JuxE r, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



811 



This drew the followiug from Mr. Anderson . — 



" Xow, having found by careful cnmparisou that Mr. 

 iJavidsou's 2s tea is i:oii\tiUr(ihhi inferior in lii/uor 

 to tlie tea I have hteiij and rt;n, idliiti/ at 2s., 

 I have no htsitulion iu placing before the public 

 a Tf<i at Is 9d which I ijuaranice fi'Ui; tt/i'.a/j if 

 not •it'pcrior, in the <-np to Mr. Davidson's 2s tea. 

 1 Joavc the merits of the case with the public 

 who are hereby irivited to compare and judge for tliem- 

 sclves, and they will thus be in a position to decide 

 whetlier Mr. Davidson, who is only o;ff of ./''<>'?>■ owners 

 in a sfnatf feii (/uriU'Uf can supply the public as well 

 as a tea merchant who has wct-f.^'s to the proiluce of 

 150,000 acres iu I/idia. some 13,000 in Ceylon, iu addi- 

 tion to the pructicaUij limitless area under tea in tlio 

 Oitt'.^tiiif J\nipire.'^ 



■Whereupon .Mr. Davidson replio.s witli the sub- 

 joined : — 



1 presume we may accept the letter which Mr. 

 .Tosepli Anderson publishes in your columns this morn- 

 inj'. as his 'statement ' that he declines my challei;ge 

 to have a fair comparative report and valuation by an 

 independent London expert of his teas at 3s Sd. and 

 2s 8d. side by siile with my tea at 2s. per Ih, I 

 should have been very sorry to think, had my challenge 

 been accepted, that there would have been any probab- 

 ility of the London expert putting Iwlh of Mr. Ander- 

 son's qualities below mine at 2s. per lb. seeing that 

 I orly claim for my 2s tea, that it is value on the 

 London market for Is jd. to Is 4d, plus 6d duty 

 whereas the ' statement ' which Mr, Anderson wanted 

 me to 'frankly admit ' was that he (Mr. Ander.son, of 

 North .Street) pays 3s per lb. plus Od duty and freight 

 for the tea he sells at 3s 8d. In my litter to you, 

 dated February' 25th, I stated that the total ([Uautity 

 of Indian and Ceylon teas sold in tlu- public sales in 

 London between .July 1st and December 31st, 1SS5, 

 amounted to about 3fl.iiOO,000 lb., of which only about 

 H.OdOlb., or -03 per cent., sold at 3s and i\i)wards, and 

 about 40,urHllb. sold at between 2s '.)d, aiul 3s per lb.; 

 and it may possibly be of further interest to tlio public 

 to know how the Indian and Ceylon teas sold during 

 the past month. 



"The average price for the whole ii,()00,000 lbs. .sold 

 in February is rather imder Is 2d per lb., and, there- 

 fore, much the satue as the average price of the 

 39,1)00,000 lb. sold in the latter half of 1,S85. Seeing 

 that the February sales show no tranmclion-s at orrr 

 2.< 7(7 jifr Ih. Where, does Mr. Anderson obtain his 

 supplies at 3s per lb. plus tid duty'.' Ho did uot get 

 them at the public sales in London lately, at any 

 rate I and if, in the face of the above facts, he likes 

 to pay 3s plus IJd duty for his 3s sd ijualities to dealers 

 who buy their teas in the London public sales, it 

 merely shows that be is not reaping a pro))er reward 

 for those 'long years of training and study,' and for 

 the ' lengthened experience <and critical taste ' to vvliich 

 he so modestly referred iu his origitnil advertise- 

 ment. It also indicates how e<jinilly liable to error 

 ho is in the opinion he expresses in his letter today 

 ponceruing my 2s tea, and it justifies the stipulation 

 which accompanied ray challenge, to the effect, that 

 the opinion sought concerning the relative values of 

 liis 3s Hd and 2b «d teas and my 2s tea, should he 

 that of ' an independent London expert ' — tlic trial in 

 such case being sure to be conducted iu a fair, open, 

 and above-board manner. 



