:82 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept,  r,  1896. 
tates  fail  to  show  that  a single  pound  was  ever 
ejected  for  any  cause,  while  it  is  a common  oc- 
currence for  teas  from  other  countries  to  be  refused 
admission. — Mail  and  Ex2)ress,  July  11. 
DETERIORATION  OF  INDIARURBER  BY 
KEEPING. 
We  are  asked  to  publish  the  following  copy  of  a 
letter  dated  the  11th  May  189(5,  from  the  Reporter 
on  Economic  Products  to  the  Government  of  India, 
to  the  Inspector-General  of  Forest,  Simla;— 
“ Replying  to  your  demi-official  dated  21th  ultimo 
on  the  subject  of  the  Assam  rubbers,  I am  glad 
to  find  that  you  underestimated  them.  That  gives 
a better  token  of  the  future,  than  if  you  had  gone 
to  the  other  side.  As  to  the  want  of  uniformity  in 
Carritt  and  Co.’s  valuation,  so  much  depends  in  the 
eves  of  brokers  on  external  characters,  that  the 
sample  that  had  got  a little  more  oxidised  through 
more  direct  exposure  to  air  than  another  would  at 
once  get  a lower  price  assigned  to  it.  It  is  wonder- 
ful how  rapidly  indiarubber  in  its  crude  state  suffers. 
Some  of  our  samples  in  the  Museum  have  become 
liciuids,  devoid  of  all  elasticity . Uus,  I think,  should 
give  the  practical  suggestion  »uat  tue  sooner  rubber 
leaves  the  producer’s  ban  -'■ud  la . taken  over  by 
the  purchaser  the  better.  No  consignments  should 
be  delayed  in  India.”  , 
“But  besides  oxidization  there  are  niany  other 
wavs  by  which  one  parcel  drawn  from  identical  trees 
and  prepared  by  the  self-same  process  will  fetch  a 
lower  price.  But  I think  the  Assam  Conservator  told  us 
that  the  samples  were  obtained  fromseveral  recog- 
nised races  of  the  rubber  tree.  So  that  there  may 
be  a botanical  reason  for  the  variation  in  the  valu- 
ation. I am  promised  botanical  samples  of  each  form, 
and  will,  I hope,  soon  be  in  a position  to  express  an 
opinion  upon  this  feature.  I hope  Assam  may  be  able 
to  furnish  us  with  larger  samples.  We  could  easily 
find  willing  buyers,  as  there  is  a distinct  demand 
for  Assam  rubber.”— /nJi'aii  Forester. 
flowering  of  STROBILANTHES  [NILU] 
IN  BOMBAY. 
Strobilanthes  caUosis  fiowered  along  the  Western 
Ghauts  in  the  Belgaum  District  in  1887  and  in  1895, 
showing  an  interval  of  8 years.  The  flowers  appear 
in  the  month  of  August  but  the  seeds  do  not  ripen 
till  the  following  May. 
Strobilanthes  scssilis  is  very  common  along  the 
Western  Ghauts  at  an  altitude  of  about  2,8tX)tt., 
and  flowered  in  1888  and  in  1895,  showing  an  in- 
terval of  7 years. 
THE  NYASSALAND  COFFEE 
COMPANY,  LTD. 
An  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Nyassaland  Coflee 
Company,  Ltd.,  was  held  at  noon  today  iii  the 
office  of  the  agents  and  secretaries  (Messrs. 
PArson  &Co.).  Mr.  Macindoe  presided,  and  present 
were  Mr.  E.  R.  Waldock  G.  J.  Jameson  (by 
his  attorney  Mr.  Macindoe),  Messrs.  Carson  & 
CM..pa»y  (Vesentea  bv  Mr.  Macmloe , Mr. 
\V.  Sliakespeare,  and  (by  proxy)  Mi.  G.  K. 
^^n^tiie  motion  of  tlie  Chairman  seconded  by 
Mr  Waldock  the  report  and  accounts  as 
appended  were  taken  as  read. 
4nPEniNTENDENCK.-The  Directors  have  to  report 
i Mr  G Mortimer  Crabbe  was  appointed  Manager 
rrrnpeedod  last  year  to  Nyassaland  to  take 
and  romnanv’s  land.  In  order  to  develop 
charge  J'  , j i/was  considered  advisable  that 
til  Si,,  ,h»uld  *0  b«  aud 
Messrs.  L.  T.  Moggridge  and  S.  Robins  were  ap- 
pointed. They  arrived  at  Chinde  on  15th  May, 
1896. 
Progress  of  Work. — The  latest  advices  dated  8th 
May,  1896,  report  that  55  acres  had  been  felled,  15 
burnt  and  12  holed,  in  addition  to  the  10  acres  planted 
December,  1895.  At  the  time  of  writing,  Mr.  Crabbe 
had  210  people  working,  and  if  labor  continued  plenti- 
ful he  hoped  to  have  about  200  acres  opened  this 
year. 
