perature and rainfall conditions. In addition we have the benefit of the regular inspection by the Department of Agriculture of British Guiana, three such examinations having been made during the past year. The Governing Director has had some twenty years' experience in the tropics and is thoroughly familiar with agricultural work, the labor conditions, and the management of estates, and has been at all times in readiness to take up the work should the General Manager be incapacitated for any reason. The property is frequently visited and inspected by the officers and agents of the Company from New York. FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE BARTICA COMPANY ASSETS AND DISBURSEMENTS Cash and receivables Bartica Agricultural Estates, Ltd. See note 1.. and payments since the organization of the Furniture and fixtures in the United States... LIABILITIES $ 5,921.56 600,000.00 229,597.94 150.50 1,164,330.00 $2,000,000.00 Capital stock authorized (no debts or other $2,000,000.00 Note 1. The item, "Bartica Agricultural Estates, Ltd.," represents the 30 per cent. paid to the vendors for the 15,000 acres under a 99 years lease, and the further assumption by the vendors of the payment of $60,000 to the Government for a deed to the property; and all development work done on the plantation previous to its purchase by the Bartica Company. It further includes stock to the amount of $100,000 paid to Mr. Withers for his contract to manage the Estates for five years. These payments were made entirely in Treasury Stock of Series E (carrying no convertibles) and the total amount is trusteed by the vendors, and is not to be released until the completion of the financing of the Bartica Company. Note 2. The item "Plantation work, etc.," represents the total expenditures by the Company since it took over the property, including all development and organization work, and cost of financing the enterprise. Against this expenditure the Company shows rubber plantings which by the conservative British standards of valuation represent a sale value, at the present stage of growth, of $135,000.00, which, with the 150 acres cleared and to be planted with stumps now in the nursery, will have a sale value in December, 1912, of $292,200.00; in December, 1913, $448,200.00; in December, 1914, $633,600.00, and so on continuously until the trees have reached their maximum productiveness. The 1,000 additional acres to be planted to rubber this year will have by the British standards a sale value of $300,000.00 in December, 1912; $487,000.00 in December, 1913; $737,000.00 in December, 1914, etc. And each succeeding year's development will give an added sale value to the Estates at the same rapid rate of increase. The sisal acreage has now reached a stage where it will, after paying all costs of labor and upkeep, yield a net profit of 7 per cent. on $85,000.00 to $115,000.00 this year, and will increase rapidly until it reaches its maximum productiveness two years hence, after which time it will continue to produce at the maximum rate. Note 3. The Company's treasury stock provides amply for the complete development of the first 6,000 acres by 1917, which will give the developed portion of the Estates a sale value at that time of $6,348,200.00 by the British standards, and in addition the Company will hold full title to 9,000 acres yet to be developed. The Estates will then, by the most conservative estimates, be yielding annual net profits sufficient to pay very large dividends, after providing for the redemption of convertibles and setting aside enough to continue the development of the remaining 9,000 acres of the Estates at the rate of 1,500 acres per year. In view of the fact that the sisal plantings have now reached a productive stage, I have attached to this report a recommendation to the Board of Directors which, if adopted will, in my judgment, prove decidedly advantageous to the Company and its shareholders. Respectfully submitted, Jersey City, N. J., Jan 9, 1912. LINDLEY VINTON, Secretary and Treasurer. A RECOMMENDATION BY THE TREASURER To the Board of Directors of the Bartica Company: Recognizing that the early investor is entitled to ample returns upon his investment to compensate him for the use of his money dur ing the unproductive period, we gave to our early shareholders Convertible Certificates, each certificate representing a 50 per cent. extra dividend on the amount of his investment. As the Company is now in a position to earn interest on a reasonable amount of bonds, I suggest that the Directors consider the advantage that will come to the Company from the saving of interest through the lower rate which would be made possible by a bond issue. To provide for the present year's plantings the Bartica Company could issue at par ten-year exchangeable bonds paying 7 per cent. interest, payable semi-annually, this bond to be redeemable in cash on call, at any interest period at 110 per cent. and accrued interest; the holder to have the right at any time before maturity of the bond to exchange this bond for shares at par; should the bond be called before maturity, the holder to have the privilege for sixty days after call to exercise his option of exchanging his bond for shares. Two hundred and fifty acres of sisal on the company's property have now reached the productive stage. The sisal will return within the first year a net profit of about eight thousand dollars and the monthly yield will increase each month for two years, by which time the first rubber field will come into bearing. This enables the Company to offer a security which gives an income of 7 per cent. per annum until the rubber production enables the Company to pay dividends in excess of 7 per cent. And when the bonds are exchanged for shares, this income will be increased from year to year, until it exceeds 50 per cent. per annum on the investment. The proposed issue of bonds would find a ready market, for investors have come to realize that no agricultural investment is so secure or offers such large profits as rubber planting. As an instance of the Company's advantage in the proposed plan, I would call your attention to the experience of the Malacca rubber plantations, which, in November, 1909, out of a total authorized issue of £400,000 ($2,000,000.00) in £1 ($5.00) shares, issued: Seven and one-half cumulative par ticipating preference shares...... £115,000 ($575,000) They then issued £500,000 ($2,500,000.00) in 6 per cent. bonds in November, 1909, giving holders the right to the 30th of November, 1914, of exchanging each £10 ($50) bond for one ordinary share of £1 ($5.00) par value. These bonds are selling at par and the ordinary shares of the Malacca Company are selling £11 ($55.00) bid and £111⁄2 ($57.50) asked, showing that the stock has already reached conversion value. It will be obvious to all that in the case of the Bartica Estates, with its exceptional advantages in climatic and soil conditions, the rate of increase in share values will be such that when the subsequent yearly bond issues are made, the exchangeable value of shares will be in a rapidly ascending ratio. Therefore it would not be advisable, in my opinion, to make the succeeding years' bond issues exchangeable for shares at par, though it would be well to reward the subscribers for the first issue in this liberal manner. Should the Board of Directors favor the bonding plan, I recommend that the present shareholders of the Bartica Company be given first call on the bond issue for such succeeding year. Respectfully submitted, LINDLEY VINTON, Secretary and Treasurer. EXAMPLE OF MINING PROSPECTUS PERSUASION SAFE BANKING SYSTEM Mining Recorder THE ONLY RELIABLE BANKER Old Mother Nature is the only reliable banker, and a good mine is her bank. 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