April 2, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
obligations. The London terminal market is to be 
modeled on the system of the " Caisse do Liquida- 
tion " existing at Havre, an institution which for the 
last decade has played an important part in the com- 
mercial affairs of that port, and which has been a 
source of huge profit to its promoters, who last year, 
we understand, received a dividend of something like 
37* per cent. The caisse, or association, acts a3 
stakeholder between the buyer and seller of certain 
articles (in Havre it is mainly Coff"e) for future de- 
livery. A contract, for instance, is entered into 
between A and B for 1,000 bags of coffee, deliverable 
next December, at the price of 80 francs per 100 
kilos. In the ordinary course of business the seller, 
A, would have to trust to the genoral standing and 
reputed solvability of his buyer, B, for the ful- 
filment of the latter's obligations when the term 
for delivering the coffee falls due; but under the 
terminal system the seller and the buyer have 
nothing to do with, and are, as a matter of fact, 
unknown the one to the other, being known to the 
clearing-house ouly. The buyer roquests that estab- 
lishment to find a seller at a stipulated price, or 
riff rsrsa, and the clearing-house, keeping the names 
of its principals secret, negotiates between the two. 
The contract completed, both parties have to pay 
a certain deposit, and they are further called upon 
to regulate their contract every day, or twice a 
day, dunng periods of excitement, in accordance with 
the fluctuations of the article. Supposing for in- 
stance, that the quotation of coffee for December de- 
livery, bought today at 80 francs, rises tomorrow to 
88 lances, the buyer would be able to draw at the clear- 
ing-house the nmouut of 8 fraucs per 100 kilos, of 
his contract, while the seller, at the same time, would 
be called upon to pay into the fund a like amount. 
Now, if next week coffee for December delivery falls 
to 7- francs, the process is exactly reversed, the 
buyer being required to pay s francs to the clearing- 
house, while the seller can draw an equal sum. Thus 
an element of certainty is infused into speculative 
business which is absent in transactions between priuite 
firms. Should one of the parties at any time fail to 
settle up at onco, his deposit is impounded, the cou- 
traot voided so far as he is concerned, and he him- 
self debarred from further business transactions with 
the clearing-house until his obligations are made good. 
The clearing-house of course takes care to set off oue con- 
tract against another, so that, although enormous quan- 
tities of coffee for delivery in any given mouth may have 
been bought and sold, yet when the time of settlement 
arrives, the balance actually deliverable is generally un- 
important. A commission is charged on all transactions, 
and as the clearing-house virtually holds a sufficient 
security to render it safe from loss through breach 
of contract, its business must necessarily be a pro- 
fitable one. Similar i stablishments exist at Hamburg, 
Antwerp, and New York, anil, un a smaller scale, in 
other Continental centres, and it is claimed by their 
advocates that they have greatly contributed to in- 
crease the importance of the local volume of trade. 
Aud the general feeling in London appears to be 
that, though the scheme may possess certain draw- 
backs, these are on the whole outweighed by its ad- 
vantages. At present people desirous to speculate in 
the manner above described do so through one of the 
acknowledged Loudou agents or brokers for the Oon- 
tincntil clearing-houses, and it is asserted that dur- 
ing the recent excit- rn 'nt in the eotfee market the 
contracts mailc in L union by the agents of the 
Havre caisno sometime* amounted to 1,0,1111(1 bags 
weekly. This means, of course, a handsome commis- 
sion to the foreign doalers, which, it is said, might 
just a* well be kept at homo. On the other hand, 
tbore oan be do quoation that the establishment of a 
clearing-house will enormously stimulate speculation; 
nml fortius reason alone the realisat t. hi of t he scheme 
will bo productive of far greater evil than good. 
