August i, i8go.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
83 
Pr.om AND Loss Account foe Year to 31st 
March, 1890. 
Expenditure. 
To Interest on Debentures paid and accrued ... 
„ Salary of Foreign Agents ... £199 12 8 
„ Do Secretaries ... loO O’! 
„ Law and Audit Charges 
„ Books, Stationary, See. 
„ Charges 
,, Telegrams .. 
,, Income Tax .. ... 
,, Postage and Petties ... 
,, Directors’ Remuneration 
,, Directors’ Travelling Expenses 
,, Advertising 
,, Depreciation 
,, Balance, being Profit on year 
Bevenue. 
By Balance from last year ... 
Leas : Income Tax on Dividends 
Less : Loss on Realisation 
of 1888-9 Produce 
By Exohange 
„ Interest on Investments 
,, Commission ... 
,, Registration and other Fees 
£ 
142 
9. d. 
0 1 
.349 12 8 
36 10 7 
8 2 10 
15 12 6 
23 7 6 
32 8 2 
9 2 7 
120 0 0 
12 12 0 
0 11 6 
49 1 6 
Profit on Year’s Working of estates— 
Produce sold and on hand £8,000 18 6 
Leas : Expenditure 4,072 12 11 
£3,928 5 6 
,3,51.5 8 8 
£4,314 10 7 
£ s. d. 
, 81 9 5 
, 26 5 0 
£55 4 5 
20 10 10 
•3.9o7 14 8 
28 5 7 
281 4 10 
39 1.3 7 
2 7 6 
£4,314 10 7 
Brown, Fleming & MoBHAy, Secretaries. 
TITR UBRPJAN GOVEENMENT CONCES- 
SIOXS AND EXPLOEATION COMPANY, 
LIMITED : 
India-Eubbee. 
The prospectus informs us that “this company 
has been formed for the purpose of purchasing the 
valuable India-rubber concession, granted by the Go- 
vernment of tite Eepublic of Liberia, West Coast of 
Africa, for the sole right of collecting the India-rubber 
grown on all the government lands and forests, and 
the sole right of exporting all India-rubber grown 
within the territories of the Republic of Liberia, such 
concession further granting the concessionaires 2,000 
acres of land, to be selected by them, for the purpose 
of erecting warehouses, stores, residences, and estab- 
lishing depots, wharves, and trading stations, or for 
snoh other purposes in connection with the conces- 
eion ns the concessionaires may from time to time 
deem necessary or desirable, and to be held free of 
any charge whatever ; and if hereafter thought desir- 
able, work such concession, or to sell or lease the 
whole or portions there of to companies or indivi- 
duals ; Slid also to take over, work, sell, or lease to 
companies or individuals, at. the discretion of the di- 
rectors, any other concession or concessions whicti may 
now or liereafter be obtained by the company from 
the Government of the Liberian Republic. The rubber 
cnnco.ssion covers the whole area of the government 
lands on which the gum elastic rubber tree is found, 
producing rnbher of the best West African quality, 
and the Government estimate that a minimum of 2,000 
t ins can bo eollecte 1 annually, (and also the sole 
right of ex))orting all other rubber grown within tlin 
territories of Uie Republic of Liberia) which, deli- 
vered in London or Liverpool, including the ro yalty 
to lie paid to the Government of Liberia, will it is 
eatimati'd show a profit (if only realising Is per lb.) 
of £112,000 per annum. Labour is cheap and plenti- 
ful, and the natives of this part of Africa are indus- 
trious. The use of rubber is being very largely ex- 
tended, and is being brought into general use for 
manufacturing purposes, and is now being extensively 
used in Berlin, Hanover, and Hamburg, in connec? 
tion with other materials, for paving the streets, and 
no doubt will soon be applicable for many other similar 
purposes.” 
The area of the Republic is estimated to be about 
150,000 square miles, or about 96,000,000 acres, most 
of which is of the richest character, yielding almost 
every known kind of tropical produce, whilst the value 
of its mineral wealth can scarcely be estimated. 
But besides trading in India-rubber, the company 
propose also to procure further concessions for getting 
and working minerals ; for cultivating fibre-producing 
plants, &c.; for collecting palm oils, indigo, timber, and 
dyewoods; for trading in ivory, &o.; and also for a 
charterod State Bank, and various public rights. The 
Liberian Government has undertaken not to grant these 
concessions without first offering them, through Mr, 
Ellis Parr, to this company. 
The price to be paid to the vendor (Mr. Ellis Parr) 
for the India-rubber concession, and in respect of his 
interest in the other concessions which have been 
applied for, has been fixed by the vendor at £70,000, 
payable as to £7,000 in cash, and as to £23,000 in 
fully paid ordinary shares, £3,000 in deferred shares, 
and the balance in cash or fully paid ordinary shares, 
or partly in cash and partly in shares, at the opinion of 
the directors ; the deferred share ranking only for 
dividend after the company has earned sufficient to 
pay a dividend on the ordinary paid up capital of 
twenty-five per cent, when the deferred shareholders, 
after receiving a dividend of twenty-five per cent, will 
be entitled to one-half of the balauoe of the remaining 
profits. 
It will be seen that the proposed operations of the 
company are varied and exteesive, and the prospects, 
as set forth by the promoters, are certainly sufficiently 
alluring. The capital asked for is £110,000, and if 
this is promptiy supplied, and if the right men are 
put in the right place, aud wise methods of procedure 
are adopted, we do not see why the glowing results 
anticipated should not be largely realised . — Electrical 
Trades .Journal. 
TEA GARDEN COOLIES IN ASSAM. 
To the Editor of the Indian Agriculturist. 
Sir,— Many of your readers are no doubt interested 
in this vast tea district where so many labourers from 
Bengal are employed, and would like to hear of their 
condition, and the treatment they receive from the 
brutal planter. First, as regards their pay ; women 
receive on enrolment R4 per month, and men R5 ; after 
the expiry of 3 years of their 5 years’ agreement the 
pay of women is inoreased to E5 and of men to E6 
per mensem, besides which they earn on an average 
from R 4 to 6 per month daring the six most busy 
months of the year by doing task work after their 
daily allotted work has been performed. The day 
before yesterday I found that the coolies on one garden 
had finished their morning’s allotted work by 9-30 
a. in. they were consequently free to do what they liked 
until 1 p. m. Those rates of pay compare most favora- 
bly with the rates received during the past year by 
ablebodied agricultural labonrers, as published in tbe 
Englishman of 16th May 1890, in Jeypore and Raj- 
pootana, where the average rate was from R2 to 3 
per mensem, wliere rice was selling at 8 seers per rupee; 
whereas up here it is selling at from 10 to 12 seers, 
but the coolies are supplied by the planters with that 
necessary of life at the uniform rate of R3 per maund, 
or 134 seers per per rupee, although it invariably costs 
the planter more. According to the Ejigliskman the 
highest wages paid to able-bodied agricultural labourers 
iu Oudh was R4 monthly; in the North-West Provinces 
from R.I12 to 5'8, with a tendency to the lower 
figure ; and in Bengal proper from R3T2 to 5T0. The 
coolies iu Assam are well housed, and much attention 
