472  THE  TROPICAL 
Eort  of  departure.  He  would  move  that  the  report 
e adopted. 
This  was  seconded  and  the  motion  carried. 
—H.  ^ C.  Mail. 
CINCHONA  IN  INDIA. 
From  the  Revised  Estimate  for  lS',)5-9()  we  notice 
that  the  Government  Cinchona  plantations  will  show 
a pipfit  on  the  current  year's  wording  of  R17,700, 
receipts  being  set  down  at  one  lakh  and  expendi- 
ture at  R82.300.  It  is  possible  that  when  the  ac- 
counts for  the  year  are  made  up,  the  profits  will 
be  even  larger,  owing  to  the  constant  daily  increas- 
ing demand  for  quinine  and  febrifuge.  The  Rudget 
Estimate  for  1890-97  provides  for  a profit  of  over 
R12,500,  that  is  if  the  sales  continue  stationary.  In 
view  of  this  considerable  profit.  Government  should 
at  once  reconsider  its  decision  to  plant  up  new 
acreage.  These  increased  sales  of  quinine  are  satis- 
factory, but  if  they  go  on  and  Government  runs  its 
factory  on  commercial  principles,  it  must  expect  to 
hoar  shortly  from  the  trade  on  the  subject.— rintes 
of  India. 
TE.V -GROWING  AT  THE  CAl’E. 
It  has  been  a standing  anomaly  for  many  years 
that  England  has  been  almost  alone  in  appreciating 
the  superiority  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  to  the 
Chinese  article.  Many  wore  the  attempts  made  to 
find  ntarkets  in  other  countries,  but  until  quite  re- 
cently, it  seemed  as  if  our  planters  would  have  to  be 
content  with  British  custom  alone.  A great  change, 
however,  has  latterly  occurred ; during  the  first  nine 
mouths  of  the  present  year  the  quantity  of  Indian 
and  Ceylon  teas  sent  out  of  the  United  Kingdom 
exceeded  by  7,000,000  lb.  the  amount  thus  exported 
during  the  whole  of  1874.  At  the  same  time  the  United 
States,  Australia,  and  even  Russia  have  considerably 
increased  their  direct  imports  ,/f  the  Rritish-grown 
herb,  and  it  may  bo  pretty  safely  assumed  that,  as 
the  knowledge  of  its  superiority  spreads  in  these  and 
other  countries,  the  demand  will  continuously  in- 
crease. The  one  exception  is,  oddly  enough.  South 
Africa,  which  still  remains  faithful  to  Chinese  tea. 
Why  this  should  be  the  case  among  people  not  par- 
ticularly given  to  sticking  to  ancient  ways  remains  to 
be  explained.  But  for  many  years  the  goahead  Aus- 
tralians displayed  the  same  strange  preference,  in 
spite  of  the  most  determined  efforts  to  convince 
them  that  they  would  benefit  by  following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  mother  country.  rcrha))s  the  “Capers” 
are  merely  making  shift  with  their  old  source  of 
supply  until  they  can  produce  tea  for  themselves. 
It  is  already  experimentally  grown  in  some  parts  of 
Cape  Colony,  and  experts  predict  that,  before  the 
end  of  the  century,  tea-growing  will  become  an  es- 
tablished and  highly  profitable  industry  in  that 
marvellous  land. — Globe,  Nov.  20. 
^ 
AGRICULTURAL  COMPANY  OF 
MAURITIUS. 
Tlie  tw'enty-sccund  ordinary  meeting  of  the 
Agricultural  Company  of  Mauritius,  Limited,  was 
held  yesterday  at  W inchester  Hou.se,  umler  the 
presidency  of  Lonl  Stanmore.  Mr.  Alf.  G.  Dick 
(manager  and  secretary)  read  the  notice  conven- 
ing the  meeting. 
The  Chairman,  in  moving  the  adoption  of  tlie 
report  and  accounts,  said  that  when  lie  addressed 
the  shareholders  last  year  h('  had  a very  pleasing 
duty  to  perform,  inasmuch  as  he  was  able  to 
tell'  them  that  the  estates  had  iiroduced  a net 
profit  of  over  £12,000,  and  that  the  directors 
were  jirepareil  to  pay  a dividend.  He  was  .sorry 
to  say  that  this  year  he  could  not  do  the  same. 
Of  course,  in  such  an  industry  as  that  in  which 
they  were  engaged,  there  must  be  Huctnations. 
