676 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April t, 1889. 
THE LAST OP THE CEYLON [TEA-HOUSE 
AT THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION. 
{By "Old Colonist.") 
On Friday, February the 8th, I stood and saw 
the last of the Ceylon tea-house in the Melbourne 
Exhibition. The inevitable auctioneer was there, 
with all his train of truckling brokers, heartless 
demolishers of homes ; how I hate the whole pack 
of them ! 
For six months this bamboo hut has daily been 
the pleasant rendezvous of many hundreds who 
never before heard of Ceylon. Unpretentious as 
the structure was, there has been no more popular 
meeting-place under the 36 acres of roofing. Dear 
old ladies dying for a mutual " greet" sought the 
snug corner in which a drop from the fragrant 
leaf soothed the pent-up feelings, stimulated speech, 
and merged the dismal head-shakings into a quiet 
confab. Gents whose heads racked with recent 
land booms, or.last night's potions, rushed hurriedly 
in and asked for it pretty strong, while later in the 
afternoon many a fair stall-keeper cleverly contrived 
to keep her tryst;here, the whole, however, always 
mixed with a goodly sprinkling of the bona fide 
raw material ready to carry the fame of Ceylon 
tea into the distant bush. Little indeed does the 
P. A. wot what unlooked for results may follow 
this free cup of tea. Thousands may bless the day 
they drank here, while it is pleasing to think none 
are likely to have cause to curse the drink. 
But rap goes the hammer, and only think! Those 
costly cups so often kissed by the fairest lips of 
this and other lands, by titled ladies of noble birth 
down to the smirking young larrikiness who serves 
up " nobblers" at yonder bar. Collectors of curious 
china, where are you that these dainty dishes 
should pass for a few shillings into the possession 
of a greasy pawnbroker ? Mr. Foulkes saved 
the photographs from a similar fate, and now for the 
tea-house — 5, 10, 15, £17, and down it goes. 
" I '11 remove it for £25," says a keen artizan 
with an eye to business^; and "I '11 do it for £22," 
says another, " but not a farthing less," Verily 
this is a paradise for working men. An hour 
more all is chaos, and the Centennial tea-house 
provided by the Ceylon planters in a fair way 
to be forgotten — commercially. Well may the 
planter now ask, what practical results are to 
follow all this expenditure ? Are the favourable 
impressions undoubtedly made to be followed up 
by a growing well-organized and remunerative 
trade, the demand unmistakably created at once 
and continuously supplied, or as in 1880 is this the 
most promising tea-consuming country in H. M.'s 
dominions to be practically abandoned by Ceylon ? 
It is quite clear that no provision for the contingency 
has, as yet, been made in Melbourne, and it remains 
for Ceylon men to at once move in the matter. 
I do not presume to think that anything / can 
say on the subject can carry much weight with 
the Ceylon men of 1889, though the proper course 
to pursue is to myself clear as daylight, viz., to 
meet directly the wants of the consumer, and 
cease to treat with the established middle men 
whose sole interests lie in fostering the China 
trade. This can only be efficiently accomplished 
by a well-organized " Ceylon Tea Distributing Co." 
I have studied this matter for over two years and 
had frequent discussions with leading tea merchants 
of Melbourne, who candidly declare, one and all, 
that they se e no object in— nor have they the remotest 
intention of— pushing Ceylon teas. " Create the 
demand," they say, " educate the public taste, and 
with liberal concessions wo are quite ready to deal," 
which simply means " We will take the profits 
if you take all the trouble and risks " (if any). 
Curiously enough several of these gentlemen added : 
" If it is any satisfaction for you to know, we 
invariably use Ceylon tea in our own household." 
" It is certainly very nice," was the oft-repeated 
comment in the Exhibition ; " but where can it be 
purchased?" The reply usually was : "There is a 
grocer somewhere in Swanson Street, supplies the 
public in the meantime, but we hope by-and-by to 
make other arrangements," at which the tea drinker 
looks mystified and wonders what is the real meaning 
of this strange freak of the Ceylon planter. 
As an advertisement appealing directly to the 
public, the tea-house was as I have said, an 
undoubted success. Mr. McKenzie deserves every 
credit for the great amount of trouble he has 
voluntarily undertaken, and especially are the 
thanks of the P. A. due to Mrs. Alex. McKenzie 
whose admirable taste and tact did so mueh to 
win the public favour. All the more is it to be 
regretted in the interests of Ceylon and tea drinkers 
of Australia that no provision has been made to 
follow up the favourabfe impression made. 
The Exhibition, as a whole, can scarcely, I fear, 
be looked upon by anyone as a success ; indeed, 
the great majority of exhibitors pronounce it a 
huge failure. Mismangement and extravagance has 
prevailed in every department. The judging has 
simply been deplorable ; of course in a community 
where noble selves bulk so largely in the front, 
it is difficult to arrive at an unbiassed judgment ; 
indeed our artizan masters in their present temper 
would not for a moment permit of anything so 
absurdly unselfish. Take the case of coffee as an 
instance : a comparison of the poor immature tail 
parchment from Queensland with the well-matured 
and beautifully cured beans from Ceylon will prove 
that one of the most remarkable things in connec- 
tion with the Exhibition has been the singularly 
elastic conscience of the judges ! 
I have brought away both samples of coffee, to 
which 1st and 2nd prizes wore awarded, and shall have 
pleasure in handing the ouriosities to the P. A.* 
Financially the result of the Exhibition would 
be disastrous to aoy country whose powers of 
borrowing were less ample than Victoria. English 
exhibitors complain bitterly of having to pay 25 
per cent duty on anything they sell and declare 
they will never again exhibit in a protective country. 
Twenty years it is thought must elapse before 
Melbourne ventures upon another such show, 
by which time it is hoped the people may have 
become sane and unselfish enough to adopt Free 
Trade. 
NATIVE PAPEES ON THE CHINA TEA 
TRADE OF 1888. 
We take the following from the N.-C. Daily News : 
—Our two native contemporaries, the Shen-pao and 
Hu-pao, have both published reviews of the native 
trade of Shanghai during 1888, and the facts they 
record will be read with interest, crude as some of 
their deductions and considerations of causes are. The 
more complete one of the two appears in the Shen- 
pao, which begins with the complaint which will have 
little novelty in Western ears, that " the old solid 
Chinese system of business is becoming sapped by 
the growing speculativeness and extravagance of the 
Chinese merchants, a large proportion of whom in 
these latter dajs are people with very little capital 
at command." Praisers of the past have, become a 
proverb in the west, and Confucius is their protutype 
in China ; at the same time we, may well belie\e ti at 
contact with foreigners, their speculativeness aud 
* In the elaborate Essay on the Mackay district 
distributed over the Queensland Court, I find it 
gravely stated that " the famous peaberry variety of 
coffee has been successfully introduced " ! 
