Feb.  I,  1897.]  THF  TROPICAL  AGRICULtURlST.  527 
THE  NAHAVILLA  ESTATES  00.,  LTD. 
REPORT  OF  DIRECTOR.?. 
The  following  is  the  report  of  the  directors 
submitted  at  the  annual  meeting  : — 
The  directors  have  the  pleasure  to  submit  their 
annual  report  together  with  a statement  of  accounts 
for  the  5'ear  ended  30th  September  1896. 
The  coffee  crop  this  last  season  has  been  a short 
one  as  compared  ;vith  the  harvest  of  1894-5  and  the 
year’s  protits  have  in  a great  measure  been  deli- 
vered from  tea,  the  output  of  which  was  221,976  lb. 
not  reckoning  some  Mahapahagalla  leaf  sold  in  the 
green  state. 
With  the  amount  carried  forward  from  last  year 
the  profit  and  loss  account  shews  a balance  of 
R42,216'78  at  credit  after  paying  an  interim  di- 
vidend of  6 per  cent  and  all  expenses  in  connec- 
tion with  the  conveyances  of  Mahapahagalla  and  Gal- 
lella  estates  besides  other  legal  outlays.  The  direc- 
tors now  recommend  that  a final  dividend  of  7 
per  cent  (making  13  per  cent  for  the  year)  be  paid 
which  will  absorb  R27,330’00,  and  that  the  balance, 
subject  to  director’s  fees  and  an  allowance  for 
Secretariat,  be  carried  forward  to  season  1896-97. 
During  the  past  season  some  small  addition  has 
been  made  to  the  area  of  Ury,  and  the  acreage  of 
tea  on  that  estate,  has  been  largely  extended,  there 
being  now  478  acres  under  that  product,  against  311 
acres  this  time  last  year. 
Since  the  shareholders  last  met  the  purchase  of  Gal- 
lella  estate  in  Maturata  has  been  concluded  by  the 
directors.  The  price  paid  was  £7,000  stg.  ; and 
particulars  as  to  the  acreage  of  the  property  are 
given  below. 
It  is  thought,  that  the  coming  coffee  harvest  will 
be  better  in  the  matter  of  quantity  than  that  of 
1895-96,  and  the  output  of  tea  will  also,  it  is  believed, 
be  larger. 
The  following  is  a definition  of  the  Company’s  pro- 
perty as  at  present  constituted. 
d 
d . 
d 
d 
M 
[ahap 
gall  a 
'd 
O 
;z5 
P 
o 
H 
Tea  in  full  bearing. . 
195 
177 
170 
320 
862 
Do  partial  Bear- 
25 
135 
ing 
78 
32 
• • 
Do  not  in  bearing 
61 
269 
22 
3 
355 
Coffee ' 
120 
48 
35 
203 
Forest 
Cinchona,  patana. 
44 
66 
5 
72 
187 
498 
scrub,  chena,  &c. . 
103 
85 
244 
601 
677 
323 
639 
2240 
Mr.  W.  Anderson 
retires 
by 
rotation 
from 
the 
board  of  directors,  but  is  eligible  for  re-election. — 
By  order,  George  Steuart  & Co., 
Agents  and  Secretaries. 
Colombo,  8th  December  1896. 

the  ratwatta  cocoa  company, 
LIMITED. 
An  extraordinary  general  meeting  of  the 
shareholders  of  this  Company  was  held  at  the 
(Queen’s  Hotel,  Kandy  at  10-30  p.m.  on  Satur- 
day. Present  Messrs.  Gordon  Pyper  (in  the  chair) 
and  E.  JeflVies,  Directors.  Messrs.  M.  Athorpe, 
J.  A..  Burmester,  T.  B.  Cahipbell  and  J.  A. 
McGillivray  representing  the  Agents  and  Secre- 
taries—By  Attorney  Cai)t.  A.  Burmester  and 
Mr.  F.  M.  Mackwood,  and  by  proxy  Messrs.  J. 
11.  Fairweather,  A.  G.  Seton,  S.  P.  Blackmore, 
A.  Collingwood  Smail  and  G.  J.  Jameson. 
Proposed  by  Mr.  Gordon  Pyper,  seconded  by 
Mr.  M.  Athorpe  and  carried  unanimously. 