Mr. Anderson's reference to myself as being 

 • only i)»« of /111'/- oivners in a small tea garden,' will, 

 like his other statements, be nothing the worse of 

 further elucidation by facts and figures. The name 

 of the ganlcn referre d to is ' Subong.' It is in 

 Cacluir. in the province of Assam, and consists of about 

 2,(X)0 acres, hold from the Government of India. One- 

 half of the estate bcl ongs to me, and the other half 

 to my three partners. There are 100 acres under 

 plant, the variety of which is sn superior that the seed 

 from it has been largely purchjvsed, at the very highest 

 market prices, by the Ceylon, as well as the Assam 

 planters, for extending their estates. The total yield 

 of tea from the estate for past season was 

 12 1.000 lb., which by arrangement between my partners 

 and myself, all conies forward to mo here. Six 

 months ago I did not cotmt ou being able to 



sell this entire crop direct to consumers, but the 

 demand has iucicased so rapidly that not only can 

 I now easily dispose of it all, but I have to supple- 

 ment it b y the purchase of te.is from other estates, 

 the majority of wli icb I have personally visited. I 

 hope Mr. Anderson, will excuse my thus trespass- 

 ing for my extra reiiuiremeiits into part of ' the 

 produce of 150,000 acres in India,' ' and some 

 15,000 in Ceylon ,' to which he seems to claim an ex- 

 elusive ' access." 



Mr. • Anderson, under date March 6th, says : — 

 " Keferrini;- further to my letter of yesterday, I clegire 

 to emphasise the fact that the issue now lies betwen 

 Mr. Davidson's 2s tea and the teas I offer at Is '.Id 

 and 2s, The public who are interested are invited to 

 compare and jiulge for themselves." 



Upon which Jlr. Davidson writes :—" Referring 

 further to my letter of yesterday, I desire to emphasise 

 the fact that the issue now lies between Mr. Davd- 

 son's 2s tea and my teas at Is l)d and 2s." " From 

 this it is evident that Mr. Anderson now thoroughly 

 ajipreciates how utterly vain it is for him to attempt 

 any longer to pose as ihe dishitcre^trd ckattipioyi cl'the 

 whole retail tea trade for maintaining 3s 8d price,* 

 for tea to consumers in face of the reduced prices at 

 which, as shown by the statistics quoted in my letters, 

 ' hio'h-class teas can now be obtained from the grow- 

 ers.' I had scarcely expected him to ' throw up 

 the sponge so completely in respect of both 3s 

 ."^d and 2s sd qualities as this last letter of his 

 to indicate. Mr. Auderson must be very careful not 

 let himself bo too easily beguiled by the allurements 

 of low prices olfered from • the pructicullij limitless 

 area under tea iu the Celestial Krnpire,' to which he, 

 in his letter of the ■1th instant, claims to have such 

 exceptional 'Access;' for I fear a good deal of worth- 

 less ' trash conies forward . from Ihat Flowery Land. 

 I have never visited China, nor do I profess to know 

 much personally about China tea, but Mr. W. H. 

 Chainlets, ot 37, Mincing Lane, London, is considered 

 an authority, and iu a letter which he addressed to the 

 editor of the .Statist on January 29tli last, in reference 

 to China tea, says — ' To the trade who bought common 

 China congou in lss2 aud 1883 4Jd to iihd the present 

 ((uotation of G.jd may seem dear;' and referring to 

 the stocks of China tea held in London, he mentions 

 that on .Tuno 30th, 1885, there was a stock in London 

 ot 21,339,000 lb. of China congou, valued at from 5Jd 

 to 6r,d per lb. He was then retnarking, he said, upon 

 'common to fair' congous, but I understand that the 

 very flavoury and high-class qualities of China cost 

 about Is Id to Is Od per lb. 



It is to be hoped that in Mr. Anderson's 'access' 

 to the produce of the Celestial Empire he will totally 

 Jivoid the'eoiuraon to fair' congous." 



Mr. Davidson deserves the thank'? ot the Tea 

 planters of India and Ceylon. 



PLANTING IN NETHEELANDS INDIA. 

 ( Tramtali'd fur the " Straits Times." ) 



Mr. J. P. Carst, a planter who intends to be the 

 pioneer in growing tobacco in Cotie, left .Tavft (or 

 that State about the middle of last month. He is 

 reputed to know all about the country and its 

 Sultan. He is besides fully aware that tlio soil 

 there is highly suitable for tobacco cultivation in 

 partictilar, and that the Sultan is greatly in favour 

 of European planting enterprise being started in 

 his dominions. Lund for the purpose has already 

 been promised to Mr. C. who feels confident of se- 

 curing labourers without any dilliculty. Life and 

 property there are in his opinion as safe as could 

 be desired, safer no doubt than in Deli or at some 

 places in .Java. The Sultan is held to be an en- 

 lightened person, friendly to xirogress, and partial to 

 Europeans, lie is not only a ineinber of the order 

 of the Netherlands Lion but is also a freemason. 

 There is every prospect of his taking care that his 

 European friends shall sutler no harm from the 

 natives unless they wilfully bring it on themselves. 



