JuLV  I,  rS95. 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
27 
After  (■ivditiii,'''  llio  atxivo  sum  of  £408  Os  Oil  the  Sus- 
i)eiise  Aceouiit  will  stand  at  €0i0  18s  Oil. 
Tlie  tTOi)  of  Tea  estimated  in  the  Directors  last  Heport 
wa3  secured,  ami  the  profit  deriveds  sheiis  a maihed  im- 
provement on  that  of  any  former  eason. 
'I'he  sellin,!t  price  of  the  (.'onipany’s  tea  was  very  slightly 
helow  that  ' of  the  pre\ ions  year,  while  Kxidian^e  ruled 
Considerahly  in  favour  of  the  iTop  just  closed. 
The  latest  reports  front  the  I’ropertv  stati'  thiit  the 'fea 
is  in  first  rate  coililition  and  cropping  well,  and  in- 
dicathius  all  point  to  a/ood  yield  heina  secured  durina  180.3. 
The  cultivated  tirea  is  as  under  : — 
Tea  - • - acres 
Cocoa  - - - :!0  ,, 
810  ,, 
^Ir.  11  11  I’otts,  a meiutier  lO'  the  lloanl,  retires  front 
ofHce  on  this  occasion,  and  heina  eli.aihle,  oilers  himself 
for  re-eleclion. 
Mr.  .loii.N  S\\\  1 K'.!,  111.'  Compi'iy's  .\ii  lilor,  also  otters 
himself  for  re-eleclion. 
E.VSTEllX  EKODECE  AND  ESTATES  COxM- 
I’ANY,  LIMITED. 
(From  the  Jroiir;//  .Varl'et  JU'ruw,  May  -1.) 
The  eighth  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  share- 
holders oi  this  Company  was  held  on  IMonday  last 
at  Winchester-house,  CMd  Broad-street,  Mr.  C.  J. 
Lindsay  Nicholson  (the  Chairman)  presiding 
The  'SECiiE'rAitY  (Mr.  Douglas  E.  Smith)  read  the 
notice  calling  the  meeting. 
The  Cu.uitMAN ; Gentlemon,  I presume  we  may 
take  the  report  as  read,  and  I will  now  proceed  to 
make  a few  remarks  upon  it.  If  I refer  to  the  last 
meeting,  and  repeat  what  I then  said,  I could  not  do 
better,  "and  that  was  the  Company  was  never  in  a 
stronger  and  better  or  more  favourable  position  , lot,  in 
spite  of  some  little  deficiency  in  the  estimates  conso 
quent  on  bad  weather,  our  nett  profits  have  exceeded 
our  last  year  s profit  by  about  80  per  cent,  ihe  diiec- 
tors  are  very  pleased  to  meet  you,  and  to  be  able  to 
speak  so  confidently  of  the  concern.  You  will  see  by 
the  report  that  we  have  made  f‘2t;,4.ti(i ; that  we  iiropose 
to  pay  otf  the  sum  of  £17,000  of  debentures,  and  to  pay 
a dividend,  which  will  take  £8,974,  the  highest  divi- 
dend that  we  are  able  to  pay  under  our  existing  cir- 
cumstances. On  the  asset  side  you  will  notice  that 
the  outlay  for  buildings  and  macliinery  is  now  written 
off  by  an  amount  of  LT,887,  and  it  now  stands  at 
t‘9  231  Our  machinorv  is  all  very  good,  but  we  put 
tlie  kiiife  in  in  the  w.iy  of  depreciation,  thinking  it 
best  to  be  on  the  safe  side.  The  produce  on  hand 
on  the  81st  of  December  amounted  to  £21,(594— 
that  has  all  been  sold  since,  and  sold  well. 
Sundry  debtors  are  £22,856— good  liquid  accounts— 
much  about  the  same  as  last  year.  Our  investments 
amount  to  £22,825,  the  bulk  of  which  are  in  India 
Three  per  Cents.  They  are  brought  in  at  the  value 
of  31st  December,  and  I believe  there  is  a consider- 
able improvement  in  the  v.ilue  at  the  present  moment. 
