622 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 1. 1899. 
GOOD PR0SPE(;TS FOR QUININE. 
Tl'ie first two cinchona bark auctions of the new 
year have been hekl, ami quinine stands as it did 
at the end of 1898. Bark itself dropiied scarcely 
appreciably at the auction in Aujsterdam a fort- 
night a<^o, almost, but not quite, l'isin<j tlie sinin 
of December over November ; whilst in London 
this week it sold ac rather over the Amsterdam 
average price. There is, therefore, as yet no 
change in the features of the maiket in either 
the crude or refined jtroduct, and ncvertlielesi 
most interested i)ersons feel that present rates are 
not by any means so permanent as they look. 
That quinine makers are doins; their best to keep 
prices from fluctuation, ami maintain even values 
lor bark and alkaloid, becomes more and more 
evident. This might almost be called a common 
base for their tripartite policy. Their aim is to 
discourage quinine manufacture in .Java ; en- 
courage bark cultivators in that i.land ti) ('end 
supplies to Amsterdam (but not at too rapi'l a 
rate) and not to work it on the sprit ; and, 
thirdly, to demor.alise Ihu si;cond ha>id quinine 
market in Lomlon. It is hard to carry out all 
these objects, but they have managed it pr<!tty 
successfully, and tlie common means is revealed 
in their steady buying of supplies and steady 
selling at a figure only moved with reluctance. 
But the question is how long Ihey can go on in this 
way. During 1898 nearly 6,r)')0 tons of bark were 
offered at the Amsterdam auctions, which is over 
700 tons more than what was oU'ered in the highest 
previous year. In the twelve months of 1S98 
considerably over 1,000,000 lb. more bai k were 
shipped from Java than in any year iMeviously, 
and nearly two ar,d half million pou ids over what 
was shipped in 1897- These large shipmennand 
ofterings causjd some to t.ike a gl )omy view 
of the future pros|)ects ot quinine- If it is seen 
that buyers are taking r-rctty well all the extra 
supply that is coming along, and, moreover (and 
this is important), not accummulaling stocks 
themselves, the increased shipments are .a good 
sign for the future, not a bad one. It is true 
that only (!) "204 tons of (luiniiie in bark form were 
sold in Amsterdam in 1898 against 2704 tons in 
1897, but the latter year showed an excess of 
six andahalf tons overlS9j, which, in lura, exhibi- 
ted a heavier increise <>vei' 1895. Despite the 
heavy shipment?, the number of jiackages in 
first-hands on December Slst, was lower than it 
has been in any of the last seven yeais, except 
last year (whm the sliipme.uts, as see i, were con- 
siderably less) and in 1S92, which is too long ago 
to talk about in a question of this kind. The 
stocks in second-hands are aho believed to be small, 
and in the 12,090 packages in first haiids oji 
December 31st, are included the 8,009 olfere 1 at 
a ictiou on the 13cli instant of which 7,310 sold. 
The signs from Amsterdam, therefore, are sitisfai- 
tory, and this being so we hardly need noMce 
what is indicated by the London bark niai Uet. 
There were on D e. 31st fifty tons of quinine i i the 
London public waieliouses, an increase of seven 
tons over last year s stock at the same date. I'ut 
this v.ay the excess seems too ridiculously stnall 
to make any fuss about, and the entire London 
stock appears of small account wh n we remember 
that at a single Amsterdam auction sixty 
per cent?" of such amount is regular'y offered. 
If we take the last ten years we see that Ger- 
many ha.< used uji or returned in her own terri 
tory 44,000 tons of bark, and she has sent out 
over her borders about 1,990 tons of quinine. 
Supposing all this bark had a five per cent qui- 
nine content, uliiidi is too hi^li An estimate, 
slie would have had at tlie«nd of last year ab .ut 
0,000 tons of b.irk (or if.j quinine equivjvltnt) in 
stock it lier [leople had never use<l an onuce of 
quinine tiieniselves and had never bo«;.'lil an 
ounce of hark or bark prep ir.-itioiisi froiu an apo- 
tliecaiy. Boili these siippijsiiio.is are, ofcourxe. 
merely tlieorotie^il. Wlut the G-jrniaii public 
has consumed during (he last t«ii years in the 
way of baik and (|uinine cannot be stilted with 
anything like precision, lint it certainly cannot 
be ajuch t^hort of tli::: ti,(A)0 tons e.Yces^ over wlini 
h has bought and sold outside its borders. This 
means that the (lerman i.:anufacture-s must have 
been working from hand to mouth recently, and 
this fact is bourne out by the way they hiive befii 
takin); tlelivery of their bark as soon as they could. 
Altogether, then, the signs point as ilistinctly as 
they can do to an advance in the piicen of 
cinchona bark and quinine. \Vc know the all- 
powerful " coniliinaiion " do not want, for 
the tinie being, any serious advances of this kind, 
ljut it looks as if ciiciimstances were ffomg t» be 
too strong for them.— Zi/i/i«A aiui CtjloaUi'. DriKj- 
givt, Jati. 27. 
SALt.S OF ESTATES AND HOUSE ViiO 
FEUTV.-AND NEW CO.MPANIES 
FOllMIiD,- DURING 1893 IN CEVLON. 
We direct attention to the annual tabular lists 
tin Jer the above headings, given on another page. 
1 heir publication has been delayed beyo^nl the usual 
time ; but they are none the less useful for refeience 
on tnat account. Tlie transactioiis iu estate property 
h.ave shrunk greatly from the imposing ai ray pre- 
senteil for 1897; and were it not for ceitain Com- 
panies which 11 1 I ItCiti practically arranged forsome 
time before, last year's leiurn would have been 
still p lorer. As it is we have transactions allect- 
ing some 62 jiroperties or groups and involving 
tne piyment of £674,960 and K444,4«0 or a total 
of a little over £70),0iJJ against, for 1897, trans- 
actions totalling £1,517,702 and 113,382,311 or say 
£l,7.j0,0J^'. Tne clitierence to the Stamps revenue 
of the Colony and to the local notaries' fees 
must be very considerabie, between the two 
years. The largest transactions were those effected 
tor the General Ceylon Te.i Estates, Limited, 
involving payments of close on £250 WO; wdiile 
next came the trar.sfer of Lipton's properties for 
£187,000— an immense advance on what fortun- 
ate Sir Thorn vs had to pay for the same during our 
time of ilepreisioti. The Hopewell Tea Companj' 
represents some £60,OO.'J of trarisactiouis. 
Turning to sales of House I'roi«erty and build- 
ing sites, we have 21 transactions reconleil and 
the total amount R741, 900 does not compare badly 
with U625,900 and £10,800 for 1897. The most 
striking purchase was that of a two-acre buihling 
lo'; in Mackenzie Place, Cinnamon Gardens, for 
which about Rll.OOO an acre was paid. Thi,s is 
an immense advance on the oM orthodox U5,0iX) 
an acre for Cinnamon Gardeno building sites, 
and should indicate a still higher value for land 
and houses in the more accessible and favourite 
parts of the city. 
Finally, we have a list of five Limited Com- 
panies incorporated during 1898 with a total 
capital of R2, 425, 000 against R3, 165,000 in 1897. 
Three of these only are Estates Companies, the 
other two being trading Cotujianies — one for B.itti- 
caloa, and one of a native firm in Colombo. 
