamist in Ceylon. 
We have not iieard the last of cacao pest — ami 
we iiear of the spread of Rray fungus in 
tea— in dill'erenc quarters,''— We are glad to 
learn that Mr. Carrutliers is staying on till 
DecPinher Sind, so that lie will see the lainy 
season out. We most certainly think that with 
ilie re coniinencenient of the rainy season in June- 
July, a Cryptoganiist ought again to be at work 
and unless iMr Parkin (now at the Feraileniya 
(iardens, engaged in valuable physiological in- 
\estigations in rubber) is willing to take up 
the post and deal with our fungi, Mr. Carra- 
tliers ought to be invited to return on a permanent 
engagement. 
IKON ORE IN CEYLON. 
It is pointed out to ns that if our ore is 
worth " 16s a ton on the spot," as Mr. Bain- 
bridge said, the question of transport and freight 
is one for the purchaser and not the seller. 
Tine enough certainly, if a contract were so 
conclndec) ; but we suspect our " M.P." visitor 
had in view, ore delivered at some port or at any 
rate on the banks of a navigable river in 
Ceylon. If, for instance, the Geologist, so long 
ooked for by Sir West Ridgeway, came here at 
last and enabled ns to rediscover the iron ore 
spread over some 15 miles in Sabaraganiuwa, 
on the existence of which Gygax so explicitly 
in.sisted in his Report fifty years ago, it is very 
likely that the .Sinhalese would find it pay 
them well to deliver such ore for R12 a ton 
on tlie banks of the Kaluganga. It is not im- 
probable, loo, that that the purity of our ore, 
over 80 and 93 per cent of iron, would enable 
the would-be smelter to allow a rather better 
price than 16s i)er ton. But we must all 
remain in the dark as to this problem and many 
other questions of a similarly practical kind, 
until the Geological Survey of Ceylon is un Jait 
accompli. 
■ ♦ 
"ALL ABOUT TEA." 
We gather after perusal of our Indian files 
tliat Indian planting opinion is exercised on the 
subject of Pruning Tea now that the Indian tea 
season is virtually over. 
The general opinion seems to be that under 
pruning is safer than over pruning. The former 
can be remedied, but a mistake through the latter 
sometime takes years to remedy. A style of 
pruning that suits Darjeelmg does not, of cotirse, 
suit the Plains. Cold weatlier appears to have 
set in earlier this year than usual and Sylhet 
and Cachar will pan out badly in 1898. 
The Inc'ian Tea Association has not succeeded 
in getting the Indian Government to allow Post 
oflices to be distributing centres tor small packets 
of tea to be consumed by the villagers. Tea, says 
the Indian Government is not " medicine like 
quinine though a useful and beneficial beverage." 
^ . 
"Tea ; ITS Culture and Manipulation " is 
the title of an illustrateil work by Monsieur V. 
Bontilly, recently published in Paris. The Revue 
des Cultures Colonialrs describes it as the most 
complete and best compiled that has yet appeared 
in France. Of its five chapters the first deals 
witii the origin and botany of tea ; the second 
and third with the working of Ceylon estates 
and the methods of iireparation, the fotirtli 
handles estimates of expenses, returns, &c. In the 
fifth the authors runs over the colonies suitable 
for t?a cultivation. Indo China, he says, at present 
gels all its tea from China but as soon as the 
natives learn the processes of its manufacture 
they will cease to import ii product they can 
make ihemse'ves. " Guiana, New Caledonia, 
Reunion and a large portion of the high plateau.x of 
Maibigascar seem as though iliey ought to lend 
themselves equally well to this lultivation, for 
the climate of tliese v.irious regions does not 
.'ensibly oilier from that of the interior of Ceylon." 
l'"i:ially the author gives an estimate for the 
working of an estate in Reunion, where expenses 
would be the same as in Ceylon, were it not for 
the scanty labour-supply, which is twice as costly. 