As  to  the  course  of  tea,  it  is  very  difficult  to  fore- 
cast the  future  of  tea  prices.  Competition  now  is 
very  keen,  production  increases  yearly,  and  there  is 
a need  of  increasing  consumption  in  markets  abroad, 
such  as  Australia.  America,  and  Canada,  for  it  is  in 
such  that  the  nature  of  Ceylon  tea  is  a))preciated. 
i notice  that  eight  years  ago  the  consumption  of 
Indian  tea  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  158,000.000 
pounds,  and  of  Ceylon  tea  (5,000,000  pounds.  Last 
year  the  consumption  of  Indian  tea  in  England  was 
116  000  000  lbs.  and  of  Ceylon  tea  71,000,000  lbs.  (Ap- 
plause  ’)  So  the  Indian  tea  consumption  may  be 
Lid  to  have  increased  from  88  per  cent  to  55  per- 
cent of  the  whole,  while  that  of  Ceylon  tea  in  the 
same  period  has  improved  from  ‘S'  per  cent  to  38  per- 
cent. (Applause.)  There  is  one  disadvantage  that 
has  been ‘pointed  out  in  connexion  with  Ceylon  tea 
ig  SQ  good,  and  goes  so  much  further,  that  it 
benefits  rather  the  ennsumer’  than  the  manufacturer, 
but  that  is  a good  fault,  and  we  will  endeavour  to 
keep  up  the  character  of  the  tea.  Australia,  I 
notice,  in  1894  took  7,000,000  lbs.,  or  five  times  as  much 
as  in  1890,  while  Canada  took  1,000,000  lbs.,  against 
1527,000  lbs.  in  1892.  I mention  these  interesting 
statistics  to  show  how  keen  is  the  enterprise  of  both 
India  and  Ceylon,  and  to  point  out  that  we  are  very 
much  indebted  to  the  intelligent  zeal  of  out- staff  in 
Ceylon  and  their  earnest  desire  to  make  your  estates  a 
success.  (Applause.)  the  excellent  result  shown  in  the 
report  now  before  us  is  evidence  of  the  care  displayed 
by  Ihe  staff.  We  select  some  of  mir  assistants  from  oui- 
offic#  here,  and  I think  our  tlianks  are  due  to  our- 
sec-rctai-y,  Mr.  Dougltis  Smith,  for  the  judgment  he 
show.i  ill  the  pi-cpnration  of  young  men  for  their 
Easterir  carepr.  ( Ap|)lau.se.)  There  is  one  matter — 
wMcli  I dare  say  will  occur  to  some  of  you — as  to  our 
debenture  debt.  Your  board  will  not  be  satisfied  until 
something  is  done  and  some  re-arrange  men  t of  the 
debt  has  been  arrived  at.  whicli  will  enable  the  share- 
holders to  receive  a dividend  more  in  propoi-tion  to 
the  earnings  of  the  company.  fApplaiise.)  A pru- 
dent clause  in  our  articles  precluded  at  first  aii3-  hut  a 
small  dividend  being  paid  until  the  debL-iiturcs  are 
reduced  to  £50,(J(»U.  The  i)i-os]>erity,  the  assured  po- 
sition of  the  compaiiv,  and  the  (|uickei-  reduction  of 
the  dehentiu-cs  loads  the  board  to  hope  that  some  ar- 
laugement  ma)-  he  arrived  at  which  may  be  nioi-e  be- 
neficial to  the  pi-esent  shareholders  than  our  present 
articles  allow.  I will  ask  you,  however,  to  leave  the 
matter  in  the  hands  of  the  hoard,  and  not  to  judge 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  company  by  the  amount  of 
tha  dividend  wliich  we  are  now  i-eceiving.  I do  not 
tliink  that  there  is  anything  fiirther  to  allude  to,  hut 
I will  ask  Ml-.  Camei-on  to  second  the  i-esolution  wliich 
I shall  forirrally  mo\-e,  iramely  : — “ That  tlie  report 
of  the  directors,  dated  the  19th  April,  1895,  be  re- 
ceived and  adopted,  and  that  a divideird  at  the  rate 
of  5 per  cent  per-  aunuirr  oir  the  capital  paid  up  oir  the 
preferred  shares,  and  at  the  rate  of  8 per-  cerri  per  air- 
t'umouthe  ordiirary  shares  for  the  year  ending  31st 
December,  1894,  he  declared  and  rrrade  payable  orr  the 
4th  May,  1895.’'  Applause. 
