February i, 1889.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
553 
THE CEYLON TEA FUND AND THE 
SEVERAL EXHIBITIONS PAST 
AND TO COME. 
The correspondence published in another column 
between the Planters' Tea Fund Committeo and 
Messrs. Leako and Shand throws some light on 
several matters which have been puzzling on- 
lookers both here and in London. For, according 
to our London Correspondent's Letter of tho mail 
before last, there was a feeling prevalent among 
tho Committee named to represent Ceylon at tho 
Paris Exhibition, that the Planters' Association 
were not dealing fairly by Mr. J. L. Shand, and 
that we all out here did not seem to understand 
and appreciate the obligation under which that 
gentleman had cast the local Tea interest by his 
action more especially in reference to this Paris 
Exhibition. Our correspondent further went on 
to say that the Ceylon Tea Committee for Paris 
were bo annoyed at the non-response from this 
end to the very natural request of Mr. Shand 
that he — in handing over his Paris Concession 
to the Association— should bo recouped the money 
he was out of pocket at Liverpool, that matters 
had come to a deadlock and that the members 
thought Mr. Shand might even be justified in 
taking the £500 which he could readily get for 
the transfer of his concession. 
Those remarks in our London Letter have been 
the subject, we learn, of severe animadversions 
among tho members of the Tea Fund Com- 
mittee, who consider that they involve a grave 
misrepresentation of the actual state of affairs. 
In tho first place, it is denied at this end that 
Mr. Bband'a "concession for the Paris Exhibition 
was a personal ruther than a representative one. It 
is stated that in tho corro-.pondence which 
took placo at tho time, Mr. Shand applied for 
ami obtained the conccs-ion as representing 
the Ceylon Planters' Association or Tea In- 
dustry, and it is considered out here very un- 
likely that Mr. Shand would have got such a con- 
cession had he clearly intimated to the official 
oonoorncd that he wanted it as a personal one to 
himself, with power to transfer or sell it to whom 
ho chose, and without any reference to Ceylon or 
its Tea industry at all. At the time this concession 
was obtained, we remember it was stated that 
it was likely to be the only one for tea 
at the Exhibition and consequently that Ceylon 
would have a good show ; while the great 
Indian industry would be lolt out in tho cold. 
Since then, howevor, it has been made clear 
that the Indian tea planters have got all they 
want and that thoy will not bo ono whit behind 
in their exposition. This by tho way. What is 
of more pructical importance is to meet the charge 
formulated by our London Correspondent, on be- 
hull cither of Mr. Shand, or of the Paris Exhibi- 
tion Committee who sympathise with him, that 
tin 1 Tm Pnnd Committee in Coylon are not bo- 
having fairly in not at onco agreeing to incroase 
their grant of RlVOOO so \\< to make up ior any 
loss incurred at Liverpool. Now, it scums to us 
M the result of tho enquiries made at this end, 
that the first thing to bo done is to huvu u clear 
buuiuutiu-likc statement drawn out us to the 
70 
working and results of the Coylon Courts at the 
different Exhibitions where Mr. Shand represented 
the Tea Industry, including Liverpool, Glasgow 
and Brussels. There is a widespread and growing 
feeling of dissatisfaction among the planters that 
fresh calls should be made on the local fund (at 
present in a state of insolvency pretty well), before 
they know fully what has been done with the large 
sums already voted — largo sums that is for a strug- 
gling industry and in the face of the falling 
prices for the local staple. 
As our London Correspondent has been instructed 
to put tho matter in the plainest possible terms 
from the City, or it may be Mr. Shand 's, point of view, 
it is incumbent on us with the information before 
us to use equally plain unmistakable language in 
representing the planters. Granted that there was a 
loss incurred by Messrs. Shund and Haldaae at 
the Liverpool Exhibition — and we should be the 
first, knowing the good work done there, to 
press for the recouping of such actual deficiency 
so soon as a statement is formally presented, — what, 
it is asked, about the "great profits" which have 
been dinned into our ears for months together 
of the Glasgow Court ? Are they not to go in 
liquidation of any part of this deficiency, or are 
they, notwithstanding the weekly and monthly 
parade of success, to prove a myth ? Still more 
what about the miserable abortion of a Brussels 
Exhibition and the R(>,000 given for a Ceylon 
Court there equally with one at Glasgow ? Surely 
in view of the letters which reached us at the 
time of there being nothing to justify much 
expenditure at the Belgian capital, there has 
been a saving on this amount of 116,000 for 
Brussels which could also go to the credit of 
any deficiency ? At any rate the time has come 
for a thorough businesslike statement to be 
drawn up and sent out here as to the work- 
ing of the Ceylon Courts at all three Exhi- 
bitions : Liverpool, Glasgow, and Brussels,— as 
the very best means of removing all misunder- 
standing and of promoting good relations for the time 
to come. If the Ceylon Tea Fund Commiotee can 
in any way be called on to make good a defi- 
ciency in one case, they certainly have the right 
to enquire about surpluses in the other instances ; 
and in regard to the Paris Exhibition, it will be 
well that from the outset, everything should be 
put on a sound business basis so as to prevent 
any risk of annoyance or misunderstanding in the 
future. 
THE REPRODUCTION OF PEARL OYSTERS 
IN THE TUAMOTU ISLANDS. 
Under the above heading, the Revue Agricola of 
Mauritius for December 1SS3 has a paper, which 
we translate as follows : — 
The Messtigcr of Tahiti, published by the adminis- 
tration of tbe French establishments in Oceana, gives 
some interesting information on tho mode of reproduc- 
tion of pearl oysters in those parts. The Tuamotn 
islauds are under French authority, and there might bo 
developed at very little cost the production of a sub- 
stance that enters ,i iiiy into the requirements of in- 
dustry. The exhaustion of the sources which proituco 
mother-of-pearl render ot extreme interest the artificial 
ruultiphcatiou of tbe pearl oysters which furnish it. 
The ojstera may bo placed in places where there is a 
curreut or where thure is none. It is preferable to put 
them in pUceH whore a current exists without beioj; too 
violent. A bottom of calcareous sand is fatal to them. 
A stony bottom is good for them, but their develop- 
ment there is rather slow. A bottom ol coarse grnvel is 
good, but it has tho saiuu drawback aa the preceding. 
A bottom of branched coral ia tin bat, and it is for 
