April 1, 1902;; 
THE TROPICAL AGRICCJLTURIST. 
708 
Interim Dividends of 3 per cent, ou the Prefer- 
ence Capital and 2| per cent, on the Ordinary capi- 
tal were paid on the 17th September, 1901, and the 
Directors reoommend that the following dividends be 
now declared, viz. :— 3 per cent, on the Preference 
Capital, making 6 per cent- for the year, and 5^ per 
cent, on the Oidinary Capital, makings per cent, for 
the year, the latter free of income tax. 
After payment of the above dividends there will re- 
main a balance of £3,023 133 5d, which the Directors 
propose should be carried forward to nest year. 
The liqaid assets in Cejlon appear in the Company's 
accounts at the same exchange as in last year's balance- 
sheet, viz. : — Is Id per rupee. 
The general reserve fund stands at £5,500, includ- 
ing the amount transferred in the present accounts, 
Mr. L Famin. a member of the board, retires from 
office on this occasion, and being eligible, offers him- 
self for re-election. 
Messrs, Deloitte, Dever, Griffiths & Co., the Auditors, 
also offer themselves for re-election. — Local " Times." 
THE CONSOLIDATED TEA AND LANDS 
COMPANY. 
More trouble seems to be brewing for Sir John Muir 
and his friends, this time in connection with th« 
Consolidated Tea and Lands Company. That Com- 
pany was floated in 1896, with a beautiful " front 
page" on which figured the name of, amon«st others. 
Field Marsha Earl Koberta, vc, i.Q., or as he was 
then Field Marshal Lord Roberts, t.c, and th« 
shares went up to a premium. The career of th« 
Company has been one of almost unbroken misfor- 
tane, its record of dividends paid on the ordinary 
shares being 4s. in 1897, 4s 4id in 1898, 6s. in 1899, 
Ss 8d. in 1900, and nil in 1901. Last year the or- 
dinary shares, £6 paid, were quoted,at 2 ll-16ths aa 
the highest, but towards the end of the year they 
fell to 2s 6d, while the first and second preferences 
fell from 8i and 6 to 4| and 4 3-16ths respectively. 
Why the Company should have gone from bad to 
worse in this manner is a question which requires 
answering, and, apparently, the proprietors are now 
waking up to that fict. Enlightened, no doubt, by 
the revelations brought out at the inquiry into the 
affairs of the East India and Ceylon Tea Company 
regarding the excessive charges and commissions of 
Messrs. P R Buchanan & Co., and Messr? Finlay, Muir 
& Co., in both of which firms Sir John is interested, 
the Consolidated victims are now bestirring them- 
selves. A meeting of some of th« larger shareholders 
was called in Glasgow, on February 14th, by Messrs. 
Bannatyne <fe Guthrie, C. A,, " to consider whit ac- 
tion should be taken to protect the interest of the 
shareholders of the Company," with what result we 
do not yet know. It is doubtfnl if it is now too late 
to save the undertaking, but if prompt action is taken, 
something may be rescued from the wreck, and in 
time a sound healthy business built up on the ruins, 
bat a dacision should be come to and acted upon 
promptly. — Inve»tors' lieview, March Ist. 
Grafting Cacao. — A successful attempt has 
been made to graft the ordinary Cacao uii 
stocks afforded by the .stronger growinf;; Theobroma 
bicolor. T. bicolor giovvs readily in Trinidad, 
where it now appear.s to be well acclimatized. It 
was introduced in 1893, and we have now several 
trees giving regular crops. It remains to be seen 
what maybe the value of this experiment, but 
as T bicolor is a mucli stronger grower than T 
Cacao, it is of course possible that some advant- 
age to the cultivator may V)e expected. The 
method used was that of ' gratting by approach.' — 
Trinidad Botanical Department Bulletin. 
CHRISTMAS ISLAND PHOSPHATES AND 
PROSPECTS. 
Mr L H Clayton, District Officer, Christmas 
Island, in his report for the past year writes : — 
The deposits of phosphate on the Island appear 
to be enormous and were supposed at one time to 
have been caused by ihe secretions of birds. A 
later theory is, however, that they are the result 
of the action of rain on certain deposits of ooze 
originally foimed at the bottom of the sea and 
subsequently thrown up by a sub-marine eruption. 
Owing to the great depth of water and the sud- 
denness with which thfe sea sometimes gets up, the 
anchorage cannot be described as safe. Calm 
weather may, however, be reasonably expected, 
although not relied upon, from May to November. 
With a view to inducing steamers to come close to 
the cliff and so facilitate loading, two temporary 
piers are now in course of erection. They are 
intended to act as a buffer between the rocks and 
any ship whose moorings give away. It is not 
certain that they will answer the purpose, and as 
they are constructed ot Norwegian pine steeped in 
creosote it is doubtful if they will last for more 
than a few years. New plant for the obtaining 
and loading of phosphate is now being erected 
and the out-put is likely to be considerably 
increased, although perhaps not to the extent 
anticipated by the Company. The returns for 
1902 will probably, however, not be affected as the 
work of construction is proceeding very slowly. 
As ships have sometimes had to stay at the Island 
for over a mouth at a time, it appears desirable to 
call attention to the fact that no supplies of any 
kind can be obtained locally. Not much is known 
as yet of the parts of the Island distant from feh« 
settlement and tlie complete absence of water 
from the higher levels renders exploration diffi- 
cult.— Pewana Gazette, March 10. 
PLANTING NOTES, 
Indian Tea Cess.— The full text of the 
memorial praying for a tea cess presented 
by Indian Tea Proprietors to the Viceroy 
appears on page 694. 
YataderiaTea Company: 20 percent.- 
The shareholders in this Company are much to 
be envied (seepage 689). The handsome divi- 
dend of 20 per cent was dechired and we con- 
gratulate Mr. J K] Fairweather, the superin- 
tendent, and all concerned in the excellent 
management which has brought about this 
happy result. 
The Nahavilla Estates Company,— At 
the annual meeting which was held on 22nd 
March; the shareholders very generously 
did not claim the dividend of 2J per cent 
(absorbing K9,912'50) which the directors re- 
commended, and it was agreed that the balance 
should be carried forward to the extension 
account, for the purpose— we presume— of 
installing water-power tor the factories on 
Ury and Nahavilla. This, we think, will 
be an effective and economical under* 
taking. 