Liust  year  they  considered  that  the  hurricane  of 
1804  was  a slight  one;  it  had  not  ap))arently 
done  much  harm  ; hut  when  the  cron  came  to  he 
cut  it  was  found  tliat  it  liad  (lone  a great 
AGRICULTURIST.  [Jan.  i,  1896. 
deal  more  harm  than  w'as  supposed,  and  had 
damaged  exceedingly  both  the  (juantity  and 
quality  of  the  canes.  Tlien,  again,  there  was 
a great  amount  of  disease  in  the  canes,  and 
altogether  the  result  was  far  from  emiouraging. 
Pric.es  were  had,  tlie  produce  was  inditl'erent,  and 
naturally  the  anxiety  of  tlie  directors  was  great. 
Under  the  circumstances  the  directors  conceived 
that  it  was  their  duty,  while  content  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  com|)any’s  atlViirs  in  the  colony,  lo 
make  the  strictest  and  closest  imiuiries  into  every 
detail  of  management  on  the  .several  estates,  and  to 
exercise  every  economy  in  their  jiower,  in  order  to 
assist  the  recuperative  process  wliich  they  hoped  in 
more  favouralde  years  to  undergo.  He  was  very  glad 
that  they  did  make  that  investigation,  and  that 
they  had  consequently  delayed  meeting  the  share- 
holders, because  the  result  was  much  more  satis- 
factory than  some  of  them  at  first  .sight  were  pre- 
pared to  expect.  They  found  that  their  business 
was  essentially  in  a sound  position.  They  were 
clearing  off  debts  running  over  several  years, 
which  were  due  to  causes  entirely  beyond  tlieir 
control,  and  they  were  also  largely  ({iniinishing 
the  debenture  debt,  and  the  interest  payable  on 
account  of  it.  There  was  every  reason,  he  thonglit, 
to  expect  that,  unless  they  had  more  bad  luck  than 
usually  fell  to  the  lot  of  men,  they  would  be  able 
next  year  to  present  a report  as  flourishing  as  the 
one  submitted  last  year.  He  did  not  for  a moment 
deny  that  if  they  were  overcome  by  such  an  extra- 
ordinary concurrence  of  bad  luck  as  to  have  hur- 
ricane ujion  hurricane,  disease  ui»on  disease,  and 
prices  still  going  lower  and  lower,  they  would  be 
in  a serious  position,  but  ho  did  not  think  they 
had  any  reason  to  expect  that  such  an  extraordi- 
nary run  of  bad  luck  would  continue,  '[’ho  last 
report  received  from  the  colony  was  decidedly  en- 
couraging. It  xvas  to  the  effect  that  the  crop  was 
satisfactory,  and  that  (irices  had  improved.  Re- 
ferring to  the  accounts,  the  shareholders  would  see 
that  the  amount  of  the  share  capital  that  was  called 
up  in  March  last  was  ,£4  a share.  The  calls  so  far 
had  been  fairly  met,  although  not  so  well  as  the 
directors  could  have  wished,  and  stej)  had  been 
taken  to  get  in  all  ai-roars.  The  debenture  debt 
had  been  reduced  to  CHojO.iU,  and  since  the  making 
111)  balance-sheet  to  ,£]d2,0d0,  showing  a \ ery 
substantial  decrease  as  compared  with  last  year. 
Altogether  the  liabilities  had  decreased  by 
£29,460.  The  adverse  balance  carried  forward  was 
£19,900.  Under  the  circum.stances  the  Board  had 
felt  it  their  duty  to  exercise  the  strictest  economy, 
and  to  reduce  the  expen.ses  as  far  as  possible  with- 
out impairing  efficiency,  'fhe  office  expenses  had 
accordingly  been  reduced  by  2.')  per  cent.,  and  the 
directors  themselves  had  reduced  their  fees  by  a 
similar  amount,  although  they  had  been  reduced 
on  a former  occasion.  'I'he  great  reduction  in  the 
inodnction  of  .sugar  all  over  the  world,  which 
amounted  to  something  like  1,(H»0,UOU  tons,  must 
have  its  effect  in  raising  the  price  of  sugar,  and 
he  was  ([uite  satisfied  that  there  was  no  occasion 
to  think  despairingly  of  tlie  future  of  the 
company. 
Mr.  W.  J.  Tanner  .seconded  the  motion. 
Mr.  Haigh  said  the  directors  had  collected  from 
the  shareholders  over  £80,000,  and  they  had  only 
reduced  the  debenture  debt  by  .£71,9(Mi.  On  the 
other  hand  the  debts  in  Mauritius  had  been  in- 
creased by  ,C4l),(tili».  lie  comiilained  also  of  the 
fact  that  the  directors  had  paid  an  interim 
dividend  although  no  profit  had  been  earned. 
(“  No,  no.”) 
Mr.  Tanner  replied  that  the  directors  had  only 
had  £■).'), (100  in  the  present  balance-sheet  with 
which  to  reduce  their  indebtedness,  and  not 
680,000. 
