268 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  I,  1895. 
COMPANIES  AND  SHALES  : A CAl.L  FOR 
CAUTION  IN  CEYLON. 
The  pace  altogether  in  Colombo,  we  are  assured, 
is  getting  too  Lust,  and  while  there  is  yet  time  it 
would  he  well  for  the  public  to  i)ause  and 
consider  the  future.  “ Hastening  to  be  rich”  is  a 
habit  with  a long  pedigree,  and  a bad  reputation. 
Even  in  the  childhood  of  the  world,  wiien  there 
were  only  flocks  and  grain  to  deal  in,  the  wise 
and  experienced  of  that  age  lifted  uj)  their 
voice  against  it  as  a snare  ; and  to  the  more 
civilized  nations  of  today  with  their  lionrses  and 
Stock  Exchanges,  this  race  bn-  riches  which  has 
too  often  ended  in  crashes  and  disaster,  has  been 
proved  to  thousands  over  and  over  a^ain,  to  be 
a way  of  life  hard  in  tlie  extreme  and  full  of  pit- 
falls.'  . . . 
But  then  there  is,  undoubtedly,  excitement  in  it, 
and  often  much  self-satisfaction.  Everybody  in 
the  slang  of  the  day— thinks  himself  so  Unowing, 
and  as  having  got  a “ tii>”  which  he  feels  sure 
will  “ land  him  the  coin.”  Besides  that,  he 
knows  somebody  who  has  put  him  “ uj) 
to  the  ropes,”  and  got  him  “into  the  swim”  and 
althoii'di  it  often  turns  out  that  this  esoteric 
knowled'^e  i.s  liiit  poor  stull,  and  the  expected 
reward  eludes  these  enlightened  ones  in  the  end, 
'itill  human  nature  is  hopeful,  and  often  thinks 
more  of  what  may  be,  than  of  what  is.  In  this 
way  speculation  is  fostererl,  and  when  once  a com- 
mun’ity  is  properly  inoculated,  and  has  gone  fully 
in  for  this  species  of  madness,  one  does  not  re- 
quire to  be  able  to  forecast  how'  it  will  all  end. 
^ In  Ceylon  there  has  always  been  speculation 
more  or  less,  much  of  it  of  a legitimate  kind 
—the  risks  that  a man  must  take  Avhen  he 
follows  his  regular  business.  But  since  the 
advent  of  i'ea  Companies  and  a Local  Share 
Market,  which  gives  every  facility  for  the 
transferring  of  scrip,  “dabbling  in  stock  has 
become,  we  are  told,  common  among  almost 
every  class  of  the  community  with  any  casii 
to  spare,  and  to  make  money  on  the 
chances  of  the  market,  is  now,  we  are  assured, 
one  of  the  absorbing  aims  of  life,  at  any  rate 
amon-'  not  a few  mem  Iters  ot  the  business 
and  planting  communities.  It  is  under  these 
circumstances  that  we  are  asked  to  give  a word 
of  w'arniii"-  in  owv  editorial  columns  and  t<i 
place  the° danger  before  the  Colony,  of  over- 
(loim-  “speculation  in  shares  in  a forcible 
li«dit°  Yt  the  s.ame  time  we  are  aware  there 
is  another  side  to  much  of  tlie  criticism  oflercd 
to  us  and  therefore,  after  continuing  to  give 
the  one  side  of  the  shield  as  depicted  to  us  by 
pessimistic  critics,  we  shall  endeavour  as  w'ell 
to  brill"'  into  relief  the  other  side  with  the 
views  o1  those  who,  it  may  be,  are  sanguine  if 
not  optimistic.  We  are  told  then,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  because,  within  the  last 
luonths  or  so,  prices  ot  almost  all  the 
stocks  have  risen,  and  some  have  gone  up 
with  a bound,  investors  have  in  some  cases 
nearlv'  doubled  their  capital.  Further  that  now 
■ T verv  feverish  state  of  allairs  witli  a 
marked  tendency  to  inflation  of  prices  and  an 
cveited  number  anxious  to  share  in  the  spoi  , 
w hose  blood-our  critic  warns  us-is  at  too  liigh 
a temperature  for  them  to  be  able  either  to 
U.iiik  or  act  with  ordinary  caution  Beports  of 
t e local  Share  Market,  it  is  added,  too  clearly 
sl  ow  that  Tea  Companies’  scrip  s now  becom- 
tn..  a thing  to  speculate  or  even  gamble  with 
rather  than  a medium  lor  honest  investment ; and 
tnaiiv  who  know  nothing  of  the  real  position  of 
rs  put  their  money  down  with  the  sole  iiiten- 
Jiou  of  iftiny  it  010  very  long,  plus  what  the  wis- 
SIX 
tea 
dom  or  unwisdom  of  others  may  have  added  thereto. 
