THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  I,  1896. 
240 
the  original  marks  be  obliterated.  The  remarking 
of  the  packages  may  be  carried  out  in  accordance 
with  the  wishes  of  the  parties  concerned. 
“ That  in  cases  in  wnich  packages  belonging  to  a 
particular  consignment  of  Coffee  or  Cocoa  are  im- 
proted  by  different  vessels  at  reasonable  interva’s, 
the  original  and  the  subsequent  consignment  may 
be  operated  upon  together  without  applicaton  to 
the  Board,  under  the  following  arrangements, 
viz. 
“ That,  on  request  to  the  Surveyor  of  the  station 
at  which  the  Coffee  or  Cocoa  is  to  be  warehoused, 
the  bringing  to  account  of  the  first  and  subse- 
quent consignments  may  be  deferred  until  the  ar- 
rival of  the  quantity  necessary  to  complete  the 
parcel,  when  the  whole  may  be  weighed  and 
bulked,  the  w'eights  being  brought  into  one  account 
in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  whole  had  actually 
arrived  by  the  vessel  which  brought  the  original 
consignment.” 
This  is  to  say,  the  holders  of  coffee  in  bond  may 
manipulate  as  they  like  to  suit  the  market,  under 
Government  protection.  Already,  I am  assured  by 
experts,  casks  of  good  marks  are  worth  money,  for 
they  may  be  taken  into  bonded  warehouses  in 
London — not  as  yet  in  Liverpool — filled  with  a mix- 
ture, or  with  some  cheaper  Costa  Rican  brand,  and 
sent  out  as  Plantation  Ceylon  or  .Jamaica.  The 
Costa  Rica  substitute  may,  as  coffee,  be  as  good 
as  the  Jamaica  it  purports  to  be,  but  the  regula- 
tion will  permit  a merchant  to  palm  off  a coffee 
worth  16s  a cwt.  less  in  the  market,  and  to  de- 
fraud the  buyer  of  that  sum.  It  is  as  though  you 
had  some  cheap,  though  passable  cigars  in  bond, 
and  the  Government  pennitted  you  to  take  in  1,000 
boxes  of  a popular  and  dearer  brand,  fill  them 
with  the  cheaper  cigars,  and  send  them  out  as  a 
grand  new  consignment  of  Marias,  say,  just  cleared 
from  bond.  If  the  faking  or  mixing  be  done  in 
bond,  the  original  marks  must  be  destroyed  ; but 
any  other  mark  may  be  used,  and  obviously,  what- 
ever the  other  mark  be,  it  cannot  accurately  des- 
cribe the  contents  of  the  package.  This  not  only 
opens  the  way  to  the  palming  of  cheaper  coffees  for 
dearer  ones  upon  larger  dealers;  but  it  makes  it 
quite  easy  to  foist  upon  the  man  who  buys  a smalt 
parcel  a very  inferior  coffee,  deliberately  prepared 
under  lying  marks  to  deceive  him.  Thus  the  re- 
tailer is  likely  to  suffer,  and  through  him  the  con- 
sumer— who  drinks  enough  poor  coffee  as  it  is — 
that  the  large  export  houses  may  be  in  a position 
to  manipulate,  fake,  and  cheat  as  easily  as  their 
foreign  rivals.  The  “ bought  from  bond  ” phrase  will 
be  a mere  deception,  for  Government  has  deliberately 
shut  its  eyes  and  opened  its  warehouse  to  pos- 
sible fraud.  It  is  a very  disgraceful  policy,  it  throws 
principle  to  the  winds,  it  may  involve  the  Govern- 
ment in  connivance  in  many  a swindle,  and  destroys 
the  value  of  the  security  of  bond. 
Thus  we  have  had  a glimpse  into  some  of  the 
secrets  of  the  coffee  trade,  which,  I think,  is  in- 
teresting, and  wo  have  seen  the  great  English 
Government,  reputed  for  honesty  at  least  in  some 
things,  willingly  making  itself  a partner  in  a scheme 
to  meet  foreign  trickery  with  home  made  trickery. 
Some  M.  P.  w'ith  a desire  to  be  useful  ought  to  take 
a few  moments  of  the  time  of  this  wearisome 
session  to  make  some  pointed  inquiries  on  this 
matter. — Manchester  Sunday  Chronicle,  July  2(i. 
INDIAN  TEA  SHARES. 
