488  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  IJan.  i,  1897, 
THE  CEYLON  CINCHONA  ASSOCIATION 
LD. 
At  an  extraonlinary  ^feneral  meetiii;'  of  the 
sharehoUIer.s  of  the  Ceylon  (,'inchona  Association 
Ltl.,  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  T.  N.  Christie, 
and  at  which  tliere  were  present  Messrs. ‘James 
Anderson  ami  W.  II.  Kingslniry,  hehl  in  the 
oHice  of  tlie  Agents,  iMessrs.  Lee,  Hedges  & 
Co.,  at  11  a. in.  today  tlie  following  resolution, 
passed  at  an  extraoiaUnary  general  meeting  on 
8th  inst.  was  jonlirmed  : — 
“ That  the  Ceylon  Cinchona  Association,  Limited, 
be  wound  up  voluntarily.” 
To  confirm  the  appointment  of  Mr.  T.  N.  Christie 
as  Liquidator,  and  to  authorize  the  sale  of  Kanapedi- 
watti  estate  to  the  Kanapediwattie  Tea  Company 
Limited  for  the  sum  of  rupees  oue  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  two  hundred,  payable  in  fully 
paid  up  shares  in  the  said  Kanapediwatti  Tea  Com- 
pany Limited. — By  order  of  the  Board  of  Directors, 
Lee,  Hedges  & Co.,  Agents. 
Colombo,  December  1(3,  1896. 
VOGAN  TEA  COMPANY  OP  CEYLON. 
An  extraordinary  General  meeting  of  the  share- 
holders of  this  Company  was  held  at  noon  to- 
day in  the  office  of  the  Agents  and  Secret.aries 
Messrs.  Lee,  Hedges  I't  Co.  Mr.  F.  W.  Hois  [U'c- 
sided  and  present  were  Messrs.  Y.  A.  .Julius,  E. 
H.  A.  Vanderspaar,  \V.  II.  Kingsbury,  Lie.^-ching 
and  A.  G.  Field.  The  meeting  confirmed  tlie 
following  resolutions  adopted  at  an  extra- 
ordinary general  meeting  on  Pith  instant  : — 
(1)  That  the  Directors  be  authorized  to  accept 
the  purchase  of  land,  aggregating  about  210  acres, 
made  by  their  authority  on  the  80th  November  and 
1st  December  last. 
(2)  That  the  Directors  be  authorized  to  issue 
debentures  from  time  to  time  as  required  for  the 
purposes  of  the  Company,  the  aggregate  not  to  ex- 
ceed moo, 000,  at  seven  per  cent,  interest  or  less, 
on  such  terms  of  repayment  and  for  such  periods  of 
as  they  may  deem  expedient. — By  order  of  the  Dir- 
ectors, Lee  Hedges  A Go. 
Agents  and  Secretaries. 
Colombo,  December  15,  1896. 
OUK  COMING  TEA  CHOP 
ESTIMATES. 
AND 
We  h.ave  no  doubt  that  the  re.sponsible  Visiting 
Auent,  who  wrote  to  us-“  You  have  to  face 
“an  increase  of  15  million  lb.  in  18'.)7  over  the 
“ exports  during  1896’'— will  be  able  to  justify 
his  position  ami  statement.  Hlh  object  (equally 
with  our  own)  in  giving  publicity  to  what  he 
regarded  as  fact,-was  entirely  beneficial 
ill  the  interests  of  the  jilanters  themselves, 
namely,  to  stir  up  all  concerned  in  the  industry, 
both  here  and  in  India  to  realize  the  neces- 
sity for  an  earnest  and  united  eflort  during 
the  coming  year  to  win  now  markets  in  order 
to  take  oil'  the  increased  quantity  of  tea.  I he 
earlier  the  Indian  planters,  especially,  hear  of 
an  anticiiiated  crop  increase,  the  more  likely 
they  are  to  bestir  themselves  in  the  direction 
we  are  all  anxious  to  see  them  ti}'<e.-As  to 
our  evening  contemporary  s hightalutiii 
sentiments  over  exaggerated  estimate.s  emanating 
from  this  ollice,  he  ought  to  take  warning  by  what 
liappeiied  in  the  first  part  of  18!):i  when  he  was  spe- 
cially loud  on  the  subjcct-yresult  shipments 
over' 84  million  against  an  estimate  of  ;7.  Our 
“ Handbook  and  Difoctorj^”  contains  a record ot  the 
annual  estimates  and  results  from  the  beginning  of 
the  local  enlerprise  for  which  weaud  onr  informants 
have  been  responsible ; and  we  have  again  and 
again  \critied  the  fact  that  while  the  London 
market  fur  Ceylon  teas  is  not  in  the  very 
slightest  all'ected  by  annual  crop  estimates,  but 
only  by  anticipations  of  monthly  shipments, 
the  Indian  tea  planters — both  as  to  planting 
and  cropping— take  very  serious  warning  by 
sncli  a piece  of  information  as  a planting  authority 
sent  us  two  days  ago. 
