January i, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
495 
cares not whore in the wMo world the leaf grows so 
long as it pleases bis customers. It ie, therefore, 
worthy of the serious consideration of all tea piaulers 
whether they will go on aimiog at large quantities of 
inferior quality about which no eutbaaiasin will bo 
possible, and which will inevitably land the toa-prndu* 
cing iodustrylin auotber such bog as it tlonudered out of 
with such diffioulty five-and- twenty >ears ago, or will 
they, to uso the lauguage of the Malthusiaus, impose 
a modified deKoriptiou of preventive check on produc* 
ticn, which will raise the standard of excellence in the 
thing produced nud r.'store the waning prestige of 
British-grown tea ?— /f. and C, Mail. 
THE LAND MORTGAGE BANK OF INDIA, 
LIMITED. 
Tho extraordinary general meeting ot the share- 
holders of the above Hank, to which we referred last 
week, was held o'i Fridiy, at tbe City Tormiuus 
Hotel, Mr. R> Boyson in thu chair, in c:)mpliauce 
with a requisition to hear a propornl by the rt^qni- 
Bitioiiisba to tbe following effect:— ** To elect a com- 
mittee of investigation to enquire into aud report 
OQ the necessity or expediency of tbe call of 10a. 
per share made on S^pt, 23rd, 1691 ; also to enquire 
into and report npon the maoagemeni of tho bank 
nnd future prospects of tbe ahareholdt^rs ; and fur 
tbe purpose of hearing any explanation the directors 
may have to offer.’' The chairman, in opeuing the 
prooeediugs, stated that the only object of the meet- 
ing, and the only qncstion they had to decide, was 
whether there should be a committee of investi- 
gation to look into the oonduot of the director* for 
the past twenty-three ye^rs- A must unfounded 
attauk had been made on tho board, who had done 
a great deal for the shareholders, and he hTeged 
that a persistent attempt had been made since 
1881 to wreck the bank. The beginning of the affair 
was in that year, when Mr. Stewart, tho then 
manager of their tea estates in India, happened 
to be at borne on short leave. Unfortnna'ely 
for the bank their manager had allowed himsolf to be 
tampered with by Messrs. Suohauau and Muir, who 
at the time had not a farthing of interest in the com- 
pany. Mr. Buchanan remarked that bo was a share- 
holder at the time. The chairman, continuing, stated 
that there had beeu an attempt over siuoe 1881 to get 
the nffairs of tho company into tbe hands of Mr. John 
Muir, He read a letter markei^^ooufidential,” which was 
sent by Mr. Stewart, date i Poh. 9tb, 1883, to Mr. Muir 
relating to tho boNineas of tbe company aud the value 
01 Its tea properties aud other asMOts, He afterwards 
rererreu at length to the subsequent action of Mr. 
Buchsoan aud Mr. Muir, and staled that the shsres 
consequently went down to nil, and their 5 per cent, 
and 4^ per cent debeutare.4 to adLscount. The call had 
been aeoided on by the directors after oonHiderable 
thought. The fact that they had to pay off £14,000 in 
January bad not caused them to make tho call, the 
object of which had simply beeu to strengiben the 
credit and the fiuaucial position of the bank. Bveu 
after making tho call he bad beeu in hopes that they 
would be able to a lopt some course which would put 
a ^stop to tho possibility of any further call. When they 
had brought iheir debeuture liability down to 
£160,000 or £170,000, which ho was sure they could 
have managed, he telt that they could go to the 
holders, point out the poaitiou of tho company with its 
Uncalled capital ot £l,0u0,000, and ask teem to take 
debenture s-.ock or preferoace shares, thereby relieving 
sharoholders from a<iy further anxiety as to calls. 
When, however, tbe requiaition was received for an 
extraordinary general meeting to pass a vote of censure 
on the board s managcni-jiit, ho confeased that he had 
not felt so sangnioo of bciog able to carry out a plan with 
this object in view. As to the general charge of mis- 
mauagemont which had beeu brought against them by 
uaf ‘’®‘J^*®**''°“***^®* ho olairaod in view of the facts 
'ssued by the board, that tins 
«ust»inou, and that, on the 
contrary, they were entitled at least to the con- 
fidooce of the Abareholders. A certain proposal 
had been received by the directors from Mwssrs. 