Seed. — So  far  the  Directors  have  been  unable  to 
procure  any  from  Brazil  but  efforts  are  still  being 
made  to  got  some.  At  present  the  plants  and  seed 
have  to  be  bought  from  neighbouring  estates  in 
Nyassaland. 
Purchase  of  Land.— Only  the  1,500  acres  block 
has  up  to  date  been  transferred  to  the  Company. 
For  the  other  block  of  2,000  acres  referred  to  in  the 
Prospectus  and  the  circular  dated  7th  June,  1895,  a 
proper  title  has  not  yet  been  received,  but  it  is  hoped 
will  arrive  shortly. 
It  has  been  suggested  to  the  Directors  that  an 
Estate,  part  of  which  is  in  bearing  and  which  ad- 
joins the  Company’s  land,  should  be  acquired. 
Negotiations  are  in  progress,  and  if  it  can  be  bought 
at  a reasonable  figure  might  prove  a valuable  ad- 
dition and  enable  the  Company  to  give  the  Share- 
holders an  immediate  return  upon  their  invest- 
ment. 
It  will  be  necessary  to  elect  an  Auditor. 
Mr,  Shakespeare  proposed  and  Mr.  Waldock 
seconded  the  adoption  of  the  report.  Agreed. 
On  the  motion  of  the  Ch.airmaN  seconded 
by  Mr.  SHAKESPEARE,  Mr.  E.  R.  Waldock  was 
appointed  auditor  for  tlie  ensuing  year  at  a 
remuneration  of  R50  for  each  audit. 
Meeting  adjourned. 
JOHN  COMPANY. 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  policy  of  governing 
vast  expanses  of  barbarism  by  tlie  agency  of  private 
trading  corporations,  there  can  be  no  doubt  this  empire 
owes  its  present  commercial  pre-eminence  in  a large 
measure  to  the  enterprise  of  the  chartered  companies 
who  first  settled  most  of  the  Greater  Britain  of  today 
and  exploited  the  natural  riches  of  our  colonial  soil.  The 
reign  of  tlie  great  East  India  Company,  tlie  largest 
corporate  body  the  earth  has  ever  seen,  was  the  Golden 
Age  of  “ Mincing  Lane,”  and  the  rise  of  our  Eastern 
drug  and  spice  trade  is  directly  due  to  the  pioneering 
enterprise  of  the  East  India,  the  Turkey,  the  Russia, 
and  tlie  Cathay  Companies.  Indeed,  it  is  a commonplace 
that  it  was  largely  for  the  sake  of  securing  tliis  trade 
that  we  tir.-^t  ventured  in  tlie  Indian  seas  and  fought  the 
Dutcli  and  the  ‘ Portingales.’ 
It  seems  to  us  that  more  might  have  been  made  of 
this  very  interesting  branch  of  trade  in  Mr.  Geo.  Cawston 
and  Professor  Kean’s  ‘ Early  Chartered  Companies,’  which 
has  just  been  published ; but  perhaps  the  authors  re- 
quired all  the  space  at  their  disposal  to  deal  with  the 
political  and  economic  aspects  of  the  chartered  companies 
from  Henry  III.  to  Charles  II.,  and  were  thus  compelled 
to  restrict  themselves  to  the  smallest  compass  in  referring 
to  actual  trading  operations. 
How'  many  people  are  aware  that  there  was  a ‘ Made 
in  India  ’ agitation  two  centuries  before  anyone  had  heard 
of  ‘ Made'  in  Germany  ’ ? 'That  is  a fact  nevertheless.  In 
1681  the  Turkey  Company,  a rival  concern  of  the  East 
India  Company,  bi ought  a cliavge  before  Parliament  through 
a Mr.  Polexfen— wlio  appears  to  liave  been  the  Sir 
Howard  Vincent  of  liis  generation— accusing  the  India 
Company  of  ‘ exporting  immense  quantities  of  gold  and 
silver  with  but  little  cloth,  bringing  back  calicoes,  pepper, 
wrouglit  silks,  and  a deceitful  sort  of  raw  silk,’  the 
importation  of  manufactured  goods  from  abroad  beiiur 
' an  evident  damage  to  tlie  uoor  of  England.’  'The  East 
India  Company  were  furtner  accused  of  encouraging 
manufacturing  industry  in  India,  and  tlie  same  dire  con- 
sequences were  predicted  to  our  liome  iiulustries  tliat 
are  now  prognosticated  from  German  rivalry.  Nobody, 
however,  seems  to  have  been  one  penny  tlie  worse  in 
the  end. 
This  great  East  India  Company,  which  for  several 
generations  stood  for  the  name  of  BriUiin  in  tlio  East, 
wliich  brouglit  million.s  upon  millions  of  money  into 
this  country,  and  founded  an  empire  in  Hiiulostan,  wa.s 
established  by  a Royal  Charter  of  Elizabeth  in  1699 
with  a capital  of  only72,000f.  Four  years  later  the  fir^ 