Mr.  Kaleh  a.  Camerox  fiiratraging  director)  seootrded 
the  irrotioir.  The  chairman,  he  said,  had  touched  rrpon 
nro.st  nratters  of  impor  tance,  but  there  were  two  points 
which  were  encouraging.  One  was  that,  takirrg  last  year, 
the  irrei-eased  cousuirrption  of  Geylorr  tea  had  absorbed 
more  than  the  increased  receipts,  arrd  arrother  eir- 
couraging  feature  was  that  of  the  re-export  of  Geylorr 
tea.  There  was  iro  doubt  tliat  it  had  obtained  con- 
siderable favour-  oir  the  coutinent,  and  the  re-exports 
had  increased  from  year  to  year.  It  was  reasonable 
to  believe  that  when  it  had  once  obtained  a footing 
in  those  countries,  it  was  not  likely  to  stop  where 
it  was,  but  that  there  would  be  a fiu-ther  develop- 
mfiirt.  (Applause  ) Last  year  there  was  some  slight 
falling-off  from  the  estimate,  but  still  they  got  over 
three  hundred  pounds  an  acre  on  the  crop  in  bear- 
ing, aird  it  netted  7^d  per-  pound,  or  slightly  over 
what  they  had  received  in  1898.  The  increased  profit 
wtis  to  some  extent  dire  to  the  lower-  rate  of  exchange, 
hut  there  was  an  increased  yield,  an  increased  price, 
and  a smaller  amount  written  off  under  the  head  of 
buildings  and  machinery,  which  would  become  less 
each  year.  With  regard  to  1895,  the  estimates  were 
in,  and  were  very  satisfactory.  There  had  been  a 
drought  in  Geylon  a month  ago,  but  the  latest  ac- 
counts were  to  the  effect  that  rains  had  fallen.  This 
was  a somewhat  early  stage  at  which  to  predict  results, 
but  he  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  anything 
would  iirtcrfere  with  the  fulhlment  of  the  year's 
hopes.  They  were  adding  to  their  acreage  every 
year,  and  tliere  would  be  another  addition  thi's 
year.  There  was  one  item  in  the  profits  which 
the}-  attached  considerable  importance  to,  viz.,  the 
agency  business.  Including  their-  own  crop  they 
had  shipped  a total  of  9;  million  pounds,  or  about 
oire-eigth  of  the  whole  exports  from  the  island.  They 
had  obtained  the  sole  agency  of  a good  many  nranu- 
facturing  firms,  and  enabled  them  to  execute  orders 
for  machinery  and  requirements,  and  also  to  supply 
their  own  estates  on  advantageous  terms.  They  were 
also  now  making  arrangements  to  develop  the  engi* 
neeriug  business  at  fcJt.  Sebastian  mills,  under 
their  resident  engineer,  in  the  expectation  of  getting 
a considerable  business  in  the  island  in  the  way  of 
repairing  machinery.  Having  the  whole  thing  gtVtt, 
it  only  meant  a development  at  no  great  cost,  and 
he  had  no  doubt  they  would  find  it  a very  satis- 
factory and  profitable  arrangement.  Last  year  the 
profits  from  the  agency  business  and  some  incidental 
sources  had  paid  for  the  whole  of  the  London  aod 
