3°4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882. 



the officer should be appointed by the Indian Govern- 

 meut, but that in any ease he would have to be 

 under the authority of the South Ausiraliau Govern- 

 ment. It appears that among the employments to 

 which it was proposed to put tne coolies on arrival in 

 the Norihi-rn Territury was that of railway making, 

 and eventually in the mines and on the goldlields ; 

 but during hia audience with the Governor in- ouucil, 

 Major Fergusson saw so clearly the opinion of the 

 Indian Government that he pressed only for their use 

 in railway construction and is hopeful of securing this 

 as a concession to which his Government attach great 

 importance. He says the Queensland Government 

 have not secured the right to employ coolies in other 

 than agricultural pursuits, and mentions that there 

 have lately been great objections raised to the employ- 

 ment of coolies on the ten plantations of Assam, and the 

 Government are disposed to watch j-alously over the 

 disposal of the coolies after emigration. Major P'er- 

 gusson feels that to press for leave to employ them on 

 goldlields would very likely result in a refusal to 

 allow them to work on railways, and points out that, 

 in engaging the coolies, it will be necessary in each 

 case to specify what they are to be employed in. — 

 Queenslamkr. 



♦ 



SCIENTIFIC KOAD-MAKINa. 

 The Federal Australian, in its Scientific Supplement, 

 T)ublislies the following letter on the subject of road- 

 makino, a question which is exercising the London 

 metropolitan boards, the American cities, and nearly 

 all the Australian capitals. Mr. P. Behrendt, C. E., 



'A city with architectural ornaments and monu- 

 ments, but having miserable roads, is like 'a woman 

 wearing jewels and ragged clothes at the same time.' 

 This saying of a German philosopher is very suitable 

 for Melbourne, and as the councillors of this city have 

 now taken to their beans the miserable state of the 

 roads, and are talking earnestly about the best manner 

 of building good roadways, I hope you will kindly 

 allow me space on this occasion for the following re- 

 marks on roadways in cities :— 



"Four conditions ought to be fulfilled by any good 

 roadway :— 1. A road must cause a minimum of re- 

 sistance against a load moved on wheels. 2. The 

 durability of a road must be a maximum. 3. The cost 

 of making and of the maintenance of a road must be 

 a minimum, i. The road must not injure the health 

 of the inhabitants of the city. That a road must have 

 sufficient strength to bear the heaviest traffic is a 

 conditio nine qiuX non. 



" I take into consideration stone pavement, wooden 

 pavement, and asphalt pavement, bringing these three 

 systems into comparison with our well-known macadam- 

 ized roads. The following figures, compiled by me 

 for this purpose, will give a clearer idea than a lung 

 disquisition ; they are the results of observations in 

 America, England, Fiance, and Germany : — 



Resist- Duration Cost of Cost of 

 ance. in Years, making Main- 

 System. 



Macadamizrtl roads 'OS-i 

 Stoneroada (porphyry) -020 

 Wooden pavement 'OlS 



Asphalt pavement '013 



" According to this tal)le, asphalt pavement is the 

 best and in my opinion there is no doubt tliat this 

 system will be the pavement of tiie future for all large 

 cities. Wooden pavement is most used in America, but 

 even there the engineers relinquish it, and New York 



is going to build asphalt roads. Should the councillors 

 decide for wooden pavements, thi^y ouiiht to use 

 'asphalt-wood- pavement,' which would be not only the 

 best, but al-'O the cheapest ; and if any system has a 

 future, it is this one. It has been tried quite lately 

 in London, and the price was 12s 6d per squ.ire yard. 



The frtults of wooden roads are generally the follow- 

 ing ones : — 1. The construction is in most cases very 

 costly and takes much time. 2. The maintenance is 

 always very cnstly. 3. Wooden pavement is very 

 dangerous in cases of fiie — example, Chicago. 4. It 

 does not last long enough, at leaat not in comparison 

 to the expenses of building. 5. Some wooden pave- 

 ments cause injurious evaporations. — Queenslander . 



THE AUSTRALIAN TEA SEASON OF 1881-82. 

 Mr. Robinson, the commercial editor of the Mel- 

 bourne A(!(', who once visited Ceylon and is a warm 

 friend of our tea, gives a clear and able review of 

 the tea trade of Australia in general and Victoria 

 in particular, shewing that in the season ended 30th 

 June 1S82 the imports of China teas had been even 

 more overdone than in the previous season, while the 

 same tendency seemed still to prevail, notwithstand- 

 ing accumulated stocks, and although in last season 

 no really fine teas had been received from China. 

 The sales by auction at Melbourne proved this :— 



3,926,760 lb. sold at 4d to Is per lb. in bond. 



1,528,280 lb. sold at Is OJd to Is lOd i^er lb in 

 bond. 



This shows a slight decrease as compared with 1880- 

 81 ill quantity of teas sold over Is per lb., and the 

 entire increase of 1,000,000 is on teas sold below Is 

 per lb. 



The exports of tea from China to Australia had risen 

 in three seasons from 15 millions of pounds to 

 22,700,000. The proportion sent to Melbourne had 

 risen in the same period from 8 millions of pounds 

 to 12,490,000, but this included in the past two 

 seasons tea from India and Ceylon to the extent of 

 671,000, and 980,000 1b. in each season, respectively. 

 About one -third of the tea imported into Melbourne 

 was exported to the other colonies. As the popul- 

 ation of Victoria is increasing very slowly, the in- 

 crease in the consumption of tea, from 5,611,000 1b. 

 in 1878-79 to 7,381,000 in 1881-82, is the more gratify- 

 ing. The heavy stocks of teas in bond in Melbourne 

 were of low class Chuia, Sd per lb. and under. 

 Stocks of Indian were trifling in amount, and more 

 of this kind was wanted. We find the editor stating 

 of China teas : — 



No choice S. 0. pekoes came to hand, and we notice 

 a decided falling oft" in the use of this tea, which is 

 perhaps just as well, for it is only an artificially 

 scented tea, a make belief used to give ordinary 

 congous that lack the true tea scent a substitute 

 for same. 



Whilst on this subject we should be glad to see 

 all high burnt teas ostracised, and give place to the 

 well fermented and carefully fired article, with a rich, 

 fine and true flavour of tea 



Our crusade against artificially colored tea &;c. , and 

 other rubbish akin, which the gentle abnoud-eyed 

 foreicners offered to us as substitutes for genuine tea, 

 has been to some extent successful, and we are glad 

 to report a heavy falling off in the imports from 

 Canton, wliich we hope will still further be checked 

 by the operation of the Tea Act now in force. 



It is satisfactory to find that the shipments to hand 

 of new teas, 1882-83, are turning out much better in 

 quality, especially Pakluni. No doubt the restrictions 

 of the Tea Act have something to do with this. 



