678 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April r, 1S86. 



fair share of sport and pastime. In walking over tha 

 place, especially iluriug the cold weather, a gun shoukl 

 invariably be carried, for, round the outskirts of the 

 plantation, jungle tuwl, pigeon, and such suiall game 

 can be picked uj) without interfering with the work 

 of supervision; and upon the weekly bazaar day, 

 provided the coolies ) .ve beeu jiaid the previous 

 evening, as they iavariably should be. the planter c.Tn 

 either visit his neighbours or join a shooting or ]iolu 

 party. Tl:o general method of paying coolies is by 

 metal tokens, called tickets, every evening. All work 

 being task work, these tickets can either be redeemed 

 at the end of the week, or oftener, whenever small 

 change is available for the purpose, and, as they are 

 current in the neighbouring villages and the shops 

 usually established on the factory, payment of th« 

 people is reduced to a very simple matter, only care 

 should be taken that the device upou these tokens is 

 sufhcieutly elaborate to prevent forgery. Anything 

 cru'le and cheap may be imitated, giving rii^e to 

 infinite confusion and causing considerable loss. "Where 

 two proprieiors work tosether, they may either take 

 a turn month and month about, or, if the concern 

 i» a prosperous one, one of the partners, as has been 

 done, may take each alternate season in lingland 

 or the hills, but these matters can be left to choice. 

 The purely commercial part of the business, to such 

 as can afford to work with their owu capital, needs 

 but few words. A man with a capital of i'(j,OiXl can, 

 if careful, and by limiting his area to lOU .-icrt-s. work 

 the same successfully for five years, Allowing himself 

 a fair salary, and keep on the right side of his agent's 

 books. With less than that sum, or attempting more 

 than the acrenge mentioned with it, he is pretty certain 

 to become involved, and from the day he borrows 

 upon the coming crop — ll'J per cent, being the usual 

 charge for the accommotlation — he loses his independ- 

 ence, and jeopardises his property, sinking, as has 

 been the case in many instances, into the position of 

 the ]>aid servant of the creditor firm, who can and 

 have got rid of the original owuei' on uiiriieroiis, 

 though plausible pretences. 'I'he sum I have put down 

 is far in excess of what many start with, but it will 

 Bee a man through the five years, allowing him a 

 decent amount monthly for his personal wants, and 

 enable him to carry on his work without aid and in 

 a proper manner. The returns from the fourth and 

 fifth year should amount to about £.30ii, clear of 

 everything, und he cnn then gradually Increase his 

 area but not more tlian twenty ur thirty acres, and, 

 until this additional acreage is in bearing, not another 

 rood should be adiled. The " lashing out " into big 

 clearances with insuthcient capital brought about the 

 crisis in tea in ISlJti. The rotnnis the second and 

 third years induce many sanguine jin-n tn in^iir expenses 

 that are not justifiable, and, in fact, the bushes will 

 be more benefited by being left to mature than 

 cropped to show a return; and, though in.^tances are 

 on record of plantations yielding three m muds per 

 acre the third year (2401b. of dried tea), such merciless 

 cropping merely tends to stunt immature plants. 

 Though many of the older ]>lantations, exceptionally 

 advantageously situat^'d, turn out their tea at a total 

 of every item of expenditure of .5 annaa the pound, 

 the average eost amounts to 8 or, sav, a shilling, and 

 the average price obtainable in Mincing-Uine is a 

 shilling ; but then comes the gain in the e.vcbange in 

 remitting out to India, which, deducting b.anker'a 

 eommissiou and other iuoidental charges. ;iflforHs but 

 a profit of 2d. por pound, or lis, 4d. in the pound 

 sterling, from which it will be seen that the profits 

 upon tea depend at present solely on the depreciated 

 value of the rupee. The exchange is not likely to 

 improve; if, by some unfoiessen circumstances it 

 sboul 1 do .so, a pretty plight the Indian tea industry 

 would be in. 



