T M£ TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February r, 1889. 
I annex extracts from your letters of the 16th and 24th 
February giving details of the proposals submitted by 
you and agreed to it was believed by the Commis- 
sioner General for the British Empire section. These 
were duly confirmed by my letter of 5th September 
in the following terms : — " As requested, I enclose a de- 
mand draft on London in your favour for a further sum 
of £100 sterling, and I annex a memo showing 
the disbursements made here up to date on account 
of Brussels Exhibition on the basis of your letters 
of the 27th January, 16th and 24th February." 
On that basis the Standing Committee of the " Tea 
Fund " has been working, and while it has no ob- 
jection whatever to paying over to your goodself the 
balance of the original vote of R6,000 on account of 
Brussels Exhibition, it seems to the Committee that 
the statements made in the extracts of letters 
alluded to should be reconciled as a matter of busi- 
ness. From the applications made by the native 
servants on their return here it seems pro- 
bable that a considerable sum may still be due to 
them as wages ; accordingly as the available balance 
is R618'33 a draft for the equivalent of R400 equal 
to £27 8 11 sterling at exchange of Is 4d 15-32 per 
rupee is transmitted to you herewith. After a final 
settlement with the servants, whatever balance, if 
any, remains at credit of the Brussels vote shall 
be remitted later on to your debit. 
The Committee having now further authorised the 
sale of the show cases, coffee barrels, &c. the pro- 
ceeds of these should, it is hoped still further place 
you in funds on account of the Association. 
As regards the reference made to Mr. Hal- 
dane's letter of the 18th October regarding the 
Glasgow Exhibition, while I do not think anyone 
probably thought Mr. Haldane was the author of the 
newspaper extract alluded to, it is right also to say 
that the paragraph was forwarded with his letter 
precisely in the same way as the paragraph attached 
to his previous report of the 11th October, and that 
it was sent to the newspapers here in the usual 
way without comment. The paragraph was doubtless 
intended to amuse, and it certainly did no harm, 
I think, to any one, one way or the other. — I am, dear 
sir, yours faithfully, 
A. Philip, Secretary. 
Extract of Letter from Mr. J. L. Shand dated 
16th February. 
" The doubt which has weighed with me all along 
has been whether it was worth while paying a 
considerable sum to have a tea-house at Brussels ; 
but, now that I have seen something of the pro- 
bable site of the Exhibition and heard of the con- 
course of all nations which will flock to Brussels in 
the summer, 1 think it will- prove a good invest- 
ment for Ceylon. The terms which I have proposed 
to the Commissioner-General for the British Empire 
section, who has the whole thing in his hands, and 
without whom it is impossible for a Britisher to 
get a footing of any sort in the Exhibition, are that 
he should set aside a suitable spaoe and fit up, in 
as far as possible characteristic style, a Ceylon tea- 
room in which tea, coffee, cocoa, and chocolate are 
to be sold in cup and packet under the control of 
a Ceylon Committee, and supplied by them upon 
the best wholesale terms and at prices to be fixed 
by them ; that all profit arising from such sales 
shall be at the disposal of the Commissioner-General, 
to whom the Association shall vote the sum of £300, 
part of which, not exceeding £160, is to be expended 
by the Committee upon bringing over, keeping in 
Brussels, and taking back to Ceylon three native 
servants ; but, should these expenses not reach £160, 
the Commissioner shall receive the difference between 
this sum and the actual expenditure and the balance of 
the grant, namely, £140, shall be paid to the Commis- 
sioner, £70 on the 1st of August, and £70 at the close 
to the Exhibition. Mr; Reid and also I believe Mr. 
Cargill approve of this plan, which has the advantage 
of securing identity of interest between the Commis- 
sioner and the Association, and which will I liope be 
attended with good results for both, I have also 
asked that we may have a small space in which w 
may exhibit tea, coffee and caoao in various stages 
Extract of letter from Mr. J. L. Shand, dated 
24th February. 
" J wrote to you last week and received your mes- 
sage. If cannot sell tea cup, withdraw Brussels, 
wire reply,' to which I replied at once 'Cup sales 
Brussels arranged.' I told you in my last that I had 
proposed to the Commissioner-General for the British 
Empire section that the Association should spend a 
sum not exceeding £160 in briugiug over, keeping 
during the Exhibition, aud taking back to Ceylon 
three native servants, and that the Commissioner 
should receive the difference between the sum spent 
upon native servants and £300, £70 of which will be 
paid on 1st August, and the balance at the close of 
the Exhibition. That for this consideration the Com- 
missioner should fit up a room in which Ceylon tea, 
coffee, and cacao, and chocolate should be sold at 
prices to be fixed between him and the Committee 
both in cup and packet, that all tea, coffee, &c, &c, 
shall be purchased by the Committee upon the best 
wholesale terms, and that the Committee shall have 
full control over all the arrangements of the tea- 
room aud that the Commissioner should have all 
profit arising from such transactions. To summarize : 
the Planters' Association pays £300 for the adver- 
tisement, it being clearly understood that its libility 
to the Commissioner is limited to this, and from 
what I saw at Brussels, which has been confirmed by 
much, I have since heard as to the way France, 
Germany, Austro-Hungary, Russia, and other nations 
are coming forward, I think it is an opportunity. 
You will have to arrange on your side for shipping 
(3) three native servants, and if yon can pick up 
men with a smattering of French, which most of 
the servants who have been in Mauritius or in 
Pondicherry posses, it will be a great advantage. 
They should be shipped so as to be in Brussels by 
1st of Mny : perhaps they could be got direct to 
Rotterdam or Antwerp, and if you let me know in 
good time, I will see that all preparations are made 
for receiving and housing them." 
TEA AND COFFEE CONSUMPTION IN THE 
UNITED KINGDOM. 
The following table gives a statement of the quanti- 
ties of tea, coffee, cocc a, and foreign Colonial spirits 
retained in the United Kingdom for consumption in 
1878-79 and 1887-88 respectively, with the average 
amount consumed of each article per head of the 
population :— 
1878-79. 1887-88. 
Population, 33,943,773. Population, 37,091,564. 
Average Average 
Quantit's. pr head of Quantit's. pr head of 
Populat'n. Populat'n. 
Tea, lb 166,461,307 4-90 184,458,385 4-97 
Coffee, lb... 33,334,450 -98 2,9988,995 -80 
Cocoa, lb. . . 10,239,965 -30 17,024,744 -45 
Spirits, gals. 10,332,428 -30 8,131,478 -21 
— American Grocer, Dec 91th. 
[While it is satisfactory to see that the consump- 
tion of spirits in the decade has largely diminished, 
from -30 gallons pel capita to only -21, the increase in 
non-alcoholic stimulants is not so great as might be ex- 
pected. Coffee, indeed, has continued to revive, and 
tea is not yet quite up to the round 5 lb. per capita 
although very close to it. The increase in cocoa is 
marked, — from - 30 to - 45 per capita. — Ed.] 
FORESTS AND RAINFALL IN THE NILGIRIS. 
It is said that the estate or forest which is now 
supplying wood to the Murree Brewery, will only 
be able to do so for the next eighteen months, but 
we shudder when we think of the condition the 
numberless fuel supplying plantations we see around 
us will assume at the expiration of that time. The 
Australian trees grow not by the foot, but by the 
yard per annum, and the lateral branches keep pac 
