THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug.  I,  1896. 
130 
Field-Marehal  the  Eight  Uonoiu-ablo  Lord  Roberts 
of  Kandahar  and  W^iterford,  g.c.b.  ; g.c.s.i.  ; g.c.i.e.; 
v.c. ; D.c.L. ; L.L.D. ; etc. ; Royal  Hospital,  Dublin. 
It  is  a pity  that  Lord  Roberts  had  not  a few 
more  initials  to  append  to  his  name  and  chief  title. 
We  were  under  the  impression  that  it  was  not  good 
form  for  a fully-pay  oMcer  occupying  suchadistiu- 
guished  position  to  let  his  name  appear  as  a direc- 
tor of  a public  company.  There  is,  perhaps,  no 
special  reason  why  he  should  not,  provided  that 
the  official  duties  are  not  thereby  prejudiced  any 
more  than  that  he  should  devote  his  leisure  time 
to  the  management  of  his  private  affairs  at  Kandahar, 
Waterford,  Sylhet,  The  Royal  Hospital,  Dublin,  or 
elsewhere.  Still,  it  does  strike  us  as  strange,  in  view'  of 
the  stringent  regulations  of  Government  departments 
in  analogous  matters  to  find  Lord  Roberts’  name  in  this 
connection  and  with  his  official  address.  We  have 
not  forgotten  the  outcry  there  was  when  a Lord 
Mayor  of  London  allowed  his  name  to  appear  on  a 
prospectus  and  with  his  official  description  appended. 
And  surely  it  is  more  appropriate  for  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  the  greatest  financial  centre  in  the  world 
to  be  a director  of  a public  company  than  for  a 
General,  even  if  he  be  also  a Doctor  of  Laws  and 
an  “ etc.” 
Should  there  be  any  warlike  operations  against 
the  properties  of  the  Consolidated  Tea  and  Lands 
Company  the  services  of  Lord  Roberts  will  be  in- 
valuable. In  the  absence  of  these  we  presume  that 
on  the  other  directors  will  fall,  the  bulk  of  the  work 
of  conducting  the  business.  By  the  way,  they  ex- 
press their  intention  of  putting  a considerable  area 
of  the  land  to  be  acquired  ‘‘  under  coffee”  which 
suggests  to  us  that  it  would  have  been  a 
happy  idea  to  call  the  company  the  tea,  coffee 
and  Land  Corporation,  Limited.  Undoubtedly  all 
concerned  with  the  company  are  of  high  business 
standing  from  the  directors  downwards.  The  firm 
of  Finlay  Muir  and  Company  of  Calcutta  who  have 
managed  the  business  since  its  formation  have 
agreed  to  continue  to  do  so,  though  the  period  of  the 
agreement  is  not  stated,  and  during  its  tenure  to 
hold  shares  to  the  round  Viilue  of  £‘200,000,  of  which 
at  least  one-half  shall  be  in  Ordinary  shares.  What 
chiefly  perplexes  us  about  this  prospectus  is  whether 
it  is  really  intended  as  an  invitation  to  the  public  or 
not.  The  reference  to  the  object  of  obtaining  Stock 
Exchange  quotations,  the  short  time  allowed  for  the 
offer  of  capital,  and  the  general  family-party  ap- 
pearance of  the  document,  suggest  that  the  public 
offer  is  more  or  less  i)ro  forma ; though,  perhaps, 
some  of  the  ordinary  capital— the  proceeds  of  which 
are  to  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  and  development 
of  land,  and  is  to  be  called  up  over  a period  of  five 
years— may  be  given  to  outsiders.— CiVy  Leader, 
June  20. 
INDIAN  TEA  COMPANIES. 
The  appearance  of  the  Consolidated  Tea  and  Lands 
Company  brings  into  prominence  once  more  a class 
of  investment  which  scarcely  receives  the  attention 
it  deserves.  Taken  all  round,  Indian  tea  companies 
show  results  with  which  shareholders  have  no  reason 
to  be  dissatisfied,  and  their  success  is  evidenced  by 
the  number  of  new  companies  registered  in  Loudon 
during  recent  years.  It  is  a little  surprising,  there- 
fore, that  out  of  a list  of  75  of  these  under-takings 
which  we  have  before  us  only  13  are  quoted  in  the 
Official  List,  while  the  prices  of  the  remainder, 
being  unknown  to  the  tape,  can  only  be  discovered 
by  special  inquiries.  A partial  explanation  is  to  be 
found,  no  doubt,  in  the  fact  that  the  capital  of  many 
of  these  companies  was  privately  subscribed,  and 
that  the  proprietors  have  been  content  to  hold  their 
shares  as  an  investment,  without  caring  for  the 
advantages  of  public  quotations.  It  is  obvious,  how- 
ever in  cases  where  realisation  is  necessary,  that 
a free  market  ensures  not  only  the  fi tiding  of  a 
purchaser,  but  also  the  certainty  of  obtaining  a fair 
price,  and  it  is  apparently  with  the  object  of  ^cur- 
ing a quotation  on  the  London  and  Glasgow  Stock 
Exchanges  that  the  North  and  South  Sylhet  Tea 
Q^mpauies  are  being  converted  and  amalgamate  1 mto 
the  Consolidated  Tea  and  Lands  Company.  At  first 
sight  the  capital  of  the  new  company  appears  rather 
large,  since,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  paid-up 
capital  of  the  two  amalgamating  concerns  is  only 
.£402,000,  while  the  purchase  price  to  be  now  paid 
is  £1,000,000 ! We  imagine,  however,  that  there 
must  be  loaus  of  a large  amount  in  addition, 
because  the  prospectus  states  that  the  cost  price 
of  the  estates  stiuds  in  the  companies’  books 
at  .£1,440,000.  While  it  is  not  our  purpose  to 
discuss  the  merits  of  the  new  undertaking, 
ic  may  be  of  interest  to  take  the  North  and 
South  Sylhet  Companies  as  a starting  point, 
and  how  to  show  the  rapid  progress  which  has  been 
made,  especially  as  they  are  even  now  by  far  the 
largest  producers  of  Indian  tea. 
