March 1, 1904. THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
633 
THE CASTLEREAGH TEA CO. OF CEYLON LTD 
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS. 
Directors :— Mr. F H Wiggin, Mr T P Simpson. 
Mr RA GaltOD, (Managing Director.) The Eastern 
Produce and Estates Co., Limited, Agents & Secret- 
aries. Mr L P White, Superintendent of Estate. 
The Directors sobmit herewith the Balance Sheet 
and Profit and Loss Account for the year ending Slat 
Dacember, 1903, duly audited. The balance of profit 
(including a balance of B536 94 brought forward, is 
R22,017 21. Of this sum R12,000 0U has been absorbed 
in paying an Interim Dividend at the rate of 5 per 
cent. The Directors propose, after placing R537 0O 
to Rfaseive Fund, being 2iV per cent, on the Profits, as 
repolvfcd on in General Meeting, to declare a further 
Dividend at the rate of 3 per cent., absorbing B7,200 
and to carry forward to 1904 account R2,280'21. The 
total Tea crop was 166,410 lb against the estimate of 
200,000 lb. The cost of the tea delivered to buyers was 
26-52 per cents lb or 23 58 cents exclusive of manuring. 
The tea was sold locally realising 40 88 cents per lb 
leaving balance of gain 14'36 cents. Cost in 1P02 was 
25'21 cents and value 38 82 cents per lb. The Cotn- 
psny's property consist of :— 437 acres Tea under Leaf, 
Yield in 1903, 380 lb per acre. 24 acres Ravines, scrubs, 
toads, &c., in the 8 lea fields of the estate. 58 acres 
Jungle, jungle belts and swamp. Total 519. 
The estimated crop for 1904 is 200,000 lb Tea or 458 
lb per acre from 437 acres. It will be seen that the 
property representing Capital now stands in the Bal- 
ance Sheet at approximately R549 00 per acre cul- 
tivated, and that the profit per acre is R49'15 as com- 
pared with R49 in 1902 and R50-00 in 1901 the profit 
upon Capital being 8 95 per cent. Mr T P Simpson 
retires from the Board by rotation and being eligible 
offer himself for re-election. The shareholders will be 
requested to elect a Director and aho an Auditor for 
the current year. 
LABOUR IN SOUTH INDIA, ASSAM 
AND CEYLON. 
ARRIVAL OF MR. ARBCTHNOT ICS., CLE. 
Mr Arbutlinot, who arrived in Colombo 
recently from India, is the Commissioner ap- 
pointed by the Assam Government to enquire 
into the labour question on estates and plantations 
in Madras and Ceylon, with a view to 
obtaining information on the recruiting systems 
in vogue there that may be of assistance to the 
Assam Planters, 
RECRUITING IN ASSAM 
differs considerably from the systms worked in 
Madrass and Ceylon. Li Madras the method is 
very similar to that of Ceylon, the Kangani there 
being dubbed a maistri. As in Ceylon the cooly 
gang practically belongs to him. In Assam 
recruiting is done by the "garden sirdars" or 
by contractors. The contractor, European or Eura- 
eiaD; who lives in the recruiting district contracts 
with the estate Superintendent for so much 
labour ; this he procures and sends the gang to 
the estate. The gang belongs to the estate and 
1b no more under the contractor's control. 
The sirdari recruting is far more satisfactory, 
and generally results in a more satisfactory class 
of coolies, The garden sirdar procures his gang 
of coolies for the estate on an agreement, generally 
for a tenu of 4 years. 
THE SCARCITY OF LABOUR. 
In Assam as in Ceylon and parts of India the 
scarcity of labour is felt. Coolies who can obtain 
employment nearer home wilinot go far afield- 
Tbe extension of the Indian railway system has 
taken « large amount of cooly labour i and a great 
number Uud ewployuieat la theCulcutta docks, 
Naturally a cooly prefers such wo rk, at a good 
wage, to going far away to work on the plan- 
tations. We believe the Assam Government are 
doing a good thing in practically taking up the 
labour question and sending Mr Aibuthnot on his 
tour. The Ceylon Government and the Flanterb' 
Association will doubtless assist him in every way 
they can during the two or three weeks he is in 
the island studying the labour question Mr 
Arbuthnot we understand, leaves for home or 
furlough in the 0-P ss " Orontes" on March 31st. 
RUBBER IN EAST AFRICA. 
Mr. Pinnock, who was in Zanzibar last week 
and has had great experience with rubber, ex- 
pressed himself as being much pleased with the 
quality of the rubber he saw for sale while at 
Morabassa, and declared that if properly prepared 
it would be found equal to the Para rubber, 
reaching about £400 per toa.— Zanzibar Gazette, 
NEW DIKECTOU OF AGRICULTURE 
FOK EAST AFRICA. 
Mr. Powell the newly appointed assistant 
Director of Agriculture and Botanist to the East 
Africa Protectorate arrived by the outward French 
mail and went on to Mombassa after two days 
spent in seeing Z mzibar city and its surroundings. 
Mr Powell was much struck by the luxuriant 
growth of the vegetation here in spite of the poor 
soil near the town and a somewhat dry year. 
The Protectorate is fortunate in securing the 
services of an expert with long practical ex- 
perience of tropical planting. Mr Powell has lived 
and worked many years in bt. Vincent in the 
West Indies, and will we feel sure teach us many 
things worth knov/in^.— Zanzibar Gazette, Feb. 3, 
TEA IN NATAL. 
The Annual Report 1903of the Natal Agricultural 
Department has the following note on the cultiva- 
tion of tea there, An illustration is given of the 
tea and factory on the Kearsney estates, which 
look just like those of Ceylon high country. The 
Report says :— It is the uncontrolled ravages of 
insect and fungoid pests which are the chief draw- 
backs to crop growing in Natal ; it is not the 
climate, for, notwithstanding severe hailstorms here 
and there and so-called droughts. Natal is favoured 
above the average in respect of its climate. Nor 
is the backward condition of agriculture here due, 
as some suppose, to any inferiority amongst the 
white farmers ; on the contiary, the average in- 
telligence amongst them is above that in most of 
the other colonies, in fact, they are more on a level 
with the planters in India and Ceylon, and many 
of them are men of education, comparative wealth 
and enterprise. Some of the agricultural develop- 
ments in Natal are both creditable to the country 
itself and of interest to outsiders. The tea industry 
is a progressive one, and the hue factory on the 
Kearsney estates, in which the latest machinery is 
worked by electric power, would not be easily sur- 
passed anywhere. The sugar industry is an im» 
portant one, though not as progressive as it should 
be. Tobacco-growing as an organised industry is 
yet barely in its infancy, but there are small 
beginnings both incigais ^ad pipe tobacco >Yl)icl) 
are promising welli 
