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TEA COMIANIES LIMITED FOB CEYLON. 



There is a feeling prevalent we find ameng a 

 nuuiber of practical men in Ceylon, who may be 

 said to be disinterested in the matter, that the 

 tea enterprise in the island cannot be put on a 

 satisfactory footing as regards manufacture at least, 

 until large central factories fully equipped with 

 all the best machinery and latest improvements, 

 become the rule in place of being the exception. 

 It is of no use as a permanent arrangement we 

 are told, for every owner of 100, 150 or even 200 

 acres of tea to busy himself in altering his old 

 coflee store into a tea factory or to spend money 

 in running up some ramshackle concern where 

 even if machinery adequately driven, were avail- 

 able, it is almost impossible to do justice to the 

 tea leaf. There is again the very real difliculty of 

 individual proprietors not being able to command 

 a sufficiency of power to drive the required machinery. 

 And it is now well-known that this is the greatest 

 obstacle of all to the proper utilisation of rollers, 

 dryers, etc., even when these are obtained of the best 

 description. Tea far more than coffee requires plenty 

 of motive power in the store or factory. Now, as 

 the public servant who has drawn our attention 

 to the matter, pointed out : in every planting dis- 

 trict where tea has become the supreme object 

 of attention, there are certain estates which natur- 

 ally fall into groups and for which it should not 

 be at all difficult to find a central suitable 

 spot for the erection of such a Factory as 

 would take in all their tea and where full 

 justice could be done to it in manufacture. 

 It is impossible to find waterpower enough 

 on each estate ; but with few exceptions 

 where three, four or even six properties are 

 grouped under one management, it ought not to be 

 difficult to arrange for adequate waterpower, or if not 

 available for an adequate supply of fuel to keep the 

 inevitable steam engine as well as the driers fully 

 supplied. There is undoubtedly a very great deal 

 worthy of attention in this ai'gument, whether regard 

 be had to practical or economic conditions. No 

 one can - visit such factories as those of Carolina 

 and Mariawatte without feeling that they must afford 

 great advantages in the regular, equable and econ- 

 omical reparation of large quantities of tea. It 

 may be said that while Carolina or K. A. W. 

 factory commands over a thousand acres of tea, 

 the case of Mariawatte with comparatively limited 

 acreage, rather tells against our argument. But 

 such is not really the case, for apart from the 

 extension of the property in new and large clearings, 

 the exceptionally heavy bearing of the tea there, 

 puts the Factory on a par with the average 

 that would be required in most districts for 

 perhaps double the acreage. 



In the item of machinery and store accommod- 

 ation, the grouping of three to six tea gardens or 

 plantations into one for factory purposes, ought 

 to effect a very lacge econoiny. in that of store 

 superintendence and labour, too, we should think, 

 th© comparison would be greatly in favour of 

 grouping. But how is this desirable arrangement 

 to be eflected 1 It is not possible for individual 

 ownTship ati'l sepatate managetneht to be main- 

 tained with a Central Factory on Joint account 

 for manufacture. There must be one equal 

 pwnership abd one management for the whole 

 gioup, or else inevitably there would be collapse 

 and failure. The only feasible scheme would seem 

 to be the formation of Limited Companies to 

 deal with such groups of estates as clearly afford 

 the elements requisite to success in the utilization 

 of a Central Factory. In the leading districts in 

 India, the Tea Enterprise seems chiefly carried 

 f^fi tlii&ugb ihs »iiQtioy ot Limited Comps^nm, 1 



and we fancy capital would be available for 

 shares in "tea" in Ceylon with its high 

 name, quite as readily as for Assam. In 

 such cases too as where tea is coming into bear- 

 ing, giving business at once, there ought to be 

 no difficulty in interesting London capitalists. The 

 proprietors of the estates to be grouped (their 

 mortgagees or both) would no doubt be expected 

 to take the major portion of the shares ; and, 

 perhaps, the mention of " mortgagees " suggests the 

 chief difficulty in the way of making any 

 arrangement for amalgamation of estates in the 

 manner described. But there must be cases where 

 such difficulty can be overcome, and if our remarks 

 only serve to turn the attention of tea estate 

 owners, who are puzzling their brains how to get 

 up suitable factories and provide machinery, to the 

 advantage of grouping and co-operation, benefit 

 may result not only to individuals but to the 

 general community. 



> • 



ESTIMATED INDIAN TEA CROP FOR 1887. 



The Indian Tea Association has favored us (W. 

 Moran & Oo.) with a copy of their circular giving the 

 estimate for 1887-8, as follows : — 



" The Committee has now the pleasure to hand you 

 the followiug estimate of the crop of 1887, taken from 

 figures which they have been able to collect and from 

 other sources:— Estimated outturn of 



Crop of 1887 

 lb. 

 Assam ... ... ... 35.903,520 



Oacharand Sylhet ... ... 27,631,100 



Darjeeling, Terai, and Dooars ... 14,703,300 



Chittagong aud Ohota Nagpore ... 1,544,000 



Dehra Dun, Kumaon and Kangra ... 3,750,000 



Private and Native Gardens (estimated) 1,500,000 



Total .. 85,031,920 

 " The exports to Australia, America, and other places 

 (principally Bombay and Madras) during the past sea- 

 son, have amounted to 2,725,000 lb., and if this quantity, 

 together with the requirements of the Government and 

 the local consumption of Northern India calculated at 

 1,500,000 lb. be deducted from the estimate, there will 

 remain 80| million lb. for shipment to Great Britain 

 during the season of 1887." 



PACKET TEA FOR NATIVES. 



The Indian Planters' Gazette has an interesting let- 

 ter on " Packet Tea for Natives," and directs atten- 

 tion to the Kaiser-i-Hind Hydraulic Tea Press, the 

 property of a London Company, having their head 

 quarters at 188, Strand. These presses turn out tea in 

 cakes weighing Jib each cake being divided into eight 

 sections of equal weight, the cake being somewhat 

 similar in form to a double cake of chcolate as made 

 up by confectioners. The proprietors of the patent 

 are disposed to sell the sole agency for using these 

 presses in India. Compresped tea is no novelty, but 

 the promoters claim that their plan offers special faci- 

 lities for getting Indian tea into consumption in India. 

 Tea thus treated is said to lose none of its qualities, 

 there is no damping and tampering with the leaf, and 

 each packet bear? the impress of the Company. At 

 8 annaa per lb. retail, the purchaser would be entitled 

 of two .sections of the packet for one pice, which 

 would give 10 to 12 cups of good tea as natives drink 

 it. The reduced hulk would, other conditions being 

 favourable, probably induce the Commissariat to give 

 the process a fair trial, but the field to work would 

 unc]oubt..^dly be the native market in India, and if a 

 brand such as the one imder notice could onc« be 

 popularized through the native fairs and melas, every 

 bunniah's aud modee's shop throughout the country 

 would be selling tea, and tea, moreover, that even the 

 bunniah would find it difiicult, to adulterats. That 

 the natives of all classes have a taste and liking for 

 tea is well known ; but, as a rule, it h not obtiin* 

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