398  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULtURIST.  [Dec.  i,  1896. 
know”  can  sudioiently  (Uscriininate  for  tliem- 
selves.  Proprietors  of  estates  of  low  elevation, 
so  long  as  they  are  satistieil  with  their  returns, 
will  trouble  themselves  little  about  average 
ftuotations.  Similarly,  those  whose  jjroductions 
are  obtained  at  higher  leads  would,  we  should 
say,  be  e(iually  satislied  with  </ooil  results  in 
their  balance  sheets,  ami  would  feel  no  alarm 
at  the  relative  decline  of  the  averages  publicly 
(quoted. 
NOTES  FROM  OUR  LONDON  LETTER. 
A good  many  of  us  liud 
ME.SSRS.  C;OW,  WILSON  A'  .ST.VNTONS’  WEEKLY 
REPORT 
of  the  tea  market  .somewhat  unpleasant  reading, 
for  their  quotation  of  Ceylon  tea  averages  has 
a persistently  downward  cour.se.  Remarking  on 
this  to  a gentleman  of  large  interest  in  Ceylon  and 
of  great  experience  with  the  Jjondon  tea  market, 
he  observed: — '•  Your  doulits  can  be  well  under- 
stood, and  it  seems  diliicult  to  account  for 
the  droop  of  quotations.  Rut  you  must  bear 
in  mind  that  they  are  of  general  averages  only. 
For  myself,  and  for  many  other  oM  projirietors 
in  Ceylon,  I can  only  say  tliat  we  do  not  ex- 
perience any  reiluction  in  our  average.  For  the 
last  three  years  mine  h.as  remained  pretty  con- 
stant. If  anything,  my  last  year’s  inices  were 
rather  better  than  for  the  two,  jireceeding  it. 
Rut  1 suspect  the  decline  shown  by  the  brokers’ 
weekly  reports  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  a lot 
of  low'country  estates  are  now  coming  into  full 
bearing,  and  that  tliese  are  sending  home  a very 
consiilerable  proportion  of  the  full  recei[)ts.  Cer- 
tainly the  quality  of  the  teas  produced  on  the-se 
is  below'  the  standard  of  my  own  teas,  which, 
as  you  know,  are  grown  at  a high  attitude,  and 
naturally  they  do  not  .sell  for  equally  high 
prices  as  I obtain.  Rut  then  they  are  pioduceil 
far  more  chea]ily  than  are  those  grown  well  up 
in  the  hills.  I suspect,  it  is  tins  inllux  of  low’cr 
class  teas  that  is  accountable  for  the  reduced 
average  of  the  brokers’  publication.  So  far  as 
the  bulk  of  the  tea  growers  in  Ceylon  are 
coricerned,  I don’t  believe  they  have  much  to 
gp  mble  at,  and  I feel  sure  that  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  low  estates  are  equally  well 
satislieil  with  their  returns.  Sixpence  per  lb. 
will  pay  these  last  quite  as  well  as  ninepcnce 
to  teiqieuee  will  [lay  me,  ami  certainly  1 have 
no  reason  for  complain.  Still  a good  many 
outsiders  who  watch  the  market  for  investment 
purposes  only  may  be  discouraged  by  what  they 
see  published  of  these  averages.  It  is  to  be 
wished  that  these  were  divided  for  high  and  low 
grown  teas  in  the  reports,  but  I don’t  know  if 
it  W'ould  be  possible  to  do  this.  Certainly  to  do 
so  w’ould  entail  much  extra  work,  and  probably 
it  nd"ht  be  complained  that  to  ilraw  such  a 
distinction  publicly  would  appear  invidious.  Rut 
neither  you  nor  any  of  your  friends  need  fancy 
from  the  reading  of  these  averages  that  Ceylon 
tea  planting  is  in  a bad  way.  The  enterprise 
is  sound  enough,  and  is  paying  w'ell  all  round.” 
