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The Supplement to the Tropical A griculturist 



way to introduce the highest grade of articles 

 to the trade and public combined. As you will 

 see by the photographs, which have been sent 

 you, we occupied the whole of the stage in this 

 building and made it up to look as Eastern as 

 possible. The walls were covered with Indian 

 print hangings and the ceiling with cloths of 

 various coloured stripes, while the proscenium 

 was draped with a red cloth with the words 



CEYLON TEA 



in white letters fourteen feet high, which stood 

 out and could be seen from any part of the 

 building. Around the open part of the 

 stage was erected a painted wooden wall to 

 represent the wall around the 



TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH 



at Kandy, and the entrance to the stage was 

 through an archway also made of wood and 

 painted to represent the gateway of an old 

 Sinhalese Temple, which was copied from an 

 illustration. In the left hand corner was a little 

 thatched bungalow, and beyond this at the back 

 of the stage were two rooms which were used 

 for preparing the tea in. The stage itself was 

 covered with a number of small tables and 

 stools, at which the people could sit and obtain 

 free, as many cups as they wished, of what we 

 did not hesitate to say was the rineat 

 tea in the world. Altogether we had twenty- 

 nine women and girls making and ser- 

 ving the tea, and one of these who had rather 

 an Eastern caste of countenance, was dressed 

 up to represent a native girl, and so successful 

 was her appearance, that she was almost in- 

 variably taken to be what the wily newspaper 

 reporters declared she was, a real Singalee. 

 In addition to these people, there were six 

 real natives dressed in white duck native cos- 

 tume and gaily coloured turbans, who acted 

 either in the same capacity as the girls, or 

 else went out "into the byways and hedges 

 and compelled them to come in," and so great 

 an attraction did these men prove, that since 

 the Commission's work has finished, they have 

 been able to procure very satisfactory positions 

 of one sort or another. 



It was estimated by those who had charge of 

 the Food Show that at least 259,000 people tas- 

 ted a cup of Pure Ceylon Tea and by the 

 amount of tea that was used there, I have no 

 doubt that this was so. 



As nearly everybody who visited the Tea 

 Totam and tasted the tea, asked where they 

 could procure exactly the same kind, which, by 

 the by, they invariably declared they had never 

 tasted the like of before, we hit upon the 

 scheme of allowing them to fill in postcards 

 in their own handwriting ordering their retail 

 grocer to supply them with the tea, and, the cards 

 being posted every evening, in this way the 

 demand created was properly looked 

 after. The highest number of cards 

 written in any one day was no less than 

 581, which shows how much real interest was 

 taken in the exhibit. In addition to all this, 

 by doing a little advertising in the papers, the 

 exhibit received an amount of reading matter 

 during the month of the Food Show, the value 

 of which has been computed, had it been neces- 

 sary to pay for such copy, at f 25, 000. A scrap 



book containing these reading notices has been 

 sent you. The actual result of this exhibit was 

 that the tea is now being sold by rather more 

 than 4,000 grocers throughout Now Englaud. 



After the Food Show was over, and up to the 

 end of February when the work of the Commis- 

 sion was brought to a close, numerous small 

 demonstrations, embodying a miniature of 

 the large exhibits above described, were 

 arranged for in the leading department 

 stores in several of the smaller cities in Now 

 England and the State of Pensylvania. These 

 demonstrations have been very successful in 

 stimulating the demand for Puke Ceylon Tea 

 especially as they were carried on in an entirely 

 different manner to any demonstration that has 

 ever been held here before, as it was felt that it 

 was necessary to get out of the rut and usual 

 run which these things have been in for some 

 time past, and that ve were able to do this, 

 the four or five letters which I send you 

 from some of the department stores in ques- 

 tion, amply testify. Mr. Dough ty's work has 

 been carried on in a very satisfactory manner, 

 so that we now have the satisfaction of know- 

 ing that amongst the numerous hospitals and 

 institutions which he visited time and again, 

 no less than 66 per cent of them are using 

 Ceylon Tea in place of what they used before. 



The work which Mr. Beling did was not only 

 satisfactory but valuable, as it is commonly 

 accepted as true, that even the people who 

 handle tea in this country, really know very 

 little about it, and a real tea blender is a rara a wis. 



It has been difficult to get hold of the true 

 figures of the imports of Ceylon Tea into 



NORTH AMERICA 



for 1907, as no two authorities agree as 

 to them, Taking, however, the returns re- 

 ceived from Ceylon as to direct imports, and 

 direct shipments via China, re-exports from the 

 U. K., and transhipment from London as re- 

 ceived from Messrs. Gow, Wilson & Stanton, as 

 being correct, we get the following comparative 

 tables for 1906-7 which show, considering the 

 two adverse circumstances of the past year, 

 namely the high price of tea and the financial 

 stringency, a satisfactory increase, of practically 

 a million pounds, over 1906. Both the causes 

 above referred to naturally checked imports, 

 owing to the fact that all stocks were practically 

 used up in the hope that the price of tea 

 would drop, which it did not, and also because 

 no one wished for some months, when the panic 

 was on and money was scarce, to do more than 

 a hand-to-mouth trade. 



Comparative Table. 



1906. 1907. 



Direct Shipments from 



Colombo 13,138,306 12,575,858 



„ ,, via China 2,064,662 1,986,918 



Re-exports via U.K. 6,374,485 7,008,049 



Transhipments • 1,952,226 2,945,943 



Total 23,529,679 24,516,768 

 The total number of lectures, given from the 

 beginning of that work till its close yesterday, is 

 32, and the total number of people reached in 

 this manner, was something over 18,000. It 

 has been very satisfactory to me personally, to 



