928 
THt TROPICAL ACRIOULTURIST. 
(June i, 1892. 
It will be noted that debenture debt waa reduced 
bj £10,010 drawn and paid off in 1601. 
An Bbown in the aohedule annexed there are 9,236 
Bcrea of the company’s property onder tea cultivation 
of which about 6,700 are over four y^arn old. The 
yield of tea in 1891 amounted to 2,00d,0o0 lb. the 
average gross price obtained being approximately 9Sd. 
per lb. The crop for 1893 is estimated at 3,2-10.000 lb. 
The directors hive seld three estatea dnr ng the 
past year, viz '.^Belgodde, Montedoro and Sione^odi' 
Belle Vue, proceeds of sales being carried to the 
credit of estates reserve aoooutit, realizations and 
recoveries.” 
Id accordance with the articles of a^nocistlon, two 
of the directors, viz: — Mr, Norman W. Grieve and 
Mr. David Reid, retire from office and, being eligible 
offer tbemse vea for re-elootioo. Tba r*^ tiring auditor, 
Messrs. Welton Jones & Co., al^o oiler themselves 
for rc*eleotioo. 
flcHEDunB or TUB Oompant’b Estates tat Sis 
Decbmbeii, 1891. 
Arapolakando 
AMgcria and Maddawclla 
Bmatwatlo do 
Oolonna 
Condegalla 
Bandukclawa 
Doombagastalawa 
Dromoland 
Hope 
Itigurugalla andUerrowella 
Klrrlmottia 
Koladenia 
KolapaLiia and 
Kumarailola 
Labnokellie 
Meddccoombra 
Norwrnrd 
KoihfiChlld 
Sogamiua 
VcUal Oya 
■Wovekellie 
Woodslee 
Under Tea .. 
„ (Tea with some remaining coffee) ... 
„ Ooffoo 
„ Cocoa 
„ Olnohona. cardamoms and Bundries... 
„ Forest grass and uncnltlvated laod... 
Gongalla 
Acres. 
8,766 
470 
9,238 
108 
621 
368 
6,40.) 
Total,.. 16,791 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
The Budget and Pkoduoe. — In hia apeeoh on the 
Budget, Mr. Ooachen niude the following reference 
to toft, coffee, and cocoa : — “ Tea haa been extremely 
satisfactory. The roooipta from tea were £.S,(l!tl,000, 
against an estimate of £!i, 100,000, and againat the 
receipts last year of i‘3,,I12,000, I must say that the 
result is more satisfactory than it appears, bocauao a 
considerable amount of duty was paid at the beginning 
of the last financial year, the tea having been hold 
back in expectation of a reduction in duty. That 
amount can bo pretty well calculated, and the real 
ineroaao on tea is £150,000, representing an increase 
of 4i per cent. Of that 2 per cent, will bo due to 
the increase in population and the fact of there being 
extra days in the year ; but the remaining 2} per 
cent, is a bond Jlr/e inoroaso in consumption. The 
Coffee Group produces £331,000, or £2,000 less than 
the estimates. But where coffee shows a slight de- 
crease oocoa shows aslight increase.” 
