Jt/tv i) 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
Here is an opportunity for the bold foreigner to 
play his trump card : and apart altogether from in- 
clination, he must adi t notes play " brag," for it is 
a fact, alas! but too well known, that he is suffering 
from very " limited orders " and materially shortened 
credit. 
The "Moyune" was to be the first steamer away, with 
a solid freight list runuiug close on £20,000 sterling, and 
likely to clear on the 18th instant. 
The Tea settlements were only 70,000 half-chests 
for England and 90 000 half-chests for Russia. 
Total arrivals 600,000 half-chests.— N.-C. Herald, May 
20th. 
♦ 
THE FOOCHOW TEA TRADE. 
(Consular Trade Reports.) 
Acting-Consul Ford writes on the trade of Foochow 
for 1880 to the Marquis of Salisbury as follows : — 
Twenty-six steamers, all British, loaded tea for the 
Australian colonies against 18 in 1885. Seventy-three 
British steamers and six sailing ships, of which four 
were British, took t^a to London during the year as 
compared with fifty-two steamers, of which one was 
German, and five sailing ships, of which three were 
British, in the previous year. One sailing vessel, under 
the Germau flag, loaded for the Oape of Good Hope. 
The employment of sailing vessels for the London 
trade, noticed by Mr. Sinclair as the special feature 
of the shipping trade of the port in 1885, continued, 
and eveu slightly increased, as will be seen from the 
figures given above. The competition evidently began 
to tell upon steam shipping, seeing that " the Con- 
ference " offered, towards the end of the year, to 
allow such returns on all freight given to their steamers 
at such times as there might be a sailing vessel in 
port loading for London as would reduce the rate 
to about forty shillings a ton, and to warehouse in 
London teas shipped under these circumstances for 
two months after arrival free of cost to the shipper. 
The object of this olfer was, of course, to discourage 
shipments by sailing ship, by placing it at the shipper's 
option to obtain the chief advantage derived there- 
from—delay in putting the tea on the London market. 
All the steamers that loaded for London belonged to 
ono or other of the "Conference" lines, the raising 
of the return ou freights from 5 per cent, to 1Q per 
cent, having effectually prevented any outsiders being 
placed on the berth. The import trade remains 
unchanged in its. character, being, with the exception 
of the two articles of opium and lead, almost entirely in 
the hands of Chinese traders. The total export of tea for 
1886 (including re-exports) amounted, according to the 
Customs return, to 775,216*47 piculs (equal to 103,362,196 
lb.), valued at H.T. 9,317,367, being an increase of 40,031 
piculs (5,337,466 1b.) in quantity, and H.T. 840,214 
in value on the export of 1883. Of this total — 
Piculs. Lb. 
To Great Britain and Con- 
tinent 411,833 (equal to 54,911,000) 
To Australia and New 
Zealand 149,671 ( ., 19,956,000) 
To America ... 44,753 ( „ 5,967,000) 
To South America 4,316 ( „ 575,500) 
The following remarks are taken from a brief review 
of the tea season of 1886-87, which oue of the resid- 
ent British merchants, largely interested in th • trade, 
has beou kind enough to draw up for me for the pur- 
poses of 'his report :— ''Owing to a f ivourabie sea- 
sou in 1SS5-S0, in which bath uative teamen aud 
Europeans made money, cash was plentiful and cheap 
at the beginning of the year, money was lent at a 
low rati of interest by the foreign and Chinesa banks, 
and, as credit was good, a large amount was sent up- 
country for the purchase of the uew crop. 
"The great drawback to Foochow teas has always 
boon the large amount of Must' iu them. It is hoped 
that this year the climax may have been reached iu 
thin respect, as the lowest grades had as much as 20 por 
cont. to 26 por cent, of dust in them. An attempt made 
by thu Chamber of Commerce to reduce the proportion 
ot dust had no effect, but the loss that the Chinese 
have suffered may cause them to look into the matter 
AGRICULTURIST. 
in their own interests. On the other hand, Foochow 
teas have never been much adulterated with spurious 
leaf, and this season they have been particularly free 
from the admixture of old aud useless leaf; this has 
been most noticeable inthe Foochow packs and scent- 
ed orauge Pekoes. This result may be attributed 
to the prompt action of the customs in London last 
year in stopping the sale of spurious teas. 