Machinery has and is likely to do much in the 

 future to bring down the cost of out-turn, Imt the 

 hopes of tlie planter lie in the rapid construction of 

 th<^ projected Assam railway, which will th»-ow an 

 immtn e population iuie the district. As matters now 

 staml, th' pUntecs are situated in precisely the same 

 position that the early settlers in .\ustralia were some 

 forty years back, and must remain so until the labour 



market finds its level. The pay of the coolie comes 

 to £4.4s. per annum ; but to tliis must be added the 

 coat of his importation in the first instance, or the 

 bonus, housing, methcal charges, and sundry other 

 items that nearly double thi; ; so that, whi'U all these 

 items come to be carefully weighed, the man of 

 moderate capital, ere embarking ia a business that is 

 at the best precarious, and will j iekl, w hen his garden 

 of 100 acres is in full bearing, but 6 per cent., or 

 thereabouts, upon his original capital, may well be 

 cautious. It must be remembered that the bulk of 

 the out-turn hardly reaches London before November, 

 and the remittances reach the factory some two months 

 later: thus for three months the manufacturer, when 

 solely dependent upon his year's crop for up-keep, has 

 some three months to tide ov*^r with the comparatively 

 meagre funds furnished by his first sales up to the end 

 of Jidj". In fact, tea-planting has become almost a 

 hand-to-mouth enterprise, requiring mature consideration 

 ere embarking in. The reverse side of the medal is, that 

 a man who will be prudent, and not extend too rapidly, 

 can, in the course of eight years, reasonably reckon 

 upon having a compact property, returning a clear profit 

 of £1,000 per annum, ami allow himself at the same time 

 three to four hundred a year for current expense s— a sum 

 ample for all wants. The estate can well afford an 

 assistant at the end of the fifth year, and the owner 

 can then allow himself an occasional holiday, either 

 in the country or at home; but until the plantation 

 is paying, and faiil_v on its legs, gadding about the 

 country, either for sport or othtr piu?poses, will simply 

 invite "failure. 



As a rule, shooting and fishing can be had in the 

 immediate vicinity, and eight years of work for the 

 securing of a competency that can be bequeathed to 

 one's family, is not a long period to sacrifice for the 

 purpose. Of course, with a larger capital, one's oper- 

 ations can be e.xtemled, and the plantation made 

 up to 2011 acres at the outset ; one hundred is. how- 

 ever, the handiest to commence with ; but whati'Ver 

 area is decided upou, uo addition should be made 

 until the original plantation is in bearing. ,£'6,000 for 

 the first 10 ) acres, and .£.5,0t lO for each additoual hundred 

 up to four hundred ; further extensions require ad- 

 ditional European supervision, and necessitate out 

 factories, which must be regarded, financially, as se- 

 parate plantations ; but ere such are established, the 

 planter will, or should, have gained sufficient experience 

 to calculate with certainty whether he can afford them. 

 Young men witii from two to three thousand pounds 

 at command may jtiin others, but I cannot rec immend 

 this, S ime years back a considerable number so 

 situated came o it, jiaying, in addition to investing 

 their capital, heavy premiums, ranging from two to 

 thre.^ bun Ired pounds, which latter was returned as 

 salary during a three years' agreeineut ; but dis- 

 appointment almost invariably resulted. They became, 

 in faet, partners in a couipanj-, lost entirely the con- 

 trol of their capital, and sank into the position of 

 all other assistants, few remaining long enough to attain 

 the position of managers, while the agency charges 

 were so heavy that the interest upon their invested 

 capital was hardly worth considering. Even four or 

 five clubbing together to raise the £,6000 could draw 

 but nominal salaries out of the common fund, and 

 the annual incnme from the profits, after the five years, 

 would but amount to £UH) per annum, aud, if divided, 

 there would be uo money left fur extension. 'Two 

 might succeed, but it w uld be eight years, as I have 

 in lii aled,ere the returns were worth dividing. If two 

 decided en starting the capital should certainly be not 

 less than £9.000,; and with that it would be prudent 

 to coufiiie operations to 1-50 acres for the first five 

 years. Those that think otherwise can try, but will 

 iiave themselves to blame if tliey find themselves 

 mere caretakers, on sufferance, after a vain struggle 

 to make bricks without straw. There can, however, 

 be little doubt tfat. when labour becomes plentiful, 

 the settlers in Assam will be enabled to turn their 

 attention to other matters than tea, and, were space 

 available, it could be pointed o.it that there are numerous 

 articles, indigenous to the pmviiice, whieh would well 

 repay development, and which private proprietors, 

 once they have brought their tea plantings up to » 



