and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



177 



Sans and during tlio summer, when in England, 

 I arranged for 150 thousand post cards with 

 printing outfits to be sent to Calcutta. 



22. Since then we have had to order about 

 60 thousand more of these cards as the mailing 

 lists sent to Calcutta together with those yet to 

 go are estimated to contain over 200 thousand 

 names. The organising of a proper staff to deal 

 with this large number of names and generally 

 to handle the scheme properly has been thrown 

 entirely upon the Calcutta executive, and I de- 

 sire to point out that but for their kindly con- 

 senting to assist in this matter it would have 

 been difficult to have carried out the scheme. 



23. The post cards have been arriving with 

 considerable regularity, but it is not possible to 

 obtain precise reports as to their effect. In their 

 nature they are appeals to individuals widely 

 scattered over a large territory with no common 

 channel of communication with us ; and like all 

 other general advertising not keyed by direct 

 sales, the value has to be assumed. We know 

 that the cards aid in selling tea to Grocers. 



24. Before concluding the subject I may 

 mention that 18 cards were selected, ten of these 

 being India and eight Ceylon views, Although 

 each consumer will receive but one card, it may be 

 assumed that many of the recipients will compare 

 cards and a variety has been used with this in 

 view, to enhance the interest the cards are in- 

 tended to create. 



Wagon Umbrellas. 



25. The last section dealt with a novel form 

 of advertising and I have here to record our 

 use of a well-known and favoured one. Wagon 

 Umbrellas are substantial affairs 5 feet in 

 diameter mounted upon strong 6 foot poles and 

 provided with metal attachments to fix them 

 upright to the driver's seat or allow of their 

 being closed and laid flat if desired. The stout 

 cloth tops, of six panels alternate red and white 

 are lettered in bold characters with the words 

 India and Ceylon Tea in each panel, The un- 

 usually cool weather has delayed their distri- 

 bution but 2,000 will be in use during this 

 summer. In effect a wagon umbrella is a 

 portable and travelling bill board, carried 

 into all parts of the City in accordance to the 

 wagons errands. As a large number of these have 

 gone into country places we can count upon 

 their being carried all over the State. We could 

 distribute a great number more with advantage 

 but summer is the season when they are in de- 

 mand and the work has now ceased. 



General, 



26. Last year's report included a statement 

 showing the imports of tea into the United 

 States for each of the years since 1898, the 

 amount of India and Ceylon teaimportedin each 

 of these years and the percentage of these to the 

 entire imports. The figures were compiled from 

 the United States Customs returns made up to 

 the 30th June and those to 30th June 1907 were 

 the latest then available. I now therefore add 

 the figures to 30th June 1908 and may point out 

 how they compare with those for the previous 

 year : — 



Imports to 30th All toas. India and Ceylon. 

 June, 1G09. 



1908 .. 94,149,564 19,241,271=20-4 ])ev cent 



1907 . ■ 80,308,490 16,057,791 ,, 19'2 „ 



Increase .. 7, 781, 074=9"/,, 2,583,480 „ 15'5 ,, 



Gross Imports of Tea into United State,; 

 j?or Years Ending 30th June. 



All Teas. India & Ceylon. Per Cent. 



1998 17,957,912 6,984,375 97 



1899 74,039,899 4,930,317 8-6 



1900 84,845,107 8,a46,230 97 



1901 89,806,453 7,187,594 8'3 



1902 75,579,125 8,475,179 11'2 



1903 10^,574,905 15,007,367 13"8 



1904 112,905,541 16,486,554 14.6 



1905 102,706,590 17,013,678 16 3 

 190C 93,621,750 17,696,994 18-9 



1907 86,368,490 16,657,791 W2 



1908 94,149,564 19,241,271 20'4 



27. The current season will end on the 30th 

 of June and it will, I think, mark the beginning 

 of a new condition for India and Ceylon teas in 

 this market. The possibility that an import duty 

 would be imposed upon tea began to have a per- 

 ceptible effect on the market in November, when 

 several well known tea men gave evidence before 

 the Ways and Means Committee of the House 

 of Representatives at Washington. By about the 

 end of January the available Japan and China tea 

 having changed hands, sometimes more than 

 once, attention was turned to India and Ceylon 

 teas. These are always the last to share in 

 market activity owing to the proximity of the 

 stock carried in London. As it is anticipated 

 that the tariff bill will be passed before the 1st 

 June, and new teas will not be available from 

 China and Japan to arrive within that date, 

 Importers have brought in unusually heavy 

 shipments, not only from London and Canada 

 but even from Bremen and Hamburg to antici- 

 pate a tea duty being imposed. While all the 

 teas thus imported may not be India and Ceylon, 

 by far the larger part comes from those 

 countries. Much of this tea was bought when 

 the London market was affected by the fear of 

 an increase of the British tea duty, so that the 

 purchases made were probably not so exclu- 

 sively cheap that they can be shipped back pro- 

 fitably. Therefore we may anticipate that 

 whether a duty is imposed, or otherwise, these 

 teas will be forced into consumption and will 

 help to create a market for further supplies. 



28. I realise that the matter dealt with in the 

 last paragraph does not fall strictly within the 

 limits of a report dealing with the work done by 

 ourselves, but I desire to point outthat but for 

 the work carried on by the India and Ceylon 

 Funds in past years, the market here would not 

 have been prepared to deal largely with teas 

 that had not been properly introduced to the 

 public, and for which no outlet had been cre- 

 ated. India and Ceylon are now getting the 

 benefit of the opening created by past work. 



29. I have on a previous occasion pointed out 

 that the expansion of this market will, within 

 a very few years, require larger supplies of India 

 and Ceylon tea than appear likely to be avail- 

 able unless larger areas are planted out. Already 

 there has been a great increase in the impor- 

 tations of China Black teas, and should the 

 demand for India and Ceylon teas in this 

 country increase in the future at the rate it has 

 done in recent years (it was S, 000, 000 lb. in 190:2 

 and 19,000,000 lb in 1908) prices will rise, and a 

 great impetus will be given to China black 

 tea importations, here and in Canada. — R 

 Bleoih ynden, St. Louis, 10th May, 1909, 



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