THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1890 '. 
To write off tho above loss ... ... £3,000 0 0 
To pay a Dividend of 6 per cent, free of 
Income Tax ... ... ... 2,250 0 0 
£5,250 0 0 
Leaving £075 9 0 
to be carried forward to next Account. 
The Dividend will be payable, aa before, on the 11th 
of November. 
Under the rotation fixed by the Directors, Mr. 
Dieksou retires from office at this Bleeting ; but he is 
eligible for re-election in terms of Section 14 of the 
Articles of Association. 
During the year Mr. J. Oainpboll Penney, who has 
acted as Secretary of ihe Oompaiiy since its formation 
in 1878, tendered his resig^’ation on his appointment 
aa Accountant of Court. The Director appointed Mr. 
Francis A. Briugloe, C.A., in his place. 
The Auditor for the current year falls to be ap- 
pointed. Francis A. Bki.vgloe, Secretary. 
♦ 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE; 
The Customs and Duty-Paid Articles. — Instruc 
tions have been given to the Customs ofli'dals to fur- 
nish, for the information of a Committee of the House 
of Commons, a return of the quantity of duty-paid 
articles, including tea, coffee, wine, bpor, spirits, mauu- 
falured tobacco and snuff, &c., consumed in BugUuid, 
A\’'ales, Scotland, and Ireland respectively. The return 
asked for is to be rendered quarterly, commencing from 
the period ending Dec. 31st next, and ell shipping 
and carrying companits are rerptested to lurnish the 
Customs with an accouut of all such articles conveyed 
by their routes between each of the three divisions of 
the United Kingdom. 
The Price of Cheap Tea. — Tea was never so cheap 
as it is today, and never so dear, says a grocer’s 
paper. It cau be bought at any price from IsperJh. 
A good deal was made of a parcel of Ceylon tea 
which fetched 30s Cd per lb. in London the other day. 
However, it appears that Sheflaeld can beat that, for 
we are informed that Mr. Tuokwood has in liis Far- 
gate stores a parcel of Ceylon tea for which he gave 
55s per lb. in Loudon, and tho broker would buy it 
back at 60s. — H. and 0. Mail, Oct. 24th. 
Adulteration as a Fine Art. — According to statis- 
tics produced in au American paper the average 
quantity of genuine coffee actually imported averages 
only 130,000,000 lb. per annum, but with roasted beaus, 
pea'', and rye and other coffee substitutes, an annual 
consumptiou of at least 216,000,000 lb. is provided for, 
some ostimates indeed placing the yearly consumption 
of bogus coffee in the United States at 120,000,000 lb. 
We learn that tho ‘‘ bean ” is still theino.st difficult to 
produce, but a good “ fpecimen,'’compojed of rye flour, 
glucose, acd water, is now manufactured in Philadel- 
phia and Trenton. Tt is further stated that “ taking 
even the lowest estimate, the cute Yankee engaged in 
this parlicalar field of ‘ commerce ’ makes 25,000,000 
dels, a year out of his fellow-oouutrymen, the manu- 
facturers taking fix millons of this, and the retailers 
nineteen millions.” 
A New Coffee Company in Brazil. — A 
Brazilian paper refers to the formation of an 
important comiiany “ with a capital of 50,000,000 
dels. already subscribed, and ‘ which does not 
contemplate a monopoly nor a struggle with the iuter- 
niediate exporter, seeking merely to direct tho market 
towards stability, subject ouly to tho natural fluctua- 
tions caused by consumption, limiting the bases upon 
which it proposes to operate, incurring nouo of the 
risks of ( xporting — it being forbidden to it to work in 
this direction— and making of itself only a great buyer 
which may resist for tho nnmont arlilicial deoliiuis, at 
the same tiino facilitating transactiona in tlie article.” 
ticcupj irig itself in all the industries ncocssory to tlio 
proposed hnsiness, the coUco-laigging comiiany will 
eotahlish the necessary work iljops, will acquire warc- 
houses and stores, will provide for means of carriage and 
shipment, and will establish agencies in the markets 
of New York, Havre, Hamburg, and London. At the 
head of this enterprise, of which the president is Vis- 
conde Cruzeiro, are as directors and auditors, Oonde de 
S. Clemente, Oonde de Figueiredo, Barao de Andarahy, 
Barao de Ipanema, Ur. Jcao Baptista de Castro, and 
Oomandadores Urbauo Faria, Manoel de Araujo Gui- 
maraes, and Joaquim de Castro da Silva." — H, and C. 
Mail, Oct. 24th. 
♦ 
The Java Budget. — The Amsterdam corre- 
spondent of the London and China Express writes 
in the issue of Sept. 2Gth 
The Java Budget was introduced in the Second 
Chamber on the 22nd inst. The service of 1890 
promises a more favourable result than in 1889, 
as theie will be a profit balance of f. 4, 500, 000 instead 
of a deficit of f. 7, 500,000. The expenditure lor 
1891 is estimated at f. 136, 840, 616 and tho revenue 
at f.l 16,414,3 15. There is thus a deficit of f. 20,426,331 
or £.12,910,926 more than estimated for 1890. The 
quantity of coffee to be offered at auction at 1891 
will be about 190,000 piculs, against 520,000 piculs 
for 1890, and in the quantity of 190,000 piculs 
there are included 60,000 piculs reserved for the 
sale of 1890. In consequence of this the proceeds 
of the coffee is estimated at about f.15,500,000 less. 
* * The average sale price of the coffee is estimated 
at 52 cents, against 48 cents last year. 
Ill commenting on the budget our contemporary 
says 
Almost the whole of the estimated deficit for 1S91 
is caused by the reduction in the quantity of coffee, 
which it is anticipated will fall short by 15,500,000 
guilders of even the lesser income received in 1890. 
Tue quantity, according to latest advices, is only ex- 
pected to total 190,000 piculs, against 520,000 in the 
present year, which itself was only one of a con- 
stantly descending sequence. It is not necessary to 
remind our readers that in past years the amount 
netted by the Government of Holland has been im- 
mense from coffee, and the falling off of millions of 
guilders shows how large they are. When some 
three years ago the receipts had fallen off to a large 
extent the Government appointed a commission to 
inquire into the whole tu'jjeet, and though the members 
made a number of suggestions on the matter, all were 
not put in force, and the continued ravages of leaf 
disease have more than counterbalanced any modifi- 
cations that were introduced into the method of 
cidture. The sereh, or leaf disease, is a matter which 
may cr may not be successfully combated in time. 
It is sincerely to be liopol that science may 
devise some means, but seeing that about one- 
th'i'J of the world’s production of coffee is es- 
timated to come from Netherlands India any other 
means that can he devised to again reinstate the pro- 
duction should be energetically applied. One great 
means would be to give the natives a greater interest 
in growing tho bean. The abandonment of the com- 
pulsory growth enforced by tho Government might be 
relinquished, or an increased price given to the native 
for the coffee he produces. This would give him a z;st 
which is only supplied at the present time by the 
periodical visits of the inspector to sea that the mini- 
mum number of trees is kept up. Perhaps, viewing 
other circumstances in Netherlands India, it would 
be better to increase the purchase price rather than 
abandon the compu’sory growth. There are many 
places in the Padang Highlands of Sumatra which 
would prove suitable to its extension provided tho 
remuneration was greater. The natives here have 
ni ways been more antagonistic to the present system 
tliau have tliuir in Java, and the Government 
sliould seriously consider the question whether it would 
not ultimately conduce much to their own gain if they 
allowed to tho native cultivators a reasonably fair share 
of tho profits of the industry. 
