December i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
409 
GEMMING AND MINING COMPANY 
OF CEYLON. 
London, Nov. 23. 
There is no doubt that the result to the last 
year's working of the Gemming and Mining Company 
of Ceylon has been anything but eatisfaotory. The 
extract from the Investort' Guardian given below 
reveals this very fully, though the paragraph is 
written in a tone which shows but litlle acquain- 
tanoo by its author of the real facts with regard 
to the prospoots with which the company was 
started; for we all know that the precious stones 
are ihore, even if the steps taken by the directors 
have failed to secure them for their shareholders. 
The current talk here is that gems of a fine 
quality and size were never so abundant in Colombo 
as they are at the present time ; and it is the 
generally expressed opinion that the operations of 
the company account for this, that these stones 
have been obtained by its working, but that, as 
Mr. Streeter predicted to me would be the ease, 
they do not get beyond the native labourers who 
have found them while employed in the company's 
pits. Unless some means can be taken to guard 
against such thefts, it is much to be feared gem- 
ming on a large scale will never prove remunerative 
in Ceylon. We hopp, however, that the affairs 
of the company may be retrieved during the 
current year by its output of plumbago. 
The Gemming and Mining Company of Ceylon. — 
Tliis Compaoy cannot be congratulated at the result of 
its operalions during the past jear. The Kimberley 
compouad system is evidently cot in vogue in Ceylon, 
for the good atones found by its native employes were 
retained by them for their private uses, and they simply 
handed to the company those which possessed no mer- 
cantile value. The consequence is that the Company 
has lost during the year £3,453 18j Id by its operations, 
this iccluding the cost of the Londou offices and 
directors' fees amounting to some £860. The main hope 
of the cheirmau now seems to rest, not on the precious 
stones, but oa the deposits of plumbago, which they 
have discovered on Iheir property. We are told by 
chemists that the diamond and plumbago have an 
identical chemical composition, and this knowledge may 
somewhat console the shareholders for its substitution, 
although they may fairly argue that they subscribed on 
the testimony of the experts that the carbon on their 
property was in the form of precious stones, and not 
in that of blacklead. — London Cor. 
THE ADVANCE OF BRITISH. GROWN 
TEA. 
From the monthly circular on the tea market, issued 
by Messrs. Gow, Wilson, and Stanton we observe that 
the npprcciatioa of the Ceylou leaf by British con- 
sumers is increasing as fast as the production. For 
the period from the beginning of June to the end of 
September — the four heaviest months of the year — the 
imports have amounted to twenty-three million pound?, 
against fifteen and a-half million pounds in the cor- 
respoudiug months of 1890, and eleven million pounds 
in 1889. The figure is a boavy one, being greater than 
the imports of the Indian product in the same period 
only two years ago, but, instead of creating a plethora, 
it has been taken almost entirely off the market, the 
deliveries coming to tvfenty one and a-third million 
pounds. The addition to stock is, therefore, small, 
and there ia the less danger of a glut from the fact 
that daring the ensuing two months there is a proba- 
bility of a deficiency in the supply, as the shipments 
are estimated at only four million pounds per month. 
This do 38 not, however, imply any falling off in the 
production of Oeylon. From what we can loaru with 
reference to the future yield, we think it likely the 
total will go oa mouuting for years to come iu the 
ratio of the past — that is to say, an increase of from 
eight to ten million pounds per annum may be looked 
forward to as practically assured. But if we judge 
the future consumption also by past experience, there 
should be no cause to apprehend that over-supply 
which Ceylon's legions of enemies predict. 
As the importation of Indian and Ceylon teas inoreases 
in volume, the Chinese leaf is being displaced to make 
rojm for the British-grown produce, and from present 
appearances it would appear that the Flowery Lind will 
be elbowed out of the way altogether in the course of 
another ten or fifteen years. In 1879 the Celesti»ls sent 
us no less than one hundred and twenty-six million 
pounds. Oeylon had not been heard of as a tea producer, 
and the Indian contribution was only thirty-four million 
pounds, having grown in the preceding fifteen years 
from hardly three millions. Since then both Ceylon 
and ludia have been forging ahead, and China has 
been on the down grade, the complete reversal of the 
market being one of the wonders of modern commerce. 
A glance at the statistics of the past six yesra 
will surprise many of our readers, we imagine, for 
the transformation is quite sensational in character. 
The Home cousumption in these years was as follows, 
the figures representing thousands of pounds* 
1885. 1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 
India .. 65,678 68,420 83,U2 86,2X0 96,000 101,962 
Ceylon .. 3,217 6,215 9,941 18,553 28,500 34,617 
Chma, &c. .113,.514 104,226 90,503 80,653 61,100 57,530 
(1,000 lb.).. 182,409 178,891 183,561 185,416 185,600 194,009 
It will be seen that the Chinese leaf has not fallen 
away bcciufe of any reduction in the consumption 
of tea, which has materially increased within that 
period, but has declined inversely with the develop- 
ment of the East Indian industry. 
But although there is no doubt as to the headway 
being made m Great Britain by the British-grown 
leaf, the apostles of Indian and Ceylon are not 
satisfied. It is true that during the five years 1885. 
1889 the United Kingdom consumed one hundred 
and eighty-three million pounds of tea, but in the 
some period the United States drank seventy-nine 
millions, llussia seventy millions and a-half, the 
Australian Colonies twenty-one millions and a-balf 
and Canada nearly nineteen millions, There is, 
therefore, a much larger world yet to conquer, and 
one rf markable and satisfactory feature in the position 
of Ceylon tea is the very kindly manner in which 
other countries are taking to its use, the British 
colonies being especially prominent in this respect. 
We have before us returns of the exports from Oeylon 
to other countries for the drat eight months of the 
current year, and comparing these with the returns 
for the corresponding period of last year, we find aa 
increase of seventy-two per cent. As these returns are 
of considerable interest, we give them in full. The 
respective shipments were as follows : — 
1891 
1890 
lb. 
lb. 
Austria 
50,150 
1,270 
France 
9,300 
612 
Germany .. 
69,300 
14,200 
Russia 
11,250 
15 
India 
... 270,650 
87,600 
Australia ... 
... 2.211,500 
1,413,000 
America ... 
... 139,000 
119,300 
Africa 
56,550 
35,100 
China 
87,900 
33,200 
Mauritius ... 
34,300 
140 
2,940,400 
1,704,437 
It ia difappointing that the Yankees took only 
139,000 pounds, though a Iar(?e public company wat 
formed in the States with a great tlonrish of 
trumpets to promote the consumption of Ceylon tea. 
It will be noticed, however, that even the Chinese 
themselves have begun to sip the rival nectar. — 
Financial Times. 
* Blore simply stated, the ligaros or ciphera for 
millions are omitted,— Eu. T, A, 