A great  deal  of  interest  is  being  taken  just  now 
in  the  shares  of  Indian  tea  companies,  and  it  be- 
hoves us  in  the  interests  of  the  investing  public  to 
give  some  little  attention  to  the  matter,  especi.allv  as 
there  is  some  probability  of  a lot  of  rubbish  being 
foisted  on  the  market.  It  is  no  secret  that  when- 
ever the  investing  public  want  a new  kind  of  invest- 
ment the  promoting  world  is  always  ready  to 
supply  them,  and  at  such  times  it  is  neees.sary  to 
be  very  careful  in  making  a selection.  We  give  below 
a table  of  what  may  be  regarded  as  tho  beat 
companies  at  the  present  time,  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  quotations  of  their  shares.  It  will  be 
found  that  we  have  excluded  several  well-known 
concerns,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  either  their 
shares  are  difficult  to  get,  or  that  they  have  been 
raised  to  such  a level  as  to  make  it  impolitic  to 
buy  them.  For  instance,  the  Dooars  Company  may 
be  regarded  as  the  very  doyen  of  the  business,  yet 
it  can  scarcely  be  denied  that  the  shares  are  as  high 
as  they  should  be.  Of  course,  the  Ordinary  shares 
return  about  6 per  cent,  on  the  money,  but  these, 
we  believe,  are  scarcely  obtainable.  If  they  can 
be  got  they  are  good  enough  to  keep  The 
Preferences  yield  something  less  than  4 per  cent. 
Among  the  Ceylon  companies  there  is  greater 
scarcity,  and  possibly  the  very  best  concerns  are 
quite  beyond  the  reach  of  the  investing  public.  The 
following  list  of  companies,  with  their  capitals,  may 
be  regarded  as  including  those  concerns  whose  shares 
are  not  too  high,  and  in  which  there  is  a fairly 
free  market : Capital. 
■b 
Assam  ..  ..  187,lti0 
Chargola  ..  ..  ..  l.')3,010 
Darjeeling..  ..  ..  135,420 
^ Doom  Dooma  . . . . 149,270 
Jokai  . . . . , . 300,000 
Jorehaut  ..  ..  100,000 
Lebong  . . , . . . 65,656 
Lungla  . . . . . . 200,000 
Jhanzi  ..  ..  ..  83,500 
Scottish  Assam  . . . . 79,590 
Ceylon  Tea  Plantation  . . 248,460 
mi  r 11  • ill  • • . . n » 
The  following  table  gives  a list  of  what  may  be 
regarded  as  the  best  and  relatively  cheapest  Tea 
shares  at  the  present  time,  w'hich  are  for  the  most 
part  pref  erable  to  those  new  issues  which  are  of  the 
nature  of  blind  pools.  The  prices  that  a.re  given 
are  those  which  should  not  be  exceeded  by  purchasers, 
and  if  the  shares  cannot  be  got  at  these  figures,  then 
they  had  better  be  left  alone : — 
At  not  over 
Assam  . , 59 
British  Indian  . . 4g 
Cachar  and  Dooars  . . 12 
Doomes  . . 18 
Jorehaut  . , 57 
Lungla  Ordinary  . . 12 
Scottish  Assam  . . 10^ 
Chargola  . . 4-1 
Majuli  ..  8 
Chargola  Pref.  . . 30s 
Lungla  Prefs.  . . 135 
Assam  Mortgage  Prefs.  . , 13^ 
Dumbula  Valley  Prefs.  ..  6J 
If  the  investing  public,  with  a w'eakness  for  tea 
shares,  will  confine  themselves  to  the  securities  that 
we  have  mentioned,  they  will  not  go  far  wrong. — 
Bullionist,  'July  2. 
THE  EILA  TEA  COMPANY  OF  CEYLON 
LIMITED. 
An  ordinary  general  meeting  of  this  Company  was 
lield  on  tlie  29tli  Aug.  at  noon  in  the  office  of  Messrs. 
J.  M.  Robertson  & Co.,  agents  and  secretaries* 
Mr.  Heniw  Bois  ine.sided,  and  pre.sent  were 
Me.ssr.s.  W.  E.  Mitchell,  F.  Lie.sching,  .1.  M. 
Mason,  and  Gordon  Bobs  (Secretary),  and  Sir.  A.  E. 
Scovell  (as  a visitor). 
The  Skcrktaky  read  notice  calling  tho  meet- 
ing and  minutes  of  last  half-ye.arly  meeting,  which 
latter  uere  confirmed. 
TTIK,  ANXIT.U,  REl'OUT 
is  as  follows  : — 
The  Directoi's  have  tho  pleasure  to  submit  their 
Report  and  Accounts  for  the  year  ending  3()th  Juno, 
1896. 
The  crop  ou  Eila  Estate  has  slightly  exceeded 
tho  estimate,  but  the  Crop  from  Ivanangaina  was  a 
little  under  that  estimated.  The  total  crops  from 
the  two  Estates  amounted  to  358,066  lb.  against  an 
estimate  of  360,000  lb. 
