July  i,  iSgO.j 
THE  TROEICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
37 
worthy  secretaries  for  the  courteous  way  in  which 
they  conducced  all  the  corrcspondeuee.  He  was 
proud  to  say  that  duriiij^  the  whole  existence  of 
the  company,  there  had  never  been  one  hitch 
between  the  Loudon  office  and  the  company’s 
representatives  in  Ceylon,  and  he  hoped  such 
a state  of  things  might  long  continue.  (Ap- 
plause). He  attributed  this  very  much  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  as  their  managing  director  a gentleman 
who  had  a thorough  knowledge  of  planting  and  of 
planters  themselves,  which  was  a very  great  point 
indeed.  Sho.reholders  would  wish  to  hear  a few  re- 
marks from  him  about  the  estates.  All  he  could  say 
was  in  corroboration  of  what  the  managing  director 
had  already  state  1,  and  they  had  a tangible  proof 
today  of  the  high  value  of  those  estates.  As  regarded 
order  and  condition,  they  were  certainly  second 
to  none  in  Ceylon,  and  he  thought  there  were 
very  few  esta'es  which,  on  the  whole,  came  up  to 
them.  The  bushes  w'ere  in  perfect  health,  the 
estates  were  free  from  weeds,  and  the  general  culti- 
vation was  well  up  to  dale.  They  had  machinery 
which  was  (luite  up  to  the  present  time,  and  capable 
of  manutacturing  not  only  their  own  leaf,  but  also  of 
taking  in  a considerable  quantity  of  leaf  beyond  what 
they  were  likely  to  produce  on  their  own  estate. 
Another  point  of  satisfaction  in  connection  with  the 
machinery,  was  the  splendid  motive  power  they  had 
As  a rule,  in  tlioir  factories  they  were  fortunate  in 
having  powerful  motors— turbines  mostly— driven  by 
water,  and  anyone  who  knew  anything  about  such 
machinery  would  understand  wliat  a boon  this 
was  in  keeping  down  expenditure.  No  money 
had  been  spared  in  putting  the  estates  into 
a condition  of  thorough  efficiency.  With  regard  to 
cultivation  by  manuring,  their  object  all  along  had 
been  to  help  the  trees,  and  not  overdrive  them  by 
putting  more  manure  into  the  ground  than  they 
thought  sufficient  for  the  health  of  tlie  trees.  Had 
they  put  more  no  doubt  they  could  have  given  a 
larf^er  return  of  leaf  than  they  had ; but  they 
had  thought  it  unadvisable  to  do  so.  lloferring 
to  the  progress  that  the  company  had  made 
in  acreage  since  it  started  seven  years  ago,  he 
stated  that  although  they  had  increased  somewhat, 
he  regretted  they  had  not  done  so  to  a larger  extent. 
He  found  that  in  1880  they  had  a total  acreage  of 
1,531  acres,  which  at  the  present  moment  had  been 
ncreased  by  over  400  acres,  bringing  the  total  up  to 
1,9.3  acres.  When  they  “ top^red  ” that  and  came  well 
into  thousands  ho  should  be  better  pleased.  As  re- 
garded tea,  they  started  with  an  accrage  of  1,401 
acres,'  which  he  was  glad  to  say  had  been  brought 
up  to  1,722  acres,  including  the  new  clearing  which 
was  now  being  planted.  Of  the  tea  planted  in  the 
last  few  years,  one  of  the  clearings,  anuounting 
to  83  acres,  had  conic  into  bearing  this  year,  ami 
the  remaining  young  tea  would  come  into  partial 
bearing  next  year.  As  to  the  crops  in  1839  they 
started  with  an  average  per  acre  of  about  228  lb.  They 
had  gone  on  increasing  until  at  the  close  of  last 
year  they  had  a crop  of  668,000  lb.  of  made  tea,  or 
4331b.  per  acre,  being  about  7,000  lb.  over  the  esti- 
mate. That  increase,  he  felt  sure,  was  not  only  due  to 
manuring,  but  also  to  the  new  clearings  coming  into 
be.aring.  The  average  would  be  increased  during  the 
year  on  which  they  had  now  entered,  and  would  go 
on  improving  for  the  next  lew  years.  (Applause.) 
Mr.  J.  Ferguson  moved ; — “ That  a cordial  vote  of 
thanks  be  given  to  Mr.  H.  L.  Forbes,  Chairman  and 
managing  director,  and  to  his  co-directors,  for  their 
able  conduct  of  the  Company’s  business.”  He  had 
known  their  Chairman  from  his  first  day  in  Ceylon, 
and  his  career  as  a hard-working,  intelligent, 
straightforward  planter — first  as  superintendent,  and 
afterwards  as  managing  proprietor,  of  his  family’s 
plantations — afforded  an  example  which  it  would  be 
well  to  keep  before  succeeding  generations  of  young 
planters.  Mr.  Forbes  was  well-known  as  an  ardent 
cricketer  and  golfer ; but  he  never  allowed  recreation 
to  interfere  with  estate  duties.  Then,  in  the  dark 
days  of  coffee  depression  in  Ceylon  Mr.  l'’orbes  never 
lost  heart ; but  even  invested  fresh  capital  at  a time 
when  most  men  were  clearing  out  of  the  island.  On 
the  plantations  thus  formed,  after  being  turned  into 
tea,  rose  the  Scottish  Ceylon  Company,  and  ho  need 
not  tell  the  shareholders  how  well  its  affairs  had  been 
looked  after  by  their  managing  director  and  his 
colleagues,  and  how  well  they  deserved  this  cordial 
vote  of  thanks.  (Applause.) 
