264 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  r,  1896, 
iiitcrest  during  these  twelve  year!?,  tliougli  hy 
wh.ic  manner  of  hooIc-kee|iing  any  intei'est  can 
be  shown  to  liave  accrue(l  in  tliis  peiiod  when 
a large  s\ini  was  eontiimously  .stan  ling  to  tlie 
credit  of  the  plantalions,  we  fail  to  mulei stand.  Tlic 
estates  should  have  been  earning  a con.siilcrali'e 
sum  of  interest  on  their  une.xpendeil  balance  all  this 
time.  The  Madr.as Government  h.as apparently  ac- 
cepted Dr.  King’s  tignres.  Whether  M’e  write 
oil'  these  R2.\  lakhs  prolit  as  dne  for  interest  or 
let  them  stand  as  clear  piolit  iloes  not  signify, 
for  this  imiiortant  fact  remains.  On  the  1st 
April,  ISO.'),  Government  owned,  free  of  all  cost 
and  charge,  800  acres  of  cinchona,  a quinine 
factory  in  good  working  order,  to  say  nothing  of 
bungalows,  stores,  cooly  lines,  tools,  cattlc-grnz- 
ing  grounds,  &,c.  “The  e.stvic.s,”  wrote  Dr. 
King,  “ are  in  my  opinion  a valuable  property.  ’ 
The  property  in  itself,  quite  apart  from  the 
cultivation  and  factory,  we  may  add,  i.s  very 
valuahlev  At  .any  moment  now  Governnumt  can 
capitalise  and  retire  from  the  .active  life  of  a cin- 
chona ))lanter  .and  (piinine  ni.anufctuier,  with  a 
comfortable  little  sum  to  its  credit,  gained  in  this 
very  unconventiomal  branch  of  .administration. 
We  do  not  desire  Government  to  retire  at 
the  present  time;  but  we  do  wish  to  most  dis- 
tinctly emph.asise  that  it  is  in  a i>ositi  >n  to  re- 
tire at  any  time  now  to  its  pecuniary  profit. 
We  have  alre.ady  mentioned  that  tlie  sales  of 
quinine  during  the  year  under  review  e.xceedcd  the 
output  of  the  factory.  The  .actual  amount  sold 
w.as  0,644  lb.  sulphate  and  2,666  lb.  febrifuge, 
against  .3,600  1b.  and  2,284  lb.  in  the  previous 
year.  These  figures  aie  most  satisfactory  and 
bear  eloquent  testimony  to  the  splendid  way  in 
which  the  late  Mr.  Lawson  had  worked  up 
this  branch  of  the  business.  We  merely  reconl 
these  figures  here;  Government  issues  a jiapcr 
annually  detailing  the  manner  in  which  its 
quinine  is  distributed,  and  when  this  comes 
to  h.and  we  sh.all  have  an  opiiortunity  of  going 
more  fully  into  the  figures.  In  the  Administra- 
fion  lleiiort,  the  full  v.alue  of  their  sales  is 
credited  in  last  year’s  accounts  although  the 
output  of  the  factory  fell  short  of  tlie  sales  by 
some  2,000  lb.  of  suiphate  and  400  lb.  of  febri- 
fuge. Isatur.ally  a prolit  is  .shown,  which  is  set 
down  at  l{26,13.'5-2-8.  Government  in  its  order, 
states  that  it  “notes  with  satisfaction  that  the 
net  result  of  the  operations  (during  the  year 
under  review)  was  a gain  of  about  1126,13.).” 
This  does  not  say  much  for  Government’s  criti- 
cism of  the  figures.  We  will  give  e.x.actly  the  net 
results  of  the  operations  in  ISO.a-OO.  The  amount 
of  bark  harvested  was  229,700  lb.,  the  amount 
treated  in  the  factory  was  233,800  lb.  For  all 
practical  purposes  we  may  say  that  the  whole  of 
the  year’s  harvesting  went  through  the  factory. 
The  result  of  this  was  3,600  lb.  of  quinine 
which  realised  K.")3,600,  this  after  making  due 
allow.ance  for  the  iiroportion  sold  to  Government 
institutions  at  K14  per  lb.  .and  to  judvate  parties 
.at  U16  per  11).  There  were  also  manufactured 
2,284  lb.  of  febrifuge,  v.alue  1122, 840  ; so  the  total 
value  of  the  year’s  outinit  from  field  .and  f.actory 
was  K76,440.  The  cx])enditure  for  the  year  .ag- 
gregated K82,r>60,  consef|uently  the  net  result  of 
the  operations  w.as  a loss  of  116,120.  We  .are 
fully  aware  that  it  is  ])ossible  to  .argue  that  ex- 
traneous circumstaticcs  .accounted  for  this  .small 
deficit.  At  the  same  time,  we  do  not  believe 
th.at  .any  explanation  can  be  foithcoming  tosliow 
how  this  <lefi  d(.  could  beturnctl  into  the  substantial 
ju'ofit,  whiidi,  ri‘ganled  from  a commerci.al  si, and- 
point,  should  have  resulted.  Government  occupies 
diia-1  jjositioii  of  cinchona  planter  and 
quinine  maker,  and  in  both  cases  is  situated 
almost  favourably.  As  cinchona  planter,  it  is 
able  to  <lisi)ose  of  the  whole  of  its  ))roduce 
straight  from  the  field.  There  are  no  tiainsjioit 
expenses,  or  c.x|)cnses  for  baling  and  sliiiiping ; 
freight,  marine  insuiance  and  London  charges  are 
also  saved,  .and  Governmenl’s  margin  of  i)rolit  is 
consequently  far  l.arger  than  the  ordinary  |danter’s. 
