THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
833 
June t, iByS.] 
knew, in finclinp; out the eftects of (lifferent 
manures, and in coming to conclusions which 
will be useful hereafter, and I am glatl to ack- 
nowledge all this considerate cooperation. 'J'he 
effect ot these manures has now been found to 
increase the yield of the tea— and consequently 
the paying property of the tea — without increasing 
the cost, because wiien you increase the yield 
the cost per lb. on certain works goes down. 
Though these concentrated manures as we may 
call them, have been used in one or two cases 
for eight or nine years they shorv no effect in 
the way of doing any harm to the bu.shes. So 
if the time should never come when the Ceylon 
Tea Plantations Comi)any thinks its profits 
are not what tliey should Ire, we hare also 
thi.s reserve force to fall back upon : we 
can use tbe.se stimula'ing manures and in- 
crease onr yield and output rvithout injuring 
our bushes (hear, hear.) I may say that we 
ourselves have made arrangements to manure 
some of our fields rvith tlie stronger manures, 
partly because we wish to see what the result 
is, and so as to be quite certain in which direc- 
tion to extend our manuring operations should 
the time arise wlien rve lind it necessary. I had 
the pleasure of addressing you last year, and I 
then spoke on what was then the burning ques- 
tion of the coast advances and the labour force 
in Ceylon. The burning jiart of that question 
has disappeared. Owing to the scarcity of rice 
in India the coolies have come over in great 
number.s to Ceylon, and I am quite within tlie 
mark in saying our estates are better supplied 
with labour than ever they liave been before. Con- 
sequently this point about advances lias been 
got over; the coolies have been so plentiful that 
there is .ro necessity for maldng these larger 
advances. In fact, the advances are being re- 
duced (liear, hear.) And in tliat respect I would 
remind yon that we liave full conlidence, in onr 
staif. Tliey aie capable, and are using tact and 
energy in reducing these advaiice.s, and we may, 
in leaving the matter in their linnds, be sure 
that this point, which appeared last year to be 
a rather dangerous one, will now be got over 
without auy dillieulty. 
Mr. WelldoN Comparing this year’s report 
with last j'ear’s I see that our liist-class securities 
are some £8,000 less than last year and our 
coconut figures are about £8,000 more. The coco- 
nut profits are about the same. Is it within the 
power of theboanl to invest our money in anything 
outside first-class securities and the coconut plan- 
tations. What I ineaii is, would you con.sider 
it within your province to take shares in other 
Companies. That would be an important stej), 
and one to which I should have a great obj'ec- 
tion to our taking (hear, hear.) 
Mr. (t. tlETON : — It is a great satisfaction to 
us to hear what Mr. 'J'albo;, who has technical 
experience, has told u.s about the maiiuring, 
because it is a question wliicli has been very 
mucli suhjiulice. He has given, I consider, a very 
deoisive'^opiiiion, wlricli we can all aiipreciale. 
What he lias said about tliis rather nasty ques- 
tion of coast advances, and .so forth, is also very 
satisfactory. 1 would just like to point out that 
for the past year our advances seem actually 
to have increased. But 1 take it from wliat Mr. 
Talbot has said that it is merely a temporary 
advance and we shall in obakly see them diminish 
greatly. Could tlie Chairman say what the loss 
on rice has cost the Company and also whether 
at the present moment there is a loss on rice ? 
I understand there is no loss now that the 
famine is over. All the shareholders who are here 
aiv- no doubt familiar with tea production ; but 
coconuts are a sort of novel thing in connection 
rvith tea Companies. Can you give us in a few 
words, somctliim,'' to ex|iiain tons what the dilf- 
erenu iiroduct.s obtainable from the coconut are? 
I take it in the first place the fibre 
is of a certain value, than the nut itself 
— co[)ra is shipped for some purpose cr 
_otiier — and thirdly the product luiowii as des- 
iccated coconut. You have already stated that 
you think these coconut plantations ongiit to 
give about 8 i<er cent on their cost. Is tiiat a 
fair e.xiieetation in view of tiie possibility of a 
large increase in the production of coconuts. If 
a large number of Companies like yours introduce 
these coconuts will it inneii diminish the profits 
to 1)8 earned tiom tliem ? As to jmtting your 
Re.serve Fund into thrse coconut mills 1 rather 
gather from the shareholder who spoke before 
me that he questions the wisdom of this course. 
Mr. Welldon Oh, no. 
Mr. Seton : I niisnnderstood you. I think the 
directors are wise in doing this as a .sort of 
hedge against tea. I quite agree with the 
reiiort that the whole state of this well managed 
Company can only give ground for the great satis- 
faction of all the sharehokleis. Mr. Kutherford 
lias made a point of the exaggerated views, people 
are taking as to the end of all things (laughter) ; 
but, as he has said, locking to the value of the 
shares of Companies seem to suffer more re- 
latively than the others (hear, hear.) The better 
a tiling is, tiie more sensitive it is to any fear 
there may be as to the future. That applies 
both to Indian and Ceylon tea Companie.s. 
The CiiAiRMAN" : — hen W'e starteil this reserve 
fund, we ho])ed as nearly ns po.ssible to keep our 
securities at about one-half of the amount we 
were placing in the coeomit business. If yon 
take the ab.solute li st-class .securities and the 
balance which we have in working you find it 
piaciicaily come.s to half ainl half — half in money 
and half in estates. It was necessary, of course, 
to put more to the coconut e.states, because we 
bought a large area of land which was all junole 
and in order to Ining that into cultivation ic 
M a.s nece.s.saiy to dispose of .some of our securities. 
What we esiimate is that we don’t intend to 
buy any uioi.^ coconut lands. AVe have enough 
to do to develop tlie land we have now \Ve have 
1,421 acres notin bearing, which means we liave 
got to keep it probably eight years before we 
get anything out of it. But it takes only aliout 
£1 an acre. I estimate that the coconut' estates 
when in hearing will not cost more tlian £27 an 
acre -£12,000 or £13,000 a year, which must of 
course come out of our reserve fund. The next 
question to answer is, have we any shares in other 
■ Companies? AVe do not hold a"^single share in 
any Company and we don’t intend to (hear, 
hear.) AA^ith legard to coa.st advances, they liave 
increase i somewhat this year, but T tli'iiik it 
will be found that in all (.’omp.anies they have in- 
creased tliis year. In (,.nr la.st mair from the 
manager, however, he say.s he hopes to decrease 
the advance.s by about 20 per cent tins year. As 
to rice, I was of course comparing 'last year 
with 189.5 in my speech, and the difference" on 
rice account is £3,0_ 0 for last year. Air. Seton 
aSivs if 8 pel cent is a safe return on cooonuts. 
I think it is. Of course, I can’t say v.diat tlie 
price of coconuts will be in the next year and 
tlie year following, but if Sirangapatiie estate 