“ It’s  a (jueer  tiling  if  1 can’t  find  a higgler 
fool  than  myself,”  is  how  a deal  at  a fancy  price 
is  .supiiorted  ; and  while  the  “boom”  is  on,  the 
bigger  fool  is  siipjiosed  to  be  sure  to  turn  up 
and  oiler  an  enhanced  rate.  What  has  been 
said  of  tea  shares,  applies,  it  is  urged  by' 
the  pessimistic,  to  Comiiany  formation.  Coni- 
jianies  are  sjiringing  up  like  mushrooms ; and 
in  a late  report,  the  local  Share  Market  is  said 
to  be  “a  trifle  w'eaker  ” owing  “to  the  amount 
of  capital  required  for  new  Companies  just  in- 
corporated,  and  being  now  neirotiated.”  High 
values  are  ofl'ered  for  estates,  and  when  the  Com- 
iiany has  been  formed,  and  the  shares  jilaced  on 
the  market,  a rush  sets  in,  and  before  results 
have  had  time  to  be  shown,  shares  arc  at  a )ire- 
minni,  and  a mwv  race  in  speculation  is  inangii rated. 
What  then,  .says  the  critic,  is  all  this  sort  of  thing 
going  to  lead  to  ? We  hold  as  strongly  as  any  one 
in  our  midst,  the  soundne.ss  of  the  Tea  Industry.: 
but,  our  iiessimistic  friends  assure  ns  that  no  kind 
of  busine.ss  can  allord  to  be  treated  in  this  wayq 
without  a di'iy  of  reckoning  hax  ing  to  be  faced. 
’I'lien  it  is  alleged  that  althongli  it  is  some 
time  since  the  local  banks  took  alarm,  and 
placed  their  ban  upon  Tea  Company  scri[i : yet 
that  the  ell’ect  has  been  not  to  check  specu- 
lation but  to  send  the  men  borrowing  else- 
where. The  condition  of  atl'airs  is  therefore 
depicted  as  a wild  hnrly'-burly  altogether, 
and  while  it  is  yet  time,  the  public  are 
warned  to  be  cautious.  The  reaction  is 
sure  to  come,  and  when  the  present , un- 
healthy excitement  lias  exhausted  itself, 
and  the  mad  carnival  is  over,  there  will 
lie  to  many  a retrospect  which  is  unsatisfactory  ; 
the  fragments  to  be  gathered  np  will  be  of  a 
sorry  nature  and  worst  of  all,  there  will  be  “ the 
mischief  to  pay.” 
All  this  is  calculated  to  sober  the  least  thought- 
ful amongst  us  and  to  cause  them  to  ponder 
whether  th"  pre.sent  is  a healthy  condition  of 
affairs  in  our  local  Share  Market.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  impo.S'^ihle  to  deny  the  force  of  certain 
“facts  and  figures”  which  put  matters  in  a dif- 
ferent light.  The  very  fact  that  “ scrij)  ” is  not 
rega'.'ded  as  ]iroper  security  for  loans,  surely 
shows  that  the  buyers  of  shares  are  working 
chiefly  with  their  own  money.  Banks,  we  believe, 
only  take  shares  as  collateral  security  ; hut  it  is 
urgaal  that  every'  quotation  in  t’olomho  so 
far,  may  be  justified  on  the  basis  of  a lU — or 
at  least’  7 to  8 — per  cent  return  on  the  price. 
It  is  therefore  insi.sted  that  the  business  up  to  date 
is  perfectly  legitimate  and  sound,  and  consider- 
ing the  good  ]iositioii  of  Ceylon  tea,  every  Com- 
pany so  far  announced,  and  some  more  to  follow , 
can  all  be  shewn  to  have  a soliil  basis.  The  transfer 
of  estates  from  individual  iiroprictors  to  liodies  of 
shareholders,  so  spreading  the  risk,  and  providing 
a ready  investment  for  local  savings,  is  considered 
"•ood  noliey  from  every'  jioint  of  view  ; and  more 
^onqianies  are  to  be  approved  of  since  they  atl'ord 
means  for  the  safe  and  profitable  investment 
of  local  savings  as  well  as  of  cheaii  money  from 
home. 
- There  is  much,  of  course,  in  all  this  ; but  the 
([uestion  renif'  .s  as  to  the  safe  limit  for  sjiecu- 
lation  in  slin  ..  s.  For  one  thing,  Ceylon  tea  i.s 
leaving  a s,  ecially  favourable  innings  this  year 
through  a bad  Indian  season  ; but  that 
cannot  be  expected  to  continue ; and  therefore 
to  base  calculations  as  to  returns  on  recent  or 
jiresent  experience,  can  scarcely'  be  safe  in  re- 
spect yf  coming  years;  and  the  word  of  “caution” 
is,  therefore,  after  all  necessary. 
