Jan. 1, 1904.] 
THE TEOPICAL AGlilCULTUIMRT. 
481 
A NEW HU1315KII COMl'ANY : 
RANI KLTBBER CO., LTD. 
The Memor;indnm and Articles of Asso- 
ciation of this Company appear in a 
recent Gazette, The principal object of the 
Company is to acquire and take an assie:n- 
ment of the lease about to be granted by 
the Government of Travancore to Mr. George 
Nicol Thomson, of three blocks of land 
situated on the banks of two rivers, the 
Kakaad and the Sittaar, within the 
Koni reserved Government Forest, Travan- 
core, containing in extent about 500 acres, 
and to convert the samo into a rubber 
plantation. The nominal capital of the Com- 
pany is R300,(J00 divided into 3,000 shares of 
RlOO each. The first subscribers are Messrs. 
John G Wardrop, A A Prideaux, G R 
Marncch, H P Church, R C Dickson, J W R 
Still and J Steuart, all of Colombo ; while 
the first directors shall be the Hon, Mr. 
J N Campbell, Messrs. A A Prideaux, G N 
Thomson and J G Wardrop. 
« 
MR. SPENCE'S CA1?DAM0M MISSION IN 
AUSTRALIA. 
HIS FIRST REPORT. 
The following has been sent us for publication; — 
W. Sinclair, Esq., Chairman, Cardamom Coni- 
inittee, Kandy. 
Sydney, N.S.W., 30th Nov., 1903. 
My Dear Sinclair, — Owing to a very severe 
illness contracced shortly after tiiy arrival in 
Western Australia, and wliieU laid nie up for some 
four months here, I regret to say diiriiigtliat time 
I was quite unable to attend to any business. 
Hence the cause of delay in sending you any 
report sooner. However, I am glad to say, I am 
nearly all right again, and have been able to get 
about and attend to the cardamom business which 
I undertook. 
Western Australia, — Nothing in the way of 
pushing our cardamoms can be done here, as they 
get almost everything they require, principally, 
from Victoria. 
Melbourne.— I got this length about middle of 
September, and regret to say I was again laid up 
here for about a fortnight. As soon as I was able 
to move about, I set to work. I fust called on the 
Governor-General (Lord Tennyson) and delivered 
letter from HE Sir WestRidgeway. The Governor- 
General received me most kindly and, through the 
introduction, I met most of the officials who were 
of assistance to me. From Customs- house books I 
found the principal importer.^, and called on the 
following houses here .... I had samples 
sent to all the above firms and they all took much 
interest in them : but fiom all I got mucii the 
same answer : " Our requireuicnts here are too 
small to import any large quantity from Ceylon." 
Sydney.— On my arrivnl in Sydney, N.S.W., 
eaily this month, I called on seveial of the large 
houses here (to most of them I had letters of 
introduction) .... but got much the same 
answer as at Melbourne, i have distributed 
samples with Chamber of Commerce, aud where I 
tiiought they would be of some benefit and could 
be seen, and have given all the iiifonnaticm 
required. As thi.s is not a manufacturing country, 
I am afraid the cousuiu|)tion of curdamoins here 
Iwill not be much increased for many years to come 
have done my best to push them and bring 
thoin betore public aocioe here, but regret to -s ly, 
with little result. lu time to con\e there may be 
a cjreater demand for them. Other products as 
well as cardamoms I brought under notice as 
much as I could. — Yours sincerely, 
J. A. Spence. 
♦ 
NATAL TEA PLANTING NOTES. 
LABOUR SCARCE THERE ALSO, 
(By " Camelia T/iea.") 
At last the long-expected and wished-for 
rains have fallen, and we may now look for 
heavy flushes, which, after the long rest the 
trees have had, should be better than usual. 
Although the output has been less than 
ordinarily this season (through thedronghi), 
the quality of tea made has much improved, 
and I would urge upon all planters the neces- 
sity for keeping up the quality throughout 
the season. We can make as good tea in 
Natal as any imported, and if (through want 
of labour), we cannot supply all the tea 
required, let us cater for the high-class 
demand rather than for the low grade ; it is 
only a question of time, and a re organised 
labour supply, when we shall be able to 
supply all that is needed. Although the 
Delegates sent by the Indian Immigration 
Trust Board to ludii', to confer with the 
Indian Government respecting a better supply 
of labour, have been back some time, they 
have not published any report as to their 
doings. The success of the Natal tea plant- 
ing industry is bound to depend upon the 
supply of cheap unskilled labour, as nearly 
all the cultivation has to be done by hand, 
and, personally, I think it is time the Coast 
planters combined, and, through a properly- 
organised Association, took upon themselves 
the immigration of labour from India or else- 
where, on the same lines as the Ceylon 
Planters' Association. Under the system in 
vogue here, the supply of labour gets less 
every year, and the class of Indians coming 
gets worse. Natal has obtained a bad name 
in the recruiting districts in Southern India, 
and only persons leaving their country for 
their country's good agree to come here. I 
should like to see this matter brought up at 
a Planters' Association meeting— as something 
must be done to increase the present supply 
of lnhouv,— Natal Mercury, Dec. 3. 
CHINESE TEA PLANTERS WANTED FOR 
INDO CHINA, 
M Beau, the Governor General of French 
Indo-China, is bent upon drawing Chinese 
Agriculturists to settle in the thinly peopled 
Districts of Annam and Tonquiu. Tea plan 
ters are wanted in particular. His Secretary- 
General, M Hardoiiin, has gone to Canton and 
Foochow to arrange for recuitiug Chinese 
labourers in large numbers in furtherance of 
M. Beau's scheme. — Sh'aits Times. 
Salt and Nitrogen in Cultivation.— We 
direct special attention to the "chat with 
Mr. Bamber" by a practical planter which 
appears elsewhere, 
