450 
THE. TROPICAL AQRIOULTURfST 
[January i, 1892. 
> 
of it ii Ohina to begin with, and the email amount of 
renl Cevlon tea in it is worth about 6ii or 25 cents a 
pound in Oolombo ; in fact I can buy a better tea at 27 
oentB in Colombo that will knock it clean oat.” 
MeserB, Somerville & Oo«, to whom we referred for 
an opinion, report aa follows 
•' Mark Batticola, description broken tea, London 
▼aloe 6d. Colombo equivalent at exchange la 6d — to 
20c. <o21o. ilemarkfl— blflokiabf flaky, dusty broken tea: 
little leafy ; liquor thin common, with China shantam 
flayor. . 
“ i*. jS.— F rom the taste of the liquor we are inchnea 
to suspect a mixture of Ceylon and China tea (with a 
larger proportion of the latter), which however is dif- 
floult to trace in the dry leaf, as the tea is very broken 
and hardly a whole leaf perceptible. 
Infused Leaf. — Black. . , . mt. 
8o maoh for the pure” Battioola tea. The 
sellers deserve to be proseoutod. They seem to 
have been ashamed to put their name on the packet. 
RUBY MININC COMPANY (LIMITED). 
Mr. Thomas Dickson, chairman, presided at the half- 
yearly meeting of the shareholders, and explained that 
the objeot was simplv to snbmit the directors’ report 
on the working for the first ►ix months of the year. 
No accounts were presented, as they were only ren- 
dered once in the twelvemonth. Ho might say he had 
nothing particularly encouraging to lay before them, 
or anything the reverse. The mine was one of the 
most peouUar in the world lo deal with. If they found 
no ore they should bo inclined to say they had enough 
of it, and they would go ou no further- But aach was 
not the case. They were continually oomiiig across 
pipes and veins of ore rnnniug iu all directions, and 
they were following those up, bat they had not yet 
succeeded lo flodiug the Bonanaa which they were assured 
must exist somewhere. When the company wis re* 
oonstructed, they were told by thoir managers and 
agenta that it would bo extremely uowino to abaadon 
the working without a farther trial. The trial they 
were now raakiog, and they were finding a certain 
quantity of ore, but not snfifloieut to make a dividend- 
aying company. True, their mills were shut down 
at they were now sending their ore to Salt L%ke City 
to be crushed, with results fully as satisfactory as 
when they did the work tbemeoWes. Meanwhile their 
exploring was being well and coonotuioftlly done, and 
they bad the utmost oonfidenoe in their agents and 
officers. The report was aJoptod .— Jfail Gazette, 
Nov. 4th. 
SCOTTISH TRUST AND LOAN COMPANY 
OF CEYLON, LIMITED. 
Report of the Direotorii of the Scottish Trust and 
lioau Oompauy of Ceylon, Limited, to tlio Four- 
teenth OriUnery Oeneral Meeting of shareholders, to 
be held within the Company's Begisierod Office, No. 
123 George Street, Edinhntgh. on Monday, the 2lith 
day of Ootober 1891, at 3 o’clock p.m. 
The Directors present thoir Fourteenth Report, being 
lor the year to list August 1891. . 
Estates in Couvany’s 1’, ssrshon — The year jus- 
closed has, SB regards produote, been the most success- 
ful in the history of the Company. The yield ct 
both Ten and Goileo has exoeoded expectations, and 
the prices obtained in the Loudon market have been 
Batisfaetory, It will be observed from the Balaiice- 
Bbeet that the value of Produce on hand at 31.st 
Angnst laat repre.entel a sum of £(1993 ; and 
the Directors have to state that this valuation is 
conairaed by sales which have aoluslly taken place 
subsequent to that date. The prices obtained lor 
Cinchona during the past year have been somewhat 
dianpoiating. Aa in former years, Ihs whole cost 
ofl'ua cultivation has been charged ngainst Revenue. 
