Sept,  r,  1896.)  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
position  to  meet  the  inevitable  competition  that  would 
follow  over-production.  So  far  as  experience  goes, 
there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  danger  of  exhaustion 
coining  over  the  tea  plants  in  spite  of  the  more  fre- 
quent pluckings.  Tho  Loolecoudura  tea  garden  in 
Kandy  was  the  first  area  in  the  island  planted  with 
tea.,  this  being  done  by  Mr.  Martin  Leake  in  1867 
with  seed  obtained  from  Assam.  The  first  produce 
from  this  garden  was  sold  in  1871-72,  and  since 
then  reports  have  been  continuously  received  as  to 
the  condition  of  the  fields  which  were  earliest  planted. 
These  show  that  there  is  no  sign  of  decay,  and  that 
ill  i893  the  20  acres  yielded  4711b.  per  acre  ; while 
last  year,  when  the  trees  were  feeling  the  effect  of 
recent  priming,  the  return  was  382  lb.  per  acre. 
So  far  asonecansee,  the  industry  seems  to  be  a 
solid  one,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  demoralised  by 
over-production,  while  it  is  claimed  that  tea- 
gi'owing  is  even  more  profitable  in  Ceylon  than  in  India. 
Besides  the  fostering  care  of  the  Government, 
the  mere  fact  that  Ceylon  is  so  admirably  situated 
at  the  converging  point  of  Eastern  trade,  gives  it  a 
splendid  position  for  shipping  produce,  for  there  is  not 
the  hundreds  of  miles  of  carriage  upon  the  Brahma- 
pootra Biver,  with  the  subsequent  trans-shipment 
and  carriage  across  land  to  Calcutta,  which  most 
Indian  teas  have  to  undergo.  So  strongly  does  this 
freight  matter  influence  the  drift  of  trade,  that  it 
accounts  mainly  for  the  fact  that  all  the  tea  drunk 
in  the  Bombay  Presidency  comes  from  Ceylon,  its 
conveyance  costing  so  little  compared  with  transit  from 
Calcutta.  Then  a more  important  advantage  even 
than  cheap  carriage  and  freight  is  the  lightness 
of  the  charge  for  labour.  Celyon  is  almost  attached  to 
the  southern  point  of  the  Indian  peninsula,  and  out  of 
the  teeming  millions  in  the  Madras  Presidency  the 
Ceylon  tea-planters  obtain  a plentiful  supply  of  labour. 
There  is  no  question  of  sending  sirdars  and  pay- 
ing costly  premiums  in  order  to  obtain  labourers.  The 
only  inducement  offered  is  that  sometimes  the  cost 
of  travel  will  be  advanced  to  them,  but  in  this  case 
it  is  treated  as  an  advance,  and  is  afterwards  de- 
ducted from  the  monthly  wage.  As  a consequence, 
the  wage  of  the  Ceylon  labourer,  which  was  always 
1.  iwor  than  that  of  the  Indian  tea  coolie,  has  remain- 
ed the  same,  while  the  Indian  planter  has  gradually 
seen  the  premium  for  his  coolies  rise  until  it  amounts 
to  a sum  that  virtually  doubles  the  wage  of  the  old 
days.  This  rise  in  the  Indian  cost  of  labour  has 
been  little  noticed,  but  it  goes  far  to  neutralise  the 
much-talked-about  benefit  from  the  depreciation  of 
the  rupee.  Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said  that 
it  costs  about  4d.  to  5d.  per  lb.  to  produce  Cey- 
lon tea  by  the  larger  companies  which  are  at  work 
in  that  island,  while  the  still  larger  undertakings  in 
Assam  find  that  6d.  to  8d.  per  lb.  is  nearer  the  figure. 
The  Ceylon  grower,  however,  does  not  obtain  the  full 
advantage  of  this  difference,  as  the  average  price  of 
Ceylon  teas  is  about  Id.  to  l-}d.  lower  than  that  of 
India. 
Turning  now  to  the  companies  which  work  in  the 
island,  it  should  bo  at  once  stated  that  far  less  is 
known  about  them  than  about  those  of  India.  The 
usual  form  they  take  is  small  plantations  of  per- 
haps under  1500  acres,  worked  by  people  in  practi- 
cally a private  manner.  Those  companies,  too,  that 
do  publish  reports  accessible  to  the  public  are  very  chary 
of  furnishing  information.  Few,  indeed,  give  the 
actual  amount  of  tea  turned  out,  while  not  one 
furnishes  the  interesting  table  of  cost  of  production, 
and  other  details  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  Indian  companies  represented  by  Mr. 
Earnshaw.  There  is,  therefore,  less  basis  for  analy- 
sis in  their  case,  and  more  dependence  upon  the 
rule-of-thumb  measurement  obtained  through  mere 
statements  of  net  profits  and  dividends  paid  in  the 
past.  With  this  view  we  have  studied  the  recent 
reports  of  a number  of  the  companies,  and  find  that 
the  companies  are  usually  small,  and  that  consider- 
able use  of  debentures  has  been  made  in  obtaining 
money  for  their  develepment.  At  the  same  time 
there  appears  to  be  a due  regard  for  reserves,  while 
many  of  the  companies  have  redeemed  a proportion 
of  their  debentures  out  of  revenue.  The  following 
table  gives  the  capital  and  other  details  of  the  balance 
slieets  of  some  of  the  leading  companies  ; — 
21 
Companies. 
ts-.  ® 
5* 
g J PI  g S 3 
5a  a go  ft 
£ £ 
15,100 
CO  ^ 
Q d 
^ a 
d o 
® a 
a 
Bandarapola  . . 