Finlay, Muir ic Co.; but it could not btdca.t with 
at that meeting, which had be^u callo I fora specific 
obj ot. After reading the letter containing the pro~ 
po-al— which was to finance the b*nk for the next 
five years without making any call— tbe chairman read 
the reply which ho haii made to it, stating that if it 
had be* n received soone*, and sopplemented by addi- 
tional information, tbe directors would have deemed 
it their duty to submit it to the constderatiOD of tho 
shareholders in general meeting; but that as the 
directors bad almost concluded an arrangement with 
Messrs. George Williamson for thoir assuming charge 
of tho estates in question from tbe end of tho enrreut 
season, on very satisfactory terms, there might be some 
difficulty in now entertaining Messrs. Finlay, Muir & 
Oo.'s offer. Ho had had a long interview on tho pro- 
vions clay with Mr John Muir, to whom be had given 
the fullest information respi-otiug the affairs of the 
company. Mr. Buchanan afterwards addressed the 
meeting at length, entirely repudiating the construction 
which the chairman had put upon his action, and 
giving an unqualified denial to the statement that be 
was working in this matter for his owu personal ends 
and not for the intere^ts of the shareholders. He 
urged that an investigation was needed to see 
whether the call was necessary, in view of other 
courses which bad been suggested, and which might 
be capable of being a>lopted. The chairman, 
interposing, said he bad foreseen that some 
of tbe shareholders might regard the call as a hardship 
if they bad to pay it before thi' offer made by M> 8»rs. 
Fiolay, Maur, Co., and other propussls were con- 
sidered as these might render a call unneoessary ; aud 
the directors had therefore determinnd on issuing a 
notice deferring payment of tbe call uutil January next, 
or later. Mr. Buchanan s 'id ho regarded this as a very 
gratifying anuonocement, and added that half of his 
contention had gone by the chairman baviug oonoeded 
that it was necessary for the company to have an ludian 
agency. He still, however, maintained than an in- 
vestigation into the OL^mpanyV affairs was necessary, 
and that it would be bei efioial ; and concluded by 
moving a resolution in accordsnee with the object of 
the mooting. Alter a protected discussion, tho chair- 
man expressed his readiness to accept a suggestion to 
the effcot that tbe board wonld lake into itv> cuousels 
seven shareholders holding not less than 1,000 ►hares 
each, puebased before January Ist last. Upon this 
Mr. Buchauana withdrew hia motion.— if. and G. Mail, 
Nov. 27. 
» 
THE LAND MORTGAGE BANK OF INDIA 
LIMITED. AND MR. STEWART, 
TO TUB KnirOR OF THE “ HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL.” 
Sir,— My name was pretty freely mentioned by tho 
chairman at tho meeting of shareholders hold on the 
20th iust. From the special nature of the business 
for which that meeting hsd been called, as well as 
owing to the time occupied by the ebairmso’s open- 
ing speech, it would have been imposslblo for me to 
have obtained an oppor unity of replying to the struo- 
tnres which he chose to pass on me. I beg to be 
allowed to do so through the medium of jour oolamns. 
When I voyaged to Calcutta in November, 1881, 
Mr. Boebanan led me to nuderstand that be wae, 
at that time, a shareholder in tho bank. At tbe 
meeting ol sharelioldera on tbe 26lb iust., he 
specially interrupted the ebairmau to say that at 
the time referred to he loas a shareholder. The 
value of this interruption was, that it supported my 
narrative of what had occurred on board ship ; and 
next, that it enabled many — myself amongst tbem— 
to disabuse our miuds of any idea of a wilful attempt 
ou the part of that gentlMnan to mislead me. 
At that time I foresaw (as it turns out, only 
too aoourately) what would ultimately befall the 
bank when the time should come that its 
lodisa reahsatioDB would bo insuffloient to meet 