On the Estate of Kaipoogala, the Tea Factory re- 
ferrud lo iu last year’s Keport baa been eroded atae 
cost tf £1760, and there has been oxpau tqsded one 
Factories at Annflnid and Alnwick sums amounting 
to £1000. The Directors propose to write off, as 
formerly, ono-fifth of the total expenditure upon 
this account. The operations during the year at these 
Factories have been satisfactory, and a large quantity 
of leaf has been treated. 
The Directors have further to report under this 
bead that during the year they entered upon nego- 
tiations with the Oeylon Plantations Company for the 
sale of Ardallie, one of the estates belonging to this 
Oompauy. These negotialions ended in the acceptance 
by the 'Directors of an offer of £7,000 for the eetato 
as it stood at 1st April 1891. 
MonTOAUEs asuD iw Crvi.on bt the Oompanv. — 
This Account in the Balance-Sheet shows a consider- 
able reductioD as compared with the amniiut due at 
Hist August 1890. The sum of £3,000 referred 
to in last year's Report as a loss mu Loans, has 
been written off, and sums amonnting to £4,095, 
18a 8d have been received from sundry Bor- 
rowers in rednetion of and payment of Mortgages, 
The Company dooi not now bold any Rupee Loans. 
The interest on all Mortgages has during the year been 
paid with regularity, and the Directors have pleasure 
in recording that at the close qf the finanoial year no 
interest was in arrear upon any of the Company’s 
Loans. During the current year, the Mortgage Debt 
due to the Company will be further reduced. 
Debenture Debt. — The liability of the Company 
under Debentures has, during the year just closed, been 
reduced by a turther eiien of £6,155, which represents a 
considerable saving in interest. At the ensuing terms 
of Martinmas, 1891, and Whitsunday, 1392, ths Direc- 
tors will be iu a position to pay off the whole Deben- 
tures theu f si ling due. 
Accounts. — The balauoe at the credit of Profit and 
Loss Account is £7,705 C !> 
and the Directors proposes — 
To pay a Dividend of 6 per 
cent, free of Income Tax . .£2,250 0 0 
To pay a Bonus of 5 pec 
cent, do. .. .. .,£2,250 0 0 
To transfer to Reserve 
Fund £1,000 0 0 
£5,500 0 0 
Thus leaving .,£2,205 6 9 
to he carried forward to next account. 
The Dividend and Bonus will ho payable on ,11th 
November next. 
Codec the rotation 9xed by the Directors, Mr. 
Henry Johnston, Advocate, retires from office at this 
Meeting ; but he is eligible for re-election in terms 
of Section 14 of Articles of Association. 
The Auditor for the current year falls lo be 
appointed. 
By order of the Board, Feancis A. Bbinoloe, 
Secretary. 
Edinburgh, 19th Oolobec 1891. 
GEMMING AND MINING COMPANY. 
(From the Dwarf, Nov. 8.) 
I should much doubt, after the collapse of the Bur- 
mah Buby Miues, Limitel, which was brought out 
under the auspices of Mr. Steseter, whether the Sap. 
pliice and Ruby Mines of Montana will be readiW 
subsotibed for even by our gullible British public. It 
is well-known that Tiffany, the eraiuont New York 
jeweller, has not formed a very high opinion of the 
value of Montana atones, and refused to purchase the 
property or to assist in bringing it out as a Limited 
Company. If the ground is to valuable it is extremely 
unlikely that Oousin Jonathan would have allowed it 
lo gubeggiog in London. 
1 hear that Streeter will shortly be askel to bring 
out yet another sapphire mine, this time in Cashmere ; 
and the fact that Oolooel Parry Nisbot’s name appears 
on the list of Founders of the Moutaiia Oompauy, 
rather strcngtheiis me in my belief in the rumour. 
Recently some very valuable fiuds of sapiiliires have 
been made in Oasbmero, and experts are now in- 
specting the suppo.sed site of the mines. 
