495 
cares not where in the wi'lo world the leaf yrows so 
long as it pleases his customers. It io, therefore, 
vvori by of the serious consideration of all tea planters 
whether they will go on Biruiug at large quantitiea of 
inf. rior quality about which no eutliuaiaam will be 
possible, and which Will inevitably land the tea-produ- 
cing industrylin anoth r such bog as it llonndtred out of 
with such difficulty five-and-twenty years ago, or will 
they, to use the language of the Malthuaiaus, impose 
a modified desci-iptiou ol proventivo check on produc- 
tion, which will raise the standard of excellence in the 
thing produced and restore the waning prestige of 
British-grown tea "i—H. and C. Mail. 
♦ 
THE LAND MORTGAGE BANK OF INDIA, 
LIMITED, 
The extraordinary geaernl meeting of the share- 
holders of the above Bank, to which we referred last 
week, was held 0!> Frid y, at the City Termious 
Hotel, Mr. J. R. Boyson in the chair, in compliance 
with a requisition to hear a propo??! by the requi- 
sitionists to the folowing effect:— "To elect a com- 
mittee of investigation to enquire into aud report 
on tne necessity or expediency of the call of 10a. 
per share made on Sept, 23rd, 1»91 ; also to enquire 
into and report upon the management of the bank 
and future prospects of the shareholders ; and for 
the purpose of hearing any explaoaiion the directors 
may have to offer." The chairman, in opeuing the 
proceedings, stated that the only object of the meet- 
ing, and the only qutstion they had to decide, was 
whether there should be a committee of investi- 
gation to look into the conduct of the directors for 
the p»Bt twenty -three years. A most unfounded 
attack had been made on the boArd, who had done 
a great deal for the shareholders, and he rlleged 
that a persistent attempt had been mude since 
1881 to wreck the bank. The beginning of the affair 
was in that year, when Mr. Siewart, the then 
manager of their tea estates in India, happened 
to be at home on short leave. Unfortunately 
for the bank tQfiir manager had allowed himself to be 
tampered with by Messrs. Buohaneu and Muir, who 
at the time had not a farthing ol inter'^st in the com- 
pany. Mr. Buchanan remarked that ho was a share- 
holder at the time. The chairman, continuing, stated 
that there had been an attempt ever since 1881 to get 
the aflfairs of the company into the hand-i of Mr. John 
Muir. He read a letter marked"confidentittl," which was 
sent by Mr. Stewart, date i Feo. 9tb, 1883, to Mr. Muir 
relatiugtothe business ol the company aud the value 
of its tea properties and other assets. He af terwarda 
referred at length to the subsequent action of Mr. 
Buchanan and Mr. Muir, and stated that the shares 
cauaiquently went down to Dil, and thiir 5 per cent. 
»na 4^ per cent debenture-i to adiscouut. The call had 
been uecided on by the directors after considerable 
thought. The fact that they had to pay off £14,000 in 
January had not caused them to make the call, the 
object of which had simp'y been to strengthen the 
credit aud the goaucial position of the bank. Bveu 
after making the call he had been in hi pes that they 
would be able to adopt some course which would put 
a istop to the possibility of any further call, (Yhen they 
had brought heir debenture liability down to 
.CieOjOOO or £170,000, which he was sure they could 
have managed, ho felt that they could go to the 
holders, point out the poaitiou of the company with its 
uncalled oivpitil of £l,0u0,000, and ask tiiem to tnke 
debenture s ock or prelirejce shares, thoroby relieving 
the shareholders fioin any further anxiety as to cal.a. 
When, howovor, tbo requisiuon was receive 1 for an 
extraordinary general meeting to pass a vote of censure 
on tlio l.'oard's mnuageiuent, ho cout'essed that he bad 
not felt so SLiugnuio of i.cingable to carry out a plan with 
thia object in vitjw. As to tha general charge of mis- 
n\auBgoment which had been brought against them by 
the rci[iu8itiouisl.i, ho claimed in view of the iacts 
set out in tho circular issued by the board, that tins 
charge oonld not be sustained, and that, ou the 
contrary, they were entitUd at least to the cou- 
fidonce of the shareholders. A certain proposal 
had been received by tho directors from Messrs. 
