July i, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
St 
After the re-election of Mr. R. H. Miller, 
Messrs. Harper Brothers, as Auditor of tUo eom- 
piuy, an extraordinary general meeting was held for 
tlie purpose of considering aud if deemed f xpedient, 
parsing tho fol owing resolution:—** That the <lirec- 
tors be authorised to purchase, or acquire from the own- 
ers there d, the following eatatt’S m Ceylon, viz. 
*• West Holyrood*’, coatai iug 5d7 acres or thoreab mts, 
“ ArdhlUe”, containing 211 acres or thereabouta, “Rath- 
nillolc‘‘lly”t coutaimog 2d9 acres, or thereabouts, or any 
of them, or any pare thereof respectively, with tho 
buildings, machinery, implomeotfi, live and dead stock, 
crops, produce, stores effects, aud other propeny bi- 
longiug to said estate'* or any of them, or any purt 
thereof respectively, and the bu^iaes3, aeacta, aud lia- 
bilities, of the respective owoera or vODilors of 
the said estates iu respect thereof, or any of them, 
or any part of such business, assets, aud liahiUtics at 
price or prices Uut exceeding in the whole iJ27.000, pay- 
able iu cash or in fully or pvLttly paid up shares of the 
company, or partly in casn am! pirtlj’ in such shurEs, 
and upon such terms aud conditions iu all re-^pects as 
the directors shall think lit.” 
The CiiAtHMAN formally moved the resolution* which 
was seconded by Mr. Paink, audearriod. 
On the motiou of Mr St?aton, a vote of thanks was 
then giv( 3 n to tho OiiAinwANaud directors, which con* 
luded the proceedings.— 0or«, local *‘ Timesv” 
CRVhON TI^A IX AMERICA. 
Mr. Ruthkrfjrd’s Sciirmb. 
The following is the purport of the proposal forma* 
latod by Mr. Rutherford aud read by him at the meet" 
ing in refurenoe to the representation of Ceylon at the 
Ohicago exhibition “ Mr. Elwood May, Rrosi'leut 
of the Oeylou Planters' Araerioau Tea Oomptioy, has 
represented to rae that in order to give ilnimugh oou- 
fidence to hia Americuu friends, aud to prove to them 
that his company has the full support of tlie toa 
plauterM of Oeylon, it of the most vital iiiiportance 
to its saoooag, that if possible, all Ceylon lea eslatu 
proprintora shonld bn shareholders in bowovor small 
a degree. 1 have pointed out to Mr. May that it mast 
be hopeless at thU stage ul the oompany’.*i career to 
enlist morn shareholders amougai the plautiug com- 
nmnity. It is, I believe, admitte«l on all bauds that 
the American contiueut is the country above all others 
in which Oeylon tea ought to be pushed. Mr. May has 
shown me many proofa that hia company is pushiug 
our teas in the large American cities, that the teas 
are bocoming widely known, and that the sales are 
increasing. An enterprise like this cannot be worked 
on niggard lines, and tosneceed must have unlirai el 
capital to work wiib. Mr. Mav states that the capital will 
be forthcoming if he is placed iu a position where he can 
show hts friends that it really is wbat it professes to 
be a 0*7lon Planters' Company. He says ho fools as 
if ho were siilmg under false colors in calling it a 
Planters* Company under the auspices of tho Planters^ 
Association wUon it has received such p>or sapport 
from those whoso interosts it was created to buatfit. 
