928 
TMt Tiabl»lbAL AdRIOULTUmST. Qune x, 189s. 
It will be noted that debenture debt was reJuced 
by £L0,010 drawn and paid off ia 1891. 
As BhowQ in the eobednle annexed there are 9,236 
acres of the company's property under tea cultivation 
of which about 6,700 ate over four yeara old. The 
yield of tea in 1891 amounted to 2,008,000 lb. the 
average gross price obtained being approximately 9Jd. 
per lb. The crop for 1892 is estimated at 2,240,000 lb. 
The directors have sold three estates during the 
past year, viz: — Belgodde. Montefiore and Sinnegode 
Belle Vue, proceeds of sales being carried to the 
credit of " estates reserve account, realizations and 
recoveries." 
In accordance with the articles of association, two 
of the directors, viz; — Mr, Norman W. Grieve pnd 
M.ri David Eeid, retire from ofBoe and, being eligibU- 
offer themselves for re-election. Toe retiring auditor, 
Messrs. Welton Jones & Co., also oiler themselves 
for re-eleotion. 
Schedule of the Oompany's Estates tat 31s 
Dbcembek, 1891. 
Arapolakande Koladenia 
Asgeria and Maddawella Kolapatna and Gongalla 
Bulatwatte do Kimiaradola 
Colonna Labookellie 
Condegalla Meddecoombra 
Dnndukelawa Norwood 
Doombagastalawa Bot)isoUild 
Dromoland So^amma 
Hope Vcllai Oya 
Ingurugalla andBerrewella Wevekellie 
Kirrlmettia Woodslee 
Acre?. 
Under Tea.. .. ... ... 8,766 
„ (Tea. with some remaining coffee) ... i70 
' 9,235 
„ Coffee ... .. ... 108 
„ Cocoa .. .. ... e21 
„ Oinchona. cardamoms and sundries... 358 
„ Forest grass and uncultivated land... 6,46i 
Total... 16,791 
JrOTES ON PKODUCE AND FINANCE. 
The Budget and Pkoduce. — In his speech on the 
Budget, Mr. Goschen made the following reference 
to tea, coffee, and cocoa: — "Tea has been extremely 
satisfactory. The receipts from tea were £3,434,000, 
against an estimate of £3,400,000, and against the 
receipts last year of £3,412,000. I must say that the 
result is more satisfactory than it appears, because a 
considerable amount of duty was paid at the beginning 
of the last financial year, the tea having been held 
back in expectation of a reduction in duty. That 
amount can be pretty well calculated, and the real 
increase on tea is £150,000, representing an increase 
of 4^k per cent. Of that 2 per cent, will be due to 
the increase in population and the fact of there being 
extra days in the year ; but the remaining 2J per 
cent, is a bond fide increase in consumption. The 
Coffee Group produces £331,000, or £2,000 less than 
the estimates. But where coffee shows a slight de- 
crease cocoa shows aslight increase." 
