Sept,  r,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
159 
CEYLON  TEA  COMPANIES -UNDER 
CRITICISM. 
“Ceylon  Tea  Companies”  is  the  title  of  an 
article  in  the  July  issue  of  the  Investors’  Review, 
(see below ) which  has  of  late  sprung  to  the  front 
rank  of  independent  financial  and  critical  authorities 
in  the  Metropolis,  through  energy,  keen  intelli- 
gence, and  tile  fearlessness  of  its  editor,  Mr. 
A.  J.  Wilson— himself  a hard-headed  Aberdonian. 
Apart  from  the  general  article — supplying  useful 
statistical  information  ajftd  discriminating  criti 
cism  as  well  as  practical  suggestions— we  have, 
under  “ Company  Notes,”  separate  treatment  of 
the  affairs  of  no  fewer  than  four  of  our  leading 
plantation  Companies  in  “ Tlie  New  Uimbula,” 
“The  Ceylon  and  Oriental  Estates,”  “The 
Ceylon  Land  and  Produce,”  and  “ The  Eastern 
Produce  and  Estates.”  We  copy  elsewhere  ail 
that  is  said  under  these  headings  as  well  as  the 
main  article,  save  the  four  yeans’  table  of  e.x- 
port  and  distribution  of  Ceylon  tea  to  different 
countries  already  familiar  to  our  readers.  It  is 
of  special  interest  to  see  what  a trained,  first- 
class  metropolitan  critic  has  to  say  about  our 
tea  industry  from  the  financial  point  of  view,  and 
of  the  po.sition  of  certain  leailiug,  if  not  repre- 
sentative, company-constituents  in  that  industry. 
Remembering  that  the  Investors’  Review  and  its 
editor  are  “ nothing  if  not  critical  ” — “ that  ’tis  liis 
vocation  ” to  jiick  holes, — that  directors,  mana- 
gers and  shareholders  coming  under  its  or  his 
ken  may  be  assured  in  the  words  of  Burns, — 
“ If  there  ’s  a hole  in  a'  your  coats 
I rede,  ye  tent  it !” 
— it  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  on  tlie  whole 
the  critic  is  fairly  well-pleased,  and  offers,  atlea.st, 
more  praise  than  censure  in  his  remarks.  Tlie 
one  element  we  find  wanting  in  his  compari- 
sons and  criticism  is  the  relation  of  planted  ami 
bearing  area  in  tea  to  the  total  capital  outlay 
— in  other  words  the  price  per  acre  of  the  tea 
gardens  in  each  Company’s  books.  Seeing  that 
the  writer  must  have  had  before  him  our 
Directory,  which  is  very  freely  quoted,  it  is  a 
pity  he  did  not  enter  on  the  consideration  of 
this  part  of  his  subject  ; for,  although  it  is  by 
no  means  an  infallible  test — tea  in  the  low- 
country  of  Ceylon,  bein",  as  a rule,  far  less 
valuable  than  in  tlie  higher  districts — yet  it  is 
a very  fair  guide — cceteeis  paribtts' — to  the  posi- 
tion and  future  stablity  of  the  Tea  Companies. 
Next  to  this  point,  we  should  say  that  the 
chief  defect  in  the  writings  under  review,  is 
the  absence  of  reference  to  the  available  forest- 
land or  other  reserve  owned  by  each  Company. 
This  again  may  be  a very  important  considera- 
tion. ’I’ake,  for  instance,  the  New  Dimlmla  Com- 
pany : the  fact  that,  be.sides  holding  2,200  acres 
planted  with  tea  on  its  one  compact,  rich,  Diya- 
gama  property,  this  company  has  in  the  same  block, 
very  nearly  1,000  acres  more  of  line  reserve,  half  of 
which,  at  least,  could  be  put  into  tea  if  required, 
strengthens  its  exceptionally  advantageous  posi 
tion,  its  tea  area  scarcely  standing  more  than  £40 
per  acre  on  its  books.  And  so,  with  several  other 
leading  Ceylon  Companies  noticed,  which  have 
both  a good,  if  not  large  reserve,  together  with 
a low  valuation  of  its  acreage  under  tea. 
