24 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
July r, 1897. 
meeting of the Association and with the concurrence 
of the London Wholesale Tea Dealers’ Association 
the public sales on Mondays and Tuesdays would 
begin at 11-.90 a.m., instead of 12 noon, on and after 
1st February. This circular was quickly followed by 
a strong protest against the change, addressed to 
your Coinraittee by twenty -one brokers and dealers, 
among them muiy leading men in the trade. The 
(Jommittee considered the question as one mainly 
of convenience for those (brokers and dealers) who 
actually take part in the sales. The proposed change 
was not made and the Tuesday sales continue to be 
protracted to a late hour. 
Much dissatisfaction has recently been expressed 
by the Wholesale Tea Dealers at the failure in many 
cases on the part of importers of Ceylon tea to comply 
with the requirements of clause 4 of the conditions 
of public sales, which states that the teas put up for 
sale have been “inspected" and “bulked (if neces- 
sary)." The Committee, having, ascertained that the 
complaint made was not altogether without founda- 
tion, issued a circular letter inviting the; attention of 
impoiters “ to the imperative necessity for complying 
with the conditions of the clause referred to, so that 
buyers may operate with the fullest confidence in the 
future." 
The Wholesale Tea Dealers’ Association has since 
made a further request that in every catalogue each 
parcel shall, be niaiked either. “ bulked in Ceylon," or 
“ inspected a;.X bulked in London.” 
In de- 'ing with these matters connected with the 
public tea sales the Committee has been guided by 
the conviction that the interests of Ceylon producers 
can best be. advanced by giving every possible 
facility and security. to buyers.. 
Much damage was caused to the teas brought home 
last summer by the Orient Company’s steamers-* 
“ Austral ’’ and .“ Cuzco ’’ owing to taint from apples 
carried in these vessels. Those who had suffered 
damage appealed to the Committee, who appointed 
a sub-Committee to deal with the matter. Protracted 
negotiations ended in a compromise, under which 
Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co., the agents for 
the Orient Company, agree to settle the various claims 
by a payment .of three-eighths of their amount. 
Messrs. Joseph Tetley & Co. brought to the notice 
of the Committee a case .in which the Russian 
Custom! authorities had charged a heavy duty on 
Acme tea chests entering Russia, as on tinplates', 
in addition to the duty paj'able on the te.i packed 
in the chests. The matter was referred by the Com- 
mittee to the Board of Trade, and a reply has been 
received from that department fiom which it would 
appear that in the case of large packages, such as 
chests or half-chests, tin casing is not liable to duty. 
The Committee has watched with interest the con- 
stant increase in the demand for Ceylon teas in coun- 
tries other than the United Kingdom. Mr. W. Mac- 
Kenzie has attended several of the meetings and given 
information as to the progress made in the United 
Stales and Canada, while written communications 
have been received from Mr. M. Rogivue in regard 
to the growth of the tea trade in Russia, and from 
Messrs. Joseph Tetley & Co. as to prospects in Swit- 
zerland and the South of France. In each case the 
reports are encouraging. 
The prosperity of the Ceylon tea industry has been 
well maintained during the year, though the profits 
of 1896 show, in many cases, some falling-off as com- 
pared with those of the previous year, owing mainly 
to the increased value of the rupee. — Local “ Times,’’ 
May 17 th. 
eastern produce and estates 
COMPANY’S MEETING. 
The ordinary general meeting of this Company was 
held at Winchester House, London, E.C., on Wednes- 
day, April 28th. 
Mr C. J. Lindsay Nicholson presided, and said 
that when he last had the honour, of addressing th 
shareholders he was able to assure them that th 
Company was prosperous, strong, and well. Today 
he was able to assure them that the Company was 
still better and in a stronger and more prosperous 
position. If they referred to the accounts it would 
be seen that the Company had some £55,000 to deal 
with, out of which all interest and liabilities had 
been paid. From the balance the Directors proposed 
to pay a dividend of 64 per cent, for the year, to place 
£5,000 to the reserve fund, and to carry forward the 
balance of about £12,000 to provide for the deben- 
tures falling due duiiDg the year. The Company 
had expended slightly more on buildings and machi- 
nery, and, as was well said by a gentleman in that 
room last year, there was no inducement not t-i make 
good proyision for the machinery, and each y .-ar they 
wrote off a good amount for the deprecation of m ichi- 
nery. The produce in hand on December 31st l-r-t 
was £21,495, which had all been realised at a pvutit. 
He could not help thinking that the position of the 
Company at the present time, in cornpai ison with w'hs.t 
it was at its commencement, wrs really surprising. 
Eight years ago, when the Company w.rs started,' they 
had debentures amounting to t'2(X),t 00, carryin.g 6 
per cent, ii’terest, whilst at she present time tb.ey 
had only £100,000, at 44 per cent, interest. The 
Directors could, if they desired, r. duce that rate of 
interest, but they were more anxious to see the deben- 
tures cleared off entirely, and be believed that as 
time went on the Company would be. able to pay off 
those debentures.' At thaflime they bad 8,000 acres 
of tea estates, whilst at the -present time the number 
of acres under oultiyation was 10,535. The reserve 
fund of the Company amounted at the 'present mo- 
ment to £20j000. Eight years ago the average sale 
price was Is. per pound, whilst today it was something 
a little over 7d. per pound. They had had a great 
deal of anxiety at times, and the success had not been 
unaccompanied by anxiety. If Ceylon tea was to 
continue to be prosperous it would be very necessary 
to keep up the quality of the tea. It was absolutely 
necessary that that should be done, and so keip 
them in the first rank to command good prices. It 
would not do for the Managers' to be carried away 
by a laud boom, -because after a boom invariably 
came a reaction, and they must use all their exer- 
tions to the making of good tea. At the present 
moment their factories and gardens were second to 
none and their Managers equalled by none. 
The report was adopted, and the dividend approved. 
— Morniwj Poit. 
TAZ 4 NING Bark and Acacia Decuurens.— 
We aitract attention to a letter on this subject 
elsewhere. At the recent Nuwara Eliya Show, Mr. 
A. ;L. rKelipw exhibited Acacia hark on which he 
had- a most favourable report from Colombo 
'■Tanners, an.d a price which did more than cover 
expenses. But even here, the carriage of heavy 
bark must be the drawback, and “ T” himself has 
pointed out to us the following paragrajili which 
shows how that dfficulty' is overcome in Australia 
by the bark being “ boiled down”: — 
“The bark of the Australian, ‘ black wattle’ has 
been shipped from Ceylon experimentally from trees 
planted six years ago on estates as boundaries and 
break-winds. Each tree stripped gave 22 lb. dried 
bark. It is a question whether the value of this bark 
as a tanning substance will enable a price to be rea- 
lised sufficient to do more than cover railway and 
steamer freight. In Australia the cost of carriage 
from the interior, where no water transport exists, 
is so heavy' that the bark is there boiled down to 
a thick substance in a highly concentrated form, 
which of course reduces the cost of freight on the 
solid tanning principle. Were this system adopted 
in Ceylon, it might be found to effect a great saving 
in cost of transport.” 
Perhaps Mr. Kellow will give a trial to this 
plan in Ceylon and report the result. 