1.  That  the  share  capital  of  the  Company  be 
and  the  same  is  hereby  increased  from  11150,000 
to  11200,000  by  the  creation  of  100  new  sliares  of 
Koto  each. 
2.  Tliat  the  remaining  uncultivated  area  of 
the  Estate  (400  acres)  be  planted  up  with  Tea — 
The  meeting  closed  with  a vote  of  thanks  to 
the  chair. 
CINCHONA  CULTIVATION  IN  INDIA. 
Thfi  report  on  the  plantations  in  Bengal  slates 
that  the  capital  cost  of  the  plantations  has  long  since 
been  paid  off,  and  that  the  sole  object  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  now  to  secure  for  the  people  of  India  a 
cheap  remedy  for  fever  without  loss.  The  whole  of 
last  year’s  crop,  amounting  to  467,190  lbs.  of  bark 
has  been  made  over  to  the  quinine  factory,  with  the 
exception  of  small  quantities  supplied  to  medical 
depots  or  sold  to  Government  institutions  ; and 
170,000  lbs.  has  been  bought  from  various  tea  Com- 
panies in  Darjeeling.  The  factory  has  produced  9,004 
lbs.  of  quinine  sulphate,  and  3,124  lbs.  of  cinchona, 
febrifuge.  There  has  been  an  increase  of  2,725  lbs. 
on  the  issue  of  quinine  sulphate,  partly  owing  to  the 
demand  for  pice  packets  to  be  sold  through  the  post 
office,  and  partly  to  the  demand  in  connection  with  the 
Chitral  expedition.  The  stock  of  quinine  sulphate  at 
the  end  of  the  j^ear  was  2357  lbs.,  and  that  of  fabri- 
fuge  7-J8  lbs.  The  scheme  for  the  sale  of  quinine 
through  the  post  offiee  department  makes 
steady  progress,  and  the  demand  is  increasing  with 
such  rapidity  that  it  has  been  necessary  to  limit  the 
sales  in  Bengal  and  Assam,  and  to  discontinue  the 
supply  to  other  provinces.  As  a further  satisfactory 
result  of  the  operations,  it  appears  from  the  Sanitary 
Commissioner’s  report  that  there  is  s.  general 
correspondence  between  fever  mortality  and  the 
demand  for  quinine.  The  severe  drought  of  last  year 
has  had  a very  damaging  effect  upon  the  young 
seedings  intended  for  extending  the  plantations,  but, 
on  the  whole,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  considers 
the  results  obtained  to  be  entirely  satisfactory.— 
Planters'  Gazette,  Dec.  1. 
^ 
CEYLON  AN’D  INDIAN  TEA  IN  AMERICA. 
“ A new  Tea  Company  called  the  Marzapoura 
Tea  Company,  has  lately  started  in  New  York, 
Brooklyn  and  surrounding  towns.  They  have 
ladies  canvassing  from  house  to  house,  and  are 
advertising  extensively  with  papers,  have  large 
board  signs  in  every  elevated  railway  carriage 
(soine  70U  in  number)  large  posters  at  railway 
stations,  a tea  room  at  one  theatre,  and  have 
rented  a room  for  ?1,800  in  a principal  street, 
which  they  arc  to  open  as  a ladies’  tea  room,  after 
the  fashion  of  similar  rooms  in  London.  All  this 
means  expenditure  of  a deal  of  money  on  behalf 
of  Ceylon  and  Indian  tea,  since  it  is  these  they 
sell.”  
De  gustihus  non  est  clisputandum. 
It  is  often  dillicult  to  decide  which  is  the  better 
of  two  articles  Avliich  depend  for  their  value  to  a 
great  extent  on  habit,  faith,  and  individual  opinion. 
A chemical  test  may  determine  which  of  the 
two  has  the  most  icholcsomc  ingredients,  as  tvholc- 
someness-  goes  this  vear  or  this  decade,  but  the 
fickleness  of  medical  authority  is  proverbial. 
Then,  analysis  may  show  that  the  component 
parts  of  one  ai  tide  are,  at  the  present  moment, 
standing  at  a liigher  price  in  the  market  than 
those  of  the  other.  But  next  year’s  harvest  may 
reverse  the  jiosition. 
When  we  find,  however,  that  an  article  which 
has  had  po.ssession  of  the  field  for  generations  is 
being  rapidly  driven  out  of  all  civilized  countries 
by  a young  and  uiorQ  expensive  rival,  we  may 
