o'o 



$ 



fHt TROPICAL AOmCUtTVRt^T. tAmt i, lU 



■ " 'V" 



known in Mincing Lane as "jogging" or "IrotUng"' 

 comes within the linaits of illegality we are scarcely in 

 a position to say. We would, however, give it as our 

 opinion that in the long run the value of tea is not one 

 fraction enhanced by any such practices. As anyone 

 whothinks calmly for a moment must see that a buyer 

 who is " rushed " into a purchase at a higher price 

 than he can resell at is practically silenced as a com- 

 peting bidder for some time after. The legal maxim 

 of caveat e?n/)fo)' is perhaps sufficient safeguard in such 

 cases. But anyone who is accustomed to attend the 

 gales can read between the lines that the head and 

 front of the grievance consists in this. Certain grades 

 of Pekoe Souchong are valued to a fraction, and when 

 the bottom price is, say 7d a dozen, buyers will want 

 it at 7d. We have occasionally been present and 

 observed with amusement when some desirable lot was 

 put up, a simultaneous shout of 7d, would spring like a 

 volley of musketry from all parts of the room. Of course 

 every bidder considered he was first entitled. But when 

 the smoke had cleared away the auctioneer calmly 

 applied the hammer to the desk as he smilingly 

 decided, " SJevenpence my own bid." Naturally 

 enough, eleven occupants of " the pew " felt aggreived, 

 and manifested their feeling in disrespectful animadver- 

 sions on " the pulpit." Our correspondents remind us 

 of the committee which was appointed a few years ago, 

 for the redress of grievances, and the abolition of pre- 

 ferential and favoured seats in the vicinity of the pulpit. 

 This committee passed a rule that no buyers should 

 sit in the box with the selling broker. An old custom 

 had been, however, for the selling broker to have a clerk 

 atliis side to keep a correct record of the prices, and gra- 

 dually this official has become a buying broker with a 

 preferential position, far away, the best in the room. 

 There can be no doubt that this is an evasion of the 

 rule and it should be discontinued. The record of 

 prices could be equally well kept in the body of the 

 room, and in fairness to all parties this preferential 

 advantage should at once be abolished. The tone of 

 the Indian tea sale-room has certainly degenerated dur- 

 ing the last ten years. It is now much more noisy and 

 disorderly than it used to be, and the general opinion 

 is that this is due in great measure to the impression 

 abroad that even handed justice is not always forth- 

 coming. We trust the selling brokers will gracefully 

 give way without the necessity of another trade meet- 

 ing and a committee of reformers. We have always 

 maintained that sellers and buyers had reciprocal and 

 mutual interests, and a little kindly forbearance on 

 both sides will, we have no doubt, make matters go 

 smoothly again. — H. & C. Mail. 



THE SIZE OF THE SAMPLING BKEAKS OF 



INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA, etc. 



To the Editor of the " Home and GoloniaJ Mail." 



Sir, — We have been expecting to see some further 

 discussion of this subject in your columns, as it must 

 be evident to anyone regularly attending the Indian 

 tea .sales that the present system is unworkable, and in 

 times of the U-af^t extra pressure must utterly break 

 4owJi. The buyers cannot accwnitely taste and value 

 tio many break.i as they have had each sale during 

 the last six monthN From our knowledge of the views of 

 irisst of the larmier buyers with whom we come in daily 

 contact wo boli. ve the tenHency is not to look at less 

 than twenty chests, indfcd, in times of pressure, it 

 la quite impossible to do so; therefore the question 

 .''hould be at once considerrd whether breaks of twenty 

 chest?! and under should not be treated as small breaks, 

 and SOlrl at the end of the sale. 



