Dec,  I,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
BONDED  STORE, 
with  oflicers  oi  H.M.  Customs  in  uniform  in 
charge,  Mr.  Lipton’s  employes  working  inside.  I 
am  not  sure  if  any  other  London  Tea  dealer  has 
a private  Bonded  Store  on  his  premises?  Here, 
of  course,  only  tea  for  re-export  for  foreign  coun* 
tries  or  colonies — and  therefore  duty  free— is 
allowed  in  or  out.  And  here  I may  beg  special 
attention  on  the  part  of  Ceylon  planters  to  the 
business  which  Mr.  Lipton  has  developed.  We 
saw  a huge  array  of  chests  marked  for  New  York^ 
Chicago  and  Toronto  and  learned  that  his 
American  tea-trade  in  charge  of  his  former  Cal- 
cutta manager  is  developing  rapidly  and  entirely 
to  Mr.  Lipton’s  satisfaction.  The  irrocess  of 
educating  the  American  ])alate  to  understand  the 
difference  between  good  and  bad  (and  even  arti- 
ficially treated)  teas  is  going  on  steadily.  For 
St.  I’etersburg,  where  Mr.  Lipton  has  now  a 
highly  successful  branch,  a single  order  for  3,000 
chests  of  tea  was  being  executed.  Besides  these 
we  saw  considerable  consignments  of  tea  chests 
in  this  warehouse  marked  for  Durban  and  Fort 
Elizabeth  in  South  Africa ; Buenos  Ayres, 
Bio  de  Janeiro  and  Valparaiso  in  South 
America ; Barcelona  and  Hamburg  and  Alex- 
andria. Here  is  enough  of  indubitable 
evidence  to  show  how  wide  a tea  distributor 
Lipton  is.  It  is  specially  interesting  to  learn  the 
)»i  inciplc  on  w’hich  he  began  and  continued  busi- 
ness : all  projitu  to  go  in  adcertising—  ilui  secret 
of  so  enormous  a bu.siness  being  built  up.  [It 
reminds  one  of  the  American  storekeeper  who, 
coming  into  a big  legacy,  thought  he  w'ould 
throw-  awTiy  L40,O00  in  advertisements  to  make 
his  name  know'ii  as  his  “pile”  w'as  made— the 
result  being  that  he  had  to  Turange  forthwith 
to  double  his  stores  and  employes  !]  In  advertis- 
ing, Mr.  Lipton  told  me  he  never  now  spends 
less  than  £1,000  a week  : sometimes  £1,500. 
THE  COCOA  AND  CHOCOLATE  DEPARTMENT, 
a separate  block,  was  extremely  interesting,  had 
I had  time  to  watch  the  various  curious  machines 
and  modes  of  manufacture  designed  by  the 
Manager,  Mr.  Kozairo  (a  Frenchman),  more  closely. 
In  all  branches  of 
CONFECTIONFBY 
as  well  as  in  so  many  staple  articles  of 
FOOD 
of  baking — pies,  etc.,  as  well  as  sansage-m.aking, 
ham-making — Lipton  excels  ; in  fact,  he  only  added 
tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  and  chocolate,  to  these  of  late 
years.  The  sam|)le-room,  iiunlc  up  with  French 
taste  for  confcctioneiy  ami  tinned  goods,  is  an 
attractive  sight.  A separate  ))acking-r()om  was 
devoted  to  orders  from  the  Army  and  Navy. 
Another  to  butter  and  cheese. 
I omitted  to  mention  the  huge  revolving  cy- 
linders in  one  room  for 
BLENDING 
the  teas  with  the  ho]>pers  in  a floor  above,  into 
which  chests  are  literally  emptied  by  the  dozen. 
The  weekly  sales  a’e  said  to  equal  200  tons  from 
Lipton’s  stores. — I must,  however,  close  this  hasty 
and  discursive  notice  of  the  result  of  my  three 
hours’  wamlering  and  observation  : let  anyone 
who  thinks  1 have  said  too  much  go  and  see  for 
himSelf  and  he  will  conclude  the  Inilf  was  not 
told  me.  Again  in  South  London  there  is  a .separ- 
ate establishment,  I was  told,  where  700  woipen 
— in  all,  )ierl!aps,  1 ,000  employes — are  engaghf]  in 
the  preiiaration,  packing,  etc  , of  jams  and  jellies; 
and  yet  there  a[)])carcd  to  be  no  one  so  cool  and 
nnconcerne<l  in  the  City  Koad  offices  as  the 
responsible  and  sole  head  of  this  most  world  wide 
business— Mr.  Lii)ton  himself. 
