932 



THE TROPICA! AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1885. 



few Havana cigars were smuggled into Jamaica. 

 There is one reason for thinking this, and that is that 

 the Havana cigars are often cheaper than the common 

 Jamaica weeds, and that certainly looks "fishy." On the 

 Isthmus of Panama a bundle of 25 Havanas of the best 

 quality could be bought for half a dollar and sometimes a 

 quarter of a dollar, Is. whereas no kind of weed could be 

 obtained in any of the hotels under ten ceuis, or fivepeuce, 

 each cash. 



My domestic arrangements at Port Antonio required 

 occasional reform. When I discovered it was absolutely 

 necessary to have a housekeeper I consulted the manager 

 on the subject, and he recommended Miss Susan Moore of 

 Atlas Town No. 16. I called on the young woman, found 

 her fat and goodl-ookiug, bright, laughing eyes, and the 

 finest set of teeth ever seen ; she offered me an easy chair 

 and said she was quite " puzzled how to act," the fact 

 of the matter being that the schoolmistress had offered 

 her sufficient needlework to employ all her time. " Keally, 

 sir, I am at a total loss to know which to embrace " 

 'Well," I said, " it would perhaps be belter to embrace. 

 me than the old schoolmistress." 



The result of the interview was a postponement to duly 

 consider the matter, and Susan Moore to my perfect know- 

 ledge did not do a hand stroke of work for three months. 



My domestic arrangements in Port Antonio are worthy 

 of a fresh chapter, so we will wiud up this letter in the 

 usual way, by saying "to be continued in our next." 



H. 0. 



DELI NEWS. 

 We learu on good authority that Messrs. Baron 

 de Horn, Wortmau, and Sanders intend to start a 

 company with a large capital for working tobacco 

 estates in the district of i'aujoug. Great schemes are 

 also in hand for Deli, and rumours are afloat that a 

 new banking institution wili be established at Meelan 

 its business lying more in financial transactions 

 than in plantation speculations properly so called. 

 The failure of the Netherlands Iudia Mercantile Batik 

 leaves a vacant place among Loan Offices doing 

 business with Deli planters which the promoters of 

 the scheme appear desirous of iilliug.— Straits Timei. 



PLANTING IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 

 (Translated for the ''Straits Times.") 



DEPRESSED PLANTING— VOLCANOES— COOLY RECRUITERS 

 A report of the Planters' Association meeting re- 

 cently held at Surakarta, as published io the Sama- 

 rang Locomoticf, draws the following discouraging 

 picture ot the present state of plantation enterpiise in 

 Mid Java. 



The hard times spare scarcely any one, and though 

 all the sugar growers may rejoice iu an overflowing 

 crop the prices ruling for sugar have fallen so unpie- 

 cedentedly low that many estates have been worked 

 at heavy losses and are threatened with total ruin, un- 

 less a change for the better set in by a rise in the 

 value of sugar within the course of this year. Coffee 

 has been in a still more deplorable condition, from, in 

 consequence of the spreading leaf-disease, the last crop 

 proving shorter than ever before, it amounting on 

 many estates to barely a tenth part of the crop of 1883, 

 prices moreover having for years been disquiet- 

 ingly low. Should the coffee leaf-disease not be checked 

 but go on work ng havoc, certain ruin is in store for 

 most of the coftVe plantations, aud it is only by setting 

 about the cultivation of indigo, cacao or other crops, 

 that some estates will be enabled to grow producta lor 

 the European market. Indigo, at firs t high iu price, 

 has also followed the other export articles in falling in 

 value, and is now so neglected that there is no longer 

 any demand for it so to speak, and hence it has to be 

 shipped of on growers' account. Tobacco, after having 

 been for years a very losing article, has now slightly 

 improved in value. Unfortunately, however, its cultiv- 



ation has almost been given up in this part of Java. 

 No other kinds of cultivation are now carried on here 

 upon a somewhat large scale by planters, who are now 

 threatened by a fresh calamity in the shape of cattle 

 murrain. 



The attention of the authorities concerned is hereby 

 directed to coolie recruiters come over from Singapore 

 to Batavia. These people entice away silly Javanese 

 with fiue promises, and whenever promises prove of 

 no avail, with the chink of silver coin, to follow 

 thither. At Singapore they are made over to cocoa, 

 tapioca, coffee, tobacco, and sugar growers, under en- 

 gagements for 5 and even 10 years. The bounty, 

 amounting in some cases to 50 guilders and upwards 

 for each coolie, is put by the crimps into their own 

 pockets, while they allow Javanese to work hard for 

 fiom 5 to 10 years on wages too high to die of and 

 too low to live on comfortably. 



THE PROPOSED EXTRA TAX ON TEA- 

 GROWERS. 



Some weeks ago was published iu the China Mail 

 a translation of a proposal made by the Board of 

 Kevtnue to levy a tax on tea at the seat of pro- 

 duction. The Court directed that it should be tried 

 aDd repot t d on by the authorities in all the pio- 

 viuces. The head lekin office of Hupei has now 

 moved th^ high officers of that province to rep.es- 

 ent to the throne that, in the present depiessed 

 condition of the trade, such a tax would do far 

 more harm than could be cotnpen ated for by the 

 funds so raised for mili.ary purposes. 



The Shin Pao of the 10th of Apiil contains a 

 very seu-ible leading article on the above piote>t, 

 which may be briefly summarized as follows: — While 

 admitting the excellent intent. on of the Beard, the 

 writer denies that any leal benefit would accrue 

 from the tax. Tne China tea-market has of la e been 

 much depressed— a depression which each year in- 

 tensities, feilk and tea used to be the chief ex- 

 ports of China, and their value far exceedtd that 

 of imported opium. Now no profit cau be got fn m 

 eilk, and tea has decreased in amount by several 

 hundred thousand chests. This is due to the foreign 

 merchants refusing to pay the price demanded. At 

 the beginning of a season telegiams announce that 

 the. foreign market must have so much aid that prices 

 will be high. At once the teamen hurry to the hills 

 and engage to take so much at a rising price. But 

 before it reaches the port, perhaps, the market is 

 reported to have fallen. The teamen have to sell 

 at a lots to the foreigners, or if they ship on their 

 oun account, lose still more heavily. If this extra 

 tax is imposed, the purchases of teamen will be still 

 more checked. What is the good of exasperating the 

 traders and ruining the trade ? 



It is a clever device to give foreigners no chance 

 of protesting by levying the tax from the growers, 

 But the Board does not see that the present stagnation 

 of trade is caused by the foreign merchants refusing 

 to take delivery of tea, or, because of the adulter- 

 ation of China teas, or the high price asked for in- 

 ferior grades, cutting down the prioe in every way, 

 whereby many teamen have beeu ruined. This "cut- 

 ting " is not solely due to their desire to lower the 

 price of China teas but also to the compet- 

 ition of Indian and Japan teas, which dimiu'sh the 

 importance of Ch.ua teas in the market. Meanwhile 

 Cninese dealers, from shortsigbttd avarice, give 

 additional justification for the complaints of foreigners 

 by adulteration, and the growers I. avenot yet devoted 

 attention Io improving the plants and the mode of 

 firing and preparation, but simply try to get au un- 

 natuially high price. We have repeatedly urged thote 

 concerned in the trade to endeavour by honest industry 



