April  i,  1897.] 
rHE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
6gi 
Mr.  R.  L.  M.  Brown  having  resigned  the  post  of 
Auditor  to  the  Company,  the  Directors,  under  the 
Company’s  Article  No.  92,  appointed  Mr.  T.  J. 
Stephen  to  fill  the  vacancy  thus  occasioned. 
The  appointment  of  an  Auditor  for  the  current 
year  rests  wiih  the  Meeting. 
By  Order  of  the  Directors, 
Whiti'All  & Co. 
Colombo,  2nd  March.  1897.  Agents  and  Secretaries. 
THE  DRAYTON  (CEYLON)  ESTATES  CO., 
LIMITED. 
A general  meeting  was  liekl  on  March  LSth 
at  11,  Baillie  Street,  Fort. 
Tlie  Directors’  report  is  as  follows  : — 
The  Directors  beg  to  submit  the  Annual  Balance 
Sheet  and  Profit  and  Loss  Account  for  the  year  end- 
ind  31  December,  1896. 
After  providing  for  depreciation  of  buildings  and 
machinery,  the  balance  of  profit  available  is  R25,815'91. 
The  Directors  propose  that  a dividend  of  three  per 
cent,  be  declared,  making,  with  the  interim  dividend 
of  eight  per  cent,  eleven  per  cent  for  the  year,  and 
the  balance  R4,365'91  be  carried  forward  to  next 
year's  account. 
The  crop  of  tea  secured  from  the  Company’s  estates 
including  27,755  lb.,  tea  made  from  Cwm  leaf  was 
386,776  lb.,  against  an  estimate  of  400,000  lb. 
The  total  cost  of  the  386,7761b.  tea  was  27'99  per  lb. 
including  Cwm  rent,  but  exclusive  of  depreciation, 
and  estimating  that  the  tea  unsold  will  fetch  47  cent 
per  lb.  the  nett  value  realised  for  the  whole  crop  will 
be  50’92  cent,  showing  a profit  of  22'93  cent  per  lb. 
Tea  Bearing 
685  1 
Young  Tea 
84 
Grass  Land 
18 
Timber 
10 
Forest 
17 
Waste  Roads,  &c. 
fid 
69 
Tea  in  Bearing 
207 
Young  Tea 
11 
Forest  and  Timber 
7 
Waste 
8 
1,116 
acres. 
The  estimated  crop  for  1897  is  405,000  lb.  to  cost 
27^  cent  F.O.B.  Adding  rent  of  Cwm  R4, 500  the  cost 
will  be  rather  over  28^  cent-'. 
Estimate  allows  of  2J  cents  per  lb.  being  spent  on 
manuring. 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wilson-Wood  resigned  his  seat  at  the 
Board)  on  his  departure  from  the  island,  the  Directors 
elected  Mr.  Harry  Whitham  a Director  in  his  stead. 
In  terms  of  the  articles  of  Association,  Mr.  Harry 
Whitham  retires  from  the  Board  by  rotation. 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wilson-Wood  having  since  returned  to 
the  island  offers  himself  for  re-election  as  a Director. 
The  Shareholders  will  be  requested  to  appoint  an 
Auditor  for  the  current  year. — By  order  of  the  Board 
of  Directors, 
Harby  Whitham,  Secretary. 
Colombo,  2nd  March,  1897. 
TEA  “OXIDIZER.” 
Mr.  Natli.an  Sharpe,  the  well-known  Patentee 
of  Tea  Packing  and  other  Machine.^  in  connec- 
tion with  Messrs.  Richard  Moreland  & Sons, 
is  at  present  on  a visit  to  Ceylon.  The  first 
of  his  “ Oxidizers  ” is  on  the  way  out  and  is 
to  be  erected  on  Bandarapolla  estate.  Mr.  Sharpe 
is  sanguine  about  its  good  work  and  great  sav- 
ing of  space  : lie  will  remain  six  weeks  in  the 
island. 