Imperial  Dutv  Free  Tea,  Cokeke,  Ac.— 
Mr.  George  Jager  writes  to  the  Saturdcoj 
licwieiv  about  the  foreign  bounties  on  beet-root 
sugar  and  the  destruction  thereby  of  the  British 
sugar-relining  industry  and  also  of  glowing 
cane  sugar  in  British  Colonies.  I'lie  remedy 
suggested  is  one  that  Mr.  Jager  says  would  not 
cost  Government  a farthing,  but  would  increase 
the  trade  of  the  country  by  millions.  Here  is 
how  Mr.  Jager  puts  it  : — 
Tha  measure  that  would  bring  about  this  wonder- 
ful and  beneficent  change  is  simplicity  itself : make 
tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  and  dried  fruit  free  of  duty  and 
place  a differential  duty  on  sugar  that  will  bring 
in  the  same  revenue.  Thus  tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  chicory, 
and  fruits  togetlier  bringing  in  Tl, 338, 805,  and  a 
duty  of  8s.  per  cwt.  on  cane  sugar,  4s.  per  cwt.  on 
beet  sugar,  and  5s.  fid.  per  cwt.  on  refined  sugar 
would  produce  about  the  same  amount. 
The  result  would  be  that  we  should  pay  a 
litt'e  more  for  our  sugar,  but  that  we  should  buy 
our  tea,  coffee,  Ac.,  at  a corresponding  cheaper 
price  and  no  one  would  be  the  worse  off  or 
Suffer  in  the  least.  For  although  jam  and 
such  like  products  would  be  increased  in  cost 
to  the  extent  of  a farthing  in  the  lb.,  it  would  not 
affect  the  trade;  for  sugar  would  still  be  much 
cheaper  in  this  country  ilian  in  any  other  in  the 
world,  and  the  jam  and  confectionery  trades  would 
still  retain  the  advantage  they  at  present  enjoy  over 
other  countries.  Neither  would  it  have  any  bad 
effect  on  our  consumption  ef  sugar;  for  since  sugar 
has  been  retailed  at  2 1.  per  lb.  we  have  arrived  at 
what  might  be  termed  the  saturation  point  of  con- 
sumption, any  .nrther  decline  in  price  having  had 
little  or  no  effect  in  increasing  the  consumption  per 
head  of  the  population ; and  as  the  retail  price  of 
the  people's  sugar  would,  including  the  proposed 
duty,  be  still  2d.  per  lb.,  we  have  actual  experience 
to  prove  that  the  importation  of  sugar  would  not 
decrease,  and  consequently  there  would  be  no  national 
loss  of  trade. 
Having  now  found  that  the  proposed  scheme  of 
placing  a duty  ou  sugar  and  taking  it  off  tea,  coffee, 
Ac.  could  be  carried  out  without  injury  to  any  manu- 
facturer’s or  consumer's  interest,  let  us  see  what 
national  and  Imperial  Advantages  we  should  gain.  In 
the  first  place,  an  old  industry  now  decaying  would 
revive  and  require  new  capital  to  the  exient  of 
•t'2,000,000.  Thousands  of  men  now  idle  or  pressing 
ou  the  workmen  of  other  trades  would  find  constant 
employment,  numerous  trades  which  to  some  e.xtent 
depend  on  the  sugar  industry  would  be  stimulated. 
Shipowners  would  get  an  increasing  amount  of  ton- 
nage from  cane-producing  countries  at  rates  varying 
from  203.  to  40s  per  ton,  instead  of  freights  from 
beet-sugar  ports  at  8s  to  8s.  per  ton.  Then,  with 
the  duty  ofl  tea,  coffee,  Ac.,  the  consumption  of 
these  articles  would  still  increase,  followed  by  an 
increasing  trade  with  the  countries  of  their  origin — 
India  and  the  East — wliero  our  most  profitable  trade 
exchanges  are  made. 
\Vc  suispcct,  liowever,  that  Sir  Midtael  Hicks- 
Beacli  as  Cliatiecllor  of  the  Exdie([ucr  will 
have  iiGtliing  to  do  with  “ diHerential  ” duties, — 
though  the  case  i.s  au  extremely  hard  one  for 
those  deiiendont  ou  .sugar  growing  ami  reliiiiiig, 
uiulci'  JJritisU  auspices, 