Brokers and commission agents will profit, of course, 
lor transactions wdl be nure numerous, the wealthy 
financier* wim promote thu scheme will add thouiauds 
t i their already dangerously I irge in. -01111 s ; but small 
ripitalist* will be impoverished, and consumer* and 
/ u 1 »<tV dealer* wid hiivo to sutler. In support of 
this view it is worth while to mention that a peti- 
tion has just been presented to the German Iteichs- 
tag, praying for the suppression by law of the 
coffee "futures" trade in Germany, on the grouud 
that the action of the Hamburg clearing-house, which 
introduced this business iuto the country, has brought 
about a sy.s^e 11 of extravagant speculation whereby 
the consuming price of the affected commodities to 
the public has been largely increased. — (Jhemiit uitd 
Druggist, Feb. 11th. 
♦ 
THE DUTCH MARKET. 
Amsterdam, Feb. 11th. 
Cis'tnoN'A. — The next auction here will be ou Feb. 
23rd. The following lots will be offered : — 1,375 bales 
292 oases Java bark ; 32 bales 5 cases Kast Indian bark; 
consisting of 107 cases succirubra quills ; 103 bales 54 
cases succirubra broken quills and chips; 39 bales suc- 
cirubra rojt ; 26 cases calisaya Schuhkraf t quills ; 48 
bales catisaya Schuhkral t root ; 8 bales 55 cases cali- 
saya Ledgeriana quills ; 711 hales 42 cases calisaya 
Ledgeiiana broken quills and chips ; 213 bales 4 cases 
calisaya Ledgeriaua root ; 10 bales calisaya Javanica 
broken quills aud chips ; 0 bales calisaya Juvauica root; 
12 bales calisaya Caloptera broken quills and chips ; 4 
bales calisaya Ualoptera root ; 155 bales calisaya officin- 
alis broken quills and chips ; 23 bales calisaya officinalis 
root ; 4 cases hybrid quills ; 13 bale9 hybrid broken 
quills and chips ; 32 bales, 5 cases East iudian bark 
brokon quills aud chips; weighing togethtr about 127 
tons, of which about 94i tons manufacturers' bark, con- 
taining the equivalent of about 10,0001b., or about 4 7 
per cent sulphate of quiniue, and about 324 tons drug- 
gists' bark. — Chemist ci)id Druggist, Feb. 18th, 
PLANTING IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 
(Translated f'or\tliit Straits Times.) 
At Tanisarie in East Java, coal miues have been 
discovered. Experiments made with the black dia- 
monds found there show, that they are superior to 
quality in those shipped from Cardiff. The concession- 
ary of the miues intends to start a company. Now 
that the prospects look so promising, there will be sure 
to a brisk demand for shares. 
Sandalwood island keeps terribly behind in the march 
of progress. Hor=es are the staple product of the 
island. They are paid for not in money, but in kind. 
Civilisation there stands low indeed. Cloth and orna- 
ments are more welcome in that quarter than coin. 
The Batavia Nieuwshlad notes the fact, that North 
Borneo tobacco has come into fashion in Holland for 
cigar making. 
PLANTING IN DELI. 
(Translated for the Straits Times.) 
The Deli planters have tallen foul of the Chinese 
protectorate in the Straits, by failing to keep their 
word. The local Courant warns them against not 
keeping agreements concluded on their behalf, re- 
garding the prices to ho paid for coolies to the 
brokers at Singapore. Many planters are unscrupu- 
lous enough to break these agreements. This has 
been common enoigh all aloug. The Protector of 
Chinese has hence put his foot down and threatened 
to stop coolies emigration to Deli unless au end be 
put to the practice. The Protector's demands are 
reasonable enough. It is evident that the planters 
would best consult their own interests, by complying 
with them now that they are dependent on Singapore 
fur coolies. 
The following incident gives soino idea of the DM*; 
lossta which coolies sometime* bring on planters. The 
other day a consignment ol 35 taukrhs or old stagers 
engaged at the rate ol 880 each nt Singapore arrived 
in Deli. On lauding 12 of them ran awn. The 
balance refused to go to Serilang oil the ground that 
they had been engaged t t Deli. The broker, for ull 
that, managed I i ship them otf to Serdang where . 
in >re id tlo iii made oil. I'he remainder stubbornl' 
refused to start lor the estate of their employers 