It has suggoste.l itsolf to me that tho object Mr. May 
has in view might be attained throngh the means of 
the ‘Tea Fund.* I think it is boyoud question that 
our represontstivea at Exhibitions in variou.s countries 
have stimulated the demand (or Ceylon tea. At the 
*'Vorld*8 Fair’ at Chicago the Oeylon plaulors ^hould 
be prepared to make snob a show a.s to commaud 
snooesB. M.y proposal is that tho whole amount o *1- 
leoted for tho ‘Tea Fund’ for tho current ytar should 
bo handed over tu the Ceylon Planters’ American Toa 
Oompiny on tho following terms;— That tho Oeylou 
Planters’ American Tea Company shall represent thi 
tea industry of Ceylon, on behalf at the Ceylon 
Planters' Association, on conditions to be hereafter 
arranged and submitted for the approval of the Co. Ion 
Association. That the Estate proprietors whose names 
are on the ‘Tea Fund’ list and have subscribed not less 
than nio during tho current year to tho fu-id shall 
receive oue fully paid 20'dollare share iu the Ceylon 
Planters' American Company. Those who have sub- 
fcribed less than fifty rupees on paying the difference 
will be also entitled to rtceive one*fuI!y-paid sharo. By 
this scheme it appears to me that the Ceylon planters 
would ho ttnployivig the proper ageucy to rcprtseiU 
them at tho Chicago Exhibition, ns the American Tea 
Cuinpnny would have tho strongest possible motive — 
that of self-interest — to make the reprosontation a 
BuccPHs. As to tho isBueof scrip to all subscribers to 
tho 'I'o.a Fund alike, with the proviso as regards thoso 
who have subscribed less than R50, I do not think 
suhsoribi rs to the Tea Fund would expect to get an 
allotment in proportion to their subscription. Tho 
sole object of this part of tho schemo is to onsurc 
what Mr. May so much desires, the bringing iu as 
Hharpli dder**, ns far an it is possible, of every tea pro- 
prietor in Ct*yion. With pru:ticully tho whole tea 
pr^'prietor^bip of Coylou as shareholders in this com- 
pany, there can bo no doubt it will show those friends 
of Mr. May who aro prepared to tako up the balance 
of capital that the plantors aro in oaruest in their 
( udeavoard to pu^h their tea iu America. 
Mr. Rn'herford’s proposal wns well received by those 
present at the innebing, who wore of opinion that, if 
prop-r arrangements wero made for ensuring an 
ade({nato representation of Ceylon industries generally, 
welt as Toa, as was done at South Kensington in 
1880, by a well equippod Ceylon Court under an official 
commission, the affair should be a success in every way, 
A meeting of tho Tea Committee to consider the 
above proposal is couvooed for tho lUh instant.— /hid. 
Tea from the Sthaith Settlements.— An invoice of 
forty-seven packages in seventeen breaks from Perak 
realised an average of H;7d per lb. Tho tea was in 
very small lots, and found less favour with buyers 
in conseqaence.— 0. d/at7, May 1.), 
A “ Te.v Crops ” Cycle, — A planter writing 
from an old coffee district propounds the cycle 
theory for toa crops, thus : — 
Tea, I fsney, will follow the fashion of coffee in 
having a cycle of three years ; good, bad and indiffer- 
ent. List year most planters comp aiued of being 
short of their estimate (bad) ; this year most estimates 
will be oxceLd«jd (good); ^o we must look fur au 
iudiiloront year next year (from Ist July). 
Ceylov Tea at Chicago.— M r Elwood May has 
rcqina*ed the attendance of nil iritereatcd in the 
Otylou T»'a Industry at tho rooms of the Association 
on Monday at 15 p. m. to hear his views as to the 
8>%le of Ceylon Tea in the United States and else- 
where. Mr. II. K. Rutherford has had another 
iivterview with him, and the result is that the former 
has designed a schemo wbioh will accomplish all that 
Mr. May proposes, now that he lifls dropped his 
dream of a toa “ corner ”, and this he will submit 
to tho meeting on Monday, Briefly it amounts to 
this. ^tr. May says that iu order to inako their Tea 
Company the auceexs it will certainly be it is necessary 
to assure |tho American public that the Company 
really represouts the entire planting inlereat in Ceylon, 
which at present it is not in n position to do. Now 
Mr. Kothorford says that, inasmuch at the snbscribera 
to the Ceylon Tea Fund are about to invest a oon- 
sidotable sum in rnauieg Oeylon tea at the Ohiosgo 
Exhibition, he will propofc that every sabscril>or of 
BGO to the fund shall havo a share presented to him, 
the amount of tho money so voted for the Exhibition 
to bo handed over to the Company for the purpose 
of pushing your teas within tho building. That being 
so, the plant ii‘g body and tho London Toa Committee 
will be directly represented by the Company, which 
Mr. M ly says will ensuro its sucoeSM, as uny amount 
of capital would ho found under those clroumutanoes, 
whiLt Ceylon planters will be doing no more than 
they have already reso ved on doing, that is, work 
the Exhibition for their tea, whilst they will have all 
the advantage of tbe local experience of the Company's 
workit‘8 staff.— C’c>r, L^cal “Times. ’ 
