634 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March 1, 1902. 
Assets:— By Property (Immovable) E201, 883-84 ; 
by bftlance of profit aud loss E9,567 79. — Total 
E211,451-63. 
PRoriT AND Loss Statkment made up to 31st 
December, 1901.— To interest R350-65 ; to Timber 
account E9,21714.— Total E9,567-79. By balance 
at debit carried to balance sheet E9,567'79. — Total 
K9,567 79. 
THE RAYIGAM COMPANY, LTD. 
REPORT OF THK DIRECTORS. 
t)itectors : — Messrs Edward Eosling, Albert Rosling, 
Gordon Fraser, and F M Mackwood. 
Acreage : 
Rayigam. Acres. Annandale. Acres. 
Tea in bearing ... 55l| Tea in bearing ... 250 
„ partial bearing... 126 Forest ... 8 
,, not in J, ... 18 Grass ... ... 38 
Forest ... ... 504J 
Total ... 1,200 Total .. 296 
The Direotcrs herewith submit their Report and 
Balance Sheet for 1901. 
Afer writing off El, 506 tor depreciation on Building 
and Machinery, there remains at credit of Profit 
and Loss Account E12,025-39. Out of this the Direc- 
tors propoie to pay a dividend of two per cent absorb- 
ing El.OOO, carrying forward a balance of E25'39. 
The crop of tea from Eayigam was 294,110 lb as 
against 305,974 lb in the previous jear, and from 
Annandale 85,929 lb against 103,988 lb. 
The shortness in crop on both estates is partly 
due to finer plucking and partly to unfavourable 
climatic conditions. 
The nett prices realized by Annandale and Eayigam 
Estates respectively were 44*11 cents and 28"03 cents 
per pound. 
The Estimate of crop for the current year for 
Rayigam is 300,000 lb, and for Annandale 100,000. 
Mr Gordon Prazer retires from the Board ofDirectors 
by rotation, but being eligible offers himself for re- 
election. 
The election of an Auditor for 1900 rests with 
the Meeting. 
NEW PLANTING COMPANY. 
Henry Roll & Co. (72,579).— Registered 
January 25Lh, with capital £5,000, in £1 shares, 
10 acquire the business carried on at 66, Storks 
Road, Bernioiidsey, as Henry Roll & Company, 
to adopt an agreement with H. Roll, and to 
carry f>n the business of tea, coffee, cocoa and 
other Eastern and Colonial products, planters, 
growers, importers, blenders and merchants, lead 
rollers, printers, produce brokers, tobacconists, 
warehousemen, wiiarfingers, etc. No initial public 
issue. The number of directors is not to be more 
than 4. IL Ross is the lirst ; qualilication £1,000 ; 
remuneration is fixed by the Company. Regis- 
tered office, 66, Storks Road, Bermondsey, S.E. — 
Investors' Guardian, Feb. 8. 
THE DUTY ON TEA. 
We are glad to see a writer sigiiing him- 
self "Fairplay" refutes sonie of the rather 
wild statenneiits jnade on the occasion of the 
deputation to the Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer. He states :— 
Whilsl Hynpiatlii.siiig wii h lliosG suffcrinK from 
ihc (li;pre^.sii>ii in the Indian and Ceylon tea 
industry, I rcgict to notice a want of fairnes-.s 
jisplayed in the unkind and unwarranted re- 
ference to China tea as " a cheaper but inferior 
article." It must be well-known to ilie deputa- 
tion, althougli possibly not to the general public, 
that China tea is not a cheaper article, in any sense 
of the word, than either Indian or Ceylon. lu 
truth, Indian and Ceylon tea is really the cheaper, 
inasn uch as it goes further, owing to the way it 
is mostly prepared, and also to the public taste 
being for a thick and strong tea, to which large 
C[uantities of milk and sugar are added : in tact, 
in (he majority of cases, in is most essential that 
they should be added to make the tea at all palat- 
able. China tea on the other hand is more delicately 
flavoured, and does not naturally draw a thick, 
dark infusion ; hence it does not appear to 
as far in household economy as Indian or Cejdou 
tea. It is not a cheaper article in this sense, 
nor is it a less costly one to bring to this market. 
There is an export duty on China tea of about 
fd per lb., and inland taxes varying from lA to 
jd per lb. ;it also bears an additional freight of 
about fd to id per lb., thanks to a Steamer 
Conference which maintains rates at 45s per ton, 
whilst Ceylon rates are about 20s. The average 
price obtained for the tea crop in the China market 
is certainly just as high as, if not higher than, 
the Indian and Ceylon crops have averaged during 
the past two or three years. So much for the , 
danger of China as a competitor for cheapness. 
As regards quality, I venture the opinion that 
China tea is fully equal to that of British-grown 
tea«, but the taste of the large majority of tea- 
drinkers in Great Britain favours the latter. This, 
however, does not say that the quality of the 
British-grown article is better, but that the charac- 
ter is preferred by most people in this country, 
although it is a fact that several leading physicians 
recommend the China growth, and that many ex- 
perts in the Indian and Ceylon trades prefer China 
tea for their own use. the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, I think, struck the true cause of the 
depression in the tea trade — namely, over-supply. 
In their anxiety to compass (China's tea trade, 
the Indian and Ceylon growers have brought 
on their own disasters, for China con- 
sumes itself some three-quarters of her total 
production of tea, aud endeavours only to 
prepare as much for export as it can 
find a profitable market for. During the present 
season the export to all parts of the world, from 
China, is about 140,000,000 lb. (British-grown tea, 
for the same period, being about 300,000,000 lb-), 
against 170,000,000 lb. last season, the reason of 
the deficiency being that, owing to the low prices 
ruling in foreign markets, it paid the Chinese 
better not to prepare about 30,000,000 lb. of their 
later crops for foreign use, finding a better market 
for it in home consumption. If India and Ceylon 
would take a lesson from China, and study supply 
and demand a little more, I venture to say that 
there would soon be no laments as to the unsatis- 
factory state of the trade. China has always been 
an honourable rival of India and Ceylon, and 1 
think the remarks referred to, tending to depreciate 
its produce, are as unfair as they are incorrect — 
L. db C. Express, Feb. 14. 
" Pearls and Pbajil Fishkrirs."— We 
notice that a lecture on this suhject was 
given by Dr II Lyster Jameson at the 
Derby Lecture institute on Feb. 14tij. 
