38 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[July  j,  1896, 
If  tills  contiuues,  and  the  Indian  tea  estimate 
lias  to  be  cut  down,  Ceylon  mast  have  another 
jirosperous  year ; bub  it  is  too  early  yet  to 
say  much. 
An  ex-Ceylon  colonist  interested  in  tea  at  home, 
remarking  on  a statement  in  your  columns  about 
the  need  of  iiromotiug  the  demand  in  Ilritain  as 
well  as  in  new  markets,  writes 
“ The  enclosed  cutting,  and  the  last  part  of  it, 
from  Oeerland  Obso'oer  of  April  17th,  page  392,  hits 
off  exactly  what  I have  held  for  years,  and  the  best 
way  that  I can  think  of  to  do  this  is  to  make  a 
fresh  crusade  against  our  teas  being  sold  with  Indian. 
Little  use  trying  to  stop  the  sale  of  tea  ‘ Indian 
and  Ceylon.’  The  thing  to  do  is  to  let  the  public 
know  what  is  a pure  Ceylon.  All  very  well  to  peg  away 
at  new  fields,  but  the  U.K.  must  be  our  great  outlet 
for  years  to  come.  And  even  in  the  U.K.  you  can  have 
no  idea  how  few  people  still  know  what  a pure  Cey- 
lon tea  is.  Grocers  and  others  won’t  give  it  them.” 
Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  & Stanton  mentioned 
among  other  flourishing  Ceylon  Companies,  tlie 
strong  position  taken  up  by  the 
EASTERN  PRODUCE  AND  E.STATES  CO. 
whose  £5  shares  were  now  sold  for  £5  15s,  and 
which  was  tlie  subject  of  commendatory  notice 
in  The  Statist  the  otlier  day  for  its  good  man- 
agement ; — 
A PuoMisiNO  Inpustuiai,. — An  industrial  company 
that  we  consider  has  an  excellent  position,  and 
which  investors  content  with  a comparatively  low 
yield,  in  the  reliance  on  better  limes  in  the  not  far 
off  future,  should  give  attention  to  the  Eastern 
Produce  and  Estates  Company,  Limited,  a tea  com- 
pany with  estates  in  Ceylon.  In  respect  of  its  area 
under  cultivation  it  is  first  on  the  list  of  tea  com- 
panies cither  in  India  or  Ceylon.  The  issued  share 
capital  is  £299,888,  consequently  it  is  of  respectable 
size,  and  commands  a free  market,  and  there  are 
Debentures  in  issue  for  £122,500.  Only  recently  the 
Company,  owing  to  its  steady  progress,  was  able  to 
replace  old  Six  per  Cent  Debentures,  of  which  there 
were  about  £150  000  a few  months  ago,  with  Pour- 
and-a-Ualf  per  Cents.  The  estates  owned  by  the 
Company  cover  an  area  of  16,630  acres ; 10,337  acres 
arc  under  tea  cultivation,  and  on  9,000  acres  the 
plants  are  four  years  old.  The  yield  of  tea  in  1895 
was  3,276,000  lb.,  and  the  estimated  yield  for  1896  is 
3,458,000  lb.  'Then,  there  is  not  far  short  of  1,000 
acres  under  cocoa,  coffee,  and  cardamoms,  and  the 
balance  of  land  is  uncultivated  or  forest  grass  at 
present. 
For  1895,  after  covering  Debeirture  interest,  re- 
tiring £7,500  nominal  of  new  issue  of  Debentures  by 
drawings,  and  setting  aside  £5,000  addition  to  the 
reserve  fund,  already  existent,  the  dividend  on  the 
Ordinary  was  at  the  rate  of  5 per  cent  for  the  year, 
leaving  the  substantial  balance  of  £10,182  to  be  car- 
ried forward,  equal  to  3.t  per  cent  upon  the  Ordinary 
capital.  The  shares  are  quoted  about  5J — J,  giving 
a yield  of  nearly  4J  per  cent  on  the  dividend  actually 
paid  for  1895 ; and  now  the  area  of  land  under  tea 
is  thoroughly  established  the  outlook  is  for  larger 
results  year  by  year. 
I was  wrong,  too,  by  tlie  way,  the  other  day 
in  supposing  that  “ the  Ceylon  and  Oriental”  was 
the  only  one  with  debentures  at  4^  per  cent. 
The  Eastern  Produce  and  Estates  Co"  is  in  the 
same  happy  position  of  having  4^  per  cent  de- 
oentures. 
— ^ 
PLANTING  IN  PEKAK. 
From  the  annual  re])ort  on  the  Ivuala  Kangsar 
District  for  1895,  ])ublished  \n  i\\Q  rerak  Govern- 
ment Gazette  of  May  22,  we  quote  the  follow- 
ing e.xtracts  : — 
'There  arc  now  13,107  acres  in  the  district  loBsed 
out  for  coffee  and  iiopper  planting.  Of  this  area 
about  1,200  acres  have  been  already  opened  in  coffee 
and  00  acres  in  pepper, 
To  really  open  up  this  district  as  it  should  be 
both  in  the  direction  of  the  Eruas,  on  the  south, 
Lasah,  on  the  north  and  east,  and  Piah  Lintah,  on 
the  west,  at  least  two  more  European  Assistants  are 
necessary.  I have  every  hope  in  seeing,  in  the  next 
year  or  so,  several  more  estates  opened  in  coffee. 
