Nov. 2, 1 885. J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTTJRIST. 



363 



■2. — To adopt the system in force in Ning-hsia, 

 ^ in-an, Yiiliu and Sui-le in Shensi, where offices 

 are established in the tea i)rodnciug districts at 

 which the tea. is insiiected and licenses are granted 

 to the exporters, each 100 catties of tea paying X3 9, 

 in addition to kkiit and other taxes at Barriers 

 along the lino of route. 



o. — To charge, in addition to tlie above fee of 

 Tls. 3. 1» for each 100 catty license, a further sum 

 of Tls. iJ. !l, on Tls. 7. 8 in all, which is to free the 

 tea tiom all fui"ther miscellaneous charges whatsoever. 



These proposals of the Ijoard, with the elasticity 

 of which tlie Memorialist was profoundly impressed, 

 were at once referred to the Commissioner of i''inance 

 and the U'hin tax othce for consideration as to the 

 best means of giving effect to them, and a report on the 

 subject has now been received from the financial Com- 

 missioner and the Taotai in charge of the lekiu offices. 



In this report those officers state that "red tea," 

 of which An-hua iisien is the great producing 

 centre, is the staple of the tea grown in Hunaa : 

 other producing districts, such as I'a-ling Hsien, 

 etc., fixing their prices in accordance with the 

 Huctuations that occur in An-hua. In earlier days 

 the tea growers of Anhua Hsien used to sell their teas 

 at an -average rate of about -10 odd strings of cash 

 (say, 10,000 cash) per 100 catties, but of late the 

 price has fallen to thirty strings, more or less, 

 while no reduction is possible in the charges tor 

 rent of land and cost of the labour rcixuired for 

 picking and drying the leaves. If, theretore, a tax 

 of three tacl mace per five catties be levied in ac- 

 cordance with the ."label" system of Kausu. every 

 picul of tea will have to pay Tls. Six more than 

 it does at present, thus increasing the charges upon 

 it aud diminishing the profits proportionately, an 

 eventuality which has cause_d much agitation 

 amongst the growers. 



It IS suggested by some, say the Commissioner 

 and Tao-tai, that there could be no harm in 

 slightly raising the price of the tea at the time of its 

 sale, and that by this means the grower would not, 

 after all, be the sufferer by an increased tax ; but 

 this suggestion is made in ignorance of the fact that 

 foreign merchants keep down prices by so many 

 means (hat no dealer wouKl care to augment tlieiu. 

 As regards the system of purchase pursued by 

 the tea merchants, the tea is pickeu aud pre- 

 pared at An-hua, where, by the rule which has 

 always prevailed in Hunan, it pays a prelimin- 

 ary duty ot Tls. 1.2.5. jier 100 catties, this pay- 

 ment being repeated upon arrival at the Hankow 

 Customs, making a total levy on tea the of Tls. 2.5 

 per picul. Add to this tiie prime cost of the tea and 

 the cost of water carriage, etc., and the total 

 value comes up to something over Tls. 20. If, in 

 addition to the above, a further tax of Tls. 3.9 is 

 charged, exclusive of lekin and other dues at 

 barriers cu route, or the alternative total duty of 

 Tls". ?.«, the tea will cost to lay down something 

 more than Tls. HO per picul, white it now sells for 

 Tls. 20 odd, insteaaof Tls. lOas it used to realize. 

 Under these circumstances, the dealers, whose only 

 aim is to make a profit on their transactions', 

 would all find themselves in the embarrassing pos- 

 ition of ha : I price. 



