March  2.  1896.]  THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
623 
the  means  at  its  disposal,  and  the  provincial 
funds  have  been  depleted  in  the  urgent  need  of 
the  Supremo  Government  for  pecuniary  assistance; 
and  the  result  is  that  the  road,  which  lias  been  a 
public  road  for  many  years,  and  on  which  depends 
the  transport  of  millions  of  I'Ounds  of  tea  to  Calcutta, 
is,  it  is  rumoured,  to  be  practically  abandoned.  Tiie 
vital  importance  of  this  road  to  a small  hut  increas- 
ing community  by  whose  exertions  w'astes  have  been 
converted  into  gardens,  is  fairly  set  forth  in  the 
following  resolution,  passed  at  a meeting  of  the  plan- 
ters held  on  the  7th  ult.:  ‘ That  theNagrakata  Road 
is  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  Dooars.  It  is 
the  only  means  of  communication  with  the  railway 
station  and  the  outside  world  for  fourteen 
gardens  with  10,800  acres  under  tea,  producing 
over  70,0C0mds,  or  million  pounds  of  tea 
annually,  and  giving  employment  to  20,000  coolies  liv- 
ing on  the  estates  ; the  road  leads  also  to  a Govern- 
ment bazaar,  police  station,  and  to  several  other 
bazaars,  and  there  is  a largo  community  of  resident 
native  cultivators,  shopkeepers,  and  others  dependent 
upon  this  road  for  communication  and  food  supplies.’ 
The  substitutes  proposed  arc  to  maintain  it  as  a cold 
weather  track  (the  pressing  need  being  for  a road  to 
carry  the  tea  crop  to  the  market  during  the  season  of 
heavy  rains)  and  to  construct  a new  and  distant  road 
outside  the  district  and  at  the  other  side  of  dangerous 
rivers.  What  would  the  people  of  North  Surrey  say  if 
their  main  road  along  the  Thames  were  to  be  dismantled 
on  the  plea  that  a better  road  could  be  constructed  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Thames  V Yet  North  Surrey 
has  many  alternative  routes  both  by  road  and  rail." 
Tea  and  Money. — The  present  mood  of  the  investing 
public  towards  tea  companies  is  distinctly  favourable. 
Jirdging  by  the  way  the  shares  of  one  or  two  new  con- 
cerns recently  launched  have  been  snapped  up  tea  is 
very  popular  as  an  investment.  The  scarcity  of  invest- 
ments other  than  those  of  the  gilt-edge  class  na- 
turally leads  to  a demand  for  anything  of  the 
industrial  order  that  looks  sound.  As  compared  with 
the  shoal  of  absolutely  worthless  rubbish  that  is 
handed  to  investors  in  exchange  for  their  cheques, 
the  shares  of  well-conducted  tea  concerns  cannot 
fail  to  prove  attractive. — //.  <0  f,'.  .l/cu7,  Feb.  7. 
THLt  WW^NAAD  TEA  ENTERPRISE. 
The  Pioneer  Tea  Company,  favourable  mention 
•f  which  we  made  in  our  last  issue,  seems  to  stand 
an  excellent  chance  of  being  successfully  floated. 
A large  number  of  shares  have,  we  xmderstand,  been 
already  taken  up  in  Ceylon  and  elsewhere,  and 
before  lo-ng  things  should  be  in  working  trim.  There 
is  apparently  a notion  in  Ceylon  that  the  district  is 
extremely  unhealthy  and  labour  very  difficult  to  pro- 
cure. The  Wynaad  may  not  be  ablo  to  boast  of  a 
sanatarium  climate  like  Ooty  or  Nuwara  Eliya,  hut 
generally  speaking  we  believe  it  is  fully  equal,  if  not 
in  fact  superior  to  any  districts  of  like  elevations  in 
either  India  or  Ceylon.  Certainly  it  is  very  far  from 
being  so  unhealthy,  owing  to  its  being  so  W’ell  opened 
out,  as  many  “new  " districts  we  wrote  of.  As  to  labour, 
there  is  never  any  lack  of  it  in  Wan.iad  the  supply 
there  being  probably  better  than  almost  any  dis- 
trict in  South  India.  We  would  have  not  dwelt  at  such 
length  on  the  matter,  had  we  net  good  reason  to 
believe  that  the  above  attenrpts  to  frighten  off 
Ceylon  capital,  have  been  selfisidy  made  by  men 
who  feared  lost  large  extensions  should  raise  the 
labour  rales.  However,  it  may  quiet  their  fours  to 
learn  that  to  mr.kc  assurance  doubly  sure,  arrange- 
ments iue  ijoiii;,'  made  to  ostaldish  Labour  Agencies 
in  the  Tanjo.c,  Trichinopoly,  Muduni,  and  Tinnovelly 
districts,  from  which  parts  Ceylon  draws  its  labour. 