Sir  Graeme  Elphiustone  is  desirous  of  selecting  four 
more  estates  of  500  acres  each,  and  I have  little 
doubt  that  several  more  blocks  will  be  applied  for. 
An  experiment  that  has  been  tried  on  Waterloo 
estates  has  answered  very  well.  Here  you  will  find 
150  Chinese  working  at  weeding  the  soil,  handling 
the  trees  and  picking  the  berries  better,  according 
to  Sir  Graeme,  than  any  Tamil.  These  men  are  a 
very  poor  stamp  of  coolie,  being  those  that  cannot 
work  in  the  mines,  and  are  as  a rule  old  gaol  birds 
and  pauper  patients  from  the  State  hospitals.  If 
really  good  men,  of  whom  I am  informed  there  are 
plenty  ready  and  willing  to  come,  were  got  dovui 
from  China,  it  would  certainly  pay  planters  to  give 
them  equal  pay  with  the  ragamuffin  set  now  doing 
such  excellent  work  on  Waterloo.  Kuala  Kangsar  is 
not  in  a tin  district ; although  there  is  tin  in  it,  it 
is  very  pockety.  I would  earnestly  beg  the  Govern- 
ment by  everything  in  its  power  to  push  on  plant- 
ing in  every  form.  There  are  acres  and  acres  of 
padi  land  that  only  want  levels  to  be  taken  for  the 
natives  to  make  the  requisite  tali  ayees  and  anipavys, 
with  slight  help,  in  most  cases,  from  Government ; 
the  enhanced  quit-rent  for  wEich  would  repay  the 
Govcruinent  within  three  years.  There  are  thousands 
of  acres  of  land,  the  soil  of  which  is  quite  equal  to 
Kamuning  or  Waterloo  estates,  from  the  road  level 
up  to  1,200  feet,  covered  with  splendid  timber,  easy 
01  access,  only  waiting  to  be  taken  up.  'The  roads 
are  first  class  and  with  the  raihvay  at  Chumor  by 
the  middle  of  1896  Ihc  cartage  from  Kuala  Kangsar 
itself  by  road  will  only  be  22  miles,  and  from 
Kamuning  and  the  land  in  its  vicinity,  only  10  miles. 
Putting  Down  $200  per  acre  as  the  cost  of  opening 
up  the  first  150,  and  $80  per  acre  for  every  sub- 
sequent 100  acres,  per  annum,  until  500  is  planted 
up  with  coffee  coming  into  full  bearing  w'ithin  four 
years  and  yielding  only  five  pikuls  per  acre  at  $40 
per  pikul,  it  does  not  take  much  calculating  to  prove 
that,  with  average  luck,  after  the  sixth  year  the  owner 
of  an  estate  of  500  acres  would  be  drawing  a very 
fine  income,  on  an  outlay  of  £6,000. 
From  the  Batang  Padang  animal  report  for 
1895,  printed  in  the  same  paper,  we  extract  a.s 
follows  : — 
One  hundred  and  seventy-eight  applications  for  new 
land  in  small  areas,  chiefly  tor  coffee  planting,  were 
dealt  with  during  the  year. 
Applications  were  also  registered  for  1,435  acres  in 
large  blocks  for  coffee  and  coconut  planting. 
The  coffee  in  the  district  is  generally  looking  and 
bearing  well  and  I am  certain  that  if  we  could  only 
get  a few  jplanters  to  begin  here  there  would  be  a 
great  future  before  the  district.  Even  in  the  short 
time  that  I have  been  here  I have  seen  some  magni- 
ficent land.  Of  course  it  is  out  of  the  way  at  present 
and  wants  opening  up  and  if  Government  would  under- 
take to  make  a cart-road,  or  even  a bridle-path  to 
begin  with,  provided  a certain  number  of  acres  in  any 
particular  locality  were  taken  uf),  I feel  sure  that 
planters  would  come  in.  If  a bridle-path  were  made 
in  the  first  instance  and  it  was  found  necessary  after- 
wards to  turn  it  into  a cart-road  to  deal  with  the 
traffic  I see  no  reason  why  the  Ceylon  system  of 
grant-in-aid  roads  should  not  be  instituted.  This,  as 
far  as  I understand  it,  means  that  Government  and 
the  planters  benefited  pay  half  the  cost  of  the  up- 
keep each. 
I cannot  say  that  I am  altogether  in  favour  of 
giving  out  small  areas  to  Malays  for  coffee,  they  will 
not  work  it  properly,  they  allow  weeds  to  grow  up 
all  over  the  land  to  the  detriment  of  any  ncighbour- 
ing  estate  and  if  any  disease  appears  the  weakened 
coffee  is  a nursciy  for  it,,  whence  it  spreads  all  over 
the  State.  Land  has  been  given  out  near  the  railway 
station,  which  will,  I hojic,  have  the  effect,  when  it 
is  p anted,  of  lessening  the  fever  which  is  so  prevalent 
in  that  part  of  the  district. 