Ceylon  and  Ori- 
ental Estates. . 
Ceylon  Land  and 
Produce 
Ceylon  Tea  Plan- 
tations . . 167,380  81,080 
Eastern  Produce 
and  Estates  ..298,250 
Kelanixissociation  16,265 
Nahalma  Estate.  14,000 
New  Dimbula  . 
Panawal 
Scottish  Ceylon 
Scottish  Trust 
and  Loan 
Standard  Tea  . . 
Sunuygama 
Q 
£ 
9,000 
<D  • 
> ns 
(jj 
Ph 
fl 
a 
to 
® 
> 
a 
55,264  46,320  65,000 
47,950  26,450  33,790  2,000 
T3  [>. 
>3 
P'S 
m fl 
ce  o 
P 
% 
6 
20 
70,000  71,106  15 
753  122,500  15,000  23,171  5 
86,200  . . 
17.000  5,300 
41.000  9,000 
12,900  3,000 
10,000  1,267 
3.000 
230 
6.000 
800 
3,000  17i 
8 
..  10 
230  10 
4,992  15 
10 
15 
..  10 
reserves  are 
does  not  sav 
45.000  ..  12,550  10,000 
56.000  . . 7,000  7,500 
-.50,000  5,000  10,000  .. 
Those  companies  which  show  small 
usually  of  recent  formation ; but  it oa,» 
much  for  their  Boards  that  they  pay  such  higli 
dividends  and  set  aside  little  or  nothing  for  a windy 
day.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  striking 
examples  amongst  them  of  prudence  and  foresight, 
and  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  well-managed  concm-ns 
to  write  down  their  assets,  and  so  place  them  in  a 
strong  position,  was  never  better  exhibited  than  in 
the  reports  just  issued.  Last  year  was  a distinctly 
favourable  one  for  Ceylon  tea-growers,  and  the 
opportunity  was  therefore  taken  by  the  better- 
managed  companies  to  lay  by  for  the  future.  To 
show  what  this  means,  we  have  drawn  up  the  next 
set  of  figures,  which  gives  the  profit  earned  by  < ach 
company  after  paying  working  charges,  office  and 
directorial  fees,  debenture  interest,  etc.,  ami  the 
manner  in  which  this  profit  has  been  distributed. 
As  the  reports. differ  in  their  rendering  of  the  accounts 
this  task  has  proved  a more  difficult  one  than  appears 
at  first  sight  , but  we  have  endeavoured  to  make  the 
comparison  as  complete  as  possible. 
Distribution  of  Net  Profits. 
o 
•+3 
Companies. 
O 'D 
ns  H 
Q 
O o 
S a 
XI  o 
Bandarapola 
Ceylon  and 
Oriental  Bs- 
Estates. . 
Ceylon  Land 
and  Pro- 
duce 
Ceylon  Tea 
Plantations 
Eastern  Pro- 
duce and 
Estates... 
Kelaui  Tea 
Association 
Nahalma  Es- 
tate 
New  Dim- 
bula 
Panawal  Tea 
Scottish 
Ceylon  . . 
Scottish 
Trust  and 
Loan 
Standard 
Tea 
Suunygama. 
•S  u 
ta  p d 
Orp'3 
£ 
■ 851 
a 
o 
•4^ 
o o 
2 d 
ft  ® 
0)  +3 
P 
£ 
o a > 
’-I  o 
g<D 
CO 
ou  c8  ® 
QJ  (O 
^0)0 
c3 
£ 
04 
<0 
u 
<u 
ID 
O 
a 
o 
u 
<v 
«4-l 
(D 
u 
p 
£ 
u 
ce 
d 
o 
d 
o 
ns 
d 
ID 
ns 
Q 
£ 
ID  ns 
□0  0,) 
2 M 
o eg 
(D  O 
P 
. S3 
d 
o 
a g 
c3  g 
§ O 
O *4-1 
£ 
9,464 
8,836 
51,927 
44,221 
5,063 
1,696 
17,482 
2,833 
8,801 
9,206 
12,296 
5,868 
• • 
• • 
• • 
883 
- 
32 
500 
3,500 
1,191 
4,421 
- 
148 
• . 
2,000 
1,587 
4,300 
X 
949 
2,000 
19,291 
5,486  25,107 
X 
14 
4,301 
15,189 
37 
14,956 
-6  9,727 
678 
2,000 
• • 
2,846 
- 
459 
793 
• ■ 
1,120 
- 
217 
1,750 
3,000 
796 
37'l 
12,806 
1,700 
74 
34 
838 
1,000 
630 
6,150 
X 
183 
2,247 
379 
. . 
4,500 
X 2,081 
o 
o o 
2,500 
179 
V50 
8,400 
6,000 
103 
m 
