i38 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



tons or 4,000,000 cwt ; or less by 101,000 tons the 

 equivalent of 2,020,000 cwt ; the usual calculation 

 being total crop 260,000 tons, of which 200.000 were 

 available for export, the rest being locally consumed. 

 At present the total croj) must be close on 400,000 

 tons or 8,000,000 cwt. : considerably over the quantity 

 grown in all the rest of the world. Messrs. Kern, 

 Hayn & Co. at the end of April took the view that 

 the total exports from Santos would reach from 

 1,600,000 to 1,700,000 bags : if indeed the latter 

 figures were not exceeded. Messrs. Robert von Glehn 

 & Sons in then- London Cu'cular of 9th June (by 

 which time the telegiaph had enabled them to anti- 

 cipate the results of the Brazil season enduig this 

 day) take a different view and hold that, while 

 the deficiency of i! io exports to Europe will be 500,000 

 bags as compai-ed with last year, the excess in Santos 

 kinds (which go nearly all to Europe) will be only 

 300,000 bags. There will, therefore, if these calcul- 

 ations are borne out, be a total deficiency of 200,000 

 bags in the exports of Brazil coffee to Europe as 

 compared with season 1880-81. To a defieieney in ar- 

 rivals from Brazil is attributed " a good general de- 

 mand at advancing prices for coft'ee " dm-ing the 

 month of May. Including the shipments in May, 

 adWsed by telegraph, the total exports from Rio, to 

 America and other places as well as Europe, are not 

 expected to exceed 4,000,000 bags, against 4,361,000 

 in the previous season. To Europe, as has been al- 

 ready shewn, the exports m 1881-82 were less by 

 500,000 bags than in 1880-81, the Rio coffee being 

 diverted to the better markets for this kind in the 

 United States. In the face of Messrs. Kern, Hayn & 

 Co. 's higher estunates, Messrs. von Glehn & Sons quote 

 figures which make the total shipments from Santos 

 for 11 months only 1,370,859 bags, so that they 

 do not expect a total of more than 1,500,000 bags. 

 If their estimate is correct, so much the better for 

 Ceylon coffee, with which Santos kinds seriously com- 

 pete. For this superior coffee the market in the 

 United States is so limited that about 200,000 bags 

 only out of the \h million from Santos are diverted 

 fl'om the European markets. While thus giving the 

 fignres for Brazil exports in the season just closed, 

 Messrs. von Glehn & Sons anticipate that there will 

 be no falling-off in the crop of the season which 

 commences tomorrow. Li regard to our o'sra season 

 which commences on 1st October, the case will be very 

 different, and only 10,000 tons=200,000 cwt. of Cey- 

 lon coffee are expected to reach the Loudon mark- 

 ets, where the consumption of our fine coffee is not 

 increasing, but the reverse. We shall see wiiat effect 

 short supplies and the new rules as to adulteration 

 have. Both as regards production and prices realized, 

 let us hope that we have now reached the lowest 

 point and that reaction of a beneficial kind may set in. 



THE AUSTRALIAN DUTY ON TEA. 



TO THE EDITOR Of THE [MELBOURNE] "ARGUS." 



?IR, — The proposal of tlie Government to reduce 

 gradually and finally abolish the duty ou tea is 

 most objectionable in its present form. 



Taking the financial year to commence on the 1st 

 July next, it means that for a period of 10 months 

 the ten trade of Victoria will be disorganized and 

 seriously interfered with. 



Traders and retailers will from this day forth 

 steadily reduce their stock of tea held duty paid, and 

 only draw fresh supplies for daily requirements. 

 Country grocers and ston-kci pers will suffer most, 

 and find the above plan of woiking very inconveni- 

 ent and expeueive, and will probably lose the equi- 

 valent duty rather than adopt the alternative. 



For a week or so before each reduction in duty 

 takes place, very little tea will be held hy the bulk 

 of retailers, or cleared at the Customs, because a re- 

 duction of Id amounts to about 6 per cent. 2d to 

 12 per cent, and 3d to 18 per cent off the oust of 

 the bulk of tea now sold in Victoria, and represents 

 each reduction of duty as it comes into force. 



Probably the most feasible plan, and one causing 

 the least inconvenience to all parties, would be to 

 abolish the duty of 3d per lb. on the 1st January, 

 ISS.f, and this would not alter very materially the 

 present estimates of the '1 reasurer. 



But surely the Treasurer's statement in the House 

 that the "dutj' on tea brings in an income of 

 £100,000 per annum" is over-estimated, for this 

 showe an increase of 50 per cent over the same period 

 in 1880. The figures stand thus- 

 Met revenue returns for year ending 30th June, 



1880 ... £68,540 



Do. year ending 30th June, 1881 ... i:77,523 

 No doubt the year 1881-18S2 will show a large 

 increase, but scarcely the £22,477 increase as estim- 

 ated by the Treasurer.— Yours, J. 0. MOOD\. 

 Little Collins street west, 31st May. 



[£100,000 revenue from duty at 3d per lb. would 

 mean 8,000,000 lb. of tea consumed by a population 

 of 850,000, or nearly 10 1b. per head. That this con- 

 sumption will speedily be leached, we doubt not. — 

 Ed.] 



How A Planter is Treated in Fiji. — We give on 

 the next page the long tale of harsh treatment as 

 Mr. Fillingham Parr tells it, and without holding our- 

 selves responsible for the strong language in which 

 he denounces some of the parties com'erned in the 

 annihilation of his coffee and in the subsequent law 

 proceedings. What is s'ated about Mr. J. R, Hedges 

 and his sayings and duiugs will prove amusing reading 

 to his fiieods and acquaintances in Ceylon. As represent- 

 ed, the case certainly seems a very h^rd one, and 

 we should think the judgment ought to be appealed 

 against to the Privy Council. Altogether they do 

 soma things queerly down there in Fiji! 



ANALY.SIS OF Red Bark Shavings — A Dimbula 

 planter writes; — 



"Possibly, the accompanying analysis by Dr. Paul 

 of a sample of bark from about 1,500 tre^s might 

 interest some of your reiiders. The trees were planted 

 in 1877, original shaving February 1881. Shaving of 

 renewed bark, of which ai alysis is enclosed, March 

 1882 (being 13 months under moss). 



" Analysis of shaving succirubra, renewed mossed, 

 from Pittenvveem estate : — 



Crystallized quinine sulphate ... 5-23 



,, quinindiue ,, ... ^. 



,, cinchonidine ,, ... 311 



Cinchonine (alkaloid) ... 1-00 



(Signed) B. H. Paul, Loudon." 

 The interest of this analysis would have been in- 

 creased, could it have been compared with ihnt of 

 the original shavings. As it stands, though, it ia 

 highly satisfactory. 