Mincing Lane and its Mehchants. — In the Daily 
Graphic of Tuesday there is a sketch of the Indian 
tea sale room in Mincing Lane during the progress 
of a sale. Underneath the sketch which is referred 
to as " A Pulse of the Nation's Prosperity — The 
Headquarters of the Tea Trade of the London Com- 
mercial Sale Room, Mincing Lane," there is a quo- 
tation from Mr. Goschen's remarks about the increased 
consumption of tea in his Budget speech. Under 
the heading " The Cup That Cheers," our contem- 
porary says: — "On June 1st. 1811, the narrow little 
throughfare known as Mincing Lane was in a state 
of considerable excitement, for the Lord Mayor was 
coming in state to lay the foundation of the London 
Commercial Sale Rooms, accompanied by the ' band 
of the Honourable Bast India Company.' The cere- 
mony was duly performed, and as the official report 
Btatcs, tlie Lord Mayor, ' having received a 
bottle of ruin as a Jiritish colonial production 
broke the same upon the stone, and afterwards a 
bottle of wine, tho produce of Portugal, the brave 
{lud fwthfttl ally of Groat Britain, aad pronounced 
the name of the institution to be the 'London Com- 
mercial Sale Rooms.' Such exertions necessitated 
refreshments, and the party forthwith proceeded to 
an ' elegant cold collation,' where his lordship, in a 
burst of eloquence, said ' the tyrant of Europe cast 
unceasingly an envious eye upon this happy island, 
and longed, but would long in vain, for her ships, 
her colonies, and her commerce.' Launched under 
such august auspices it might have been hoped that 
a grateful Mincing Lane would desert its coffee-houses 
and other miscellaneous places of business, and crowd 
the ' subscription room,' the numerous sale rooms, 
and the reading room. But merchants and brokers of 
those, as of the present days, were conservative in 
their habits, and for many years the London Com- 
mercial Sale Rooms were called, after their chief 
promoter, ■ ' Martin's Folly,' and the shares 
dwindled in price from par to £17 per cent. As 
trade developed, and new articles were included in 
the comprehensive lists of Mincing Lane, the 
advantages of the rooms were, however, gradually 
recognised, and today there are 1.500 subscribers 
to the institution, which is so much too small for 
their requirements that it is to be pulled down, and 
a more commodious building erected. Like many 
other great ideas, the Commercial Sale Rooms were 
started before then- time ; but time has amply justi- 
fied the enterprise of Mr. Martin, who, by the way 
was one of the founders of the firm of Hollams, Son 
and Coward, the well-known commercial solicitors. 
Mincing Lane as a thoroughfare is certainly insigni- 
ficant and uninteresting, but Mincing Lane, in regard 
to the commercial interests located within its dingy 
offices, or the vast ' warrens ' which front upon it, is 
one of the most important centres of commercial 
London. Here are located, for instance, the great 
sugar merchants and brokers, and a trade of vast 
extent is transacted in this article alone — not as for- 
merly in sugar mostly of colonial growth, but now 
principally in beetroot and the crystallised goods 
heavily subsidised by foreign governments for the 
benefit of British consumers. Even more important, 
perhaps, than the sugar is the tea trade, an essentially 
British, nay, an almost exclusively London industry. 
This business is divided into the Indian and Ceylon 
and the China trades, and these have each their sepa- 
rate dealers and sale rooms." 
Tea-Flanting and Philantheopy. — In the current 
number of Scribner there is an article on the "Social 
Awakening ot London," in which reference is made 
to the work done in the Ea«t-and by P. E. Buchauan. 
The writer says: — "The University Oinb han the 
constant support of Mr. Buchanan, who lives in B thnal 
Green with bis family for the sake of entering into 
an intimnte, helpful relation wiih working people." 
Of the teetotum clubs founded by Mr. Buchanan the 
writer says: —"These unique institutions are the creation 
of Mr. Buchanan. They coubine the features of a 
coffee-house supplying a variety of good food and 
non-alcoholic drinks with thoae of a club having 
numerous facilities for improvement and recreation. 
Mr. Buchanan illustrates" says the writer, "the new 
type of man now coming forward in Englmd, who 
with intelligence, means, and energy shall devote him- 
self and his possessions to working out plans for 
widening the circuit of life for the toiling majority 
of his fellow-countrymen " 
Ceyloj< Tea in America. — Mr. S. Blwood May, 
Prei-idei.t ot the Ceylon Plunters' Tea Company of 
New York, arrived in London a few days since, and 
is now staying temporarily at the Hotel Victoria. 
The Ceylou Plantere' Tea Company of New York was 
estftblisbed for the purpose of introducing and pro- 
moting the sale, in the United States and Oansda, 
of pure Ceylon tea ; Hnd Mr. Blwood IVlay's visit to 
this country has buen undertaken chiefly with the 
objef.t of furthering the operations of the company by 
cousulation in the first placo with the members of 
the Ceylon Associaiion in London. 
Last Week Tea Market. — Uiacuflsing last week's 
tea market, ihn Produce Markets' Review says: — "In- 
dian ti'a has been more freely offored, including 
a fairly good assortment of medium and fine 
grad^p. These have been actively dealt in at firm 
