Aug. 2, 1897.1 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
1 1 1 
THE EAST INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA 
COMPANY, LIMITED. 
The following is from the Report presented at 
the second ordinary general meeting of the company 
held on Tuesday last : — 
The accounts were duly closed up to November 
30th, 1895, from the various dates the company 
obtained possession, and the bulk of the profits 
were utilised in payment of interest to the vendors 
as provided in the prospectus, the balance being 
carried over to the company’s credit as stated in the 
circular issued to shareholders November 30th last. 
For the year from December 1st, 1895, to November 
30th last the accounts have not just been closed 
and audited. The crop amounted to 1,529,384 lb., 
and this has realised £48,576 3s. 2d., or an average 
of almost 7|6 per lb. 
The expenditure on the bearing estate amounted 
to £36,411 2s 9d, and the profit of the year’s work- 
ing was £12,656 16s 2d. The amount at credit of 
profit and loss account after crediting the balance 
carried over from last year and deducting income- 
tax, is £12,762 9s., from which dividends have been 
paid on the preference shares to November 30, 1896, 
amounting to £5,103 5s 2d, as we as an interim di- 
vidend on the ordinary shares of £2,550. This leaves 
a balance £5,109 3s lOd. The directors recommend 
that a further dividend at rate of 4 per cent 
making 7 per cent for the year, be now distributed 
to the ordinary shareholders, and that the balance 
of £1,709 3s lOd be carried forward. Sixty-nine acres 
were planted on the old estates during the past year, 
and the cost of this as well as of the upkeep of 67 
acres planted in the previous year, amounting in 
ail to over £900, has been charged to revenue. In 
addition to the above-mentioned expenditure it will 
be seen from the accounts that £4,853 17s 3d has 
been spent on developing the Hapugastenne estate, 
and has been charged to block. The properties in 
India and the bearing properties in Ceylon have 
been duly conveyed to the company, and legal 
transfer of the lands recently acquired in Ceylon 
is expected to be completed in the course of the 
next few weeks. The reports from the company’s 
properties in India are satisfactory, and, as indi- 
cated in the prospectus, arrangements have been 
made for their more economic management. The 
European staff on the company’s estates is an ex- 
cellent one. Recent reports on the company’s bear- 
ing estates in Ceylon are most encouraging, and 
by the higher system of cultivation introduced, and 
the judicious application of manures, an increased 
yield may be confidently expected. In order to ensure 
more economical and efficient working, arrange- 
ments are being made for the acquisition of a site 
where water power will be available for a new fac- 
tory at Mahaousa. The directors have recently pur- 
chased 421 acres of land in Ceylon at R36 per acre, 
and they have sold a small outljing block of 444 acres 
at R75 per acre. 
The exchange of lands with the Government has 
been carried through, and the directors are glad to 
be able to report that the company stands possessed 
of 4,770 acres, or thereabouts, of fine land in Ceylon 
over and above the old bearing estates, the judici- 
ous development of which will be of the very greatest 
value to the company. During the past year 270 acres 
of tea have been planted there, and a further ex- 
tension of 1,300 acres is being made in 1897. 
Thanks to the energy and abiity of their col- 
league, Mr. Davidson, and the superintendent, 
Mr. Imray, the progress of this considerable 
work is well advanced, and is every way satis- 
factory. To meet the heavy expenditure in connec- 
tion with these extensions it will be necessaryto issue 
balance ofthe the capital — viz., £30,000. From reports 
received the directors think it probable that to do 
justice to this fine property it will be desirable 
to increase the capital of the company and per- 
haps to amalgamate, so far as concerns these new 
lands, with a neighbouring proprietor. These im- 
portant questions are now under the careful con- 
sideration of the board of directors, and after con- 
sulting personally with Mr. Davidson, they will bring 
a definite proposal before the shareholders. The 
directors are alive to the importance of also cul- 
vating products other than tea, such as rubber, 
Liberian coffee, fibres, etc, the experiments on a limited 
scale have been sanctioned and are now being made. 
They are also encourging as much as possible all 
practical efforts to open up and extend new markets 
for tea, and they are glad to report that 331,199 lb 
of the company’s 1896 were crop disposed of in America 
and Canada. 
The second ordinary general meeting of the share- 
holders of the East India and Ceylon Tea Com- 
pany, Limited, was held on Tuesday at Winchester 
House, Mr. S. Boulnois presiding. Mr. W. T. Jones 
having read the notice convening the meeting, 
The Chairman said : Before asking you to adopt 
the motion for the passing of the report and ac- 
counts, I wish to explain why I am somewhat un- 
expectedly called upon to preside today, and to 
occupy the position of our worthy chairman, Mr. 
P. R. Buchanan. I shall read to you the letter 
which I have received from him, and w’hich will be 
of interest to all the shareholders. It is as fol- 
lows:— “My dear Boulnois, — As the report of the 
East India and Ceylon Company is so good, and 
as everything is in a most satisfactory and 
promising condition, I have no hesitation in 
asking to be excused from presiding at the 
annual general meeting. As you know, I am in the 
hands of the oculists, and the rapidly increasing 
failure of eyesight precludes me, except under very 
extraordinary circumstances, from taking part in any 
public meeting. If we had anything disagreeable to 
communicate to the shareholders I would have made 
a point of being present, but in the present satis- 
factory circumstances I feel I may honourably ask 
to be excused. You are, I think, aware that the 
oculists hope to perform a fairly successful operation, 
but it will be a long business, and the result can 
scarcely be known before the end of the year. — 
Believe me, &o., Pat. R. Buchanan.’’ That letter, 
Mr. Boulnois continued, speaks for itself, and I am 
sure you will all cordially agree with me that we 
are exceedingly sorry to hear of the affliction 
of our chairman. Now, as to the report, which 
I presume you will take as read, I shall be 
very brief in my remarks, because we have 
made it as exhaustive as possible ; and, moreover, 
we have present with us our colleague, Mr. Davidson, 
from Ceylon, who will be able to give you much 
more information regarding our properties than I can 
be expected to do. in paragraph 2 you notice that 
the accounts were duly closed up to November 30, 
1895, from the various dates the company obtained 
possession, and the bulk of the profits were utilised 
in payment of interest to the vendors as provided 
in the prospectus, the balance being carried over to 
the company’s credit as stated in the circular issued 
to the shareholders November .30 last. It may 
interest you to know that the total amount of balance 
was £672 17s 9d, of which sum £326 19s 9d was not 
available for distribution. For some re'Bson our 
lawyers said we must not distribute that ; that 
as a capital account we could not distribute it, 
and therefore we carried that to the sale of 
land and purchase account— to the credit of the 
purchase account of the properties. £345 18s, the 
balance, was brought to the credit of the profit and 
loss account. Going a little further we find a satis- 
factory feature of the account is that we have charged 
to revenue 69 acres that were newly planted out on 
the old estates during the past year, and we have 
also charged the upkeep on the old estates, for the 
young tea on the same estates, machinery, buildings, 
coolies, &c. By this we may estimate at least £1,2U0 
have been charged to revenue account that under 
certain circumstances might have been charged to 
the block account or capital account, but vve tliought 
it more prudent to charge it to revenue. I will not 
touch upon the matters as to our Blackwater and 
Mahaousa estates, because Mr. Davidson is here and 
