8o 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1885. 



best, and like coffee, the sooner thereafter it is consumec!, 

 the more delicious jt is. 



The machiueis j,, working order on tea that has been ex- 

 pressly cured tor jt this season, and to those who mav be 

 niterested, a practical demonstration will at any time gladly 

 be made. 



That is Mr. Bowen's scheme, and, if it has real 

 merit to recommend it, we ought to hear of further 

 progress. Mr. Bowen cives a full account of the 

 bring process in the foreign godowns, from which 

 we gather that tlie pans employed are not copper, 

 ?' .^® I'nagined pans for t)reparing tea always were, 

 but cast-iron. Thpy are described as thin and about 

 2 feet in dianipter and 13 inches in depth. Many 

 godowns contain ,'500, 700, or even 1,000 such pans, 

 two persons operating on each. We need not quote 

 ^'*g"!?y"g "cletails thrown in as regards perspiration, 

 &o. Mr. Bowen concludes thus : — 



if ri""" *^ ^'''' *^^^* '" sufficiently toasted, it is immediately 

 packed i,, Jea^ ij^e^ chests or jars and shipped on its 

 journey, with the hope that the toast may remain till it is 

 opened. "^ 



Of course, the inference desired to be convpypd is 

 that the toast will not rPmain, and that Bowen's 

 faster ought always to be bronght into requisition, 

 "urchagera and consumers may be left to settle that 

 point. Jq any case our properly rolled and fermented 

 teas, will not need retiring in the consuming country. 



THE CHINA TEA TEADE : 

 (From the Nortk-China //craM, June 5th. ) 



THE DISPUTE IN THE TEA MARKET AT FOOCHOW. 

 The disputed matters between the foreign buyers 

 and tho teamen in Foochow remain unsettled, and 

 the market has consequently not yet been opened. 

 The Chinese case was stated iu the document pre- 

 sented by the Tea Guild to the English Consul, 

 which we published some days ago. The English 

 Consul, in a manner which ought to be fully reprob-' 

 atedbyhis superiors, intimated his intention of adopt- 

 ing the rules propounded by the Chinese, and of guid- 

 ing his opinion by them in siiy case that might be 

 brought before him jndiei I'y. He did not wait to 

 leai-n whether h's cnuii'rvmen had anything to urge 

 against the demands of the Chinese, but, with that 

 indiscretion which has often marked his ofiioiol pro- 

 ceedings, at once ranged himself on the side of the 

 n.atives. The Chinese Guild complains of the " cuts " 

 which have often been made in the weights of teas. 

 These seem to be pretty much the same as, but on 

 a smiller scale than the malpractices we exposed in 

 the Hankow trade .about to two years ngo. They 

 are the growth of an unhealthy competition on the part 

 of foreigners; and have no doubt been encouraged by the 

 desire of native dealers and brokers to sell their teas at 

 nominally high prices. The Guild required that a 

 certain scale of allowances should be adopted, and 

 the Chamb'-r of Commerce has proposed another more 

 favournhle to buyers. The dispute ns ti the allowances 

 resemliles that which occurred h^re in 18S0, and which 

 was settled bv a compromise wliich has worked satis- 

 f:icforiIy. Now that both sides have fully expressed 

 their views we have little doubt that a similar com- 

 promise will be adoptfd by tho trade in Foocho%v. 

 Practically it dnes not maUer in tho long run on what 

 Ronditions tho tea trade is carried on, if those are 

 faithfully observed. But there is treat reason to fear 

 that the Chinese dea'ers have no inti-ntion of consider- 

 ing themselves hound to apply the rubs of the Guild to 

 their dealings under all circumi-tinces and to all people. 

 No security that the rules will be adhered to by the 

 Chinese is offered by tho Guild, and foreigners cmnot 

 trust them to resist the temptation of selling contrary 

 to the rules, and thus in an underhand way injuring 

 tho fair dealer who adhered to tho regulations approved 



by the Chamber of Commerce. This is so obvious that 

 the Chamber o£ Commerce, in the resolutions adopted 

 by tbem, require that a substantial guarantee or an ap- 

 proved security ba given to their Committee that the 

 tea hongs will adhere to the rules which they pro- 

 posed. And for what the Tea Guild says about the 

 long credit taken by foreigners, that is a peculiarly 

 Chinese way of stating matters. Long credit has more 

 or less a characteristic of the trade siacB the opening 

 of the port, and was introduced by the first Cantonese 

 teampn who established themselves there. These men 

 were wealthy, but they and their wealth have given 

 way to a new and by uo means rich class. 



The tea trade at Foochow has been for a long time 

 conducted generally on peculiar principles. The 

 Chinese dealers were mostly wealthy Oautonese who 

 did everything they could-to encourage speculation ou 

 the part of foreigners. Long credit was given ; some- 

 times the teas or at all events a portion of their 

 value was not paid for until they had been sold in 

 London and returns received bick. Thi.s accommod- 

 ation was paid for by considerably higher prices bting 

 given for the teas" than prudent shippers offerei!. 

 Thus the market was sustained in Fuochow aljove 

 its proper level, to the detriment of the general body 

 of foreign traders. The teamen ran some risk by 

 this kind of busin. S9, but on the other hand they secured 

 higher prices for the bulk of the crops than they would 

 otherwise have done. From lime to time they made 

 severe losses, but it may be inferred from the style of 

 business having continued so long, that, upin the 

 whole, it was proQtable to the Chinese. In other ca?ea 

 foreigners did not pay for the teas they purchased until 

 it suited thein to sell their exchange, which mighi be 

 weeks, or even months, after the teas sailed for 

 England. Sometimes foreigners kept running accouuta 

 with the teamen, to which payments were made fr..m 

 time to time, and a settlement nominally made once 

 a year. At no other port in Ciiina were such facil- 

 ities for reckless speculation offered by the Chinese. 

 This system of credit-business was probably intro- 

 duced when the port was first opened some 

 forty years ago, and was no doubt the same 

 as that on which the tea trade had been conducledat 

 Canton frrra the time when the East India C.impany 

 closed its factories. The Cantouesi; teameu hadal^^ay8a 

 strongly speculative element in them. Tliey l.ked to do 

 things on agreat. scale, and they rancoiisidera^)le risksiu 

 order to make large profits ; and under the rigime of the 

 East India Company they could only try to get these 

 by demandiug high prices. They could not increase 

 their gains by giving credit, ai the Company paid 

 cash at ouco. But as soon as an opportunity presented 

 itself the Cantonese availed themselves of it, and 

 more than seventy years ago sever.al of the Hong 

 merchants impoverished themselves by giving long 

 credit to American merchants, who were theieby it:- • 

 duced to overstock the New York market. Teas, 

 we are told, foil in prices there to much beluw 

 the actual cost of §uch teas in Canton, and the 

 Continental markets, from which a large purt 

 of tho teas used in England were then obtainfd 

 by smuggliup, were also seriously depressed. It would 

 ;ippear that the ehippera who thus obt.iiucd credit, in 

 Canton were, at least iu many oises, unable to u.ake 

 good the losses, and, the Iloug mcrcliauts having 

 been trading ou bol•rl■o^ved cijiital, some of them were 

 brought to ruin, and the remainder more or less em- 

 barrassed. Again we find the same thing ocourring 

 in Canton sume thirty years ago, when an Americin 

 lirm f.ailed owing large sums of money to the te>inieu, 

 and a few years later au English house suspended pay- 

 ment here, to which largo credit had been given by 

 the Chinese. In this latter case, the only one of any 

 cousequenoe which has occuned here, tlio tcamou 

 had given credit in the Canton way, but they did 



