36 TEA 



without any great measure of success ; but it was not 

 until they seriously turned their attention to tea that 

 the panacea was discovered. It was found that the 

 warm, damp climate of many parts of the island was 

 pre-eminently suited to the cultivation of the new crop ; 

 moreover the hardiness of the tea-plant when compared 

 with coffee soon raised the hopes of tin- planters and 

 encouraged them in their new efforts. 



A very interesting factor in influencing production 

 was the serious drop in the value of silver. At first 

 sight it is difficult to understand why this should be so, 

 but when we remember that the currency in India and 

 Ceylon is silver, while in Great Britain, where the tea 

 is mostly sold, there is a gold currency, it will throw 

 some light on the subject. The following lucid explana- 

 tion is taken from a paper read by the late Mr. A. G. 

 Canton before the Society of Arts : 



" The tea was mostly sold in Great Britain, where 

 the currency is gold. With the gold received as pro- 

 ceeds of the tea sold in the United Kingdom, silver 

 rupees were bought to pay for the labour, etc., neces- 

 sary for the upkeep of the estates. As the price of 

 silver fell, more rupees could be purchased for the same 

 quantity of gold ; thus when the rupee was worth 

 two shillings, only ten could be purchased for 1, 

 but when it fell to nearly one shilling, about twenty 

 could be purchased for 1. Consequently, as the 

 rupee fell in value, cultivation became cheaper every 

 year. This went on until the beginning of 1895, 

 when the value of the rupee was Is. OJd., but owini; 

 to this decline in the price of silver, the Indian mints 

 were closed in 1893 in order to fix the value of the 

 rupee at about Is. 4d. This, had the effect of raising 

 the price of the rupee in India and Ceylon, and thus 