It is worthy of notice, as bearing on my friend's re- 
marks regarding the adulteration of Foochow teas, 
that at the beginning of the season a large quantity 
of what is known here as " lie tea " was offered for 
sale. The fraud was clumsily carried out and soon 
discovered inconsequence, and a considerable portion 
of the spurious leaf was seized by the authorities and 
afterwards burned. Proclamations were also issued 
by the lekin authorities here, warning the people of the 
consequences of continuing to make counterfeit tea and 
to place it on the market. 
Attention has again to be drawn to the great develop- 
ment in the manufacture of brick tea from dust and 
broken leaf by the Russian merchants. The export 
increased from 71,912 piculs (9,588,3001b) iu 1885 to 
105,850, piculs (14,113,300 lb) iu 1886, that is, that 
brick tea has to be credited with more than four-fifths 
of the total increase in the export of tea of all kinds 
during the year. 
COFFEE, TEA AND CINCHONA PLANTING 
AND TRADE IN JAVA. 
Consul McNeill reports to the Marquis of Salisbury 
on the trade, commerce, Sec, relating to the island of 
Java for the year 1886 as follows : — 
The past year has neither been an eventful nor a 
prosperous one for the island. The crops were on the 
whole satisfactory, both as regards quantity and quality, 
the rice harvest especially having been a very plenti- 
ful one ; but except in the case of coffee, where 
an improvement took place towards the end of the 
year, prices for the staple products have remained on a 
most unremimerative level. 
As regards Java produce, the export duty on tea 
has been abolished, whilst that on sugar was reduced 
in July from 18 to 9c. per picul. At the close of the 
year this diminished duty was abolished for a term of 
five years, while considerable modifications of the 
taxes payable on estates working in contract with Gov- 
ernment, to the benefit of tho planters, were voted. 
The prosperity of the island greatly depending on sugar, 
the great fall which has of late years taken place in 
the value of this article has been severely felt in nearly 
all circles of the community. The question as to the 
price at which sugar can be produced here is a very 
vexed one, in view of the varyiug'circuinstauces under 
which mills work in the different districts of the 
island. Mr. Vanden Berg, the President of the Java 
Bank, who has a wide reputation for the interest he 
tikes in the welfare of this and other industries in 
the colony, lately collected statistics bearing on this 
poiut from all the districts of the island, and came to 
the conclusion that the crop of 1835 cost on an average 
8fl. per picul of 136 English lb., or about tho equival- 
entof lis 6dper cwt. f.o/b. for No. 14. The present crop 
will, it is said, cost loss owing to further ecouomies 
having been introduced in the manufacture of the sugar. 
Turning from the average cost of production over the 
whole island to that of some individual mills, I may 
mention that in several well-authenticated instances 
this does not exceed 6fl. per picul, oraboutfs 9d per cwt, 
f.o.b., while a cost of 7fJ. per pioul=10s 6d per cwt. 
f.o.b., is by no means rare. A marked development in 
the export of sugar t > China has to be noticed, over 
1,000,000 piculs out of the 1886 crop having gone to 
that quarter. The serah-sickuess in the canes, to which 
allusion has been made in my last reports has not 
entirely disappeared, but the damage dono during the 
year under review was trifling. 
Leaf disease has again been prevalent iu some parts 
of tho island, especially in Middle Java, and some 
coffee estates have entirely succumbed to it, and have 
beeu abandoned The yield has nevertheless been a 
very good oue, compare I with the preceding year, tin 
productiouof the Government gardens having reuched 
816,93- piouls against 441", 907 piculs, whilj tho private 
