688 
THR  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
the  Beaumont  Group,  held  on  lease,  under  which 
there  is  an  option  of  purchase  for  part  of  the  acreage. 
It  is  estimated  the  2,113  acres  under  tea  will  yield 
fct  the  rate  of  400  lb.  per  acre  or  845,000  lb.  per  an- 
num, when  all  the  acreage  is  in  bearing.  This,  at 
3Jd  per  lb.  profit,  will  give  a return  of  £11,000  per 
annum,  which  is  sufficient  (after  allowing  for  the  one- 
eighth  share  in  lladella  estate  not  yet  acquired),  to 
pay  the  Debenture  and  Preference  interest  and  a 
good  Dividend  on  the  Ordinax-y  Capital. 
The  estates  are  intended  to  be  taken  over  as  and 
from  the  1st  day  of  January  last,  and  the  price  to  be 
paid  to  the  Vendors  for  the  propei'ties  (subject  as  to 
the  Beaumont  Group,  Forres  and  Warburton  to 
£15,(X)0  Debentui’es  of  the  Beaumont  Tea  Company 
of  Ceylon,  Limited,  hereinafter  referred  to)  is  £95,48(3, 
payable  as  to  £71,376  fully  paid  Ordinary  Shares, 
and  20,(X)0  fully  paid  Preference  Shares,  and  as  to 
the  balance,  in  cash. 
Allowing  £5  per  acre  for  the  value  of  the  uncultivated 
land,  the  purchase  price  of  the  land  planted  with  tea, 
including  buildings,  factories,  machinery,  &c.,  is  at 
the  rate  of  £51  13/-  per  acre. 
After  payment  of  purchase  money  the  present  issue 
of  Shares  will  provide  £6,520  available  for  prelimi- 
nary expenses  and  working  Capital,  and  also  for  the 
proposed  additional  purchase  of  land. 
The  Preference  Shares  will  be  entitled  to  Cumu- 
lative Dividend  of  five  per  cent  per  annum,  and 
will  take  priority  both  as  regards  Dividend  and  Capital 
over  the  Ordinary  Shares. 
The  £15,000  Debentures  will  be  secured  by  a First 
Mortgage  in  favour  of  Trustees  on  the  Beaumont 
Group,  Forres  and  Wax-burton  Estates,  and  are  in- 
tended to  replace  an  equal  axxiount  of  Debentures  of 
the  Beaumont  Tea  Company  of  Ceylon,  Limited, 
which  are  charged  on  the  saxne  Estates,  aixd  which 
the  Ceylon  Proprietary  Tea  Estates  Coxnpany,  Lixni- 
ted,  is  to  get  in  and  cancel. 
The  terms  of  purchase  of  the  Beaumont  Group  of 
I Estates  and  Forres  and  Warburton  Estates  are  con- 
tained in  a letter  from  the  Directors  of  the  Beaumont 
Tea  Company  of  Ceylon,  Limited,  to  H.  K.  Euther- 
ford  and  R.  A.  Cameron,  dated  31st  December,  1896. 
■ and  telegrams  dated  18th,  22nd  and  24th  January,  1897. 
The  terms  of  purchase  of  Summerville  axid  Troy 
Estates  are  contained  in  an  agreement  xna  'e  the 
5te  February,  1897,  between  Mary  Elizabeth  Evelyn 
Elwes,  Violet  Lucy  Elwes  and  Arthur  H.  L,  Elwes 
of  the  one  part,  and  the  Ceyloix  Proprietax-y  Tea 
Estates,  Company,  Limited,  of  the  other  part. 
The  terms  of  purchase  of  seven-eighths  of  Radella 
Estate  are  contained  in  letters  from  Francis  Holme 
Wiggin  to  R.  A.  Cameron,  dated  1st,  7th,  15th,  23rd 
and  31st  December,  1896,  and  telegraxixs  of  18th, 
22nd  and  24th  January,  1897. 
ASSAM  AND  INDIARUBBEK. 
Those  tvho  know  Assam  believe  that  nearly 
everything  can  be  produced  thei-e.  The  e.xcep- 
tional  demand  for  rubber  at  the  present  time 
lends  additional  interest  to  the  accounts  of  tlie 
rubber  output  from  Assam.  This  amounts 
annually  to  about  3,500  mounds  (about  128  tons  ) 
worth  in  Calcutta  K3,50,000  (£35,000).  This  in- 
cludes, beside  the  rubber  produced  in  the  pro- 
vince, in  the  plantations  and  reserves,  the 
“ foreign”  rubber  collected  and  brought  from  the 
interior  by  the  natives.  It  is  estimated  that, 
from  the  latter  source,  a supply  to  the  extent  of 
900  to  1,000  maunds  per  annum  may  be  kept  up 
for  five  or  six  yer.as,  by  which  time  the  trees  will 
have  been  exliau.sted,  anti  supplies  will  have  to 
be  bioxight  from  a greater  distance  at  increased 
cost — that  i.s,  assuming  the  rubber  niants  to  exist 
in  the  remoter  regitxns.  The  total  area  of  tlie 
plantations  already  e-itablished  is  estimated  at 
about  2,t00  acres,  but  many  parts  are  not  fully 
stocked,  great  difficulty  having  been  experienced 
to  preserving  the  trees  from  illicit  tapping  by  the 
[April  i,  1897. 