Mr.  George  Todd  seconded  the  motion,  which  was 
carried  unanimously,  and  the  xn'oceediugs  then  closed. 
— Financial  A^eir.«,  May  14. 
NOTES  FhOM  THlf  MEIKOPOLIS. 
oUTii  Kensington,  May  15. 
I need  say  little  liere  about  the  Society  of  Arts 
meeting  on 
“TEA  IN  DAKJEELING”— 
having  so  fully  dealt  with  the  paper,  separately. 
But  i may  say  that  amongst  7U  or  80  presents, 
1 only  saw  one  Ceylon  man,  Mr.  J.  Macintosh- 
Smith  of  Caledonia,  Dimbula  (he  left  early,  if 
1 am  right):  but  there  was  a number  of  Dar- 
jiling and  North  India  planters  besides  Mr. 
Hancock,  Mr.  Ernest  Tye  and  other  “tea”  men. 
Sir  Richard  Temple— looking  uglier  than  ever  ! 
— proved  a genial  Chairman  ; the  paper  deserved 
all  the  credit  given  to  it.  but  was  badly  de- 
livered, Mr.  Christian  being  nervous  and  hurried. 
The  slide  illustrations  weie,  however,  very  good — 
of  the  scenery,  tea  gardens,  buildings,  machinery, 
coolies,  bazaar,  raihvay  line,  Ac,  The  full 
discussion  will  follow'  in  the  Society’s  journal ; 
but  1 may  mention  that  Sir  Stuart  Bayley — 
tall  and  grey— and  Sir  Chas.  Elliott — shorter, 
broader  and  almost  white-haired,  but  very  alert 
— both  spoke  well  and  appreciatively.  Mr.' Chris- 
tian had  one  Ceylon  slide  of  tea  wuthering  and 
an  old  Darjiling  planter  made  some  fun  by 
calling  on  the  lecturer  to  disavow  the  starved- 
looking  creature  shown  on  the  floor  being  a 
Darjiling  cooly— be  could  only  belong  to 
Ceylon.  (He  w'as  in  reality,  as  I told  the  scep- 
tic, only  a Tamil  boy  and  not  a man  ; for 
be  ought  to  come  and  see  what  sleek,  well- 
formed  coolies  Ceylon  had  to  show'  !) 
THE  SCOTTISH  CEYLON  TEA  COMPANY’S 
annual  meeting  is  fully  reported  in  the  financial 
papers,  and  both  the  Alanaging  Director  (Air.  H, 
L.  Forbes)  and  Ceylon  Manager  (Mr.  David 
Kerr)  met  with  a cordial  welcome  from  the 
shareholders  present,  who  included  Messrs.  Jas. 
Grant,  Dod,  yanderson,  Keith,  Arbuthnot,  An- 
derson, Geo.  Todd,  formerly  of  the  Royal  College, 
Colombo.  Air.  Todtl  retains  his  position  in  con- 
nection with  the  ycottisli  Educational  Depart- 
ment at  Whitehall,  and  though  older-looking  like 
all  of  us,  is  still  hale  and  hearty,  with  a warm 
corner  for  Ceylon. 
I w'as  glad  to  learn  during  a visit  to  the  office 
of  Alessrs.  Gow',  AVilson  A Stanton  that  they 
are  not  at  all  afraid  of  the  increased 
I'EA  SHIPMENTS 
from  Ceylon,  in.'’smuch  as  there  is  no  Indian  tea 
to  compote  at  this  time  of  year.  They  are  only 
selling  on  two  days  in  the  week  now.  They 
show'ed  me  evidence  of  the  tea  making  season 
so  far  being  unfavourable  in  Northern  India,  e.g., 
a card  circulated  in  the  City  as  follow' ; — 
Tun  Bkitish  Assam  Tea  Companv,  Limited. 
Summary  of  Telegram  received  today  from  Messrs. 
AIcLeod  & Co.,  Calcutta. 
Tea  Alanufactured  to  30th  ult.  (1896)  . . 82  Maunds. 
.,  ,,  to  same  period  of  last 
year  (1895)  . , 252  „ 
Dcere.ase  (in  1895)  ..  170  ,. 
Decrease  on  1894  . . 209  „ 
D.  AI.  SxEw.viiT,  Secretary,  3,  East  ludia  Avenue. 
E.C.  Loudon  6th  Alav  1896. 
