36 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



fJULV I, 1886. 



HABD FOR THE PRODUCER OF SUGAR, 

 TEA, [COFFEE, COCOA, &c. 



From the Home and Colonial Mail, April 30th. 



' The totals given by Sir William Harcourt in his 

 Budget speech lead to the inference that commercial 

 operations during the first quarter of the present 

 jeir have been more satisfactory than usual. The 

 Grocer takes exception to this view, and, while ad- 

 mitting that the volume of business passing through 

 the grocers' hand has been large, is considerate enough 

 to admit that the continuous decline in prices has 

 been very unfavourable to importers and producers. 

 Undoubtedly this is so, as producers know to their 

 cost. The following figures show that the consump- 

 tion of many articles of food and manufacture that 

 are entirely " duty free " has increased in an aston- 

 ishing degree within the last fifteen years: — 



1870. 1873. 1876. 



Tea ... lb. 140,986.000 162,341,100 185,698,000 



Coffee ... cwt. 1,60.5.730 1,683,700 l,.'?4l,.38 ' 

 Cocoa ... lb. 14,793.000 19,661,250 20,382,300 

 Sugar ... tons 721,800 833,500 779.860 



1879. 1882. 1885. 



Tea ... lb. 184.510,800 211,080.300 212,375,300 



Coffee ... cwt. 1,617,380 1.358.960 1,035,800 

 Cocoa ... lb. 26,341.760 18,990.400 23,4)9,100 

 Sugar ... tons 885,6u0 l,l-,'8 7ii7 1,236 000 



With the exception of coffee, which has given place 

 to tea and cocoa, there is a marked increase in 

 qunntities, but muoh of the iut-rea.se in the quanti- 

 ties consumed Las been due to their ex'raor- 

 dinary cheapness as to the abundance and fret dooi 

 with which they have been offered on the different 

 markets. Nearly all kinds of produce have be^ii 

 declining in value since the b°girjing of January last, 

 and amongst others, sugar, coffee, cocoa, tea. 



The losses in the te« trade during the past tvro or 

 three months ou sales by auction " without reserve," 

 especially where the parcels on offer have been in 

 •' second hands ; " and Indian teas, for example, have 

 lately been disposed of in London at a decline of 

 8d to Is 2d per lb., from the cost prices in Calcutta in 

 November and December last. Similar instances of on 

 alarming depreciation in the value of produce couUi 

 be mentioned as having taken place of late. 



A furthf^r illustra'ion of the lowuess of prices, 

 and the disparity existing betwet-n them and those 

 towards the end of April in 1870 is afforded by the 

 following statement of the quotations for some of 

 the leading articles of produce, viz: — 



SUQAK. 



Demerara. Low E. I. Pieces Loaves. Beet. 



f.o.b. (88°/°) 

 1870... 34/ to 38/... 21/ to 29/. ..30/ to 38/.. 40/ to 41/ .. 33/ 

 1886...16 6,. 20/6. ..10/,. 14 6.. 12/,, 17/. .16/6 „ 17/6.. ' 



Maize. 



Tea. 

 good com. 



Coffee. 



mid. to fine 

 P. 0. 



187U.,.28/ to31/... 1/ to 1/1 ... 72' to 90/... 

 1886.. .20',, 21/.. .0/8 „ 0/8*.. . 66/ „ lOS^... 



13/ 

 Cocoa. 

 Grenada 



46/ to 72/ 

 70/ „ 80/ 



ME. SHAND ON CEYLON PRODUCTS AT THE 



COLONIES AND INDIAN EXHIBITION. 



Planters' ABsociation of Ceylon, 

 Kandy, 27th May 1886. 

 To^the Editors, C»ylon Observer. 



Sirs, — I beg to enclose for publication copy of 

 letter received from Mr. Shand on the subject of 

 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. — I am, sirs, 

 yours faithfully, A. PHILIP, Secy. 



Ceylon Commission, Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 

 South Kensington, S. W., London, 7th May 1886. 

 The Secretary, Planters' Association of Cej'lon, 

 Kandy. 



Dear Sir, — Your letter of 15th March, which seems 

 to have lain in Colombo for some tnne, reached at 

 last safely. 