54 
433 
THE  CALEDONIAN  (CEYLON)  TEA 
PLANTATIONS,  LIMITED. 
Eeport  of  the  Directors  to  be  submitted  to  the 
Third  Annual  Ordinary  General  Meeting  of  Share- 
holders, to  be  held  at  11,  Old  Broad  Street,  in  the 
City  of  London,  on  Wednesday,  the  11th  day  of  Novem- 
ber 1896,  at  3 o’clock  p.m. 
The  Directors  beg  to  submit  the  accounts  for  the 
year  ended  30th  June,  1896,  duly  audited. 
The  profit  and  loss  accounts,  after  payment  of  in- 
terest, London  charges  and  income  tax,  and  writing 
off  £250  for  depreciation,  and  £200  the  balance  of 
debenture  issue  and  transfer  .of  estates  expenses, 
shows  a credit  balance  of  £2,014  8s  4d  for  the  year, 
to  which  has  to  be  added  £334  18s  2d,  the  balance 
brought  forward  from  1894-5,  making  a total  of 
£2, .349  6s  6d. 
The  directors  recommend  the  payment  out  of  this 
amount  of  a dividend  for  the  year  of  12  per  cent, 
free  of  income  tax,  which  will  absorb  £1,800,  and 
leave  a balance  of  £549  6s  6d  to  be  carried  forward. 
The  yield  of  tea  from  the  estates  has  been  a6 
follows  : — 
Venture  ..  ..  193,676  lb, 
Selegama  ..  ..  77,140  lb. 
Total  ..  ..  270,816  lb. 
Against  an  estimate  of  . . 270,000  lb. 
and  a total  crop  in  1894-5  of  240,900  lb. 
and  1893-4  of  . . . . 235,237  lb. 
The  yield  of  coffee  from  Venture  is  now  reduced 
to  a very  small  quantity. 
The  total  acreage  and  the  area  planted  in  tea  are 
as  follows 
Total.  Tea  in  full  Tea  1 year 
bearing,  and  under. 
Venture  . . 406  acres  389  acres  
Selagama  • . 934  198  „ 225  acres 
On  Selagama  77  acres  more  have  been  cleared  and 
will  be  planted  this  year,  which  will  make  the  total 
area  of  this  estate  planted  in  tea  500  acres. 
At  the  same  time  that  the  yield  of  tea  has  in- 
ci'eased,  there  has  also  been  a rise  in  the  net  aver- 
age prices  year  by  year,  although  the  average  price 
of  the  total  market  sales  has  been  declining. 
The  crop  estimates  for  1896-7  are : — 
Venture  . . . . 200,000  lb.  tea. 
Seligama  . . . . 82,000  „ „ 
The  last  advices  report  both  estates  in  good  con- 
dition, and  the  yield  of  tea  leaf  fully  up  to  that  of 
last  season  at  the  same  time. 
In  accordance  with  No.  96  of  the  Articles  of 
A.ssociation,  two  of  the  Directors,  Mr.  William  Gow 
and  Mr.  II.  P.  Hanssen,  retire  from  the  Board,  but, 
being  eligible,  offer  themselves  for  re-election. 
An  auditor  has  to  be  elected  in  the  place  of  Mr. 
A.  N.  Frewor,  A.C  A.,  who  has  accepted  an  appoint- 
ment requiring  his  entire  attention,  and  therefore 
does  not  offer  himself  for  re-election. — By  order  of 
the  Board,  H.  F.  Stanley,  Secretary. 
11,  Old  Broad  Street,  London,  E.O.,  31st,  Oct.,  1896. 
A CEYLON  PLANTER  ON  HIS  JOUR- 
NEYINGS  IN  EUROPE  AND 
SOUTH  \ ERICA, 
We  have  been  favoured  with  the  following  in* 
teresting  conimunication  from  Mr.  John  Fraser 
of  Brae  wlio  lias  just  returned  from  a triji  to 
Europe  and  South  Africa 
Nearing  Galle,  Nov.  20th,  1896. 
Impressions  formed  on  a run  from  Ceylon 
via  England  and  Scotland,  the  Conti- 
nent of  Euroiic  and  South  Africa— by  a Ceylon 
planter  ; — 
Tlie  “ Himalaya”  steamed  into  dock  in  London 
on  1st  June  after  a most  pleasant  and  agreeable 
passage  from  Ceylon — and  there  we  parted  from 
those  we  knew  there  would  be  little  chance  of 