Mincino Ijane and its Mekchants. — I n the JJaili/ 
Graphic of Tuesday there is a sketch of the Indian 
tea sole room In Mincing Lane during the progress 
of a sale. Underneath the sketcli wliicb is referred 
to as “ A Pulse of the Nation's l^rospority — The 
Headquarters of the Tea Trade of tho London Com- 
mercial Sale Boom, Mincing Lane," there is a quo- 
tation from Mr. Goschon’s remarks aliouttbe increased 
consumption of tea in his Budget speech. Under 
the heamng " Tho Cup That Cheers,” our oontem- 
pomry says: — “On June 1st, 1811, the narrow little 
throughfare known as Mincing Lane was in a state 
of considorablo excitement, for the Lord Mayor waa 
coming in state to lay the foundation of the Loudon 
Oommeroial Sale Booms, accompanied by tho ‘ band 
of the Honourable East India Company.’ The cere- 
mony was duly performed, and as the official report 
states, tho Lord Mayor, ‘ having received a 
bottle of rum as a British colonial production 
broke tho same upon tho atone, and afterwards a 
bottle of wine, the produce of Portugal, tlie bravo 
and faithful ally of Great Britain, and pronounced 
the name of the institution to be the ‘ London Com- 
mercial Sale Rooms.* Such exertions necessitated 
refreshments, and the party forthwith proceeded to 
an ‘ elegant cold collation,’ where his lordship, in a 
burst of eloquence, said ‘the tyrant of Europe cast 
unceasingly an envious eye upon this happy island, 
and longeu, but would long in vain, for her ships, 
her colonies, and her commerce.’ Launched under 
such august auspices it might liave been hoped that 
a grateful Mincing Lane would desert its ooffeo-liouses 
and other niisoellaneous places of business, and crowd 
tho ‘ subscription room,’ tho numerous sale rooms, 
and the reading room. But merchants and brokers of 
thoso, as of tho present days, wore conservative in 
tlieir habits, and for many years tlie London Coini- 
mercial Sale Rooms were called, after their chief 
S romoter,- ■ ‘ Martin's Folly,’ and the shares 
windled -in price -from par to £17 per cent. As 
trade developed, and new articles wore included in 
the comprehensive lists of Mincing Lane, the 
advantages of tho rooms were, however, gradually 
recognised, and today there ore 1.500 Bubscrlbers 
to the institution, which is so much too sinall for 
their requirements that it is to be pulled down, and 
a more commodious building erected. Like many 
otlier great ideas, tlio Gomniercial Sale Rooms wore 
started before their time ; but time haa amply justi- 
fied tho enterprise of Mr. Martin, who, by tho way 
was one of the founders of tho firm of Hollama, Son 
and Coward, the well-known cunmiorcinl solicitors. 
Mincing Ijane ns a thoroughfare is certainly insigni- 
ficant and uninteresting, but Miueing Lane, in regard 
to the commercial interests located within its dingy 
offices, or the vast ‘ warrens ' which front upon it, is 
one of the most important centres of commercial 
London. Hero are located, for instance, the great 
sugar inerchants aud brokers, aud a trade of vast 
extent is transacted in this article alone — not as for- 
merly in sugar mostly of colonial growth, hut now 
principally in beetroot and the crystallised goods 
heavily subsidised bv foreign governments for the 
benefit of British consumers. Even more important, 
perliaps, than tho sugar is the tea trade, an essentially 
British, nay, an almost exclusively Londou industry. 
Tliis business is divided into tlie Indian and t eyloii 
and tlie China trades, and these have each their sepa- 
rate dealers and sale rooms.” 
TKA-t’LANTING AND I’lllLANTUB PY. — In the OertCUt 
number of Sc7'ib»er there is au article on the ’‘Social 
Awakeuing ot Loudon,” in which retermoc is made 
to the work (lone in the Rast-and by P. K. Bnchatiau. 
Tho writer says: — “The University Club has the 
ooiistant support of Mr, Buchanan, who lives in B thnal 
Green with liis family for the sake of entering into 
an intimate, hdpriil relation with working people." 
Uf the teetotum clubs fennded by Mr. llurhanau the 
writer sajs: —“These unique inatitulioiie are the creation 
of Mr. Buebauan, They combme the features of a 
coffee-house supplying a variety of good food and 
non-alooholio driuks with those of a olub having 
nnmerous Facilities for iraprovemeut and recreation. 
Mr. Buchanan illustrates” says the writer, “the new 
type of man now coming forward in Euglmd, who 
with intelligence, menus, and energy shall devote bim- 
selt and his possvssious to working out plans for 
widening tho circuit of life for tho toiling majority 
ot his fellow-countrymen ” 
Ckylon Tea in Amebica.— M r. S. Elwood May, 
Preside'. t ot the Ceylon Planters’ Tea Company of 
New York, arrived in London a tew days since, aud 
is now staying temporarily at the Ilotol Victoria. 
The Ceylon Planters’ Tea Cempany of New York was 
established for the purpose of introducing and pro- 
moting the sale, in the United States and Canada, 
of pur.' Ceylon tea; and Mr. KIwood May's visit to 
this country has been undertaken ohitfly with the 
object of furthering the operations of the company by 
oousulatiou in the first plaoe with the members of 
tho Coylou AsBOCtation in London. 
Last Week Tea Mabket. — Uiaonssing last week’s 
tea market, the Produce Markets' Review says : — “ In- 
dian tea has been more freely offered, including 
a fairly good assortment ot medium aud fine 
grades. Those have been actively dealt in at firm 