The  oi)portuuity  of  this  interview  w'as  taken  to 
put  a ([uestion  as  to  the  possible  overdoing  of 
As  to  this  matter  the  gentleman  interviewed 
quite  think  this  is  being  overdone, 
and  concur  with  the  suggestion  that  appeared  in 
the  Oliarri'cr  that  it  may  seriously  ali'ect  the 
position  of  iilanting  imlnstries  in  Ceylon  should 
it  ever  unfortunately  happen  that  the  island  has 
to  pass  through  a crisis  of  the  kind  from  which 
it  has  before  on  more  tlian  a single  occa 
sion  suflered.  But  1 don’t  think  there  is  any 
chance  of  this  Company-mongering  coming  to 
an  end.  What  I cannot  understand,  how'ever, 
is  how  it  comes  about  that  men  are  so  anxious 
to  sell  the  properties  they  own.  Naturally,  of 
course,  they  are  at  present  able  to  get  top 
)>rices  for  them,  taking  advantage  of  the  exis- 
ting “rush.”  Rut  then  when  they  get  their 
price  what  are  they  to  do  with  the  money?  It 
is  hopeless  to  expect  they  can  .safely  invest  it 
here  so  as  to  obtain  a return  upon  it  equiva- 
valent  to  the  income  derived  frotn  their  tea 
estates.  It  seems  to  me  that  all  they  can  do  is 
to  reinvest  in  tea  in  soi.ie  form  or  other,  and  I 
know  of  cases  where,  failing  every  other  eligi- 
ble investment,  tliis  has  had  to  he  done.  And 
this  investment,  mind,  must  be  made  on  terms 
equivalent  to  tho.se  which  secured  the  liigh 
prices  for  their  estates.  So  that  really  there 
seems  to  be  no  logic  about  the  transactions  that 
we  daily  hear  of.  Rut  in  spite  of  this  men 
will  be  tempted  by  the  oilers  made  by  com- 
pany i)romoters,  and  the  practice  will  be  ex- 
tend eduntil  every  acre  of  laud  cultivated  w'ith  tea 
iu  the  island  will  fall  into  the  ])ossession  of  lindted 
companies.  No  cessation  of  the  practice  can  be 
hoped  for  until  tliat  area  is  completely  taken  up.” 
THE  L.\TE  DU.  TRI.MEN. 
We  greatly  regretted  to  read  this  announce- 
ment in  the  Times  this  week: — “ Triinen  : on 
the  16  (Jet.,  at  Peradeniya,  Ceylon,  Henry  Trimen, 
M.B.  London,  F.u.  s. , late  Director  of  the 
Royal  Botanical  Gardens  there,  in  his  53rd 
year.”  We  know  that  Dr.  Trimen  will 
be  greatly  missed  among  you,  as,  indeed,  he 
will  be  here  in  many  .social  and  scienti He  circles. 
The  following  obituary  notice  has  also  appeared 
n the  Times  : — 
Mr.  Henry  Triraen,  r.ii.s.,  f.l.s  , the  eminent 
botanist,  died  at  his  residence  iu  Ceylon  on  the 
16th  inst.  He  was  born  in  London  in  1843,  was  edu- 
cated at  King's  College,  and  giaduated  M.li.  at  the 
University  ot  London  in  I86.'>.  For  a time  he  was 
Curator  at  the  Anatomical  Museum  of  King’s  College 
and  Lecturer  on  Botany  at  St.  Mary's  Hospital 
Medical  School.  Entering  the  Botanical  Department 
of  the  British  Museum  as  Seinor  Assistant  iu  186‘J, 
he  held  that  post  for  ten  years.  In  1880,  he  was 
appointed  Director  of  the  Iloyal  Botanic  Gardens, 
Ceylon,  which  appointment  ho  only  quite  recently 
resigned.  Dr.  Trimen  was  editor  of  the  Journal  of 
/lotanii,  187‘2-70;  and  he  was  the  author  of  “ Flora 
of  Middlesex  ” (written  iu  conjunction  with  Mr. 
Thiselton  Dyer) ; of  the  botanical  portion  of  “ Medi- 
cinal Plants,”  a work  in  four  volumes  published 
1875  80;  of  a Systematic  Catalogue  of  the  Plants  of 
Ceylon,”  1885  ; and  of  a “ Handbook  to  the  Flora 
of  Ceylon,”  1893.  He  was  likewise  the  author  of 
numerous  papers  in  the  Transaction  of  various  learned 
and  scientific  societies.  He  devoted  special  attention 
to  the  economic  aspects  of  botany,  particularly 
to  the  sources  of  drugs  and  other  products,  especially 
of  tropical  countries.  Some  years  ago  he  was  engaged 
by  the  Madras  Government  to  report  on  the  bota- 
nical and  cultural  problems  presented  by  the  cinchona 
plantations  iu  the  Nilgiri  Hills  ; and’  he  was  the 
means  of  introducing  into  cultivation  in  Ceylon  many 
useful  and  valuable  products  of  other  countries. 
The  reiiort  of  tho 
SCOTTISH  TRUST  AND  LOAN  COMPANY  OK 
CEYI.ON 
lias  been  pulilished  for  the  year  ended  August 
31.  It  states  a prolit  made  of  i’S,7ll  net.  Th« 
directors  jiropose  to  pay  a dividend  of  .>  per  cent 
per  annum,  tree  of  income  tax,  {'2^  per  cent  of 
which  was  paid  as  an  interim  dividend  this  j'ear) 
and  a bonu.s  of  7i  per  cent,  also  free  ot  income 
tax.  There  will  remain  a balance  of  T3,086  to 
cany  forward  to  next  account. 
