7^8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, i8S6. 



93,000 acres chiefly along the principal river 

 vallejp,many of the blocks shaped fan-like so as to 

 take m as much of the river frontage as possible. 



In short, Mr. is a species of land-grabber, the 



bane of this and every country they exist in, and 

 the pitiable Government nf this colony, while en- 

 forcing strict laws upon the poor little immigrant 

 as to the timely improving of his lot, wink at the 

 great xquatocrat who may hold 100,000 acres and 

 not employ a dozen men or spend £100 in the 

 colony, but, by George, their day 's coming ! (id an 

 acre tax on all uncultivated land would work a 

 cure. Out of the 6,000,000 acres alienated I do not 

 beUeve there are really 100,000 acres in cultivation in 

 this colony. 



My next move was to try and secure if possible a block 

 of virgin forest, out of wliich, I feared not, I would in 

 time, carve an estate for myself. The official, liow- 

 ever, in the Lands Department smiled when I hinted at 

 a water frontage ; no such land seems avail- 

 able, and yet 12,000,000 out of the 1H,000,000 

 acres ar? still in the hands of the Government. 

 I note a correspondent writing to a Madras 

 paper gives details regarding free grants of land. 

 To prevent disappointment it would be well to 

 note that this is a thing of the past : the immi- 

 gration agent has informed me that no more will 

 be given. 



There is evidently nothing gained by being in a 

 hurry in this country, the residents of which take life 

 about as easy as any people I ever came across, and I 

 now resolved to take a house pru tern in Hobart 

 and look leisurely around me for something more 

 suitable. One morning on this errand I went out 

 armed with sundry letters from house agents, it was 

 past (J o'clock and the sun high enough to have 

 quite dried up the rain of the previous night. The 

 temperature such as to make me forget 1 had a 

 body subject to any pains or ailments, the trees 

 BO green and glossy, the flowers so pure and lovely, 

 while the deathlike stillness of all around made 

 me feel like an intruder in some spiritual or un- 

 earthly sphere. My own footsteps were the only 

 sounds that reached my ears for the first hour. 

 By-and-bye servant-girls began to look out, rub 

 their eyes and wonder at the strange man on the 

 street. At length I reach address No. 1, and as the 

 personage I sought was a " builder " I without 

 any compunction proceeded to knock him up. 

 This, however, was a more dilKcult matter than 

 I had calculated upon and had I not enUsted tlie 

 services ot a passing gardener I doubt if I would have 

 succeeded. 



Very much in dishabille and only half-awake 

 the builder appears, grunts a few monosyllables and 

 then arranges to overtake me it I would walk 

 down towards the house to let. Fe has not yet 

 overtaken me, but I examined the premises and 

 decided they would not suit. 



The next house on iny list I visited with some 

 little interest. The late occupant having been an 

 old Ceylon friend who retired here some 20 years ago, 

 was lately Beiiied with a longing to see his friends 

 in England ere he died ; but only reached Mel- 

 bourne when he suddenly passed away. 



It was now about 9 o'clock, but there was no 

 appearance of the present occupant's mov- 

 ing. I stood for a few minutes admiring the Laurus- 

 tinus in the front garden, and then pro- 

 ceeded to ring the bell ; in about 10 minutes 

 the door opened, and 1 just saw a nose from un- 

 der which came a voice, saying : " Could you 

 call again between 10 and 11 ? " I said, I could, 

 but didn't say. 1 ivmihl. lor I had already made 

 Up my mind tliat the square little box was not 

 raJue enough for the rent asked (£110 per annum), 



and so I returned to my hotel inwardly resolv- 

 ing to indent for some Sinhalese carpenters and 

 build a bungalow for .£.500 better than any offered 

 here at £100 per annum. 



Strange people the residents of Hobart ! Like 

 their surroundings fair enough to look upon, 

 but strangely apathetic and uncommunicative. 

 Headers of " Called Back " will remember how the 

 poor, perplexed husband looked upon his lovely 

 Pauline during the first evening of their married 

 life, how he eagerly listened for some intelligent 

 remarks from her beautiful lips, and at length in 

 despair he bade her good-night and strolled out 

 to take a walk. In a somewhat similar frame of 

 mind I now start on an extended tour, or series 

 of tours throughout this really beautiful island, 

 and my next duty will be to communicate my 

 impressions of the interior. 



EXPORTS OF TE.\ FROM CHINA AND JAPAN. 



The season being now closed, we quote the, figures 

 for exports of tea from the " Hongkong Chamber 

 of Commerce Price Current " : — 



Kxport ot Tea from Ohiua and Japan to United 



Kingdom. 



lb. 

 Total from 1st June 1885, to 29th March 



1886... ... ... 150,251,138 



Total from 1st June 18S4, to 29th March 



1885... ... ... 144,405,920 



Total from 1st June 18t>3, to 29th March 



1884... ... ... 150,742,895 



To Continent of Europe. 



lb. 



Total export to date... ... 8,(;(50,926 



Against same time last year... ... 10,093,683 



„ 1SS4... ... 8,960.61)8 



To Australian Colonies (including New Zealand.) 



lb. 

 TotHl from 1st June, 1885, to 29th March 



1880... ... ... 21,769,305 



Total from Ist June, 1884, to 29th March 



1885... ... ... 19,078,816 



Total from 1st June. 1883, to 29th March 



1884... ... ... 14,432,537 



To United States. 



lb. 

 Total from 1st June, 1885, to 29th March 



lS;i6... ... ... ti4,552..5-20 



Totd froiu Ist June, 1854, to 29th March 



1S>)... ... ... 51,768,567 



Totil from I,st June, 1SS3, to 29th March 



issi... ... ... 58,463,824 



It will be seen that the exports to Britain after 

 having gone down from 1-50J millions in season 

 18S:)-S1 to less than lll.i millions rose to 150|. 

 millions of pounds in the season just closed. In 

 the case of the Continent of Europe, the process 

 has been quite different : from less than 9 millions 

 in the lirst season, the export rose to over 10 

 millions, sinking in the season just closed to 

 8,lli'>0.000 II). In the exports to the .Vustralian 

 colonics and New Ze.xland, the incrca.^e has been 

 continuous and very large, from 11,432,000 to 19 

 millions, and last season no less than il'l millions 

 of pounds. To tlie United States, too, there has 

 been a very large increase of exports, the excess 

 in last season over the inevious one being nearly 

 10 millions of pounds. It is now clear that neither 

 the French war, heavy export duties nor low 

 prices have permanently lowered the capacity of 

 China to send tea into the world. Wc suppose 

 tlie total export from China and Japan i\\'\i last 

 season, is one of the largest ever made up. Tbe 