Since I last wrote to you we have had a very busy 

 time unpacking and arranging, and though I was 

 not quite ready on the 4th, and it will be some days 

 still before I get our exhibits entirely ia order. With 



the assistance of Mr. "Whitham I was able to place 

 our collection fairly before the public. You will, of 

 course, have detailed accounts of the opening ceremony, 

 which was grand and impressive, and Ceylon was 

 fortunate in the position of the seats which were 

 alloted to it and a very liberal allowance of tickets 

 for the Exhibition ceremony was placed at the dis- 

 posal of myself and others by Mr. Birch for Ceylon 

 friends. 



Our three tea cases are arranged along the wall 

 and contain samples if commercial teas from thirty- 

 six (36) different estates ; we had not enough to till 

 these up sent specially so we had to make 

 a selection from the teas of other estates 

 which had enough to show in these cases. 

 Above those cases are Mr. Ferguson's photographs 

 with drawings of tea, coffee, cocoa and cardamoms 

 which I received from Dr. Trimen, and we have also 

 thirty (30) bottles of fancy teas for show on one 

 of our auxiliary stands, while Messrs. Henry S. King 

 & Co. have 343 bottles in the tea trophy opposite 

 one of the Ceylon tea rooms and adjoining the ijidian 

 trophies, which is a larger number than Assam or 

 any other Indian districts show. 



Our Cardamom case contains eighteen specimens 

 of cardamoms from different estates, and we have 

 filled up the vacant corners with mace and nutraega 

 from Roseneath, and two samples of vanilla. 



The Cocoa case contains twelve (12) samples of 

 cocoa, the corners being filled up with six specimens 

 of Liberian coffee. 



Cinchona bark and sections of trees are not things 

 which one can make a pretty show of, but we have 

 made a trophy showing off the splendid section of 

 trees chiefly from Glenlyon, and the magnificent quills 

 frorn Stair, Glenyon, and other estates and with 

 sections of own space occupied by coffee barrels 

 it has been pronounced by many connected with 

 Ceylon a very effective Show ; the rest of our coffee 

 barrels are shown in a pile and show off very well 

 too. I must mention that the show cases and the 

 coffee barrels are very much admired and certainly 

 exhibit their contents to great advantage. I have 

 had a case made for cinchona shavings and pieces 

 which contains the collections from Yarrow, St. 

 Leonards and Mr. Lane's and the Lanka Company. 



I have also had a couple of additional stands 

 made for showing oft' our fancy teas, the samples of 

 coiee for w'aich there are no barrels, Mr. Borron's 

 collection of aiiatto and Mr. Dickson's collection 

 from Lebanon, and poppers, cotton and other things 

 which we have no special room for. There was a 

 tremendous rush to get things at all in order for 

 the opening, but when I next write I hope to be 

 able to tell you that everything, as far as arrange- 

 ment goes, has been finished. 



The pamphlet is in Messrs. H. S. King & Oo.'s 

 hands and the colored paintings were submitted; to 

 me yesterday. I do not like them and do not con- 

 sider them natural, nor does the artist, who says 

 they could be better done if the photographs were 

 departed from altogether, but as what I presume 

 we desire is a faithful representation rather than a 

 work of fancy I have declined to agree to this. 



The Ceylon tea room, adjoining my office, in 

 Kandyan palace style, is much admired and frequented, 

 but this is only the third day after opening and 

 there are details which are not yet quite satisfactory 

 but which we shall, I liope, soon adjust. A great 

 many people connected with Ceylon have visited 

 the Exhibition already and they have all expressed 

 satisfaction with our space and arrangements. 



I have not yet been able to shake down in my ofiSce so 

 I must ask you to excuse this letter which I cannot close 

 without recording the valuable co-operation I have 

 received from Mr. Harry Whitham and also the 

 assistance I havp received from Messrs. Birch 

 Davidson, and Goodwin, (Mes.«rs. Henry S. King &; Co.) 

 who have all helped me in many ways. — I remain, 

 faithfully yours, (Signed) .7. L. Shand. 



F.S. — Messrs. Gow, Wilson and Stanton have sup- 

 plied us with two large diagrams illustrative of the 

 projiress of Ceylon tea which have been placed one 

 adjoining our tea-casfis and one close to the tea 

 trophy. — (Initialed) J.L.3. 



