194 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September 2, 1889. 
life blood of its host, then, and not till then may 
we have oause for uneasiness. Why anticipate 
evil, an evil that may not exist, and whioh I trust 
may never come. Between Mr, Potter and Mr. 
Marshall Ward, and Mr. Drieberg's scientific 
friends, surely we shall not be kept muoh longer in 
doubt. J. 
♦ 
TEA AT HOME : WEIGHING, BULKING, 
BLENDING, AND SELLING: 
The " average net weight " question is very much 
to the fore in Mincing Lane. One or two invoices 
offered this week were factory bulked teas, with aver- 
age net weights. These failed to change hands in 
the sale room ; possibly owing to their poor quality 
as muoh as to the fact that the leading dealers had 
agreed not to buy average net teas ; the parcels re- 
ferred to, sold to dealers after the auction, being pur- 
chased by brokers for olients who had not signed the 
circular against average net weight. It was announced 
from the boz that all claims for short weight would be 
met in a reasonable spirit. 
It will be very inconvenient, if not quite impossi- 
ble, in these days to bulk and tare all the Indian 
and Ceylon teas. The trade is too large, and there 
would be too much delay, oausing a block at the 
warehouses for want of space in which to conduct the 
operation. If the large importers are firm on the point 
we do not see how the opponents of factory bulking are 
to have their own way. 
One important meeting, representative of the Indian 
and Ceylon planting interest, has been held on the 
subjeot. At this meeting the opinion was expressed 
that the action of the London Wholesale Tea 
Dealers' Association in declining point blank to buy 
any teas from India and Ceylon, unless weighed gross 
and tare, would put an end to bulking at the factory, 
and thus prove very prejudicial to the interest of plan- 
ters. The plan proposed by the Dealers' Association 
simply means that each package must be turned out, the 
lead lining torn, and the tea, after exposure, repacked 
again anyhow. This retrograde proposal was much 
deprecated by all present, and a small but competent 
committee, consisting of three Indian and three Ceylon 
tea importers, was nominated to meet a similar 
number of representatives from the dealers. The 
latter^ however, declined to reopen the question, and 
there the matter stands. Meantime, the committee 
are considering the next move. It is most unfortunate 
that, owing to the carelessness of a few, a system 
whioh offers great advantages, at any rate to planters 
and brokers, should fall into permanent disfavour with 
the traders at home. Now that the dealers have made 
a practical protest against careless bulking they might 
Kive the plan a further trial, and planters would see the 
necessity for carrying out the bulking with care. 
We are not without hope that the difference between 
importers and dealers on the subjeot of factory bulking 
wiU yet be adjusted to the satisfactionjofjall concerned. 
In their circular of yesterday's date, Messrs. 
Wm. Jas. and Hy. Thompson, commenting on 
the bulking question, say :— The question of the 
method of weighing tea — Ceylon as well as Indian 
— has reached the point at which a large number or 
the London dealers agree in declining to bid for 
teas weighed net. They ask either for eaoh paokage 
to be weighed gross and an average tare taken by 
the Customs, where the packages are of sufficiently 
uniform tare, or, failing that, for separate weight 
and tare of each chest to be taken, as was the rule 
before the net weight system was introduced. It is 
to difficult to ensure an even delivery of tea in a 
break turned out for taring and re-paoked, that re- 
bulking is often necessary, although before the tar- 
ing the tea was even enough ; and, when this is 
the case, the great oare expended in bulking at the 
faotory proves to be labour lost. If it is found 
necessary to revert to the system of London bulk- 
ing and aeparate weights to the rule — retrograde 
aa the movement seems to be economy of time 
and labour at the factory, we must hope, 
will be some compensation for the extra expense 
of working here, and for the extra loss to the seller, 
over and above the lib. draft, which the old method 
of taking the weight entails. There is also the 
advantage of being able to put several invoices to- 
gether here, provided they come by the same steamer 
and so to make large breaks of uniform quality — a 
matter of the first importance, for the trade has now 
attained dimensions which make large breaks an ab- 
solute necessity. 
The subjeot ot blending tea in bond has attracted 
some attention of late. A movement has been set 
on foot with the objeot of obtaining the right of 
blending tea in a bonded warehouse which is in- 
tended for home consumption. In reply to a ques- 
tion put recently to the Seoretary of the Treasury 
in the House of Commons, Mr. Jackson replied 
to the effect that the Treasury had declined to 
sanction any arrangement by which tea required for 
use might be blended in bond, on the grounds that 
it would entail a large increase in the cost of the 
superintendence involved, and, moreover, there had 
been no general or unanimous opinion expressed 
by tea merchants in London or the country that 
the privilege, if granted, would be so advantageous 
as to warrant any considerable expenditure. 
The Mazawattee tea case has been decided in 
favour of the plaintiffs. It was an action on behalf 
of the plaintiffs, Messrs. Densham & Sons, East- 
cheap Buildings, Eastcheap, London, E. 0., to re- 
strain the defendants, Messrs. Doble, McCabe & Co., 
carrying on business under the style or firm of the 
Mallawattee Ceylon Tea Company, or any other style 
only colourably differing from the style or firm of the 
Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company, under which name 
the plaintiffs carry on business. Mr. Justice North, 
in delivering judgment, said there was no doubt but 
that the defendants had selected a combination of 
words or parts of words with a view to obtaining 
the benefit of advertisements which were issued 
largely by the plainiffs, while the defendants themselves 
did not advertise at all. The defendants had Lot only 
proceeded to copy the plaintiff 's fancy name which as he 
had pointed out was one invented for this particular 
business, but they had procetded to copy the plaintiff's 
labels with a view of getting as much of the plaintiffs 
trade as they could. Then the question remained 
whether the matter oould be carried further, and it 
could be said there was a likelihood of the public being 
deceived. In the present oase, as he read the evidence, 
aotual deception had taken place, and he came to the 
conclusion that what had been done had been done 
deliberately by the defendants with a view of getting 
the benefit of the plaintiffs' business. The result was 
that he came to the conclusion that the plaintiffs were 
entitled to relief on the ground that the defendants 
had colourably imitated the plaintiffs' trade mark. 
There must therefore be an injunction to restrain the 
defendants from carrying on their business under the 
name of the Mallawattee Ceylon Tea Company, and in 
faot the injunction must go in terms of the notice of 
motion. Of course the defendants must pay the costs. 
Messrs. White wright and Brown, wholesale tea deal- 
ers, trading also as the Ceylon Tea Company and the 
Indian Tea Company, whose failure has been much 
discussed in the Lane, passed their examination in 
bankruptcy on Tuesday. — H. $ C. Mail, July 19th. 
CEYLON AND THE GERMAN MUSEUMS. 
An Interesting Entomological Toue. 
That Ceylon offers a wide field for Naturalists is 
well known ; but few insect-hunters who have visited 
our shores have made such an extensive collection during 
their stay here as has Herr Friihstorfer, a young 
Cerman Naturalist from Berlin, who came to the island 
at the latter end of March, and who has now finished 
his tour. We mentioned when he arrived here, that 
he had great expectations of securing interesting 
inseots ; and it is very satisfactory to know that thos 
expectations have been fulfilled. Leaving Colombo a 