Mr.  Sharpe  got  the  idea  of  his  machine  from 
remarks  in  the  lecture  by  Mr.  Christison  before 
the  Society  of  Arts  where  we  also  were  present 
and  spoke.  We  read  of  the  machine  : — 
The  “ SiMPi.EX  ” Cool  Oxidizer. — Various  systems 
now  prevail  in  the  tea  districts,  especially  in  the  plains. 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  rolled  tea  leaf  in  as  cool  a 
condition  as  possible  whilst  undergoing  the  important 
chemical  change  of  Oxidation,  more  commonly  ex- 
pressed and  termed  “ Fermentation.”  The  Inventor 
of  this  machine  thought  that  a great  deal  of  room, 
labour,  etc.,  could  be  saved  by  bringing  the  leaf  under 
treatment  into  a more  economical  space  and  applying 
a cheap  and  efficient  method  of  cooling  the  air,  which 
would  come  into  closer  contact  with  the  leaf,  and  per- 
form a perfect  cool  oxidization  of  the  leaf  throughout 
the  process.  Methods  of  cooling  air  have  (and  still 
are,  in  other  manufactures)  been  somewhat  costly 
items,  and  we  might  say  that  a great  deal  of  thought 
and  attention  has  been  bestowed  on  this  machine,  to 
enable  us  to  present  it  to  the  notice  of  the  Planting 
Community  as  it  now  stands,  simplicity  itself,  there- 
fore reasonable  in  cost. 
Le.af  Surface. — The  machine  consists  of  series  of 
racks  which  support  144  leaf  trays,  3 feet  long  by  2 
feet  wide,  which  gives  864  square  feet  of  leaf  surface,  in 
a ground  space  of  12  feet  by  6 feet,  therefore  the 
machine,  when  fully  charged,  will  hold  36  Rolls  or 
about  11,000  lb.  of  rolled  tea  leaf. 
THE  ANKANDE  ESTATE  COMPANY  OF 
CEYLON,  (LIMITED.) 
The  first  ordinary  general  meeting  of  Share- 
holders of  the  Ankande  Estate  Company  of  Ceylon, 
Limited,  was  held  at  the  Company’s  Registered 
Office,  22,  Baillie  Street,  on  the  iStli  Marcli. 
The  report  is  as  follows  ; — 
The  directors  have  pleasure  in  presenting  to  the 
shareholders  their  first  annual  report  with  a duly 
audited  statement  of  the  Company’s  affairs  as  at 
December  31st,  1896. 
The  Company  took  possession  on  January  1st,  1896, 
as  a going  concern  of  three  estates  constituting  the 
Company’s  property,  consisting  of,  and  at  the  prices 
below  stated  : — 
fl.nkande. 
Glenury.  Altwood.  Total. 
R 
R 
R 
R 
Price  Paid.  60,700. 
14,789. 
30,221-17. 105.710-]  7 
Acreage  Tea..  91  acres 
18  acres 
7 acres 
acres 
in  full 
in  full 
1 to  5 
bearing 
bearing 
years 
116  Tea 
Do  Cocoa  & 
Liberian 
Coffee  . . 60  acres 
114  Cocoa 
in  full 
bearing 
Do  Cocoa..  17  acres 
37  acres 
and 
Liberian 
Coffee. 
under  2 
years 
in  full 
bearing 
Do  Cardamoms.. 
. . 
93  bear- 
93  Carda- 
Do  Unopened  262  acres 
22  acres 
mg  moms 
2 acres  286  un- 
(heavy  Chena) 
opened 
uotai  Acreage  a.iu  acres  77  acres  102  acres  609  acres 
The  various  crops  gathered  during  the  year  ex- 
ceeded the  estimates  in  every  case,  and  the  prices 
obtained  were  well  up  to  market  averages. 
After  writing  of  preliminary  expenses,  paying  in- 
terest  on  R23,510'17,  part  of  purchase  money  out- 
standing on  loan  from  vendors  and  placing  R2  .500 
(returned  by  vendors,  as  working  capital  ' as 
arranged  with  them)  to  reserve,  there  remains  an 
available  balance  of  R7,877'28.  out  of  which  the 
directors  propose  paying  a dividend  on  vendors’ 
shares  (R82.200)  at  the  rate  of  4 per  cent  per  annum 
and  carrying  forward  the  balance  of  R4,589'28  to  1897’ 
t es^'iaiates  of  ordinary  expenditure  and  revenue 
for  1897  are  as  follows: — 
>73 
a 
!3 
R. 
Expenditure  15,450 
Revenue  21,250 
Balance  5,800 
a 
o 
3 
R. 
2,035 
2,975 
940 
ri 
n 
O 
3,560 
8,400 
4,840 
Total. 
R. 
21,045 
32,625 
11,580 
I for  1897. 
Total  esti- 
mated profit. 
