January i, 1891 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
509 
and that the cost of doing so has now been en- 
tirely met and ihe resultant indebtedness who ly 
wiped out, is signitioatit of what it has hneii 
possible for wise a hninistration and judi 
cious moderation with respect to current profits 
to fcilcct. And the result to the exorcise of suoh 
administration and of such judioious moderation is 
now to be seen in the strong position to which as 
you well remark, the Lanka Company has at length 
attained. It commanced the operations of the current 
year wholly free from the debt which Ins for so ong 
weighed upon it. and its directors will ba at lib-rty 
to divide the anticipated profits among its Lng- 
Buffering and patient shareholders. 
That this end has been achieved is convincing 
as to the remunerative oharaoter of the local 
tea-planting industry. No more striking proof, 
indee i, of this could be found than the rehabili- 
tation of the Lanka Company affuida It surpas-es 
in the effioisnoy of such proof even the large 
dividends that Tea Companies of more recent 
establishment have been able to declare. I feel 
every confidence that erelong the announcement 
wh'oh he Lanka directors are able to make will 
be followed by that of similar results by those of 
the several Uva Companies who have had to siruggle 
against adverse conditions of a similar type. When 
this consummation has been fully attained we may 
expect no longer to see the list of dividends declared 
by Ceylon Tea Companies qualified by the inclusion 
in it of what have been to all appearance — so 
far as the uninformed British public could judge— 
of perfectly negative results in the case of some 
such Companies. I can feel no doubt that this 
improved state of things must have a very marked 
effect upon the general credit assigned to our 
local t a enterprise, so that it must oonduoe to a 
further extension of tea cultivation in Ceylon. 
It is to be hoped that ilussia, America and Aus- 
tralia may speedily become large oustomers for 
Ceylon tea direct, so as to take ofi a goodly part of 
our yearly inor' as ng exports. 
Wuen noticing the Reports issued of recent years 
by the i.anka Oompaay you ha' e expressed your 
appreoiation of t e very full information they con- 
tained as to the prospects of its several properties. 
The giv.ng of this inf irm uion was, as regards the 
geuerali y of similar reuorts, a wholly new step, but 
one which has been fully ju iified oy ihe proof 
now afforded of the accuracy of wtut w .s predicted 
At times during the troublous p rio l through which 
the Directors have novv buccessfully pissed, tneii 
ooui e of aotion has been strongly criticized. 
No dou t it was a hard trial to the sharetiolders 
to have to wait year after year without return 
f ir their investment, but the logic of accomplished 
facts will ow have fully justified the wisdom of 
the course to whioh at times so much exception 
was taken. 
COFFEE- V. TEA, 
{By an Old Hand.) 
Tea planter! would do w li o .sludy the rel itive 
po-iitioMS o' th'-stt stapi s as r^garls ile.iveries (co.i- 
sumption) in the uuu-pr idu ting countri s of Europ-i 
and .Viutrici. Some idea ui-vy bo lornied of the vas.- 
neas of the coffee enterprise by reducing -o lb. iha 
enornioua deliveries said to have taken pi ice in Eu- 
rope aud Amerioa in one inoii'h. March last, viz 
62,000 t-ms = 138,000.000 Hi. '. — Vide. Hucltwr & B n- 
cralt’s I'otfee Uirciilar puuU -hed in Ctylun Observer. 1st 
Deo. 1890. The abo e weixlit is aho it equal to the 
annual nel.vi-rie- o I dia mi C y ou tea lo-uhiii-d, 
in the couatries uieutioue I. Ceyion’s collee con ribu 
tioii 'o' 1890 wi I bo only about 4,000 toes for distribu- 
tion in all countries. 
Gow, Wilson & S a iton, ie their cir . ul-r dated 14th 
Nov. 1890, state Uiu< as regards h m. cousuoaptioii of 
teas as t..kon iro n all the boi.de * wan l.oascs in the 
Uniteii Kingdom for 5 months — 1st June !o ;-jl.,t Oct. 
China actually incre sed by half-a-iuillion lb. as 
I osapared with the previous ye ir. For the same year 
and for the s-ime period Ceylon tea increased by 3 
m-llicns only, say at tberae ol 7 1-5 h nnllious only 
fo 12 mouths I Newmarkets are, tu ir^lore, urgently 
wa ' od 
Tea and oeffve differ but little in the value per 
lb. just uow, e. y : — 
1 C’Wt. = 112 10. @ Id. =; 9» 4d. 
@ lid. -= 102 > 8 d. 
102 s 8 d. =1 cwc, tea ut present average price of 
lid per lb. 
104s 6 d = present price per cwt. of Ceylon mid- 
dling plantation coffee. 
DRIFT TIMBER. 
To judge from all recorded facts, Ceylon would 
appear to be in the din-ct line of some ocean 
current or currents setting duecifrom Burma or the 
Malay Peninsula. At all events, if such currents do 
not flow in a direct line thence, the effect ol a combi- 
nation of them is to carry drift timber from these 
Eastern and North-eastern shores to those of 
Ceylon. And it further appears to be certain 
that these currents impinge finally upon the north, 
eastern coast of this islaud. 
Unless it be upon some such oonolusion, it 
would be impossible to account for the number of 
teak logs which are occasionally drifted ashore along 
the line of coast in which Muilaittivu maybe said 
to be the centre. We believe that it is ohiefly 
along this line of seaborue that the flotsam and 
■jetsam of such logs occur, and as they arrive some- 
times in considerable numbers, it may fairly 
be concluded that they have all had neatly the 
same starting point. All the timber whioh is so 
cast upon our north-eastern shores possesses 
evidence of having been felled and prepared for 
tran port. It does not consisi, of merely the irunks 
of trees which have been uprooted by some na- 
tural force, the logs in every instance almost, 
having the holes at their enus which have been 
out for the purpose of per.uittin.^ traction. We 
know that trees so cut in the timber forests 
ot Burma and the Malay Peninsula are allowed to 
float down the rivers from the sites where 
they are obtained to the coast line, and it is con- 
jectured that it IS such pieces as escape arrest 
at the river mouth wh.ch float seawards on their 
western journey and eventually come to land, as 
we have said, along our eastern, and specially on 
our north-eastern coasts. Everyone knows the value 
of Uau-jOon teak. It is preferred here, as elsewhere, 
for very mmy urgoaes, and eons, quently pos-esses a 
high value. Our Government Gazette often oontains 
advertisements of sales being made of such timber ; but 
as a matter of fact, we learn that all drift timber 
washed .ashore from the sea is treated as “wreckage” 
under the fi -si clause of Ordinance No. 5 of 1861, 
and the not proceeds realized oy its sale are ci edited 
not to our general revenue, but to the Imperial 
Government. The amount is trifling however. 
Wo tantidt give the exact sum so credited 
for timoer aloue ; but the fnllovirig are the sums 
credited to iha Impeiial treasmy on account of 
unclaimed wreckage oi all kinds since 1885 ; — 
R o. K. 0. 
1885 .... 7.59 80 1888 162 06 
1886 .... 277 96 1889 225 51 
1887 .... 375 73 
We have been told that during the lite Mr. 
Dyke’s administration ol the Northern Piovinoe it 