The tota; « on tea in Hunan 



is about '1' lax being levied at 



an office -^ tliat purpose in 



An-hua Hs, places iiayiag their 



lekin into lUc neaitoi siaiiuu. To the An-hua 

 dealers the privilege is further accorded of paying 

 lekiii in advance into the central cUice at the pro- 

 vincial capital at the rate ot Tls. 1.2.5. In fonner liays 

 ihc payments in advance thus made used to realise 

 some Tls, 50,000 to Tls. 00,000, but the payments on 



j account of the new season's teas this year plac.-l 

 on the market were very inconsidenilile. Carci'ul 

 enquiry into the origin of this falling-olj has elicited 

 the discc..-y that the runinur of an additional 

 import caused the dealers to form such anticipations 

 of the results th:r ..juld accrue that they were 

 unwilling to go into the country to make purchases. 

 Thus, before the intention of iiicrcnsin'j; the dniics 

 has been put into effect, a marked and sudden 

 diminution of the Ickiii revenue has manifested itsfli, 

 and a general consideration of the whole cinostion 

 ifaduces the framcrs of the report to recjuf^st that the 

 Memorialist will pray His ivlajesty to allow the ultl 

 .system of taxation to be conliiuied. 



In submitting the foregoing remarks for His 

 Majesty's consideration, the Jlemorialist begs (o 

 state that they represent the acUial facts of the case. 

 While, however, an increase of revenue from this 

 source is not feasible, it is essential tliat measures 

 be taken to prevent any diminution, and in order 

 to remove all doubts on the subject the Financial 

 Commmissioner and Taotai determined to issue 

 proclamations tlnough the Irkiii office announcing 

 that the h'khi on Hunan teas would continue to be 

 levied on the old scale. The result has been that 

 during the last month or so dealers have gone one 

 after the other into the hills to purchase tea. None 

 the less, the receipts at the Ifkiii office from pre- 

 Uminary payment of duty have only realised Tls. 

 30,000 odd. 



The Memorialist, in conclusion, while expressing 

 his entire sympathy with the endeavours of the 

 Board of Revenue to raise additional funds in these 

 days of financial exhaustion, regrets that the circ- 

 umstances of the tea growers of Hunan are such 

 that any attempt to make them contribute to the 

 desired increase would ha\e no beneficial results, 

 and would even do harm instead of good. 



Every ert'oi-t shall be made to give cifect to the 

 other proposal of the Board for the improvement of 

 the revenue, and these will be considered in a 

 seperate Memorial. — Hesciipt : Let the Board of 

 llevenue take cognizance. 



THE I'LANTEKS' ASSOCIATION 01'' FIJI. 



We have ivceived a cojiy ot the Amiual (ienernl 

 Keport of tlie Connnittee of this Association for the 

 year ending liOlli .lune l.S«5, iwesented at the annual 

 general meeting of the Association, held at Levuka 

 on the evening of August (itli, 1H85, the Hon. K. 

 Beckwith Leefe, Chairman, presiding. The first 

 subject dealt with in the lioport was tlie Native 

 Labour Ordinance, it being stated that though the 

 si^ecial committee ajipointed to ciKjuire into and 

 report upon the best means (it any) of improving 

 the enactment had not sent in ilieir report, tho 

 over rigorous administration of the Ordinance 

 formerly complained of iiad been very sensibly re- 

 la.xed, so that it is now by no means difficult to 

 obtain native laborers either tor sitort term or 

 muU-r annual contracls of sorvieo. 'ihe next sub- 

 ject treated of was Cooly Labour, and it was stated that 

 the recommendation of the Committee as to the desir- 

 ability of combining the Tamil with the Bengalee 

 element remains unanswered. The disallowance of 

 Ordinance No. X, 1881, again created serious diffic- 

 ulties in the way of carrying out the general 

 scheme, but these were removed by Sir William 

 Ues Vu-ux's introduction of Ordmance No. XVI, 

 188-1, to appropriaSe ilO.OOO for this service from 

 the unexpended balance to the credit of the public 

 accoimt ; and the introduction of coolies for allot- 

 ment under (he system of deferred payments has 

 already connnenccd. The third ;^nbji'ct dealt with 

 in the report was the iutcrruptiou and subsequent 



