THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
461 
Jan.  I,  1897.] 
THE  BORNEO  COFFEE  COMPANY,  LTD. 
The  Annual  General  Meeting  of  the  Shareholders 
of  this  Company  was  held  at  the  Office  of  the  Company 
24,  Rood  Lane,  on  Wednesday,  28rd  Sept,  at  3 p.m., 
Ml-.  C.  A.  Whitehead  presided.  After  the  business  of 
the  meeting  was  over  the  Chairman  called  upon  Mr. 
Henry  Walker,  who  had  recently  returned  from 
Borneo,  to  address  the  Meeting  which  he  did,  as 
follows : — 
Having  lately  returned  from  North  Borneo,  the 
Shareholders  will  probably  be  glad  to  hear  some 
details  concerning  our  Estate,  which  1 visited  a few 
days  before  my  departure — 
The  present  planted  acreage  is  185  acres  planted 
with  Liberian  Coffee,  and  25  acres  planted  with 
coconuts,  and  from  about  100  acres  of  the  older 
coffee  I expect  we  shall  this  year  get  a crop  of 
about  300  piculs  or  say  350  cwts.  A large  area  will 
be  in  bearing  next  year,  and  I believe  we  shall  get 
nearly  600  piculs  of  coffee,  or  about  double  what  we 
expect  to  pick  this  year.  When  sending  in  my  es- 
timate of  crops  for  the  current  year  I noted  what 
amount  of  crops  we  might  expect  each  month  of 
this  year,  and  I see  from  the  Manager’s  returns, 
which  we  have  received  for  the  first  four  months, 
that  the  crop  already  gathered  is  in  excess  of  the 
amount  I estimated  for  the  four  months. 
Estimated  gatherings,  four  months  ending  31st 
July  326  piculs  cherry. 
Crops  gathered  . . . . 386  ,,  ,, 
ten  piculs  of  cherry  turn  out  one  of  clean  coffee. 
The  appearance  of  the  estate  generally  is  very  pro- 
mising. 
W'e  have  hitherto  had  great  difficulty  in  keeping  the 
estate  clean,  and  a very  serious  expenditure  has 
annually  been  incurred  on  weeding,  but  now  that  we 
have  a large  supply  of  coolies  we  have  been  able  to 
cope  with  this  difficulty,  the  estate  is  being  gradually 
cleaned  up  and  the  Manager’s  later  reports  shew  a 
saving  on  the  estimate.  When  I last  visited 
the  estate,  in  April  and  May,  I was  able  to  compli- 
ment the  Manager  and  assistant  on  the  great 
improvement  under  the  item  of  weeding, 
and  I anticipate  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
get  and  to  keep  the  land  thoroughly  clear 
of  weeds,  and  in  this  we  shall  be  assisted  by 
the  growth  of  the  coffee,  which  will  shade  the 
ground  as  it  ages.  Our  oldest  field,  27  acres, 
is  a proof  of  this,  as  it  is  perfectly  clean,  and  the 
cost  is  only  fifteen  dollars  a month  or  about  55 
cents  per  acre. 
To  enable  us  to  cope  with  the  weeding  during  tbe 
wet  season,  a strong  force  of  coolies  is  requisite,  and 
this  we  have  now  got.  We  had  to  go  to  consider- 
able expense  in  providing  accommodation  for  our 
coolies,  and  in  putting  up  a bungalow  for  the  assistant, 
and  I am  glad  to  be  able  to  tell  you  that  our 
eople  are  well  and  comfortably  housed.  We 
ave  never  had  to  contend  much  with  sick- 
ness, and  I am  glad  to  say  that  the  coolies  are 
in  a very  healthy  state.  The  food  supplied  by 
the  estate  shop  is  of  good  quality  and  the 
prices  of  the  principal  articles,  viz.,  rice,  fish,  salt, 
sugar,  etc.,  etc.,  are  on  a fixed  scale  of  prices,  a 
list  of  which,  in  Malay  and  Chinese,  is  hung  up  in 
the  shop.  In  addition  to  the  estate  shop  there  are 
several  shops  at  the  new  Government  Station  on  the 
Bay,  which  is  about  two  miles  from  the  estate,  where 
our  coolies  can  also  buy  their  supplies,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  the  shops  the  Malay  and  Chinese  fisher- 
men bring  fresh  fish  to  the  estate  several  times  a 
week  ; besides  this  a Fupply  of  beef  and  poik  is 
frequently  obtainable  at  about  ten  and  twentj  cents 
the  catty  of  lb.,  or  say  about  twopence  and  four- 
pence  a pound,  and  fish  at  one  penny  a pound. 