Their  estates  cover  an  area  of  170,000  acres  in 
Assam,  Sylhet,  the  Dooars,  Darjeeling,  and  North 
Travancoro  Hills,  besides  about  10,000  acres  in 
Ceylon.  On  November  30,  1895,  there  were  21,310 
acres  with  tea  in  bearing  and  5,439  acres  planted 
with  young  tea,  coffee,  and  cocoa ; while  since  then 
another  4,371  acres  have  been  cleared  and  are  in 
course  of  planting;  so  that  the  whole  area  under 
cultivation  is  now  31,120  acres.  How  greatly  in 
excess  these  figures  are  of  the  acreage  of  any  other 
limited  company  will  be  evident  when  we  mention  that 
next  in  order  comes  the  Assam  Company,  which 
has  about  10,000  acres  under  cultivation,  while 
the  Land  Mortgage  Bank  of  India  has  8,000  acres, 
the  Jokai  (Assam)  Company  7,300  acres,  and  the 
Dooars  Tea  Company  0,120  acres.  After  these 
wo  drop  to  5,000  acres  on  the  Jorehaut 
perty  and  then  we  find  a number  of  companies 
such  as  the  Assam  Frontier,  Ghargola,  Lungla, 
Single,  and  Brahmapootra,  where  the  cultivated  area 
varies  from  3,000  to  4,000  acres.  As  regards  pro- 
duction, the  combined  North  and  South  Sylhet 
Companies  raised  9,5a3,734  lb.  in  1895,  against 
5,078,379  lb.  in  1888,  and  the  1896  crop  is  estimated 
at  10,070,000  lb.  of  tea.  Bearing  in  mind  that  they 
have  150,000  acres  of  land  still  uncultivated,  of 
which  90,000  acres  are  in  the  North  Travancore 
Hills,  from  which  exceptionally  good  results  are 
expected,  there  cannot  be  two  opinions  of  the  great 
possiblities  that  lie  before  the  amalgamated  under- 
taking. At  present  the  1 irgest  crops  for  1895, 
of  the  other  companies  that  have  so  far  been  ac- 
tually reported  are  3,108,671  lb.  011  the  Jokai  (Assam) 
estates  and  3,017,000  lb.  on  the  Dooars  property. 
These  amounts  will  probably  be  exceeded  by  the 
Assam  Company,  where  the  crop  is  estimated  at 
about  3,300,000  lb.,  and  then  there  is  a drop  to 
2,400,000  lb.  on  the  Assam  Frontier  Company’s  es- 
tates, and  an  estimaied  outturn  of  2,143,000  lb.  by 
the  Brahmapootra  Company. 
We  need  hardly  say  that  the  amount  of  the  crop  is 
not  necessarily  an  indication  of  a company’s  pros- 
perity, nor  of  the  desirability  of  its  shares  iis  an  in- 
vestment. The  relation  which  the  outturn  bears  to 
the  acreage  under  cultivation  must  be  considered,  as 
also  the  quality  of  tire  leaf,  and,  above  all,  there  is 
the  important  question  of  capitalisation.  Foriustauces 
the  Brahmapootra  yield  of  2,113,000  lb.  from  3 390 
acres  is  better  than  2,423,000  lb.  from  4,085  acres  on 
the  Assam  Frontier  property;  w'hile,  as  the  capital 
of  the  foriu'or  is  only  £114,500  in  £5  shares,  against  the 
£330,000  (including  debentures)  of  the  latter,  there  is 
cleu-ly  much  larger  scope  for  dividends  on  Brahma- 
pootra shares.  In  fact,  the  average  dividend  on  these 
shares  for  the  six  years  fx‘om  1889  to  1894.  inclusive 
has  been  174  per  cent.,  against  6 per  cent,  ou  the' 
Ordinary  shares  of  the  Assam  Fron  ier  Company.  For 
1895  the  final  dividend  has  not  yet  been  decl.irod  by  the 
Brahmapootra  Company;  but  the  interim  dividend 
was  8 per  cent.,  as  in  the  previous  year,  and  there 
seems  evei-y  likelihood  of  the  total  distribution  com- 
ing to  20  per  cent.,  as  in  1894.  The  directors  of  the 
Assam  Frontier  Company  have  already  declared  6 
per  cent.,  for  the  past  year,  wliicli  wo  may  observe 
IS  just  double  what  the  Ordinary  shaves  received  in 
1894.  Among  the  other  companies  tliai  have  announ- 
ced their  dividends  may  bo  mentioned  the  British 
Indian  Tea  Company  with  5 per  cent.,  as  against 
6 per  cent,  a year  ago,  Darjeeling  5J  per  cent. 