Finlay, Muir & Co ; but it oould not ba dealt with 
at that meeting, which had been callei for a specific 
obj' ct. Alter reading the letter containing the pro- 
posal — which was to finance the bank for the next 
five yeara without making any call — the chairman read 
the reply which ho had made to it, stating that if it 
had be< n received Eooner, and supplemented by addi- 
tional information, the directors would have deemed 
it their duty to submit it to tho consideration of the 
shareholders in general meeting ; but that as the 
diri ctors had almost concluded an arrangement with 
Messrs. George Williamson for their assuming charge 
of the estates in question from the end of the current 
season, on very satiafactory terms, there might be some 
difficulty in now entertaining Messrs. Finlay, Muir & 
Co 's offer. He bad had a long interview on the pre- 
vious day with Mr. John Muir, to whom be had given 
the fullest information respecting the affairs of the 
company. Mr. Buchanan afterwirds addressed the 
meeting at length, entirely repudiating the construction 
which the chai'man had pat upon his action, and 
giving an unqualified denial to the statement that he 
was working in this matter for his own personal ends 
and not for the interorts of the shareholders. He 
urged that an investigation was needed to see 
whether the c*ll was necessary, in view of other 
courses which bad been suggested, and which might 
be capable of being adopted. The chairman, 
interposing, said he bad foreseen that some 
of the shareholders might regard the call as a hardship 
if they had to pay it before the offer made by Messrs. 
Finlay, Maur, & Co., and o'her proposals were c. n- 
sidered as these might render a call unuecessary ; aud 
the directors had therefore determined on issuing a 
notice deferring payment of tho call until January next, 
or later. Mr. Buchanan s i id he regarded this as a very 
(gratifying announcement, and added that half of his 
contention had ^one by 'he chairman having conceded 
that it was necessary for the company to have an Indian 
agency. He still, however, maintained than an in- 
vtBtigation into the c mpany's affairs was neceaeary, 
and that it would be beneficial ; and concluded by 
moving a resolution in accordhnce with theobjictof 
the meeting. A' tsr a protacted discufeeion, the chair- 
man expressed his readiness to accept a suggestion to 
the effect that the board would take into it^ cnnnsels 
seven shareholders holding not Jess than 1 000 shares 
each, puchaaed before January 1st last. Upon thia 
Mr. Buchanana withdrew his motion. — H. andG.Mail, 
Nov. 27. 
THE LAND MORTGAGE BANK OF INDIA 
LIMITED, AND MR. STEWART. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE " HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL.'' 
Sir, — My name wa.^ pretty freely mentioned by the 
chairman at the meeting of shareholders held on the 
20th inat. From the special nature of the business 
for which that meeting hid been called, as well as 
owing to the time occupied by the chairman's open- 
ing speech, it would have btea impossiblo for me to 
have obtained an oppor'unity of replying to the struc- 
tures which ho chose to pass on me. I beg to be 
allowed to do so through the medium of your oulnmns. 
When I voyaged to Calcutta in November, 1881, 
Mr. Buchanan led mo to understand that he was, 
at that time, a shareholder in the bank. At the 
meeting of shisreholders on the 26th inst., be 
apecially interrupted the chairman to say that at 
tho time referred to he was a shareholder. The 
value of this interruption was, that it supported my 
narrative of v?hftt had occurred on board ship; and 
next, that it on-iblod many — myself amongst them — 
to disabuse our minds of any idea of a wilful attempt 
ou the part of that gentleman to mislead me. 
At that til-no I foresaw (a,s it turns out, only 
toj aoouratel} ) what would ultimntaiy befall the 
bank when the time ehould cumo that its 
Indian rcaliaatioos would bo insuthoieut to meet 