Of  course,  when  we  first  commenced  operations, 
we  had  not  the  same  facilities  we  now- have.  Communi- 
cation with  Kudat  and  with  the  East  and  West  Coasts, 
is  now  possible  four  times  a month  by  means  of  the 
Sabah  Steamship  Co.,  w hose  steamers  call  at  Taritipan 
or  as  the  new  station  is  named,  Tanjong  Batu, 
where  there  is  a woeden  wharf;  and  later  on,  I 
think  it  is  likely  that  Holt’s  steamers  may  eventually 
call  for  the  tobacco  crops  from  the  five  tobacco  es- 
tates adjoining  our  estate.  From  Tanjong  Batu  to 
our  coffee  estate,  tbe  Government  has  lately  made 
a riding  path,  which  continues  through  our  land 
up  to  the  cart  road  on  the  adjoining  tobacco  estates, 
and  I hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  this 
riding  path  will  be  converted  into  a cart  road.  At 
present  our  transport  is  done  by  the  shop  boat, 
brings  the  shop  supply  from  Kudat  up  a creek  to 
the  estate  landing  place,  from  whence  the  goods  are 
carried  by  bullock  cart  along  our  private  cart  road, 
not  quite  half  a mile  to  the  shop,  which  is  close  to 
our  coffee  store.  The  expense  of  the  boat  and  boat- 
men is  borue  by  the  shops,  and  the  estate  finds  the 
bullock  cart  and  driver.  In  return  for  this  our  coffee, 
our  coolies,  and  our  estate  requirements  generally 
are  carried  to  or  from  Kudat  in  the  boat  free  of 
charge.  The  estimate  of  expenditure  on  transport 
for  the  current  year  is  not  large,  but  I see  that  the 
expenditure  for  the  first  four  months  is  less  than  the 
estimate. 
On  my  way  home  I visited  Selangor  and  Ceylon,  and 
after  comparing  our  coffee  with  that  of  our  competitors 
in  the  native  states  and  Ceylon,  I came  to  England 
more  convinced  that  it  was  my  duty  to  impress  ou 
your  Directors  the  desirability  of  increasing  our 
acreage.  We  have  the  labour  supply,  and  we  have 
the  management  necessary  to  carry  out  the  work.  In 
Mr.  Shuck  and  his  bi-other  we  have  the  assistance  of 
two  gentlemen  whose  hearts  are  in  their  w-ork,  and  on 
whose  energy  and  integrity  of  character  I have  the 
greatest  reliance,  but  the  acreage  the  Manager  has  in 
hand  is  too  small  for  the  cost  of  superintendence. 
With  the  same  superintendence  we  ought  to  have,  at 
least,  double  the  area,  and  the  Manager  and  the 
pssistant  will  reap  a benefit  by  the  system  we  have 
adopted  of  paying  a bonus  on  each  picul  of  crop 
picked,  the  larger  the  area  and  the  larger  the  crop  so 
the  bonus  will  increase. 
I think  we  ought  to  lose  no  time  in  planting  an 
additional  100  acres  with  coffee,  and  100  acres  with 
coconuts.  I have  supplied  your  Directors  with  esti- 
mates of  cost,  and  I have  shewn  that  the  additional 
cost  of  adding  to  our  present  acreage  is  really 
very  small.  We  require  no  new  buildings,  many  of 
the  expenses  are  the  same  for  a small  estate  as  for  a 
large  one,  and  we  shall  be  able  to  keep  up  a good 
sized  labour  force,  which  the  Malay  coffee  likes  to 
see.  He  likes  society,  and  he  likes  the  good  things 
obtainable  by  a large  number  of  people  ; for  instance, 
more  frequent  killing  of  cattle,  a large  and  more 
constant  supply  of  fish  and  other  things.  I mention 
these  details  so  that  you  will  realise  more  vividly 
tbe  advantages  to  be  obtained  by  a further  outlay. 
I believe  our  position  warrants  our  increasing  our 
estate,  and  I believe  we  shall  reap  a very  handsome 
return  on  the  capital  we  have  expended,  and  in  re- 
turn for  the  long  delay  in  seeing  a dividend.  I 
think  w'e  shall  be  in  a very  strong  position  next  year, 
our  crops  of  this  year  will  probably  be  doubled  or 
nearly  doubled  next  year,  and  when  the  different 
clearings  come  into  bearing  we  shall  get  a crop 
quite  equal  to  the  estates  in  Selangor,  which  I un- 
kerstand  bear  an  average  of  7 cwts.  per  acre. 
The  expense  of  gathering,  curing,  and  bagging 
coffee  on  the  estate  is  now  about  15s  per  cwt.  which, 
with  the  introduction  of  machinery  now  proposed, 
will  be  reduced  to  about  11s  6d  and  the  freight  and 
dock  sale  charges  amount  to  about  9s,  say  a total  cost 
under  these  headings  of  20/6,  to  which  must  be 
added  the  expenses  of  management,  weeding,  etc., 
etc.,  v^hich  will  probably  total  35/-per  cwt.,  on  a 
crop  of  six  to  seven  cwts.  per  acre,  which,  would 
yield  a profit  of  say  25/ per  cwt.,  at  the  present  Lon- 
don market  price  of  about  60/-per  cwt. 
I may  say  that  the  appearance  of  our  coffee  war- 
wants  very  sanguine  hopes  of  what  it  will  do  in  the 
future.  I took  measurements  of  our  different  pro- 
ducts, which  I published  in  the  “ North  Borneo 
Herald,”  of  16th  May,  1896,  and  when  I visited 
Selangor  and  Ceylon  on  my  way  home,  I compared 
their  growth  with  ours,  and  found  that  age  for 
age,  we  could  shew  a sux^erior  size  of  stem  and  spread 
of  branch,  and  from  the  appearance  of  the  coffee 
