THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1890. 
tioned Mr. Boberts hae added one that is very likely 
to have strongly contributed ; but it will be better 
for me to record what he mentioned to me as nearly 
in his own words as it may he possible for me to do 
from recolleotion only. He observed to me: " Pri- 
marily there is little reason to doubt that the 
stimulus which sent up the price of teas so abnor- 
mally until within th? last month or so was due to 
the depletion of sk ks in the hands of country 
traders which resulted from the cessation of supply 
to them during the period of the dockers' strike. 
When that cause ceased to be operative, it was some 
time before ships could be fully unloaded and their 
cargoes placed on the market. At the same time 
there was a marked absence of the lower grades 
of Indian teas from the market. Both these 
circumstances made the supply far below the re 
nuirements of the trade, which were unusual y 
heavy from the depletion I have mentioned. It 
was not surprising therefore that those who 
could afford to do so held back for terms, and 
then the dealers were perforce obliged to concede, 
their wants being so pressing. When these were 
satisfied, however, and the quantity of supply was 
increased by the arrivals of Indian tea, they re- 
fused to buy at the rates they had been before 
content to give, and which had averaged as high 
as 134d all round. Naturally, therefore, it was not 
lone before the reaction was felt by the market, 
and Ceylon teas fell somewhat, until the 
average of about 1 1 Ad was established which seems 
to be about the present figure, and which will 
probably remain so until after the New Year. 
Why do I predict this ? Well I '11 tell you, and 
vou will see that the reason to be given has also 
contributed to prejudicially affect prices for quite 
the last two months. About the beginning of 
October the grocers begin to buy their stocks of 
dried fruits for Christmas. This is an article 
which has a very short prompt, much shorter than 
is the ease with tea. They must therefore have 
as much ready cash for making the heavy payments 
for such fruits in hand, and while they are ihus 
pressed they will buy as sparingly as they can of 
all other goods, including of course tea. That 
matter restricts them as to buying all through 
October and November. . '. 
"Then when December sots in, there is another 
contributory cause to slackness of buying. It is the 
wish of great numbers among traders of all kinds 
to show as large a balance to their credit in their 
bank-books when made up at the end of trie 
year as possible,- This always seems to me a very 
ridicul-us aim, because,- having had a good deal 
to do with banking myself at one period of my 
life I know that bankers think nothing of lar^e 
balances at any particular time. It is the average 
throughout the year that they specially look to, 
and the balances are regarded as they stand day by 
day, not at the seasons when the customer s books 
are made up. But nevertheless the fashion is 
prevalent, and grocers among others follow it and 
will restrict their purchases as much as possmie so 
as to accumulate cash in their bankers hands at 
the close of the year. Therefore it is that I should 
say you will not again observe an upward tendency 
in the tea market until the New Year opens. 
Mr. Boberts proceeded :— " You ask me if I fear 
any further downward movement. No, certainly 1 
do not. I think equilibrium between supply and 
demand is for the present established, and the 
country traders are more willing to pay the cur- 
rent rates, and only this morning I have sold 
lots I withdrew yesterday from the puMic sales at 
the fu l price for which I held out. Then 
the plethora temporarily caused by the inrush of 
ihc medium lower grade teas has been worked oil, 
and thereforo, in spite of tho oauses which I have 
mentioned to you as restricting free purchases at this 
season there is full evidence that the country 
dealer? can and are willing to pay present prices, 
and the supply is not so ample as to cause forced 
sales, which always of course depress prices. 
There does not appear to me any reason to fear 
an increase to the present restricted receipts of 
China teas. These have been forced out of the 
market, and this exclusion is too normally estab- 
lis el for there to be any inducement offered 
for increased importation consequent upon the late 
abnormally high prices, the causes of which were 
of course well-known to the trade and their eva- 
nescent effect fully foreseen by it. I cannot at all 
anticipate that we shall again see Ceylon teas down 
to the wretched prices of the latter end of last 
and the beginning of this year. If popularity 
is daily extending, and we are more and more called 
upon to supply a demand for it, China cannot 
again resume the competition which resulted so 
disastrously for it during the period mentioned and 
which gave rise to the low prices of 7d and 7§d 
for r e ylon souchongs. I doubt very much if the 
average price for these will ever again vary to 
below 9d for teas of ordinarily good quality. As to 
the future outlook for Ceylon growths, I feel the 
utmost confidence, for effort to popularize it, strongly 
as this has been made, is daily extending m every 
direction. I myself am doing all I can to aid in 
this, and when* I hear of a fancy bazaar I make 
a present to it of a quantity of the finest Ceylon 
tea I have, and you would be surprised at the 
number of orders that flow in from those who 
have purchased these free gifts. It is an admir- 
able method of advertising the teas, because 
people will purchase readily for chanty where no 
amount of inducement offered by the shopkeepers 
will tempt them out of their beaten tracks. 
" What I fail to understand is, why your people 
in Ceylon should have such constant attacks of 
dread for their future. Very likely what you say 
as to the want of capital behind so many of 
them largely accounts for such periodical panics 
as you come to consult me about; but, take 
my word for it, they are both needlese and ground- 
less The future of Ceylon teas is assured, and 
you' may go on extending and extending their 
cultivation without the least fear of overdoing 
it. We can take all you can supply and 
more and glad to get it." Although having little 
doubt myself that Mr. Eoberts's predictions 
are well-founded, I shall watch anxiously the course 
of the tea trade during the next few months. If 
he is right it would s^em that present prices will 
remain about stationary till January commences, 
and that there they may go up about a penny the 
pound all round— London Cor. 
PLANTING IN QUEENSLAND. 
From the letcer of a well-known old Ceylon 
planter, who has adopted our sobriquet of "The 
Wanderer," we quote as follows:— 
"Queensland, Nov. 12th. 
"It's an up-hill work to get anew industry estab- 
lished agaiust a crossgrained community. Last week 
I received a small consignment of cacao (seed) pods 
from your fertile island. They took 26 days to get 
to me after the boat arrived (about 150 mues). I don t 
know where they had been hawking them about nor 
either the purpose. But of course I am the sufferer : 
they are u-eless although not rotten. This is j my 2nd 
attempt. I must ha ve more by this time on tbe way, 
and am agaiu to try otter two lots before I give up. 
A few plants I have are doing fairly well, but we are 
having a very drv season, tbe showers are very light 
then comes down" the sun proper— not a day but 1UU 
in the shade and sometimes more, but the ev«mngs are 
always cool. 