In  .a  similar  manner  as  (juininc-maker  it  is  sp.arcd 
all  the  expenses  on  the  raw  m.atcrial  between  the 
market  and  the  factory,  and  it  is  moreover  aide 
to  dispose  of  .as  mucli  of  the  manufacluicd  art  iede 
as  it  turns  out  at  the  same  wholesale  ja'ice  .as 
Messis.  Howard  and  Sons.  We  do  not  write 
with  any  technic.al  knowleilge  of  quinine  making, 
.and  it  m.ay  be  that  the  utilisation  of  waste 
l)rodiicts  and  the  facilities  for  obtaining  (dicmicals 
places  ,a  Kuropcan  lactory  in  a more  .advantageous 
jiosiiion  than  one  in  Indi.i.  Hut  the  f.act  re- 
mains th.at  a concern,  able  to  do  without  the 
middleman  cither  in  the  imrcliase  of  the 
raw  material  or  sale  of  the  manufactured 
.artiide,  and  situated  close  to  its  source  of 
su|>ply  and  in  the  centre  of  the  markets  it  feeds, 
occupies  ,a  most  favour.able  position.  I’res)'.ming 
that  Government  pays  no  more  for  its  bark  than 
do  the  London  and  contim.mtal  manufacturers, 
there  should  be  .a  large  prolit  annually  on  its  oper- 
ations. 
The  .accounts  furnished  with  the  Administra- 
tio.i  Report  .are  tabulated  in  such  a manner  .as 
to  su])ply  the  least  information  possible  to  the 
oulside  public.  Were  these  plantations  the  pro- 
perty of  a private  Com|»any,  the  acconnls  of 
cultivation  and  of  manufacture  would  be  kept 
s“|)arately,  ami  establishment  and  superintend- 
ence fair'y  apportioned  between  the  two.  'J'hi.s 
item  is  and  has  been  an  exceedingly  heavy  one, 
anti  in  the  year  umler  review  out  of  a total 
oxj)enditnre  of  R82,.560,  no  less  than  H.34,429  ap- 
pears under  “ establishment  including  Superintend- 
ent's salary,”  Now  that  the  appointment  of  Govern- 
ment Quinologist  has  been  abolished  this  expense 
will  be  lightened  butit  will  still  remain  heavy.  'J'hc 
one  thing  we  wish  more  i)articul.arly  to  know 
is  what  does  the  factory  pay  for  its  bark 
licr  unit?  'I'lie  (ignres  wo  have  ipiotcd  seem  to 
point  to  ,a  considerably  higher  price  than 
the  one  ruling  in  the  Lf)ndon  market,  or,  to 
l)ut  our  meaning  in  other  words,  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  Government  ca,n  buy  its 
bark  cheaper  in  the  ojien  market  than  it  can 
grow  it.  That  this  is  not  unlikely  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  th.at  Mr.  L.awsou 
considpred  two  fifths  of  the  i)lantations  hardly 
worth  cultivating,  ami  Dr.  King  conlirmed  bis 
view.  Theoretically  Government  h,as  no  more  right 
to  cultiv.ate  cinchona  and  make  quinine  than  it  nas 
to  grow  barley  and  brew  malt-liquors.  Practi- 
cally the  two  cases  arc  not  on  the  same  fooling, 
and  so  long  as  the  quinine  is  distributcil 
among  a fever-stricken  population,  m Iio  could  not 
otherwise  obtain  the  drug,  so  long,  we  main- 
tain, is  Government  justified  in  its  action.  Hut 
at  the  same  time  the  work  must  be  c,arrie<l  on  on 
strictly  commercial  princii)les,  ami  the  annual 
accounts  ought  to  be  drawn  up  in  the  same  way  as 
though  the  undertaking  were  in  private  hands. 
The  most  important  work  in  the  future  will  lie  in 
the  field  r.athcr  than  in  the  factory,  and  rc<iuires 
the  services  of  a practical  ])lanter.  The  art  of 
successful  planting  lies  in  obt.aining  the 
maximnm  croj)  with  the  minimum  cx- 
))cnditure  without  any  deterioi  ation  of  the 
plant.  To  this  end  a ])lanter  continually 
works  .and  it  is  only  long  experience  that 
ensures  success.  Unless  the  very  closest  supervi- 
