270 
tHE TROPICAL AQRI0ULTURI8T. 
[October i, iSgi 
UNFAVOUHABLE BEPOKT& ON TEA. 
A writer in the Indian Planters' Gazette baa an 
BinusiDg paasage, thus : — 
You will find that, as a rule, the agonc; btma dor- 
oribe and report upon vour namples fairly aud as 
compared with other teas aotually beiug made. The 
appetite for liue quality baa, however, in aeveral 
iuataucee (there la one particularly bad offender in 
houdon) 1^ to a practice of reporting upon aamploa 
aa compared with what one would imagine would bo 
the quality of Utopian produce, euppoiting that pro- 
vince grew tea. Thia firm habitually made the teaa 
out many degrees worse than in reality, with singular 
contempt for the intcUigcuce of their hlauagers, to 
whom they kept up a standing cry of Now this 
is not a way to treat a tea-house sirdar. 
Their vocabulary did not run from “ very good ’ 
to " very bad," but from about “ moderately fait ’’ to 
“ infamous.” The rosulis wore that the reports simply 
misled you. 
Uoe especially awful report I got, I remember, was 
such that even the experience ot several seasons failed 
to reassure me that there was not something 
really wrong with the teas at last, but when 
the sale report arrived they came out fifth upon 
a list of eighteen. Aud the mystery to me has been 
ever since, what (with the English language at its 
present strength) could the Agents have found to say 
ro the maker at number eighteen teas. The only 
possible solution is (to my mind) that they had re- 
course to vulgar French abuse, and reported somewhat 
in this fashion. 
Valuations and Characters ot Bankpore Teas. 
Qrades, Descriptions. Values. 
[ Criminally irregular Broken '! 
p.ko. S“‘™r;r “SS Hu- 
\ liquor. J 
i Bevoltingly Ill-twisted Ball-Congou > 
kind, tihameful outturn. Horrible > Id. 
liquors, J 
■n o t. 1 , i boat aud liquor iudisoti- 1 « , 
Pekoe Souchong J j 
„ „ , ) Ah gredin, vilaiu monttre, I ». , 
Bro. Souchong 
Qensral Bemarks.— Ctd nom de pommedoterre Oor- 
blou. — 
(Sd.) Cannonade k Co. 
Disgrace Church St,£. C., 
7th October 18 — . 
THE BRITISH BORNEO COMPANY, 
(LimTEH.) 
The ordinary half-yearly meotiog of the share- 
holders in this Company was held yesterday, at the 
Cannon-street Hotel, when Mr. A. J. boruttuu ocou- 
pied the chair. — The lauded property of the Company, 
the report stated, now amounted to about lUd,t'UO 
acres, all of which was covered with valuable timber, 
A large portion ol the laud was suitable lor growing 
tobacco, ooffee and' sugar, and should the devalop- 
meut ol Borneo continoe in these products, it should 
be saleable for planting purposes in tbe Inture, more 
espeoially as it was easily accessible from Badakan, tbe 
capital. As suitable virgin land was getting toatce m 
Sumatra, tbe attention ot the large Dutch companies was 
beiug attracted to Borneo, aud it was hoped that they 
would commence there. The general manager in Bor- 
neo had been dismissed. The Board had des- 
patched a special representative to Borneo, who was 
of opinion that, with a suitable manager there, Md 
more shipping facililies, their trade "'fj* China 
alone would show a sufficient profit to pay the Com- 
pany. Tbe Board did not think they were warranted 
in, ptoceodiug with the cultivation ot tobacco, next 
year, on account of tbe low price of tobacco and the 
high price of labour iu Borneo* The report then 
entbred into details with regard to matters complained 
* Minus. 
of in the island. — The Chairman expressed regret at 
the character of tlio report which was submitted, 
and he iittribnltd the unfortnnate position they were 
in to the Iste manager, who had failed to appreciate 
the resiionaibility of bis position. To this fact, and 
the existence of exceptionally serious circumstanoos 
in Borneo, they attributed tbeir position. The coun- 
try was very slow in development, wliioh was partially 
due to the want of appreoiation on the port of tbe local 
Government. They were seven or eight weeks’ sail from 
thoir property, which obliged them to trust very much 
to their representative. On some of the contracts 
entered into by their late manager they had lost 
several thousands of pounds, and tbeir loss had been 
iuoreasod by a want of adequate supervision. They 
had bad great difficulties with the labour question, 
which was seriously felt by all the trading companies 
in the island. Tbeir timber was moat valuable, and 
the markets of the world were open to them, Ue 
moved tbe adoption of the report and statement of 
accounts. — Mr, J, J, Dnnn seconded the motion, and 
also alluded to the groat value of their timber ; but ou 
the Iradirig account they bad lost about 6, OOOf. — Mr. 
S. y. Williams suggested that a drum-head court 
martial should be held upon the dirootors aud 
immediate punishment inflicted, because of the 
miserable tale of mismanagement which was dis- 
closed by the report. They had found a soape- 
goat iu tbe person of their late manager, but the 
real fault lay at home. He hoped tbe Shareholders 
would keep in touch with each other, and satin such a 
way as to suable thom to bring pressure upon the Di- 
rectors, and give them a ohanoe of redeeming their 
character. — Mr. 0. F. Bennett, who bad visited Borneo, 
gave an account of the valuable stores of timber which 
they possessed, and maintained that in China alone 
there would ha an UDfailing dnmaud for what they 
oould send. — Several Shareholders expressed their 
great dissatisfaction with the state of affairs as dis- 
closed by the report and statement of accounts. One 
or two suggested that a Committee of Shareholders 
should be appointed ; but to this exception was taken, 
ou the ground of the difficulty of controlling an estate 
_ far from London. Another proposition was to 
adjourn the meeting lor two months for fresh acoonnts 
to be prepared. Ultimately tbe Shareholders agreed to 
receive and adopt the report and statement of accounts, 
the Directors on their part agteoing to prepare fresh 
acoonnU, showing the position of matters down to 
June, and to oall another meeting in a few months’ 
time.— After some formal business the meeting ter- 
minated. — London Staiulard. 
nONOIiDLU AND HAWAHAN VEGE- 
TATION. 
Honolulu is situated under the loe of a range of 
mountains about 4,000 feet high, that almost eutirely 
break the trade winds and as a consequence the cli- 
mate is sweltering in the day time, bat the nights are 
cool and pleasant. 
Trade is somewhat depressed on aooount of the 
McKinley bill. Sugar is tbe prinoipal artiole of export 
and the price has gone down so muoh that they say 
there is no profit in it. Heretofore they have been 
making from 40 to 90 per oeUt on their sugar and it 
goM hard to have to come down to 10 to 25 per cent, 
which they will have to do. The quantity exported 
amounts to 125,000 tons for this year and they have 
been getting $100 a ton. It costs about $60 a ton to 
manufacture it and after the freight is added, left 
thom a large margin of profit. 
It is now thought that some of the poorer plan- 
tations will have to shut down entirely as they can 
get no one to carry them oo. The average yield is from 
three and one half to four tons per acre. Some 
plantations or parte of them yield as high as seven 
tons per acre. There are not many places that will 
yield that however. 
There are two methods of extracting the lugar from 
the oane, tbe old roller process and the more recent 
difaiion ptoooks. All the new mills now being ereoted 