natives,  even  in  the  reserves.  The  pre.sent  posi- 
tion of  the  rubber  industry  in  Assam  is  very  fully 
discu.ssed  in  a “ Note  on  an  Inspection  of  Certain 
Forests  in  A.ssam,”  by  Mr.  II.  C.  Hill,  officiating 
inspector-general,  forests,  dated  March  31,  1896, 
from  which  the  following  is  taken  : — 
“ The  illicit  tappii'g  of  trees  in  reserves,  sparsely 
scattered  over  miles  of  almost  impenetrable  evex-- 
gxeen  forest,  with  an  undergrowth  of  cane  is  easily 
explained.  The  roughly-collected  impure  rubber  sells 
at  a rupee  a seer,  and  to  obtaixx  a number  of  seex's, 
which  are  intercbaxigeable  for  twelve  times  their 
weight  of  rxce  at  the  nearest  Koya’s  shop,  a maix 
has  only  to  make  his  w-ay  to  a tree,  make  cuts  in 
the  roots,  and,  retxxrning  three  days  later,  collect  his 
spoil.  No  system  of  inspection,  paths,  or  stall'  of 
patrols,  would  render  protection  effective  over  a block 
of  forest  of  200  square  miles,  such  as  the  Balipara 
and  Charduar  reserves,  with,  perhaps,  ten  or  twenty 
trees  to  the  square  mile  in  the  x-ichest  parts,  even 
if  men  could  be  got  to  stay  in  the  forest  in  the 
rainy  season.  Under  existing  arrangements,  the 
tapper  works  ixx  the  x*aius,  when  all  guards  are  with- 
drawn. The  northern  boundary  is  uninhabited  and 
trackless  except  for  wild  elephant  paths  ; therefore, 
the  rubber,  once  collected,  is’  easily  carried  across 
the  line,  to  be  x-eimported  as  foreign  produce.  The 
result  is  the  continued  destruction  of  the  trees  in 
reserves,  as  well  as  in  unclassed  forests,  and  if  this  is 
the  state  of  things  within  the  inner  line  it  may  be 
safely  concluded  that  the  trees  are  being  generally 
killed  off  across  the  line.  The  only  px-ospect  of 
assuring  a continuous  rubber  supply  seems  to  be  in 
the  dix'ectioxi  of  artificial  plantations,  where  the 
trees  can  be  concentrated  on  a limited  area,  the 
effective  protection  and  exploitation  of  which  will 
be  possible.  Can  these  plantations  be  expected  to 
become  a profitable  investment  ? The  Government 
of  India  decided  in  1894  that  the  further  extension 
of  the  plantation  was  not  advisable,  because  a con- 
siderable amount  of  expense  would  be  incurred,  and 
there  was  a great  doubt  whether  the  expenditure 
would  prove  remunerative,  and  fur, her,  because,  even 
if  it  were  remunerative,  many  years  mxxst  elapse 
before  any  profits  could  be  obtained.  In  any  opi- 
nion, the  cost  of  establishing  a plantation  wh^e 
open  lands  are  planted,  as  in  1892-3,  may  be  esti- 
mated at  R30  per  acre;  the  existing  plantation  has 
cost  R50,  but,  with  the  experience  gained,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  operations  will  be  cheaper 
in  the  future.  The  prospective  yield  of  the  planta- 
tion has  been  discussed  at  length,  but  it  would 
seem  that  some  assumptions  have  been  made 
too  unfavourable  to  the  plant  s=tion.  Trees  have 
been  put  out  seventeen  or  eighteen  to  the 
acx-e,  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  half  would 
disappear  and  seven  or  eight  remain  per  acre 
but  I think  it  may  reasonably  be  held  that 
xnore  than  eight  tx-ees  will  be  permanently 
maintaixied-  Admitting  that  axi  acre  with  eight  tx-ees 
or  more  will  yield  40  seex-s  at  a tapping,  which  may 
be  repeated  every  five  years,  the  net  value  of  the 
rubber  being  R80  per  maund,  the  return  per  aere 
per  annum  becomes  R16.  If  1140  be  taken  as  the  ini- 
tial outlay  per  acre,  and  calculated  at  3i  per  cent 
coinponiid  interest,  it  amounts  to  E2-20,  and  interest 
bein  paid  on  this  at  3i  per  cent.,  out  of  the  Rl6 
there  would  still  be  a net  return  of  R8  per  acre 
per  annum.  If  these  views  are  accepted,  there  would 
seem  to  be  a good  case  for  extexiding  the  plantation 
by  250  acres  a year,  at  a cost  of  R10,000,  for  the  next 
twelve  years  at  least.  Bythat  time  it  would 
coyer  an  area  of  5,000  acx-es,  the  prospectxve  yield  of 
which  would  add  a net  in  come  of  at  least  R80  000  to 
the  forest  revenues  of  the  pxoviixce.”— //.  d-  c’  Mail 
Feb.  19. 
THE  SUGAR  COMMISSION  IN  BRITISH 
G UI A N A. 
GEORGKTOWN,  RlilTISlI  GUIANA,  FKU.  4. 
Tlie  Royal  Commi.ssioner.s,  Sir  Henry  Noxnian 
Sir  David  Barbour,  and  Sir  Edwani  Grey,  arrived 
in  this  colony  by  Royal  Mail  steamer  a week 
