79 8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[APRIL I, 1885. 



tention given to manufacture has not diminished, and the 

 appliances for the work have improved. It is true that 

 some individual marks have from time to time shown a 

 falling off in quality and it is thought that in some cases 

 teas have been injured by the use of drying machines, 

 either from defects in the machines themselves or from 

 ignorance or carelessness in the working of them. The 

 defencs observable in the produce of gardens which have 

 made do alteration in their system of manufacture except 

 in the introduction of drying machines, would certainly 

 point to the latter as the cause of the falling off in quality, 

 but experiments which can easily be carried out should 

 show conclusively whether this supposition is correct or 

 not. These dryers all require, more or less care and special 

 knowledge in working, and I trust it may prove that any 

 injury shown to have been caused by them has arsien 

 from ignorance as to the proper way of using them, and 

 not from defects in the machines. It would cause serious 

 inconvenience to many gardens on which the supply of 

 timber is limited, if they bad to revert to the use of char- 

 coal for drying purposes. One noticeable feature in con- 

 nection with the prices of Indian teas is the smaller differ- 

 ence which now exists in the relative values of the 

 higher and lower grades. We find good Pekoes now sell- 

 ing at very little over the prices obtained for Souchongs. 

 This would indicate that the trade at home are not pre- 

 pared to pay up for fine teas, and as planters are obliged 

 to study the requirements of the market, the result must 

 be, unless a change takes place, that coarse plucking will 

 be resorted to and the crop will show a larger proportion 

 of the lower grades. This result would be a matter of 

 great regret to all who are anxious to see fully main- 

 tained the superiority which Indian teas have attained. 

 If buyers want tine quality, however, they must pay for 

 it, and I trust when the great depression in trade gener- 

 ally which at present prevails has passed away, that we 

 shall again obtain tor our Pekoes and other tine teas the 

 relatively higher prices which they have heretofore realized. 

 — Indian Planter*' Gazette. 



MR. COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT IN ASSAM : 



TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENTS TOR THE TEA PLANTERS 

 The temporary severance of Mr. Elliott's counec- 

 tion with Assam seems a proper occasion for some 

 brief review of the four years during which he 

 has been the ruling spiiit of that Piovince. His 

 administration was expected fa) be one of progress, 

 and it does in fact bear that character when ex- 

 amined in detail. To begin with, Assam has been 

 made more accessible. It may not be generally 

 kuown that the frontier station of As^am is the 

 little town of Dhubri on the Brahmaputra, and 

 that Dhubri can be reached by a journey of 21 

 hours by rail from Calcutta, supplemented by four 

 hours' steaming up the river. Proceeding eastwards 

 through the centre of the proviuce, the next head- 

 quarters < f a district is Gauhati, 150 miles higher 

 up the Brahmaputra, then Tezpur, 110 miles further, 

 and so on until one reaches the easternmost station, 

 Dibrugarh, 450 milea from Dhubri. All this jour- 

 neying is performed by water, for sfoge vehicles are 

 unknown upon the trunk road, whi h runs parallel 

 with the river, and the road itself, beiuj; 1111 

 metalled, is not a good highway for traffic during the 

 rainy season. Until quite recently, the traveller 

 bound for the upper districts of Assam was obliged 

 to await at Dhubri the arrival oE one of the week- 

 ly steamers, which took him in four days to 

 Gauhati , and contiuuod its progress upward at the 

 same leisurely rate, and even this rae could not 

 be reckoned on in the dry season, when steamers 

 were often stranded for days together. Now, how- 

 ever swift passenger steamers ply daily ou the river, 

 covering the distance between Dhubri and Dibrugarh 

 in four days, and the return journey in three, this 

 immense convenience beiDg the result of negotiations 

 between the local Administration and a Galon tta firm. 

 At the same time it is felt to be merely a preparat- 

 ery step to still more rapid means of communication. 



The project of a railway for Assim has found a 

 strenuous supporter in Mr. Elliott, ami the Pro- 

 vince is fortunate in having an advocate of so much 

 weight with the Government of India. While the 

 inter-provincial line between Dacca and SUehar is 

 still in the stage of survey, and the last link of 

 the Calcutta and Dhubri line is awaiting com- 

 pletion, Assam has been furnished with three local 

 railways of its own. The Jorhat Railway (original- 

 ly designed by Sir Steuart Bayley) enables the best 

 tea-growing tract in the Province to deliver ite 

 produce on the bauks of the river ; the line from 

 Dibrugarh to the Makum coalfield taps an inexhaust- 

 ible supply of first-class coal, and opens up an in- 

 calculable store of natural wealth for the Province ; 

 and the tramway and railway line to connect Sylhet 

 with the Khasi hills will give an adequate outlet 

 for the trade which has hitherto been cjmpelled 

 to accommodate itself to the very unsatisfactory 

 means of carriage afforded by the backs of coolies. 

 The same energy has marked other branches also 

 of public works. Assam is greatly better off for 

 roads and bridges than it was four years ago. Two 

 of the largest stations are being supplied with pure 

 water laid on in the streets, a boon which wealthy 

 municipalities in older Provinces might envy. Shillong 

 itself has grown with the growing age, and new 

 structures of stone, not wholly devoid of architect- 

 ural pretensions, afford better accommodation to the 

 Government offices and the administrative archives 

 of the Province. — Pioneer. 



THE PROPOSED TRAVANCORE RAILWAY AND 

 TEA PLANTING. 

 "Planter" writes to us from Ceylon: — 

 I have been much interested in the correspondenot 

 appealing from time to time in your columns aneuc 

 the proposed Travancore Railway, and in giving an 

 opinion on the matter 1 may confess, to begin with, 

 that I am, perhaps, unwittingly prejudiced in favour 

 of the Northern route by the fact of my interests 

 lying in that neighbourhood. It seems to mo that 

 the strongest point urged agaiust the Northern by 

 the advocates of the Southern line, is that the former 

 would pass tlmugh a large extent of forest and 

 waste land that would give l.ttle or no trallic to the 

 railway when made. No*, I IhukTknow that part 

 of the country pretty well, and 1 say that for soil 

 and climate it is not surpassed by any district in 

 Cey'on as regards its capability for tea, and the forests 

 ought to be a mine of wealth in themselves if they 

 had the facilities for transit of sawn timber and tire- 

 wood that a Radway through them would give. So 

 far as we can see at present, the rush that is setting 

 for tea in Ceylon will be quite UDpiccedcnted in the 

 memory of the present generation of planters; and if 

 the Travancore railway should be made by the North- 

 ern route, a considerable share of the money that will 

 bo invested iu that ehterprize would, undoubtedly, 

 be diverted to that country, if laud alou« the lino 

 could be g'.t on reasonable terms, From the point 

 where the line would touch the hills on the Tinnc- 

 .velly side, to where it would leave them on the 

 Quilon side, and for miles on either side of the railway, 

 the land would be rapidly taken up for this product, 

 and, with the advantages planters would have in cheap 

 labour and transport, and abundance of firewrod and 

 timber for boxes, I believe that, Travancore would 

 produce tea at a cheaper rate than any other district 

 in India or Ceylon. 



It is calculated here that every ac:e of tea in full 

 bearing gives one ton of traffic to the railway iu 

 the course of the year, and it would, therefore, lie 

 pretty much with His Highness the Maharajah him- 

 self whether or not the hill portion should be the 