But  now  turning  to  the  article  in  its  .several 
paragraphs,  we  may  first  notice  that  rather  too 
much  credit  is  given  to  the  Ceylon  Government 
for  studying  the  wants  of  the  tea  industry  in 
railways  and  roads.  The  fact  is  rather  that  the 
railways  were  sanctioned  and  made  mainly  with 
reference  to  “coffee”  and  “ cinehona,”  and  that 
“ tea”  has  entered  into  the  inheritance  of  such 
railway  extension.  Sir  Arthur  Gordon  secured 
the  sanction  of  railway  extension  to  Haputale 
and  to  Galle  so  far  back  as  March  18883 
total  export  of  tea»  for  1887  being  under  14  mil- 
lion lb.  All  that  Sir  Arthur  Havelock  secured  for 
“ tea  ” between  1890  and  1895  in  the  shape  of 
railways,  was  the  extension  from  Galle  to 
Matara— scarcely  serving  tea  at  all— and  the 
short  piece  of*  line  from  Haputale  to  Bandara- 
wela,  a doubtful  advantage,  seeing  how  our 
late  Governor  dilly-dallied  and  bungled  in  the 
matter  of  the  indispensable  feeding  roads  which 
were  to  lead  up  to,  and  make  the  Uva  railway 
all  it  might  be,  in  the  service  of  the  Planting 
industry.  Plow,  again,  the  same  ruler  left  the 
Kelani  Ptailway  line — a specially  tea  planting  rail- 
way— need  not  be  recapitulated. 
“Out  of  the  teeming  millions  in  the  Madras 
Presidency,  the  Ceylon  tea  planters  obtain  a 
plentiful  supply  of  labour,”  the  critic  says,  and 
truly  enough,  in  a general  way.  But,  neverthe- 
less, it  is  a fact  that  our  tea  planters  could 
do  with  a good  many  more  coolies,  and  that  if 
the  time  now  lost — a fortnight  or  more  per  Jiead — 
on  the  journey  from  village  to  plantation  could 
be  saved,  as  it  best  could  be  done  by  an  Indo- 
Ceylon  Railway,  the  advantage  to  the  Ceylon 
tea  industry  would  be  very  great.  It  is  quite 
true,  as  is  urged,  that  the  area  under  young  or 
newly  planted  tea  in  Ceylon  is  comparatively 
limited,  by  no  means  threatening  “ over2iroduc- 
tion”  ; but  then,  in  this  matter  our  Indian  breth- 
ren have  more  than  made  amends — making- 
hay  while  the  sun  shines” — eagerly  planting  up 
beeause  Ceylon  planters  have  been  holding  back, 
so  that  the  result  is  very  much  the  same  as  it 
would  be  if  we  in  Ceylon  had  addeil  50,000  more  acres 
to  our  tea  area  during  the  past  four  or  live  years. 
We  must  leave  the  financial  comparisons  made 
in  the  Review:  here  the  editor  stands  on  surer 
ground,  especially  in  comparing  different  Com- 
panies, and  we  feel  sure  the  Directors  of  certain 
Companies  .singled  out  for  invidious  illustration 
will  lay  to  heart  the  need  or  advantage  of  changing 
“ methods,”  so  p to  secure  the  solidity  and  hio-h 
credit  appertaining  to  some  of  their  neighbours. 
It  is  gratifying  to  note  the  praise  given  to 
the  financial  and  general  management  of  the 
New  Dimbula  Company,  as  in  a more  qualified 
way— on  one  or  two  points— to  the  Ceylon  and 
Oriental  Estates  Board.  The  Directors  of  the 
Ceylon  Land  and  Produce  Company  have  rather 
more  criticism  and  suggestions  meted  out  to 
them,  though  no  more  fault  than  “a  lopsided 
way  of  doing  business,”  is  found ; but  for  the 
Eastern  Produce  and  Estates  management  of 
recent  years  there  is  only  praise  extended,  while 
surprise  is  expres.sed  at  an  actual  reduction  of 
working  expenses  between  1893  and  1895  thouo-h 
gross  income  had  increased.  No  doubt,  part  *of 
the  explanation  is  due  to  the  successful  way  in 
which  this  Company’s  staff  do  a large  Agency 
business  in  Ceylon  for  other  proprietors,  so  Educ- 
ing the  outlay  on  its  own  office  account? 
The  development  of  the  tea  industry  of  Ceylon 
has  been  even  faster  than  that  of  India  although 
the  start  was  not  made  at  a , very  rapid  pace  In 
the  year  1867  the  first  tea  garden  was  planted  in 
Ceylon  with  seed  from  Assam ; but  it  was  not  until 
1884  that  the  tea  exports  of  Ceylon  exceeded  2,000,000  lb 
Since  then  the  exports  have  increased  at  an  amazing 
pace,  so  that  in  the  eleven  succeeding  years  their 
total  has  risen  almost  continuously,  until  the  present 
figure  of  98,000,000  lbs  has  been  reached.  lAere  is 
little  doubt  that  the  island  is  peculiarly  suited  for 
the  growth  of  tea,  as  its  mild  climate  permits  pluck- 
ing almost  the  whole  year  round,  and  the  hill  slopes 
afford  that  combination  of  conditions  which  are  most 
needed  by  the  tea-grower.  The  progress  of  planting 
too,  has  doubtless  been  rendered  more  rapid  from 