There la another matter which demands immediate 

 redress, and that Is th'; prcsefit unsatisfactory prac- 

 tice of sclling-brokcra putting their own bids in first 

 whilst acting as auctioueere. Auyoae can see that the 

 auctioneer doing so has a great advantage over any other 

 buyer, as he alone knows the exact moment when the 

 hammer will fall on the previous lot, and consequently 

 can put in his own bid simultaneously. Friction and 

 'inpleasant feeling is caused by the system, and the 

 .^ellere' interests in the loog run must suffer, if any- 

 (i}V{; bvt pka^iit relstjocf f:^s^f^• A OotBinittee ^e 



appointed some years ago ostensibly to rearrange the 

 seats of buyers in the public saleroom, and for the pur- 

 pose of abolishing any prefential positions which cert- 

 ain buyers had occupied for a considerable time. We 

 expressed to them our apprehension ; and also at 

 the same time that the old custom of " last 

 buyer claiming the next lot" was abolished, 

 that some such unpleasantness as this would be 

 sure to arise ; and events have but served to justify 

 the opinion we then formed. Nothing will be satis- 

 factory in practice but fair play to everybody; and 

 such there will not be, and cannot be, till the two 

 functions of seller and buyer are dissociated, and no 

 one be allowed to occupy the pulpit but the auctioneer. 

 If the selling brokers' firm receives orders to buy any 

 lots in their own catalogue, the bidding should in fair- 

 ness be done from the body of the room, and not from 

 the preferential position of the auctioneer's chair. — 

 Yours, &c., Tayloe, Colman and Sudlow. 



March 2nd 1887. 

 .—n. d- C. Mail. 



BEITISH NORTH AMERICA: A PARADISE FOR 

 A FARMER. 



Pelee Island, which is situated in the most southerly 

 part of he Dominion, has a mild and most salubrious 

 climate. The land is all that can be desired for raising 

 all kinds of fruit, vegetables, roots, and cereals of 

 all kinds. Timbered land can be had from $10 

 to $20 an acre, partly cleared from $20 to $30 per 

 acre, and all cleared with good buildings and free 

 of stumps from $-10 to $75, according to location. 

 The whole southern shore of the coynty, extend- 

 ing some 10 miles, is admirably adapted for the 

 raising of grapes, peaches and all kinds of fruit. 

 Early next summer this village will have railroad 

 communication with the railroad system of Ontario 

 by the Leamington and St. Clair railroad, running 

 from Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair, crossing the 

 Canada Southern at Comber station, and thence 

 north to Stoney Point on the Grand Trunk rail- 

 road. It is said that Dr. Scudder, of Cincinnati, 

 has bought 5,000 acres of marsh in the island, 

 which has been drained by the Chatham Dredg- 

 ing and Contracting Company, under the 

 supervision of Alexander Baird, P. L. S. The 

 ditches are from 4 to 7 feet deep, with an 

 average width of 30 feet. The water in said drains 

 is elevated into Lake Erie by means of an engine 

 and large wheel, which raises 100,000 gollons of 

 water per minute. This marsh is ditched all 

 round, and will be cultivated next summer. Cattle 

 are at present pasturing upon it. There are large 

 tracts of marsh land in the county, at present 

 unprofitable, which require to be drained in the 

 same way, and will ultimately be the finest land 

 in the Dominion. — Colonies and India- 



PLANTERS AND HIGH EXCHANGE IN 

 NETHERLANDS LNDIA. 



{Straits Times. March 12.) 

 Mr. Van den Berg at the close of his pamphlet 

 raises a question hard indeed to solve, namely the 

 effect ^vhich an appreciation or a depreciation of 

 currency may have on the wellbeing of a country. 

 In British India, for example, it is generally held 

 among the mercantile community that the fall in 

 exchange has benefited trade by encouraging pro- 

 duction. But experts of high authority hold the 

 exact contrary. Equally divided is opinion in 

 Java. Some people there argue that the currency 

 policy of the Dutch Government has advantaged 

 the community materially by protecting the public 

 interest from the calamitous consequences of keep- 

 ing a fluctuating standard of value in silver. 

 Othere are equally positive that the planting in. 

 terest Uas beip a lossx by the GoTcromeot de U| 



