682 
THE TROPICAL 
AGKICULTITRIST. [April 1, 1902. 
capital of K320,000. The proof of this excellent 
pudding will be found in the prospectus, in which it 
is set forth that, taking tlie selling price of tiie fibre 
at only £30 a ton — and it has been as high as £41 — 
and a production of only 720 tons a year — whereas 
900 tons, it is estimated, might be made from the 
hedging only — the net profit on the year's working 
will be Bl, 47 ,600. J he fibre is certainly excellent, 
it has been very highly spoken of by experts in 
tivndoD, where it has realised tlie top market price, 
and at the recent Agri-Horticultural Show in 
Madras it was awarded the Bronze Medal (the 
highest award for fibres) the Judges regarding the 
exhibit as " a very beautiful sample." Thus, 
everything combines to render the issue of the pros- 
pectus an assured success. — Madras Mail, March 8. 
A NEW TEA COMPANY. 
THE AGEA ELBEDDE (CEYLON TEA) 
ESTATES, LIMITED. 
Subscription lists were to open in London 
on February 17th and close on or before 
Wednesday, February 19th, at 4 p.m., for 
the above Company to be formed with capital 
of £4.5,000 ; 15,000 being £6 per cent. Cumula- 
tive Preference Shares of £1 each and 15,000 
each of "A" and "B" shares of £i each, 
"B" shares getting a dividend up to 6 per 
cent, after providing the dividend on "A." The 
Directors are Messrs. S Patterson, J. P., 
Chairman, J W Hargreaves, J Puttfarcken, 
J D Hand, and R S Pieris, Managing Director. 
The Company has been formed to take over 
as a going concern from January 1st 1902 the 
Agra El bedde and Agra Tenne Estates in 
Ceylon in Agras and Badulla districts res- 
pectively. The total area under cultivation 
IS 42fi a-cres and there are " 650 acres avail- 
able for extensions." The present output is 
100,000 lb per annum, Mr. Edmund Scott, 
who has reported on both estates, estimates 
144,0001b. for Agra Blbedde alone, in 1905. 
The Secretary of the Company is Mr. E H 
Walker, and offices (protem.) 25, Abchurch 
Lane, London, B. C. 
PLANTING IN THE ANAMALAIS. 
Mr. E J Martin, formerly on Farnhani, Kelani 
Valley, whom we welcome back on his return to 
the colony (by the " Konigin Luise") after 
16 months' absence, proceeds to take partial 
charge of Elkaduwa, Wattegama, pending the 
development of his own property, Monica, in the 
Ananialai Hills. On Monica Mr. Martin has 250 
acres of tea, a large quantity of cardamoms and 
experimental plantations of rubber, cinchona, Ac ; 
some of the tea comes into bearing next year. The 
Anamalai Hills is shortly to be served by a light 
railway from Coimbatore to the foot of the Ghauts 
and even now has a cart road right though the dis- 
trict, though it is but 3 years since the first clear- 
ing in it was made. 
Snakk Fcssir. Finds.— The Geological Survey 
ot Cape Colony has found fossils in the creta- 
ceous beds of the coast near Natal. One is the 
lower jaw of a large reptile or snake allied to 
the moHaHauras, anil another part of the carapace 
of a turtle Kuch a« U»e protosphargis. — Natal 
filercury, Feb, 21, 
"THE CEYLON TEA KIOSK." 
AN IMPORTANT DEPARTURE IN THE 
INTEREST OF CEYLON TEA. 
We make an announcement elsewhere 
^yhich should interest planters everywhere 
tliroughout the island as likely to prove of 
the utmost benefit to the staple industry of the 
country, from the prominent notice which it 
is bound to bring to our tea among the higher 
classes in England, and (indirectly) in the 
Contment and America. The "Ceylon Tea 
Kiosk " of Grafton Street, fully described in 
this issue, should attract considerable atten- 
tion in London from its commencement in 
this the Coronation year, and we understand 
that— if successful, and we have little doubt 
that it will be, in contrast with many of 
its butterfly sisters which hare faded away 
in the same West-end-a similar room will 
he opened at Paris before long, and after 
that, perhapi within th* next two years, 
other Ceylon "Kiosks" will be started in 
the leading provincial towns in England. A 
good start is a great matter in opening such 
an institution as that which is to find its home 
in Grafton Street, and we have no doubt that 
the enterprising Syndicate, on whose behalf 
Mr. Saunders will be working when he goes 
home on April 7th, will be satisfied 
with patronage little short of anythin;? 
but the very best. Of cour.se H. E. Sir 
West Ridgeway will be at home and in 
London, in time for and at the time of 
the opening and we hope may be present. 
We wonder if it would not be possible, indeed, 
to secure the good offices of a lady of royal 
birth for the performance of the opening 
ceremony. Such an one has only recently 
visited our shores, with her spouse, and 
for their household while in our midst it 
will not be forgotten that Mr. Wm. Saunders 
was the much appreciated Comptroller- 
General. If the " Ceylon Tea Kiosk " were 
to be opened by the future Queen of England, 
not only would its success be further assured, 
but— a matter of greater import to Ceylon tea 
generally— attention to the tea exported from 
the first ofCrown Colonies would be widely and 
speedily drawn, with increased intensity, not 
only in every quarter of the United Kingdom 
but all over the Continent wherever the 
doings of our Royal family are watched vrith 
absorbed interest. The prospect is one which, 
on behalf of the Colony generally, we 
earnestly hope may be realised. 
Mew York, Wednesday, Feb. 19.— Mr Edward 
Harriman, who heads the syndicate controlling 
20,000 miles of railway in the western states, is 
about to launch the greatest colonising scheme on 
record. He proposes to engage a corps of lecturers, 
with biographs and stereopticons, to advertise the 
mineral, industrial, and agricultural resources of 
the states traversed by the syndicate's railway 
lines. Colonising agents will follow the lecturers 
and arrange to give prospective settlers cheap 
transportation. Emigration agencies have already 
been established at Hamburg, Paris, Genoa, and 
other European cities, where lectures will be given 
and the great colonising scheme vigorously 
hoomed.—Daili/ Mail. 
