Mog6k
of the hills. And meanwhile anxious shareholders
waited for a dividend that never came; an anxious
Government, prone to the prompt collection of its dues,
waited for its rent ; and hope, delusive, receded farther
and farther away as the company’s capital approached
extinction. The value of its shares dropped down, and
soon touched the farcical limit of eighteen-pence. When
it was all but too late the company turned to the
obvious remedy : it recalled its enterprising battalions,
and began washing for rubies in the soft soil of the
valley. It soon became" apparent that the prosperity
of the company had now become a simple little matter
of arithmetic. It was found that in every truck of earth
sent up from the alluvial pits there was on an average
a certain percentage of rubies. The company’s object
became to produce each truck at a cost less than the
value of the rubies it contained, and to produce as
many trucks as possible. The history of the company
since" then has been a history of devotion to this idea.
The cost of production has been steadily reduced.
Salaries now are but a lean shadow of their opulent
past. The Government rent has been lowered to two
hundred thousand rupees a year ; its demand for arrears
of rent has been withdrawn in the company’s favour to the
extent of many hundred thousand of rupees ; and the
substitution of electricity for steam, of water-power for
fuel, the multiplication of diggers and machinery, have
completed the turn in the direction of prosperity. It
is admitted on all hands that the company has now
entered on a period of quiet but steady prosperity;
VOL. i i . 8 0 1 c c