In  auy  ease  the  move  is  a wise  one,  and  it  goes 
without  saying  that  if  coolies  in  the.  above-mentioned 
districts  wiil  go  to  Ceylon,  it  m.ay  be  taken  for 
granted  that  they  will  go  to  the  Wyna.ad,  if  work 
is  offered  them  there.  No  one  can  more  heartily 
desire  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  any  planting 
district  in  South  India  than  we  do,  and  it  is  with 
pleasure  that  we  publish  these  remarks  to 
remove  auy  erroneous  impre.ssions  in  Ceylon 
concerning  tho  Wynaad,  Ceylon  capital  and 
Ceylon  energy,  though  perhaps  over- praised  in 
some  quarters,  will  effect  a great  change  for  the 
better  in  South  India.  A yot  more  important 
]ioiut  is  that  llicy  will  tend  to  bring  ns  into  much 
closer  contact  with  lioiiio  capitalists,  who,  wc  are 
glad  to  note,  are  now  beginning  tc  pay  renewed 
attention  to  our  planting  industries. 
In  one  of  our  Wynaad  Season  Reports  last  fort- 
night, the  writer  expresses  a conviction  that  we 
hold  the  most  depressing  views  on  the  capabilities 
of  his  district,  and  indirectly  accuses  us  of  being 
biassed  against  it.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to 
him  and  others  of  his  thinking,  we  have  been 
under  the  impression  that  the  praise  we  have  con- 
sistently given  the  district  to  be  as  hearty  and 
unstinted  as  its  most  ardent  supporters  could  wish 
for.  True,  we  have  expressed  our  opinions  strongly 
on  the  future  of  the  tea  market  generally  and  the 
nnwisdora  of  rash  extensions.  But  we  have  as 
strongly  insisted  on  the  fact  that  South  India  gene- 
rally, and  the  Wynaad  in  particular,  holds  a very 
strong  position  indeed  in  the  matter  of  cheap  produc- 
tion. It  is  to  Ceylon  that  we  must  look  for  capital 
to  he  invested  in  tea,  and  the  planters  there  are  so 
inlonsely  s.anguine  of  the  continued  prosperity  of  the 
tea-industry,  that  it  will  need  a far  greater  show  of 
authority  than  we  can  possibly  lay  claim  to,  to  shake 
their  faith  in  the  staple.  If  men  wish,  os  so  many 
do,  to  invest  in  tea,  no  district  in  South  or 
Upper  India  offers  more  advantages  than  does  the 
Wynaad,  wdth  its  abundant  labour,  fertile  soil,  and — 
best  of  all — excellent  communications.  The  Chair- 
man of  the  District  Association,  the  Hou’ble  G. 
Romilly,  in  the  report  printed  in  this  issue,  again 
brings  the  question  of  central  factories  to  the  fore, 
and  most  wiseljn  The  scheme  has  already  been 
exhaustively  treated  in  Mr.  Standen’s  pamphlet,  and 
at  this  juncture  men  who  may  be  opening  up  their 
land  independently  of  each  other,  would  do  well  inleed 
to  put  into  practice  the  method  alluded  to. — 1‘lmtimj 
OpivioH,  Feb.  15. 
BEAUMONT  TEA  COMPANY,  LD. 
The  statutory  .annual  general  nieetin.g  of  the 
Re.aumont  Tea  Co.  of  Ceylon,  Ld.,  was’lield  in 
tlie  oiiices  of  the  Company,  IRl,  (,),neen  .Street, 
on  25th  Eeby.  Present : — Messr.s.  E.  IT.  'Wigii-in 
(in  tlie  chair),  D.  Midiie,  E.  S.  Ra.shleigh,  B.°L, 
Breruner,  and  the  Eastern  Produce  and  Estates 
Co.,  jjd. 
Notice  calling  the  meeting  was  read  and  the 
minutes  of  the  extraordinary  meeting  of  6tli  Jan. 
were  read  ,aiid  conlirmed. 
THE  UIRI-XTOR.S’  REPORT 
was  taken  as  read.  It  is  as  follow's 
The  I rovisional  Directors  have  the  pleasure  to  sub- 
mit the  Balance  Sheet  and  Profit  and  Loss  Account 
for  six  mouths  ending  December  31st,  1895. 
It  has  been  decided  that  tho  financial  and  crop 
year  shall  yommcnce  on  1st  January  instead  of 
l-'t  .July.  The  Baiauco  of  Profit  is,  as  shown  in  the 
accounts,  1129,093  83.  The  Provisional  Directors  pro- 
pose to  write  off  one-third  of  the  Preliminary  Ex- 
penses, 01-  Rl,(3130(; ; to  declare  a dividend  at 
the  rate  of  5 per  cent  for  the  half  year  ended 
Decciiibor  i)lst,  fibsorbiu^  1123,500  fiud  to 
carry  forward  113,980'77.  The  total  tea  crop  se- 
cured from  the  Company’s  properties  in  the  six 
months  was  109,3-lG  lb.  and  49,747  lb.  were  made 
from  purchased  leaf,  or  in  all  159,093  lb.  The  nett 
average  realized  including  a portion  estimated)  was 
9'9G  cents. 
_ The  Company’s  property  consists  of  tho  following, 
GOS  acres  Tea  in  bearing 
122  do  'Tea  not  in  bearing 
112  do  End  trees 
10  do  Grass 
322  do  Reserve  and  Waste 
1,174  acres. 
