Dec. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
413 
Twenty-three owts. of Coffee were gathered from the 
Backers referred to in Paragraph 2 of the last Report. 
This is the last of the Coffee which has now been en- 
tirely snperseded by Tea. On Yattewatte the total 
crop of Cocoa amoanled to 993 cwta and realised 
£2,647 58 7d, against 938 cwts last year, which realised 
£■^,417 133 7d. The disease is reported to have been 
less virulent, and at present prospects appear more 
favourable. Of Cardamoms 479 lb were gathered 
realising £10 8s 6d. The growth of Para and Oaalilloa 
Rubber Trees on this estate is very promiBii)g, and the 
planting is being extended. The Coconuts are c.lso 
growing well. 
The total yield of Tea was 943,851 lb, plucked from 
2,194 acres, being at the rate of 4301b per acre, and 
realised £27,111 10s 6d the average being 6-90d per lb 
net. Considering the generally unfavourable season 
this must be considered satisfactory. Last year the 
crop amounted to 934,6501b at an average price of 
6*46d per lb net. On Thotulagalla the new factory has 
been completed and .fully equipped with machinery ; 
the saving thereby effected is at present equal to fully 
10 per cent on the Capital cost, and when the Tea is 
all in full bearing the saving will be much increased. 
The cost has been charged to Suspense Account as well 
as that of an Oil Engine for Ampittiakande factory. 
The average rate at which drafts were negotiated on 
account of the season's crops was 1/4 12-32 per Rupee 
against 1/4 11-32 last year. The following statement 
shows the approximate acreage and state of cultivation 
of the Company's Estates on the 30th June last, as per 
recent surveys. 
a ^ 
I I 
ra CD ^ 
am S 
Estate » 
cS S M S& "S m 
dj o O fcijSflOti O 
EH O P3 d>Odli*HH 
Ampittiakande 291 . . . . 4 . . 70 365 
Arnhall 174 ., 16 .. 239 .. 429 
Fruit Hill 229 8 .. 237 
Fordyce Gartawn, ? 793 5 ..133 938 
Gonagalla & Paramatta 5 
Rappahannock 322 .. .. 31 30 90 473 
Killamule 195 343 22 560 
Thotulagalla 382 60 114 556 
Yattawatte .. *751 .. 95 312 82 1,240 
*Interspered with Rub- 
ber & Coconuts 2,391 731 16 135 992 513 4,798 
The net profits tor the past years amounted to 
£5,359 63 7d, to which must be added the sum of 
£377 163 9d, the bxlance brought forward from the 
year 1901-2 making together J;5,737 33 4d, Having 
already piid a half-yearly interim dividend on the 
six per cfent. Preference shares to the 31st December, 
1902, amounting (less income tax) to £413 83 9d, the 
Directors recommend payment of the dividend on 
these shares to 30th June last, requiring (less income 
tax) £420 15s 9d, and having deducted £955 123 7d, 
being one-tenth of the sums charged to Suspense 
Account during the ten years ending 30th June, 1902, 
they further recommend a dividend of 43 per Share 
(free of Income Tax) being 2 per cent on the Ordinary 
Shares,' amounting to £3,000, carrying forward the 
balance of £947 6s 3d to next account. Mr George 
Allen, the Director, retiring on this occasion, being 
eligible, offers himself for re-election. Blessrs, Whiu- 
ney, Smith & Whinney who were appointed Auditors 
in the place of Mr John Smith retired offer them- 
selvee for re-election, — By Order of the Board, 
C. M. KoBERisoN, Secretary. 
12, Feucbarcb Streeti LondoQ> E.0. 30th Oct, 
NOTES FROM OUR LONDO.N LETTER. 
Lqmdon, Oct. 23. 
I met Mr. Alex. Whyte today. He 
tells nie he has retired from the 
Government service on pension, When he 
left Uganda he was the oldest Civil Servant 
in that territory, but his health is very 
good, and, after a short spell of rest in Scot- 
land, he has undertaken fresh work in the 
Tropics. This time he is bound for Liberia 
for which he sails from Southampton on 
the 13th proximo. His services have been 
secured by a Syndicate who having bought 
a large concession in the State of Liberia, 
intend to develope the 
KUBBEB TRADE. 
The rubber chiefly grown in Liberia is the 
climbing sort, of which, I believe, there are 
three different Varieties. At present the 
natives have hardly awakened to the value 
of these creepers growing so luxuriantly round 
their villages, and where the rubber is utilised 
at all, it is simply collected in bulk, good, 
bad and indifferent, and broug;ht to market. 
The object of the Syndicate is to alter all 
that and teach the people which plant is the 
Ijest to cultivate and extract the rubber 
from, and in general to develope the industry 
as much as possible. My Whyte goes out 
to make a report on the land, and advise 
as to the variety of rubber which will be 
most profitable to grow, and, as a largo part 
of the district round Liberia has been little 
explored, and is practically an unknown land, so 
far as the resources are concerned, he is likely 
to have a good lot of travelling up and 
down the country to do. But he seems very 
fit and well, and is evidently looking for- 
ward with pleasure to his new work. The 
Syndicate have made him a very good 
offer, I understand, so that between that and 
his pension he may be considered a pros- 
perous man. I suppose Mr. Whyte has been 
well-nigh forty years in one tropical climate 
or another, and I must say he is a capital 
example of the work ,a man is capable of 
under such circumstances. He has left Uganda 
with the cacao plants he introduced now in 
full bearing, with seed sufficient to be dis- 
tributed over the entire district ; the tea, he 
planted, is doing well : coffee, cardamoms and 
various varieties of spices have also been 
introduced, and in fact he appears to have 
found a wilderness and left a fruitful field. 
His view on the best situation for the capital 
of Uganda differs, I find, from the report of the 
Medical Commission sent out to Elbedde to 
investigate into that question. The Commis- 
sion found that the sleeping sickness was 
caused by infection carried by a fly of the 
tsetse species, and that it seemed to be too 
frequently met with in the present capital 
for Elbedde to be recommended as the ofhcial 
residence. They, therefore, suggest a place 
about a hundred miles further inland, as 
being healthier, and a more desirable place 
for Europeans to live in. Mr. Whyte 
does not agree with this at all. He 
says he lived a good deal in Elbedde, 
and never saw any reason to fear sleeping 
sickness there more than in other places. If 
he was ever bitten by the tsetse, as he expects 
